Month: August 2018

“. . .what can I call this rug of soil. . .” (Zuhair Abu Shaib)

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SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . . .

EGYPT  CONFIRMS  EFFORTS  TO  ACHIEVE  PALESTINIAN  UNITY
The Egyptian Presidency stressed that the country is keen to achieve Palestinian reconciliation and national unity.   ___Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s statement was made during a phone call with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, on Thursday.   ___According to spokesperson of the Egyptian Presidency, Bassam Radi, al-Sisi said that the Palestinian Authority must take over its responsibilities in the besieged Gaza Strip, pointing out that it would help revive the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.   More . . .

ISRAEL  KILLED  19  PALESTINIANS  IN  AUGUST,  REPORT  SAYS
Israeli occupation forces killed a total of 19 Palestinians, including four children, during August 2018, according to a report by Abdullah Horani Center of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).   The center said of those 19 Palestinians, 17 were killed by Israeli forces during the Great March of Return protests at Gaza border or in airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. Another Palestinian was killed in the occupied West Bank and the last one was a Palestinian citizen of Israel.   More . . .    Related . . . ISRAELI FORCES OPEN FIRE NEAR GAZA RETURN CAMPS

ACTIVIST  SOUNDS  ALARM  OVER  SIMMERING  TERRORISM  BY  ISRAEL  SETTLER  GANGS        Extremist Israeli settlers have been raking through Palestinian lands in Nablus and Ramallah, paving the way for more attacks against Palestinians and their property, an activist has warned.   ___Ghassan Dughlas, who monitors settlement activity in the northern occupied West Bank, said settler gangs have showed up on Palestinian land located between Yitzhar outpost, south of Nablus, and Shilo, north of Ramallah.   More. . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

HOW  ISRAEL  SPIES  ON  US  CITIZENS:  THE  TRUTHS  THAT  WON’T  BE  HEARD
Alain Gresh
An investigative documentary by Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera scheduled for broadcast earlier this year was expected to cause a sensation. Its four 50-minute episodes centred on the young and personable James Anthony Kleinfeld, British, Jewish, an Oxford graduate . . . – seemingly a natural fit for a western foreign ministry or a major thinktank.    ___The documentary showed Kleinfeld being enthusiastically recruited for his skills by The Israel Project (TIP), which defends Israel’s image in the media, and associating . . . [with] the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), the powerful US lobbying group. . . .  ___Kleinfeld’s contacts told him they were spying on US citizens with the help of Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs, founded in 2006, which reports directly to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu . . .  ___At the end of Kleinfeld’s time at TIP, his boss there . . . wanted to hire “Tony” on a permanent basis . . .     ___Kleinfeld turned down the job. His qualifications were genuine, but he was, of course, an undercover reporter, sent by Al Jazeera to investigate the pro-Israel lobby.  More . . .

THIS  PALESTINIAN  LIFE:  UNCOVERING  THE  STORIES  OF  WOMEN  BEHIND  THE  WALL
Henriette Chacar
A mother in the West Bank struggles to explain to her child, on reaching a checkpoint, that no, they have not yet arrived at the zoo.   [This is one of] women’s stories featured on “Women Behind the Wall,” a new podcast which aims to “amplify minority perspectives in the Israel-Palestine conflict,” according to the project founder, Shadia Qubti. The show centers around the stories of Christian Palestinian women – a double minority group in terms of gender and religion – in an attempt to expose how the occupation impacts their lives.   ___According to Qubti, Palestinian society is very diverse and rich, but “in the media, we do not reach the average peoples’ stories.” She believes there is a humanizing power to storytelling, and “these moments, hopefully, will make the listener intrigued to understand more.”    More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .    

Land of Canaan Foundation: Regenerative agriculture – what is it?  Regenerative farming goes beyond just organic agriculture. It naturally creates healthy soil which holds water and carbon better and will produce healthy crops at a higher yield.  More . . .   Donate . . .

“NAME  OF  THE  SOIL,”  BY  ZUHAIR  ABU  SHAIB

what is its name?
what is the name of the soil
that falls from my withered body?
what is its name as it drifts and gathers
under my clothes
while, slowly, I build wall after wall?

I picture a sky full of clouds
I see it as I wish it to be

when night falls, I gulp my fill of springs
in darkness I lift my latch
to wise men

I ask my guests
who imprisoned the soul in rock?
who left prophets spread-eagled on doorsteps?

who risks everything to capture the earth?
a man who does not know his own shadow

what can I call this rug of soil?
is it my country or the source of my exile?
is it my miracle or my cross?

what is its name?

Zuhair Abu Shaib was born in Deir al-Ghusun and studied at Yarmouk University. She has been a teacher and journalist in Yemen, and a book designer. She has also been editor of the journal Awarq.
From A BIRD IS NOT A STONE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY PALESTINIAN POETRY. Glasgow: Freight Books, 2014.

“Israel works hard to remove us from our land.”   (Resident of al-Zarnouq Village)

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SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . . .    

BEDOUIN  FAMILY  LEFT  HOMELESS  AS  ISRAEL  CONTINUES  NEGEV  DEMOLITIONS
Israeli bulldozers escorted by heavily armed Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian home, on Thursday, in the unrecognized village of Al-Zarnouq in the Negev area of southern Israel.   ___. . . large numbers of Israeli forces raided the AL-ZARNOUQ village and began to demolish the house under the pretext that it was built without an Israeli building permit.    ___Sources confirmed that Israeli forces demolished a 130-square-meter home, belonging to Akef Abu Quwaider. . . .   ___Residents of the village told Ma’an that the “Israeli authorities refuse to grant us permits to build our homes and to live our lives. Israel works hard to remove us from our land.”   More . . .
ISRAELIS  BULLDOZE  PALESTINIAN  LANDS  TO  EXPAND  ILLEGAL  SETTLEMENT
Israeli bulldozers continue to level Palestinian lands in SHOFEH village, southeast of Tulkarem, paving the way for illegal settlement expansion.    ___Local sources said Israeli settlers continue to bulldoze Palestinian lands in Shofeh, in the northern Occupied West Bank, in an attempt to expand the illegal settlement outpost of Avnei Hefetz.    More . . .
NEW  ISRAELI  SETTLEMENT  OUTPOST  IN  NABLUS
A new illegal Israeli settlement outpost was set up, on Thursday, on Palestinian-owned lands belonging to the residents of the QARYUT village, in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus.    ___A Palestinian official who monitors settlement activist in the northern West Bank, Ghassan Daghlas, said that the residents of Qaryut were shocked to find out on Thursday morning that Israeli settlers set up a new settlement outpost on their lands.   ___Daghlas said that Israeli settlers set up five caravans, which were stocked up with water and other supplies, in addition to construction material in preparation to set up more caravans.   More . . .
EREKAT:  NO  ONE  CAN  REMOVE  JERUSALEM,  REFUGEES  AND  SETTLEMENTS  FROM  THE  NEGOTIATIONS  TABLE
No one can remove the files of Jerusalem, refugees and settlements from any future negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel, said Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), on Thursday.    ___He was referring to statements by US President Donald that after he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and not recognizing the right of five million Palestinian refugees for return to their homes they were force out from after Israel was created in 1948 on their land, these issues are now off the negotiations table. . . .   ___“There will be no peace without East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders, without resolving the refugees’ issue . . . ”  More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

‘ANTI-SEMITISM  AWARENESS  ACT’  THREATENS  FREE  SPEECH  [IN  THE  US]
Sheldon Richman     
In May the benign-sounding Anti-Semitism Awareness Act appeared before the U.S Congress “to provide for consideration a definition of anti-Semitism for the enforcement of Federal antidiscrimination laws concerning education programs or activities.”    [. . . .] While the act is directed at education, the resulting law would reach beyond that realm because it would officially stigmatize as anti-Semitic any speech and activity, public and private, said to fall within the definition. Since this would at least chill the open marketplace of ideas, advocates of free speech should be concerned about the content of the definition and its revealing support material. We must not assume that merely because the definition is said to brand something anti-Semitic that it is actually anti-Semitic.   More . . .

