❶ 4 killed in Gaza after “Day of Rage” against Trump’s Jerusalem announcement
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) Israeli Soldiers Injured Many Palestinians In Bethlehem

• Background: “Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” Middle East Policy.

❷ Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (29 Nov. – 06 Dec. 2017)
❸ PLO thanks Security Council members for rejecting US decision on Jerusalem
. . . . . ❸ ― (ᴀ) UN fund releases $2.2 million to alleviate urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza Strip
❹ Opinion/Analysis: Is Jerusalem forcing a new direction for the Palestinian struggle?
❺ POETRY by ‘Abd Al-Raheem Mahmoud (1913-1948)
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❶ 4  KILLED  IN  GAZA  AFTER  “DAY  OF  RAGE”  AGAINST  TRUMP’S  JERUSALEM  ANNOUNCEMENT  
Ma’an News Agency     Dec. 9, 2017 ― As of the predawn hours on Saturday morning, four Palestinians had been declared dead in the besieged Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian medical sources.
___The Palestinian Ministry of Health released a statement saying that between Friday afternoon — when large clashes erupted along the border areas with Israel — and early Saturday morning — when Israeli airstrikes targeted alleged Hamas military posts — two Palestinian civilians, and two fighters had been killed.  MORE . . .
.  .  .  .  . ❶ ―  (ᴀ)  ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  INJURED  MANY  PALESTINIANS  IN  BETHLEHEM 
International Middle East Media Center – IMEMC      Dec. 9, 2017 ― Israeli soldiers attacked, Saturday, dozens of Palestinians, who marched near the northern entrance of Bethlehem city, in the occupied West Bank, wounding dozens, including a journalist.
___The soldiers attacked the Palestinians, who marched from the center of Bethlehem city, and headed towards its northern entrance, before the soldiers fired dozens of gas bombs, concussion grenades and rubber-coated steel bullet, at them, and many surrounding homes and buildings.   MORE . . .

Slater, Jerome. “TERRORISM  AND  THE  ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN  CONFLICT.”
MIDDLE EAST POLICY, vol. 22, no. 3, Fall2015, pp. 79-99.
[. . . .] …contrary to the standard mythology, especially in Israel, Israeli terrorism has been significantly worse than that of the Palestinians. A refutation of this mythology is important for a number of reasons. First, of course, ascertaining historical truth is important for its own sake. Second, the truth might make Israelis . . .  less intransigent in seeking a compromise settlement of their conflict with the Palestinians. In particular, the truth should make it clear that Israel has neither the moral legitimacy nor the national interest to refuse to negotiate . . .  Third, because the Israeli mythology is also widely accepted in the United States, the truth might . . .  lead the American Jewish community (of which I am a part) to rethink its views and . . . make it politically feasible for the U.S. government to end its nearly unconditional support of Israeli policies. . .  Finally, a refutation of the mythology should serve the principles not only of truth but also of justice . . .
[. . . .]   The argument is strong that, in light of centuries of murderous European anti-Semitism, in general, and the Holocaust, in particular, the establishment of a Jewish state was justifiable. On the other hand, the Zionist argument that such a state had to be in Palestine . . .  was far less persuasive . . .  the argument has been made . . . that the moral wrongs of Zionist and Israeli terrorism and ethnic cleansing during the 1947-49 period were at least mitigated by the need to establish a viable state with a large Jewish majority. It was a just purpose, the argument holds, although an unjust means.
___Even if one accepts that argument (a strong one, in my view), however, no such mitigation is available for Israeli terrorism since the end of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, during which Israel took over the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Not only have the continuing Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians and their institutions been unjust, so have their essential purposes: to maintain the occupation and prevent the Palestinians from reaching their just goal of an independent state.
___Such is the power of Israeli mythology that . . .  strong critics of those attacks typically argued that “of course, Israel has the right to defend itself” . . .   Such criticisms are far too weak. Aggressor states have no “right of self-defense” when it is their criminality that has provoked violent resistance — and this holds true if their response is aimed only at military targets and is somehow “proportionate.”    FULL ARTICLE . . .

