❶ 50 years: Israeli occupation longest in modern history
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) PLO: 50 years of Israeli occupation is a shame for the international system
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) Palestine in Motion: Where does the story begin?
❷ Israeli forces destroy [char]coal factories in Yabad
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) IOF kidnap Palestinian youths in overnight raids
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴃ) Palestinian cars damaged in new price tag attack
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴄ) Palestinian TV presenter injured by stun grenade during violent raid into Issawiya
❸ POETRY by Fadwa Tuqan
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `

Occupation

❶ 50  YEARS:  ISRAELI  OCCUPATION  LONGEST  IN  MODERN  HISTORY   
Al Jazeera English 
Zena Tahhan
June 5, 2017
Palestinians are marking 50 years since the 1967 occupation of their remaining lands this week.  
Fifty years ago this week, the state of Israel shocked the world when it seized the remaining Palestinian territories . . .  as well as the Syrian Golan Heights, and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, in a matter of six days.
___In a war with Egypt, Jordan and Syria, known as the 1967 War, or the June War, Israel delivered what came to be known as the “Naksa”, meaning setback or defeat, to the armies of the neighbouring Arab countries, and to the Palestinians who lost all what remained of their homeland.
[. . . .]  In 1967, Israel absorbed the whole of historic Palestine, as well as additional territory from Egypt and Syria. By the end of the war, Israel had expelled another 430,000 Palestinians from their homes . . .
[. . . .]  Between June 25-27, Israel illegally annexed East Jerusalem and various parts of the West Bank, declaring them part of the state of Israel, in a move never recognised by the international community.
___The rest of the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, housing some 5.1 million Palestinians, remain under Israeli military control under the pretext of security.      MORE . . .   
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ)  PLO:  50  YEARS  OF  ISRAELI   OCCUPATION  IS  A  SHAME  FOR  THE  INTERNATIONAL  SYSTEM   
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA        
June 5, 2017
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said Monday that 50 years of Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land is a shame for the international system.
___Israel attacked Jordan, Egypt and Syria on June 5, 1967 occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, the Sinai from Egypt and the Golan Heights from Syria.
___While Israel has returned the Sinai to Egypt following the signing of a peace agreement between them, it still holds on to the rest of the occupied territories in defiance of international resolutions that have called on it to withdraw from these territories.      MORE . . .
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) PALESTINE  IN  MOTION:  WHERE  DOES  THE  STORY  BEGIN? 
Al Jazeera English
June 5, 2017
Stories of loss, love, trauma, hope, and ultimately, of what it means to be Palestinian.   From exile to resistance: The day my life changed forever. The deeply personal and revealing stories of ordinary people who survived massacres, displacement and military occupation.   From Honduras to New Zealand: What does it mean to be a Palestinian today?  Young Palestinians across the world reflect on their identity, life under occupation, exile and future aspirations.      MORE . . .

LIFE UNDER OCCUPATION

❷ ISRAELI  FORCES  DESTROY  [CHAR]COAL  FACTORIES  IN  YABAD 
Palestine News Network – PNN       
June 4, 2017
The Israeli occupation bulldozers on Sunday knocked down five coal factories in Jenin’s southwestern town of Yabad, leaving hundreds of Palestinians unemployed.
___The Israeli forces destroyed five factories to manufacture coal and seized hundreds of tons of wood, worth tens of thousands of shekels.
___According to local sources, Israeli military vehicles, escorted by a bulldozer, cordoned off Palestinian lands in Yabad and knocked down coal structures and equipment.   MORE . . .

. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴀ)  IOF  KIDNAP  PALESTINIAN  YOUTHS  IN  OVERNIGHT  RAIDS
Palestine News Network – PNN
June 5, 2017
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at dawn Monday kidnapped several Palestinian citizens from their homes in different areas of the West Bank and Jerusalem.
___Local sources told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that the IOF stormed Asira ash-Shamaliya town, north of Nablus, and kidnapped two brothers after ransacking their family home.
[. . . .] Six other Palestinian young men were kidnapped from their homes in IOF raids in different areas of east Jerusalem . . .      MORE . . .
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴃ) PALESTINIAN  CARS  DAMAGED  IN  NEW  PRICE  TAG  ATTACK 
Al Hourriah Magazine (Freedom)
June 5, 2017
A number of Palestinian cars had their tires slashed and racist graffiti was painted on others in two different places in occupied Jerusalem on Monday morning.
___The incident is considered the most recent in a string of “Price Tag” attacks committed by right wing settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories.   [Note: In “Price tag” attacks settlers demonstrate to Palestinians the “price” of resistance]  MORE . . .
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴄ)  PALESTINIAN  TV  PRESENTER  INJURED  BY  STUN  GRENADE  DURING  VIOLENT  RAID  INTO  ISSAWIYA  
Ma’an News Agency        
June 5, 2017
A Palestinian woman was injured by shrapnel from a stun grenade after getting caught clashes in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya on Sunday night while she was filming for a local TV show.
___Local activist Muhammad Abu al-Hummus told Ma’an that Israeli forces stormed Issawiya minutes before Iftar time — when Muslims observing the holy month of Ramadan eat their first meal after a day of fasting — sparking clashes with local Palestinians in a number of areas in the neighborhood.
___Israeli border police officers indiscriminately fired live ammunition, stun grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets, and tear gas canisters throughout the community, Abu al-Hummus said.
___Layali Eid, a reporter and TV presenter for local media outlet the al-Quds Educational TV channel, happened to be in the area interviewing locals about their experiences during Ramadan for a seasonal TV show.        MORE . . .         RELATED . . .

“MY SAD CITY,” BY FADWA TUQAN
(The day of Zionist Occupation, June 27, 1967**)

The day we saw death and betrayal,
The tide ebbed.
The windows of the sky closed,
And the city held its breath.
The day the waves were vanquished, the day
The ugliness of the abyss revealed its true face,
Hope turned to ashes,
And gagging on disaster,
My sad city choked.

Gone were the children and the songs,
There was no shadow, no echo.
Sorrow crawled naked in my city,
With bloodied footsteps,
Silence reigned in the city,
Silence like crouching mountains,
Mysterious like the night, tragic silence,
Burdened,
Weighed down with death and defeat.
Alas! My sad and silent city.
Can it be true that in the season of harvest,
Grain and fruit have turned to ashes?
Alas! That this should be the fruit of all the journeying!
―Translated by A.M. Elmesseri

** (While the military occupation of Jerusalem took place on June 6, the Israelis did not declare the actual annexation until June 27.)
From BEFORE  THERE  IS  NOWHERE  TO  STAND:  PALESTINE  ISRAEL  POETS  RESPOND  TO  THE  STRUGGLE.  Ed. By Joan Dobbie and Grace Beeler. Sandpoint, ID: Lost Horse Press, 2012. Available from B&N.
Obituary for Fadwa Tuqan, 2003.