SATELLITE  IMAGERY  AND  THE  PALESTINE-ISRAEL  EXCEPTION
Zena Agha
In the United States and beyond, the rules that apply to the rest of the world have long applied differently to Palestine-Israel. In the US, this exceptionalism often manifests as censorship of Palestinian perspectives and operates on many different levels: On university campuses, Palestine has become the exception to free speech, and in local government, Israel marks the exception to the right to boycott. Remarkably, this exceptionalism even extends to the quality of aerial photography and satellite imagery of Palestine-Israel.   ___Bipartisan legislation passed by the US House of Representatives in 1997 limits the quality of aerial photography of Palestine-Israel available to the public through platforms such as Google Earth and Bing Maps. The Kyl-Bingaman Amendment (KBA) to the US National Defense Authorization Act restricts the availability of high-resolution satellite imagery by preventing satellite operators and retailers in the US from selling or disseminating images of Palestine-Israel at a resolution higher than that available on the non-US market. The result: limited access to clear aerial photography of Palestine-Israel.    More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .

US  CAMPAIGN  FOR  PALESTINIAN  RIGHTS  (USCPR)
We are excited to announce our national conference is taking place in the Twin Cities, MN on September 28-30, 2018.   ___TOGETHER WE RISE will be a space for people to connect with and learn from others working in support of Palestinian rights across the country, and renew our commitment to the struggle for freedom, justice, and equality.  [. . . .] The program includes sessions such as Resilience Across Movements, Updates from Palestine, Intersectional Feminism and Gender Justice, Palestine in US Politics, and Global Struggles for Collective Liberation. Confirmed speakers include journalists Mariam Barghouti and Marc Lamont Hill, human rights lawyers Noura Erakat and Hassan Jabareen, and Indigenous rights activists Waziyatawin and Coya White Hat-Artichoker. Dozens of workshops will teach us about the militarization of the US/Mexico border, how to harness constituent power to make change in Congress, hold a direct action. . . .    More . . .

“WE  SHALL  REMAIN,”  BY  TAWFIQ  ZAYYAD  – 1970

It is a thousand times easier
For you to pass an elephant through the needle’s eye
To catch fried fish in the Milky Way
To plow the sea
To teach the alligator speech, a thousand times easier
Than smothering with you oppression
The spark of an idea
Of forcing us to deviate
A single step
From our chosen march.
Like twenty impossibles
We shall remain in Lydda, Ramlah, and Galilee.

Here upon your chests
We shall remain
Like the glass and the cactus
In your throats
A fiery whirlwind
In your eyes.

Here we shall remain
A wall on your chests.
We wash dishes in the hotels
And serve drinks to the masters.
We mop the floors in the dark kitchens
To extract a piece of bread
From your blue teeth
For the little ones.

Here, we shall remain
A wall on your chests.
We starve,
Go naked,
Sing songs
And fill the streets
With demonstrations
And the jails with pride.
We breed rebellions
One after another.
Like twenty impossibles we remain
In Lydda, Ramlah, Galilee.

Here, we shall remain.
You may drink the sea;
We shall guard the shade
Of the olive tree and the fig,
Planting ideas
Like the yeast in the dough.
The coldness of ice is in our nerves
And a burning hell in our hearts.
We squeeze the rock
To quench our thirst
And if we starve
We eat the dirt
And never depart
Or grudge our blood.

Here―we have a past
―a present
―and a future.
Our roots are entrenched
Deep in the earth.
Like twenty impossibles
We shall remain.
Let the oppressor review his account
Before the turn of the wheel.
For every action there is a reaction:
Read what is written in the Book.
Like twenty impossibles
We shall remain―in Lydda, in Ramlah
And Galilee.

From THE PALESTINIAN WEDDING: A BILINGUAL ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE POETRY.  Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2011. Reprint from Three Continents Press, Inc., 1982

 

“. . . I guard one seed of a tree . . .” Fawaz Turki

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Untitled-design-8-5
Israel has carried out hundreds of punitive house demolitions over the years. (Photo: ActiveStills.org, Published in Palestine Chronicle, Aug. 28, 2018)


SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . . . 

FOREIGN  MINISTRY  SAYS  REMARKS  BY  US  ENVOY  TO  UN  ON  REFUGEES  IGNORE  INTERNATIONAL  LAW         
The Foreign Ministry strongly criticized on Wednesday statements by United States envoy to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, in which she questioned the official figure of Palestinian refugees and called for cutting it down by the millions and expressed opposition to their right of return to the homeland they were forced out from after Israel was created on their land in 1948.     ___The remarks by Nikki Haley on Palestinian refugees and their right of return “ignore international law and international legality and are hostile to the Palestinian people and their rights,” said the ministry in a statement [. . . .]   ___It said this is a further step in the war US President Donald Trump’s administration has waged against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, which is the symbol of the Palestinian refugee issue.   More . . .
ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  25  PALESTINIANS,  INCLUDING  TWO  MINORS            Israeli forces detained at least 25 Palestinians, including a teen and a child, during predawn raids in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.     ___Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) confirmed that Israeli forces detained five Palestinians from the southern West Bank district of Hebron. . . .   ___In the southern West Bank district of Bethlehem, three Palestinians were detained . . . .   ___In the Silwan neighborhood of the central West Bank district of Jerusalem, Israeli forces assaulted and detained two Palestinians . . . .  ___In the central West Bank district of Ramallah and al-Bireh, four Palestinians were detained . . . .    More . . .
ISRAEL  DESTROYS  FAMILY  HOME  OF  KILLED  PALESTINIAN  TEENAGER  (VIDEO)   
Israeli forces have demolished the family home of the Palestinian teenager who was recently killed in the occupied West Bank.    ___ The Israeli army said on Tuesday it had destroyed the family home of Mohammed Dar Youssef in the village of Kobar, north of Ramallah.   More . . .
—Background:  ISRAELI  DEMOLITION  OF  ATTACKERS’  FAMILY  HOMES  PROVOKES  PALESTINIAN  BACKLASH   (2015)
[. . . .] Ruth Edwards of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions said [2015] such drastic steps ensure that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank “is a permanent presence in people’s daily lives, that there’s always a sense of instability, of insecurity.”    ___Israel frequently demolished homes during a Palestinian uprising in 2000 to 2005. . . .    ___Netanyahu revived the tactic last year [2012] after the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank.   More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . . 