❷ WEEKLY  REPORT  ON  ISRAELI  HUMAN  RIGHTS  VIOLATIONS  IN  THE  OCCUPIED  PALESTINIAN  TERRITORY  (29  NOV.  – 06 DEC. 2017)      
Palestinian Center For Human Rights   Dec. 7, 2017 ― Israeli forces continue systematic crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) (29 November – 06 December 2017):
A Civilian was killed by Israeli settlers in Qasrah village, southeast of Nablus.
A child Succumbed to his wounds he sustained in the 2014 Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.
6 civilians, including a child, were wounded in protests in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.         MORE . . .
❸ PLO  THANKS  SECURITY  COUNCIL  MEMBERS  FOR  REJECTING  US  DECISION  ON  JERUSALEM
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA     Dec. 9, 2017 ― PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi thanked on Saturday the 14 members of the United Nations Security Council who spoke on Friday against the US decision recognizing Jerusalem as capital of Israel.
___“We express our appreciation to all United Nations Security Council members who have taken a position of courage and principle and have rejected and condemned the irresponsible decision of the US Administration to unilaterally and illegally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move its embassy there,” said Ashrawi in a statement.
___“This reinforces the global assessment that the US Administration has undermined the chances of peace, forfeited its position as an honest broker and has become complicit in Israel’s crime of illegally annexing Jerusalem. “   MORE . . .        RELATED . . .
.  .  .  .  .  ❸ ―  (ᴀ)  UN  FUND  RELEASES  $2.2  MILLION  TO  ALLEVIATE  URGENT  HUMANITARIAN  NEEDS  IN  GAZA  STRIP 
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA     Dec. 9, 2017 ― The United Nations Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities, Robert Piper, released on Friday $2.2 million from the occupied Palestinian territory Humanitarian Fund (oPt HF) to cover urgent additional needs in the Gaza Strip in the areas of health and food security, according to a press release.
___The allocation comes in the context of an overall deterioration in conditions in the Gaza Strip in 2017 following the worsening of the electricity crisis that has left Gaza’s nearly two million, already suffering from 10 years of Israeli blockade and internal Palestinian divisions, with an average of only four to six hours of electricity per day, severely disrupting daily life and the provision of basic services.   MORE . . .
❹ Opinion/Analysis: IS  JERUSALEM  FORCING  A  NEW  DIRECTION  FOR  THE  PALESTINIAN  STRUGGLE?  
+972 Magazine.     By Samer Badawi.      Dec. 8, 2017 ― ‘This is the least expensive occupation in history,’ says one Palestinian resident. What he wants in return are equal rights in a democratic state. Could this be the future of the Palestinian national movement?
___When I first met Osama Essawi in the summer of 2014, Israel’s “Operation Protective Edge” had claimed its 500th Palestinian child, displaced a quarter of Gaza’s population, and sparked demonstrations across the globe. I asked Essawi then why he thought Jerusalem had erupted in protest while the West Bank — with one notable exception — remained largely quiet.
___ “Easy,” he said. “We don’t have a Palestinian Authority to stop us.”
___On Thursday, one day after Donald Trump dubbed his city Israel’s capital, Essawi spoke with me from his home in Jerusalem. When I asked him what the mood was, the 33-year-old Palestinian went silent. Minutes later, he sent me a voice message, apologizing. The Israelis had clashed with a group of protesters, he said, and “there was commotion in the village.”
___The village is Issawiyeh. Like their name, Osama’s family is rooted here. Their home, where three generations now live, faces Mount Scopus to the south, the Jewish-only settlement of French Hill to the north, and, to the east, the Israeli-defined boundary of Jerusalem, which separates the city from the West Bank.   MORE . . .

“CALL  OF  THE  MOTHERLAND,”  BY  ‘ABD  AL-RAHEEM  MAHMOUD  (1913-1948)
The slain motherland called for our struggle
and my heart leapt with joy.
I raced the winds, but did not boast.
Isn’t it my simple duty to redeem my country?
I carried my soul in my hands asking
any who feared death: do you hesitate
before the enemy?
Would you sit still when your country begs for your help?
Would you back away from facing the enemy?
If so, then go hide in your mother’s bedroom!
May your hesitation humiliate you!
The motherland needs mighty defenders
who meet aggression
but never complain;
true lions on the battlefield.

People of my country, our days of sacrifice have arrived;
they shine, radiant, across the hills of this holy land.
Redeemed by our young men too proud
to endure oppression,
what can we do but fight bravely
when the fire’s kindled?
March on, to the field! Pour fire
on the heads of the enemy everywhere.
Nothing’s humbler that a people who shun the fight
when their country calls for it.

Neighbors, brethren, arise from your sleep!
How can you sleep through this oppression?
Never stop even if the sky should grow dark.
Never retreat even if the sandstorms flare up behind you!
Don’t give up even if the world should face you
with weapons from every direction
unite, unite everywhere!
If Palestine should be lost while you still live,
I’ll say: our people have
abandoned the path.
――Translated by Sharif Elmusa and Naomi Shihab Nye
From ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN PALESTINIAN LITERATURE. Ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Available from Columbia University Press.
‘Abd Al-Raheem Mahmoud