IN  VIDEO  –  PALESTINIAN  CHILD  FORCED  TO  CLIMB  HER  WAY  HOME 
An Israeli activist and spokesperson of the Breaking the Silence Non-Governmental Organization, Achiya Schats, captured on video the moment a Palestinian child was forced to climb an Israeli military fence to be able to go home in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron. . . .  ___The caption also reads that the girl’s house was recently blockaded by a fence and that Israeli forces locked the gate leading to her home, which forces Palestinian residents to climb the fence. “Don’t worry, it’s not because we’ve made them less than humans, it’s about security.”   More . . .    Related . . .

PLO  OFFICIAL  DENOUNCES  ISRAELI  COURT’S  RULING  LEGALIZING  SETTLEMENT  OUTPOST  AS  TRAVESTY 
Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), strongly denounced on Wednesday the Israeli Jerusalem District Court’s ruling to legalize Mitzpeh Kramim settlement outpost, north of Ramallah and which was built illegally on private Palestinian land, describing the decision as “an outrageous travesty.”   ___The court had said that if the settlers built with “good intentions,” then the settlement should not be removed, in contradiction with previous court rulings forcing the Israeli government to remove outposts . . . on private Palestinian land in the occupied territories.   ___”The Israeli annexation of Palestinian territory, whether on public or private land, and its illegal settlement enterprise are an egregious violation of international law and conventions, including UN Security Council Resolution 2334; it also constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Fourth Geneva Convention”. . .   More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .

International Solidarity Movement | Ramallah, occupied Palestine
CALL  TO  ACTION:  OLIVE  HARVEST  2018  –  JOIN  ISM  NOW!
the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is issuing an urgent call for volunteers to join us for the 2018 Olive Harvest Campaign at the invitation of Palestinian communities.   ___The olive tree is a national symbol for Palestinians. As thousands of olive trees have been . . .  destroyed since September 2000—harvesting has become more than a source of livelihood; it has become a form of resistance.   ___The olive harvest is an annual affirmation of Palestinians’ historical, spiritual, and economic connection to their land, and a rejection of Israeli efforts to seize it. Despite efforts by Israeli settlers and soldiers to prevent them from accessing their land, Palestinian communities have remained steadfast in refusing to give up their olive harvest.   ___ISM volunteers join Palestinian farming communities “on the ground” each year to harvest olives, in areas where Palestinians face settler and military violence when working their land.   MORE INFORMATION . . .

“THE SEED KEEPERS: A Recital,” by FAWAZ TURKI (b. 1940)

Burn our land
burn our dream
pour acid onto our songs
cover with sawdust
the blood of our massacred people
muffle with your technology
the screams of our imprisoned patriots,
destroy,
destroy
our grass and soil
raze to the ground
every farm and every village
our ancestors had built,
destroy every city and every town
every tree and every home
every book and every law,
flatten with your bombs
every valley
erase with your edicts
our past
our literature
our metaphor,
denude our forests
and the earth
till no insect
no word
can find a place to hide.
Do that and more,
I do not fear your tyranny.
I guard one seed
of a tree
my forefathers have saved
that I shall plant again
in my homeland.

—From Anthology of Modern Palestinian Literature, Columbia University Press, 1992.

“. . . And gagging on disaster, My sad city choked. . .” (Fadwa Tuqan)

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SPECIAL    POSTING:    ISRAEL’S  DESTRUCTION  OF  SOCIETAL  INFRASTRUCTURE  IN  EAST  JERUSALEM

(Articles generally in chronological order. The first of several such single-subject postings.)

ISRAEL  BANS  ACTIVITIES  IN  JERUSALEM  CONNECTED  TO  PALESTINIAN  AUTHORITY  GOVERNMENT.
National Public Radio (NPR)
Heard on All Things Considered, January 19, 2018.
KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:   President Trump has recognized Jerusalem as the capital Israel, but that doesn’t change Palestinian aspirations for a capital in part of the city. One thing that could strengthen these Palestinian claims would be national political institutions. NPR’s Daniel Estrin looks at how Israel has worked for decades to limit those institutions, whether they’re offices for leadership or even performances in theaters.   DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: This used to be the Palestinian headquarters in Jerusalem – an old, stone mansion called the Orient House. Foreign diplomats were received here. The Palestinian flag used to fly. But Israel closed it in 2001 during a wave of Palestinian bombings. Israeli authorities deliver a new closure order every six months. It’s on the door for everyone to see.   More . . .

ISRAEL SHUTS DOWN PALESTINIAN INSTITUTIONS IN EAST JERUSALEM.
Asharq Al-Awsat.
February 3,2018.
The Israeli authorities decided on Friday to shut down a number of Palestinian institutions operating in the occupied city of East Jerusalem.   ___Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan extended the order against a number of Palestinian institutions, including the Orient House, in East Jerusalem due to their affiliation to the Palestinian Authority.   ___The Israeli decision anticipated an expected decision from the PA to announce the city of Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian State.   ___Israeli sources said on Friday that Erdan’s order does not only involve political institutions, but also include a number of vital civil institutions, the East Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce, the Supreme Council for the Arab Tourism Industry, the Center for Palestinian Studies, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, and the Office for Social and Statistical Studies.
More . . .    Related . . .

PLO  CHIEF  DENOUNCES  CLOSURE  OF  PALESTINIAN  INSTITUTION  IN  JERUSALEM.
Ma’an News Agency.
March 14, 2017.
Israeli authorities sealed off and shut down the Mapping and Geographic Information Systems Department of the Arab Studies Society in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday, with police detaining the center’s director, Khalil Tufakji, during the raid.
___PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat denounced the closure and “the illegal detention” of Tufakji, describing the man as “a distinguished scholar from Jerusalem.”
___Erekat said in a written statement that Israeli forces also seized the documents, computers, and equipment from the office.
More . . .

ANGER  AFTER  ISRAEL  SHUTS  DOWN  PALESTINIAN  UNIVERSITIES  IN  EAST  JERUSALEM.
The New Arab.
July 15, 2018.
Anger has spurred over Israel shutting down two Palestinian education facilities in occupied East Jerusalem, as Israeli plans to annex the territory continue.
___Israel closed down Hind al-Husseini College and Al-Quds University’s College of Art – both of which are located in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood – until further notice after banning an academic conference taking place and detaining 15 participants.
___The conference was due to take place on Saturday at al-Quds University’s College of Arts.
___The two-day conference was organised by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf and Heritage Reservation Society and was supposed to discuss the status of Muslim endowment and property, as well as the protection of Islamic and Christian heritage in the occupied city.
___The move was also condemned by the president of the Arab American University, Ali Abu Zuhri, who said Israel was taking exceptional measures to disrupt the Palestinian education system, according to Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA.
More . . .   Related . . .

OPINION:    DESTROYING    PALESTINIAN    UNIVERSITIES.
Haaretz.
Daphna Golan.
July 26, 2018.
As Israeli students are finishing their final exams, Palestinian students in the occupied territories don’t know whether their institutions will be opening for the coming academic year or if their lecturers will continue to teach, as dozens of lecturers with European and American citizenship are being expelled.
___Around half the foreign lecturers at Palestinian universities started receiving letters last November, saying their requests to have their residency visas extended had been refused because they’ve been “living in the area for more than five years.”
More . . .

EARLIER  REPORTS . . .

HOW  ISRAEL  IS  TARGETING  PALESTINIAN  INSTITUTIONS.
AL JAZEERA.
Ylenia Gostoli.
May 20, 2017.
[. . . .] According to the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, more than 30 Palestinian institutions and organisations have been shut down in the city since the 2001 closure of Orient House. Six-month closure orders have been continuously renewed ever since, in defiance of recommendations made in the 2003 Road Map drawn up by the Middle East Quartet as part of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
___”Targeting NGOs is targeting the presence of Palestinians in East Jerusalem. NGOs are the main body providing services, because according to Oslo [the interim accords signed by Israel and the Palestinians in 1993 and 1995], the Palestinian Authority is not allowed to be in Jerusalem,” Zakaria Odeh, executive director of the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, told Al Jazeera. “All policies, including house demolitions and residency revocations, have the goal to alter the demographic structure of Jerusalem as a whole.”
More . . .

ISRAEL  HAS  CLOSED  120  PALESTINIAN  INSTITUTIONS  IN  JERUSALEM  SINCE  1967.
Middle East Monitor.
February 17, 2014.
A Palestinian human rights organisation has revealed that the Israeli occupation authorities have closed more than 120 Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem since it completed its occupation of the city in 1967. Around 88 were closed down completely, while the others had to transfer their operations from occupied Jerusalem to the occupied West Bank.
___In a press statement, the Almakdasi Foundation said that the Israeli authorities have now closed-down the Islamic Club and Salwan Charity Foundation for a period of 30 days under the pretext of them receiving funding from Hamas and conducting activities on its behalf. This is despite the fact that both foundations have appropriate licences and Salwan presented evidence to prove its independence.
___The Almakdasi statement said, “These closures, along with all the others last year and every year since 1967, are part of Israel’s policy since the occupation began. The Israeli occupation authorities are trying to obliterate Palestinian identity and institutions.” The first to go was the Arab Jerusalem Municipality which was closed by the Israelis in 1967.
More . . .

“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

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.

RIGHT OF RETURN JEOPARDIZED BY TRUMP

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SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . . .

US  TO  ANNOUNCE  REJECTION  OF  PALESTINIAN  RIGHT  OF  RETURN      The United States Donald Trump administration will announce a suspension of funding to the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and the rejection of the right of return for Palestinian refugees.   ___According to Hebrew-language news outlets, the US administration is expected to announce its new policy early September, which would effectively cancel the right of return for Palestinians through several steps.  More. . .   Related. . .   Related. . .
VIDEO:  GAZA  MOURNS  CULTURAL  CENTER  DESTROYED  BY  ISRAEL      More. . .
KHREISHA  CALLS  FOR  EXPANDING  GREAT  MARCH  OF  RETURN  PROTESTS        Deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council Hasan Khreisha on Sunday called for expanding the Great March of Return protests to include the occupied West Bank.   ___In an interview with the PIC, Khreisha asked the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to lift the sanctions imposed on Gaza and treat the Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip equally.   ___Khreisha called on the Palestinian Authority to boycott meetings with US officials and stop normalization and negotiations with the Israeli side as a protest step against the “Deal of the Century”.    ___The Great March of Return was launched in Gaza on 30th March with five major camps set up along Gaza’s border with the 1948 occupied Palestinian territories.    More. . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . . 

ISRAEL,  THE  OCCUPATION  IS  AT  THE  CORE  OF  WHO  YOU  ARE          Nadav Bigelman      If Jewish leaders and activists are going to speak up against Israel’s recent anti-democratic trends, they cannot remain silent on what has been corrupting its democracy for decades.    More. . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .

US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. “TOGETHER  WE  RISE.”  NATIONAL  CONFERENCE  in the Twin Cities, MN on September 28-30, 2018. Together We Rise will be a space for people to connect with and learn from others working in support of Palestinian rights.   More. . .
Bright Stars of Bethlehem.   ROOM  FOR  HOPE  TEXAS  FESTIVAL.  OCTOBER 5-13. It’s finally here! Bright Stars is coming to Texas for a multi-city festival of Palestinian culture. After postponing last year’s festival due to Hurricane Katrina, we are thrilled to be in Texas this fall.   More. . .

“ . . . I call upon them all to help Jerusalem . . .” Harun Hashim Rasheed

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(The United Nations World Humanitarian Day was August 19. It is never too late to participate. See “Notices from Organizations” below.)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . . .   

EU,  UK  CONDEMN  ISRAEL’S  APPROVAL  OF  NEW  SETTLEMENT  UNITS
The European Union (EU) condemned the Israeli government’s approval of constructing some 1,000 new settlements units in the occupied West Bank.   ___The EU said in a statement, issued late Thursday, that “within the past two weeks the Israeli authorities have advanced plans and tenders for over two thousand settlement units in the West Bank including East Jerusalem. If implemented, these plans would further jeopardize the prospect of a contiguous and viable future Palestinian state.”   ___The EU stressed that it strongly opposes Israel’s settlement policy, saying that the policy is illegal under international law and an obstacle to peace.   More. . .
ASHRAWI:  ‘ISRAEL  SEEKS  NOT  ONLY  TO  DEFY  BUT  TO  DEFEAT  THE  WHOLE  WORLD’
Member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee Hanan Ashrawi strongly condemned, on Thursday, “Israel’s expansion of illegal settlement enterprise on stolen Palestinian land.”   ___In her statement, Ashrawi said that “in response to media inquiries concerning the approval by Israel’s Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration to construct 2,000 illegal settlement units in the occupied West Bank, as well as the authorization of the Jerusalem ‘Municipality’ and the Israel Land Administration to build 20,000 settlement units in occupied Jerusalem.”   ___”In a blatant disregard for and violation of international law and conventions, as well as United Nations Security Council resolutions and the basic requirements of stability and peace, Israel persists in its illegal policies and oppressive measures in favor of its extremist settler population and colonial project.”    More. . .
See also:  Erekat: “Israel’s Illegal Expansion Of Colonies, Direct Outcome of American Greed.”
HAMAS  PURSUES  TRUCE  WITH  ISRAEL,  BUT  NOT  ALL  FACTIONS  APPROVE     Flare-ups earlier this month between the Israeli army and Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip seemed likely to escalate into an expanded war were it not for the Egypt-brokered cease-fire in place. Instead, Hamas and Israel are close to reaching a genuine truce that could last for years. . .    ___A real truce, however, will require the PLO’s blessing and the participation of various factions besides Hamas. . . .    ___ Egypt and the UN are trying to mediate a long-term agreement between Israel and Hamas. The quest started July 26 with Nickolay Mladenov, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, visiting first the Gaza Strip to meet with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and then Israel, where he met with Israeli officials.   More. . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

ISRAEL  CONTINUES  TO  MISTREAT  RELATIVES  OF  THOUSANDS  OF  PALESTINIANS  HELD  ILLEGALLY  IN  ITS  TERRITORY
According to figures from the Israel Prison Service (IPS), on 30 June 2018 Israel was holding some 5,300 Palestinian residents of the West Bank as security detainees or prisoners in incarceration facilities. With the exception of Ofer Prison, all the facilities used to hold Palestinians are located inside Israel.    ___Residents of the West Bank who wish to visit their loved ones have to overcome bureaucratic hurdles in order to secure permission from the relevant authorities – the Civil Administration, the IPS and the Israel Security Agency (ISA). After permission is received, the visits themselves entail a long day of traveling due to countless inspections and protracted delays.   More. . .

JERUSALEM  IN  MAPS  from THE  APPLIED  RESEARCH  INSTITUTE  –  JERUSALEM  (ARIJ).     Presents a series of maps showing the changing boundaries of the Occupation in Jerusalem from 1948 to the present.   More. . .

PALESTINIAN  DANCER  FROM  BELGIUM  JAILED  BY  ISRAEL 
There is growing concern in Belgium for a Palestinian refugee and dancer who was detained by Israeli authorities as he tried to enter the occupied West Bank from Jordan a month ago.   ___Mustapha Awad, who was born in Ein al-Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon, has been granted refugee status and citizenship in Belgium. . . .   ___According to Samidoun, Awad appeared in court on 16 August, and was then returned to an Israeli interrogation center.   ___“My client was arrested at a frontier post for belonging to a terrorist organization, something he firmly denies,” Awad’s Belgian lawyer told media last Friday.    ___The 36-year-old Awad is the co-founder of Raj’een, a Palestinian folk dance group.   More. . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .

THE  PALESTINIAN  CAUSE  ON  WORLD  HUMANITARIAN  DAY     August 19, 2018
There are almost no limits to the pleasure of giving, and there is a great deal of satisfaction to be gained when it is related to taking happiness into the hearts of others. This is, without doubt, one of the benefits of involvement in charitable and humanitarian work. . . .    ___ The Palestinian cause remains one of the most prominent and important of contemporary issues. . . .   ___ The Palestinian cause in general and the siege of Gaza, in particular, are gaining the support of free people around the world, but more must be done. . . .   ___Humanitarian work, therefore, is an essential component of the struggle for Palestinian rights; for justice; and for peace.   More. . .

A LIMITED SAMPLE OF HUMANITARIAN CAUSES IN AND FOR PALESTINE
UNRWA USA  –  United Nations Relief and Works Agency
Charities & Non Profit Organizations In Gaza Palestine
Islamic Relief USA
Bright Stars of Bethlehem  Donate
KINDER USA – Kids in Need of Development, Education, and Relief
Palestine Institute Of Biodiversity And Sustainability 

“POEM  TO  JERUSALEM,”  BY  HARUN  HASHIM  RASHEED  
For the sake of a city that’s imprisoned,
for its Dome and Aqsa Mosque,
for the annihilated sanctuary
where Muhammad’s feet once stood,
for all this city has endured,
and for all it has preserved,
for Mary and Jesus,
for all the beings she has known,
for my city’s sake,
raped and abused,
on its wounded brow
God’s words are effaced.

I call on all our dead
and all our living
with verses from the Bible
if only they could hear
with verses from the Quran
in the name of God
calling the young among them and the very old
calling them from my depths
to every brave fighter
I tell them the struggle is for Jerusalem
I call on them to resolve and have faith
tell them how Jerusalem’s sanctity is wounded
I call upon them all to help Jerusalem
She cannot wait any longer,
she overflows with grief.

From the Atlantic to the Arabian Gulf
I call upon you in the name of God
with the purity of anger I beseech you
for the city with the humiliated eyes
I call you in your name,
I call my Arab people.
―translated by Sharif Elmusa and Naomi Shihab Nye

“. . . my aim was to declare that the day . . .” (Ahmad Dahbour)

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SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY

[Note: “See also” indicates a related story rather than additions to the linked story.]

ISRAELI  SETTLERS  RAID,  VANDALIZE  PROPERTY  IN  NABLUS
A group of Israeli settlers raided a number of Palestinian homes and vandalized vehicles, on Thursday, in the Urif village in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus.   ___Ghassan Daghlas, an official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma’an that Israeli settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar stormed the Urif village and raided several Palestinian homes in the eastern part of the village.   More. . .  See also. . .
ISRAELI  FORCES  TO  DEMOLISH  PALESTINIAN  HOUSE  SOUTH  OF  BETHLEHEM    Israeli forces Wednesday delivered a demolition order for a Palestinian house in al-Khader village, south of Bethlehem, said a local activist.   ___Hassan Breijah, Coordinator of Anti-Wall and Settlement Committee, said that Israeli forces raided the town and handed Sameeh Ahmad Salah an order to demolish his house. . . under the pretense of unlicensed building. . . . in the southern section of the town, known as Khirbet ‘Alya. . .    ___He pointed out that the planned demolition is connected with an Israeli plan to construct a settler-only bypass road that would serve as a northern entrance to Efrat settlement.   More. . .
ISRAEL  ALLOWS  HUNDREDS  OF  THOUSANDS  OF  SETTLERS  TO  CARRY  GUNS      Israel’s Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan stated that Israel has eased the criteria for the obtainment of personal gun permits, Israel Hayom reported.   ___The move is expected to lead to hundreds of thousands of Israelis applying for a license.   ___The law is for new license applicants and holders of existing licenses, according to the sources.   More. . .
ONE  OF  PALESTINE’S  MOST  POPULAR  JOURNALISTS  IS  IN  JAIL  FOR  INCITEMENT
Oren Ziv
Ali Dar Ali was arrested for two posts he published on Facebook. But the prosecution and the judge are far more concerned with his large following than the content of the posts.    ___Israeli forces arrested Ali Dar Ali, one of the most renowned Palestinian journalists in the West Bank, at his home near Ramallah last week, for incitement to violence. . . .   ___Ali, who has been working for Palestinian television since 2007, is known for broadcasting live from demonstrations in the occupied territories, where he routinely documents clashes between young Palestinians and the army, as well as IDF raids on villages. Often times, he is the only journalist that covers these events as they unfold, and thus is able to document daily life under occupation from up close.   More. . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION

EMBATTLED  TRUMP  STARTLES  ISRAEL  BY  DEMANDING  ‘HIGHER  PRICE’  FOR  HIS  DELUSIONAL  ACHIEVEMENTS  ON  JERUSALEM  The president’s claim that the future of the city was off the table is a mix of balderdash and poppycock wrapped in pure rubbish
Chemi Shalev
Donald Trump starred in the main headlines in Israel on Wednesday morning, just as he did in the United States, but for completely different reasons. Americans were reeling. . .   Israelis, on the other hand, were more flabbergasted by a few sentences that Trump uttered, intentionally or inadvertently, in his campaign-style rally in West Virginia.   ___The term that grabbed people was “higher price.” Israel would have to pay a “higher price,” Trump said, in return for his decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. It’s the Palestinians’ turn, he said in his typical third-grade lingo, “to get something good.”   More. . .

IN  RESPONSE  TO  TRUMP  STATEMENT :  EREKAT  SAYS  THERE  IS  NO  PRICE  FOR  JERUSALEM
Secretary of the Executive Committee for Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Dr. Saeb Erekat, responded to US President Donald Trump and his National Security Advisor John Bolton statements about the removal of  Jerusalem from the negotiating table in the future by saying that there is no price for Jerusalem”.   ___Erekat added in his respons PNN received by Email that without East Jerusalem including Holy Haram, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, its old town and its walls as Palestaine capital there will be no meaning of Palestinian state”.   ___He added that Trump, Bolton and Netanyahu must understand that there will no peace without East Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Palestine on the 1967 borders.   More. . .

ISRAELI  RESTRICTIONS  STRANGLE  GAZA’S  CANCER  PATIENTS
Ahmad Kabariti
For the fourth time in two months, Nevin Abu El-Jidian failed to cross the Erez checkpoint, which separates the Gaza Strip from Israel and the West Bank. Israeli authorities asked her to come back again with an updated radiograph of her breast cancer. “The officer told me I have to go back to Gaza and take an updated one.” But, even then, passage into Israel is not guaranteed, the officer told her.    ___[. . . .] According to testimony collected by the Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, officers at the Erez crossing often exploit vulnerable patients to obtain information, forcing them to inform on friends and family. Refusal to collaborate results in denying passage to these patients.   More. . . See also. . .

THE  LANGUAGE  OF  PALESTINIAN  FREEDOM
Steven Salaita
Ash Sarkar, of “I’m literally a communist” fame, recently set Palestine Twitter ablaze with an unusual pronouncement: “. . . I’m making a decision to try and speak of Palestinians’ right to protection and self-defence rather than resistance.”   ___ Reaction against this message was swift. . . Palestinian critics, many of whom patiently explained the importance of terms like “resistance.”  ___[. . . .] “Resistance” doesn’t simply denote obstinacy; it connotes political and economic self-realization. “Fighting” isn’t an irrational desire to inflict harm; it is a necessary survival mechanism.  The colony cannot maintain its endurance without antagonism.   More. . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS

SABEEL  ECUMENICAL  LIBERATION  THEOLOGY  CENTER  (JERUSALEM)
Fall Witness Visit: October 30th – November 7th
Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center invites you to join us for 9 nights to experience the reality of life in today’s Holy Land. . .    ___Meet and reflect with Palestinian Christians and Muslims as well as with Jewish Israelis and internationals who partner with Sabeel in non-violent resistance against the violation of international and humanitarian law   More. . .
AUGUST  24TH  REPORT  FROM  THE  FRONTLINES:  USPCN’S  DELEGATION  TO  PALESTINE  (CHICAGO)
Attend this report back of the first USPCN delegation in eight years! Muhammad Sankari, Bassem Kawar, and Danya Zituni are the featured presenters.   More. . .

“OUR  COUNTRY,”  BY  AHMAD DAHBOUR
Who is it calls like this?
Who are you, Sir?
It was as if I had heard a voice that knew me, and perhaps for
you it was the same? Or am I mistaken? If I am, I ask your
forgiveness, Sir. For what reason do you think I would contrive
this dialogue? Believe me, I have no ulterior motive. But
let us assume I have faked this dialogue; my aim was to
declare that the day . . . Please listen, and don’t go away.
On our land exists a wall which we would like to have converted
into a room, only we weren’t granted building permission.
What can I say? Are these utensils sold in the market place?

Do you think that I am in the secret police? Then why are you
afraid of me? I’m only interested in words. So let it go if
I expressed myself badly. It is my country.
Don’t we have the right here to shake hands?
To form a friendship of sorts?
An adversary? A pal who forgives?
Or a passer-by who calls our name?
Don’t we have that right?
Isn’t it our country?
Did you hear a voice? Who is it that calls like this?
Who is it who calls our name?
—Trans. Lena Jayyusi and Jeremy Reed
—From Anthology of Modern Palestinian Literature, Columbia University Press, 1992.

“You bereaved me from the light . . .” (Fouzi El-Asmar)

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IMG_3055 - Copy
Entrance to Ofer Prison, between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 5, 2015.


SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY   

ISRAEL  TO  BUILD  650  NEW  SETTLEMENT  UNITS  IN  WEST  BANK
The Israeli government decided on Tuesday to build 650 new settlement units, for the benefit of expanding the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit El, one of the biggest settlements, located in the central occupied West Bank district of Ramallah.   ___A Hebrew-language news outlet reported that the Israeli government decided to build the 650 new settlement units along with another 296 units, which had been previously approved for Beit El.   ___The Israeli government reportedly justified the illegal Israeli settlement expansion as a “compensation” to Israeli settlers who were removed from their settlement outposts of Olbana in 2012 and Darinov in 2015.   More. . .
AFTER  SLAYING,  ARABS  BLAME  APATHETIC  POLICE  IN  ISRAEL
Rasha Abou Jalal
Protests continue in the Arab city of Baqa al-Gharbiyye in northern Israel, with citizens accusing Israeli police of neglecting their duty to protect citizens there. Demonstrations began Aug. 11 when one or more unidentified assailants killed local businessman Ahmad Athamneh, 40, and wounded another man.     ___Since Athamneh’s shooting, residents demonstrated for the third time Aug. 17 in front of a mosque to protest the prevalence of crime in their city. The protesters demanded that the Israeli police do their job: Arrest the perpetrators and fight violence in the Arab community.    More. . .
CAMPAIGN    FORCES    ISRAEL’S    ZIM    TO    HALT    SHIPMENTS    TO    TUNISIA        Ali Abunimah 
Palestinians are hailing a campaign that has led Israel’s Zim shipping line to halt its routes to Tunisia.   ___“Zim was forced to indefinitely suspend its services to the Tunisian port of Radès following a popular and trade union boycott campaign in Tunisia and the Arab world,” the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) said on Sunday.   ___The BNC is the steering group for the worldwide boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement that aims to pressure Israel to end its violations of Palestinian rights.   ___The BNC called this “the first victory of its kind in the Arab world.”   More. . .
PALESTINIAN  PRISONER  STATISTICS,  JULY  2018.
Total number of political prisoners – 5820. Administrative detainees – 446.  Child prisoners – 270.  More. . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION

SAMIDOUN  SOLIDARITY  STATEMENT  WITH  THE  U.S.  NATIONAL  #PRISONSTRIKE
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network stands in solidarity with the National Prison Strike launching on 21 August in jails across the United States. This important struggle, involving work stoppages, sit-ins, boycotts and even hunger strikes, is a critical confrontation of racism, capitalism and oppression taking place in the center of the U.S. prison system.   ___The dates of the strike are not accidental; instead, they underline the political legacies that have inspired and continue to push forward the movement. August 21 marks the 47th anniversary of the assassination of imprisoned revolutionary and Black Panther George Jackson.  More. . .

NO  POWER,  NO  SUPPLIES,  NO  WAY  OUT:  A  YEAR  WITHOUT  THE  RIGHT  TO  HEALTH  IN  THE  GAZA  STRIP  (Mar 02, 2018)
Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP)
[. . . .] Instead of advancing, medical care and access in the Gaza Strip is moving backwards, against time. Ten years of Israel’s air, land and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip has played a strong hand in this de-development, bottlenecking the entering stream of both material and human resources into a weak trickle.   ___Current best practice may not even be in reach in the Gaza Strip, where the blockade has seen shelves wiped clean of some pharmaceutical drugs and supply cupboards sit empty. Even during periods of easement, goals often only reach as high as restocking, replacing parts of worn out equipment, or rebuilding bombed buildings.   More. . .

IT TOOK ME THREE DECADES TO DRIVE ONE HOUR FROM GAZA TO JERUSALEM     Abier Almasri
Earlier this year, the Israeli army gave me a permit to leave the 11-by-40 kilometer Gaza Strip for the first time in my life and travel to the United States for work. Last month, I left again – this time, to see the rest of Palestine and Israel. The one-hour trip from the Israel-Gaza crossing to Jerusalem felt like a journey to a distant world.   ___I have always dreamed of smelling Jerusalem’s air and hearing the call to prayer ring from its mosques. When the prospect of traveling there was still a distant dream, I told a colleague, “I just hope to have the chance to pray in al-Aqsa Mosque before I die.”    More. . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS   

EYEWITNESS  PALESTINE:  JOURNEYS  FOR  JUSTICE  WITH  PALESTINIAN  AND  ISRAELI  PEACE-BUILDERS
UPCOMING DELEGATIONS    There’s only one way to truly understand the realities of Palestine/Israel – through the eyes of those who live there. Palestinians and Israelis welcome us into their homes, offices, and places of worship to learn from them about their lives. Are you ready for an unforgettable journey for justice?   More. . .

“I  AM  THE  SON  OF  THE  LAND,”  BY  FOUZI  EL  ASMAR

You may take my hands
and lock them in your chains
You may also blindfold me.

You bereaved me
from the light
and I marched
You robbed me
of the bread
and I ate.
You plundered the land
from me
and I ploughed.

I am the son of the land
and for that
I find goodness in this earth
anywhere I happen to be:
The ants of this land
feed me
The branches of this land
foster me
The eagles of this land
will shield my open revolt

Yes
You may take my hands
And lock them in your chains
You may also blindfold me
But here I will stand tall
And here I shall remain
until the very end. (April 1970)

–From: El Azmar, Fouzi. POEMS  FROM  AN  ISRAELI  PRISON.  KNOW Books, 1973.

“. . . with nothing left but a graceful farewell . . .” (Mourid Barghouti)

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SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY  

ISRAELI   SOLDIERS   KILL   A   PALESTINIAN   IN   NORTHERN   GAZA
Israeli soldiers killed, on Monday morning, a young Palestinian man near the parameter fence, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.     ___The Israeli army said its opened fire at a Palestinian, who reportedly opened fired at the soldiers in northern Gaza, and killed him. The army said no soldiers were injured.    More.
PPS:   “ISRAELI   SOLDIERS   ABDUCT   14   PALESTINIANS   IN   THE   WEST  BANK”
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) has reported that Israeli soldiers abducted, on Monday at dawn, fourteen Palestinians, including a former political prisoner who was imprisoned for 15 years, in several parts of the occupied West Bank.   ___The PPS office in Nablus, in northern West Bank, said the soldiers invaded the al-Ein neighborhood and Younis Street, on the western entrances of the city, searched homes and abducted Wafa Damouni, a former political prisoner, who was detained for 15 years.   More. . .
ISRAELI   FORCES   REMOVE   TENT,   ASSAULT   PALESTINIAN   IN   HEBRON
Israeli settlers, escorted by Israeli soldiers, removed a tent and assaulted a Palestinian man in the Masafer Yatta village, in southern Hebron in the southern West Bank.   ___Rateb al-Jbour, coordinator of the National and Popular Committee in southern Hebron, told the Palestinian Authority (PA)-owned Wafa News Agency that Israeli soldiers and settlers raided Masafer Yatta where a Palestinians identified as Youssef Abu Arram had set up a tent to shelter his family until a wooden room, that he was building to replace the tent, was ready, took down the tent and confiscated his construction material and wood.   More. . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION  

FIGHTING  THE  DOUBLE  STANDARD:  PALESTINIANS  FILE  CASE  TO  DEMOLISH  ILLEGAL  SETTLEMENT  HOMES
Yumna Patel
As the long-fought battle to save the village of Khan al-Ahmar from demolition continues, another fight is taking place on the sidelines — one that could have life changing effects on the fate of the Bedouins in Khan al-Ahmar, and the future of the occupied West Bank.  ___Two Ramallah-area Palestinian villages — Deir Dibwan and Anata — have filed a case in the Israeli High Court, asking Israeli authorities to demolish illegal structures in the Israeli settlement of Kfar Adumim — the same settlement which has ceaselessly pushed for the state’s decision to demolish Khan al-Ahmar.   ___The villagers are arguing for the demolition of some 120 homes and structures and four outposts in Kfar Adumim which were built without permits from Israeli authorities and lie outside of the planned borders of the settlement.   More. . .

DETERIORATION    OF    ECONOMIC    AND    LIVING    CONDITIONS    FOR    AROUND    4000    FISHERMEN;    ISRAELI    AUTHORITIES    CONTINUE    ITS    NAVAL    BLOCKADE    AND    ATTACKS    AGAINST    THE    GAZA    STRIP    FISHERMEN       
For the fifth week, Israeli authorities continue its naval blockade on the Gaza Strip, through reducing the fishing area to 3 nautical miles adjacent to the Gaza Strip shores. As a result, the economic and living conditions of fishermen were deteriorated and they suffered great losses, due to restricting their movement and denying them access to areas where fish breed.   ___Decreasing the fishing area caused great losses to about 4000 fishermen and 1500 workers in professions that are associated with fishing in the Gaza Strip. The fishermen were banned from sailing for more than 3 nautical miles and practice their normal profession, while a limited number of fishermen practiced their profession in the distances that were set by the Israeli authorities where the fish don’t not breed.   More. . .

ASSOCIATED  PRESS  DOUBLE  STANDARD  IN  ISRAEL-PALESTINE  REPORTING
Kathryn Shihadah and Alison Weir
Associated Press is one of those news sources we expect to be objective and reliable. But when it comes to the subject of Israel-Palestine, things are not always as they seem. . . .   But a study of news reports so far in 2018 indicates that this trusted news source has been presenting the deaths of Israelis at the hands of Palestinians, and of Palestinians at the hands of Israelis, in two completely different ways.   ___This pattern may be a factor in how readers perceive the players in this decades-old issue. It is also, quite likely, a factor in how editors all over the U.S., who read AP stories daily, view the conflict.  More. . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS
[Note: The following is about, not from, an organization. The piece is used partly as an opportunity to include a link to the way pro-Israel groups discredit Palestinian organizations.]
WCLAC  MEETS  WITH  THE  AUSTRALIAN  HEAD  OF  THE  MISSION    (WOMEN’S  CENTRE  FOR  LEGAL  AID  AND  COUNSELLING)     On August 2nd, WCLAC’s General Director Miss. Randa Siniora and WCLAC’s Programmes Director Ms. Amal AbuSrour met with the Australian Head of the Mission Mis. Marcia Pius at WCLAC’s Ramallah office and briefed her on WCLAC’s general work. The aim of the visit is to learn more on the overall human rights and humanitarian situation in the oPt, the lives of Palestinians, and the impact of the Israeli occupation on women especially in Gaza and East Jerusalem.  
 More. . .
SUPPLEMENTAL  INFORMATION:  A PRO- ISRAEL  ANALYSIS  OF  THE  CENTRE      More. . .

“IT’S  ALSO  FINE,”  by  MOURID  BARGHOUTI

It’s also fine to die in our beds
on a clean pillow
and among our friends.
It’s fine to die, once,
our hands crossed on our chests,
empty and pale,
with no scratches, no chains, no banners,
and no petitions.
It’s fine to have a clean death,
with no holes in our shirts,
and no evidence in our ribs.
It’s fine to die
with a white pillow, not the pavement, under our cheek,
with our hands resting in those of our loved ones,
surrounded by desperate doctors and nurses,
with nothing left but a graceful farewell,
paying no attention to history,
leaving this world as it is,
hoping that, someday, someone else
will change it.
—From MIDNIGHT AND OTHER POEMS, Arc Publications, 2008

“. . . the globe that’s standing In silence and mourning . . .” (Samih Al-Qasim)

Harold KnightLeave a comment

[Note: Please see the page “Other Sources” for a list of the sources used that are not specifically “news” sites, the location of most opinion pieces here.]  

IMG_3372 - Copy
Early Sunday morning, Beit Jala, Governate of Bethlehem, Nov. 8, 2015. Photo: Harold Knight.

SELECTED  NEWS  OF  THE  DAY    

ISRAEL  APPROVES  NEW  SETTLEMENT  UNITS  NEAR  BETHLEHEM
The Israeli authorities approved the construction of new settlement units in the illegal Israeli settlement of Efrat, in southern Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.   ___Activist Hassan Breijieh said, on Monday, that Israeli settlers of Efrat rejected a plan, previously approved by the Israeli civil Administration’s Higher Planning Council, to construct 40 new housing units in the settlement and demanded the construction of 106 units; their demand has been approved by the council.  More.
ISRAEL’S  INTENTION  TO  ANNEX  THE  WEST  BANK  REVEALED
Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, warned on Monday that the Israeli government’s response to the petition, filed to the Israeli Supreme Court, signals Israel’s intention to proceed with annexation of the occupied West Bank.   ___The Israeli government submitted legal materials to the Israeli Supreme Court declaring that “the Knesset (Israeli parliament) is permitted to legislate laws everywhere in the world and it is authorized to violate the sovereignty of foreign countries via legislation that would be applied to events occurring in their territories.”   ___This statement was declared on August 7th in a written response, which the Israeli government had submitted to the Israeli Supreme Court. . .  More.
URI  AVNERY  –  1923-2018.  HIS  OPPONENTS  WILL  ULTIMATELY  HAVE  TO  FOLLOW  IN  HIS  FOOTSTEPS
Gush Shalom grieves and mourns the passing of its founder, Uri Avnery. Until the last moment he continued the way he had traveled all his life. On Saturday, two weeks ago, he collapsed in his home when he was about to leave for the Rabin Square and attend a demonstration against the “Nation State Law”, a few hours after he wrote a sharp article against that law.     ___Avnery devoted himself entirely to the struggle to achieve peace between the State of Israel and the Palestinian people in their independent state, as well as between Israel and the Arab and Muslim World.   More.

COMMENTARY  AND  OPINION    

HUMANITARIAN  AID  AND  RHETORIC  SERVE  INTERESTS  OF  THE  ISRAELI  OPPRESSORS
Ramona Wadi    
There has been yet another instance where the UN has preferred to try to predict the future instead of acknowledging the current deterioration in Gaza with the aim of permanently reversing colonialism. Israel has yet again refused the entry of fuel into the enclave which is needed to power emergency generators and provide some relief for the power cuts suffered by the Palestinian people.   ___The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories (OCHAoPt) quoted Humanitarian Coordinator Jamie McGoldrick:   ___“The well-being of two million people, half of whom are children, is at stake. It is unacceptable that Palestinians in Gaza are repeatedly deprived of the most basic elements of a dignified life.”  More.

TRAFFIC  POLICEWOMEN,  A  FIRST  FOR  BETHLEHEM
Entsar Abu Jahal
Female police officers participated Aug. 5 for the first time in organizing traffic in the streets of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank alongside their male peers, to facilitate citizens’ movement.    ___This move comes as part of a program the West Bank police had launched earlier this year to promote women’s participation in the traffic police force and help ease the workload of traffic policemen. Women’s participation in managing traffic on the streets of Bethlehem confirms Palestinian women’s ability to work and confront male social perspective undermining them and prohibiting them from taking positions that men monopolize.  More.

THE  LEGAL  BARRAGE:  GAZANS  AND  THEIR  INDEFINITE  DETENTION
For the eleventh year, Gaza continues to be the world’s largest prison. Imports and entrance to the Strip are restricted; exports and exit permits are dependent on the political climate; and the people of Gaza are the ones who continue to pay the price. Sporadic attacks, and shellings have been ongoing since 2008, with the occupation forces demonstrating a clear disregard for the lives of these already impoverished civilians.[1] In addition to the death of 136 Palestinians in Gaza since March 30, as of 7 July 2018, there have been 81 individuals arrested since the beginning of the year.[2]   More.

ISRAEL  LOBBY  GROUP  J  STREET  WITHDRAWS  RASHIDA  TLAIB  ENDORSEMENT
Ali Abunimah  
The Israel lobby group J Street has withdrawn its endorsement from Rashida Tlaib.   ___“After closely consulting with Rashida Tlaib’s campaign to clarify her most current views on various aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we have come to the unfortunate conclusion that a significant divergence in perspectives requires JStreetPAC to withdraw our endorsement of her candidacy,” J Street announced on Friday. . . . Amid mounting controversy, Tlaib at first evaded giving a clear explanation of the J Street endorsement, which she herself had reportedly “sought out”. . .  But on Tuesday, Tlaib made a clear break with the Israel lobby group.  More.

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS

MUSEUM  OF  THE  PALESTINIAN  PEOPLE,  WASHINGTON,  DC
–A Night of Palestinian Hospitality – Fundraising Dinner at the Tabard Inn, September 24
KINDER USA – Donate

“THE GLOBE II”, by SAMIH AL-QASIM

I stand for a moment of silence and mourning
In memory of the globe.
Or is it the globe that’s standing
In silence and mourning in memory of me?
That is the question . . .
So long.

From Sadder Than Water, Ibis Editions, 2006
(Posted to mark the death of Uri Avnery)