SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

REPORT:  SETTLEMENT  ACTIVITIES  ESCALATED,  PARTICULARLY  IN  JERUSALEM  AND  JORDAN  VALLEY 
In his weekly report on Israel’s settlement activities in the West Bank, the National Office for the Defending Land and Resisting Settlements (NBPRS) reported, that  Israel’s settlement activities cover all the West Bank governorates encouraged by the US, and the absence of the international accountability. The Netanyahu government continues its grave violations of international law that amount to war crimes through demolishing and displacing the Palestinians, and at the same time legitimizing settlement outposts and confiscating Palestinian land the last of which a plan no 3/515, which aims to expand the settlement of Tina by building 135 new settlement units on 260 dunums of the lands of the Dahiriya town.    More . . .

ISRAEL  IMPOSES  8  DAY  CLOSURE  ON  WEST  BANK,  GAZA
The Israeli authorities declared an 8-day closure on the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip starting late Sunday until next Monday, the first of October, for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.    ___The Israeli army spokesperson confirmed that the closure will be lifted off the West Bank on Monday, September 24th night but would be imposed again on Thursday night until October 1st.    ___Crossings with the Gaza Strip would remain closed until October 1st.    ___This is the third closure imposed on the West Bank and Gaza in the month of September. . .     More . . .

ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  KILL  A  PALESTINIAN  IN  GAZA
The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported that Israeli soldiers killed, on Sunday evening, a young Palestinian man, and injured at least 20 others, including one medic, along the eastern part of the besieged Gaza Strip.    ___Dr. Ashraf al-Qedra, the spokesperson of the Health Ministry in Gaza, said the soldiers shot Emad Daoud Eshteiwi, 21, with a live round in the head, east of Gaza city, and moderately injured a medic in the leg.    ___He added that the soldiers also shot twenty Palestinians with live rounds . . .    More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

ABBAS  ARRIVES  IN  NEW  YORK  FOR  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY  MEETING
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived Sunday to New York, in the United States, to participate in the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly, amidst calls from pro-Israel lobbying organizations that the U.S. should deny Abbas entry into the US.    ___President Abbas will be delivering a speech this coming Thursday, and also intends to hold many meetings with world leaders and international delegations participating in the General Assembly sessions.    ___He is accompanied by the Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Dr. Saeb Erekat, Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Ziad Abu Amro, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki . . .    More . . .
Related . . .    Premier  to  tell  AHLC  meeting  ending  Israeli  occupation  answer  to  economic  growth
Related . . .    Italian  motorcycle  rally  in  solidarity  with  Palestinians
Related . . .    Japan  funds  project  for  additional  classrooms  in  Salfit  village
Related . . .    Jordan  takes  steps  to  support  Jerusalem’s  Palestinians

EXPLOITING  GAZA  TOPS  THE  UN’S  HUMANITARIAN  AGENDA 
What would prompt the UN to assert, without reservations or calculated statements, that Gaza has collapsed in terms of humanitarian necessities? So far, the international organization has relied on projecting extended time frames; the result being that Gaza was forced into a currently irreversible situation while the UN saves face, or believes it does, by stepping in at its designated intervals.    ___On Monday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory announced through a press release that it was releasing $1 million “to prevent the collapse of life-saving services in the Gaza Strip”.    [. . . .] The funding crisis exacerbates the humanitarian situation because the political intent is to maintain the continuation of violating human rights. In its previous warning of the impending collapse in services, there is no mention of Israel.    More . . .
Related . . .   LACK  OF  MEDICATIONS  THREATENS  LIVES  OF  425  KIDNEY  PATIENTS  [GAZA]

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS . . . 

THE  PALESTINIAN  ASSOCIATION  FOR  EMPOWERMENT  AND  LOCAL  DEVELOPMENT-REFORM     REFORM strives for a society where everyone has the capacity to participate effectively, individual and collective rights are respected, and pluralism is ensured in an independent Palestinian state.   Donate . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

OCCUPATION,”  BY  MAJID  ABU  GHOUSH
Occupied Ramallah 17/11/06

Strange days cast dour shadows
Dusk. The fragrance of death
on a windowsill.
In the lingering heat
an impossible burden weighs
down on eyelids and chest;
the throat aches, the spine throbs.

Rose petals all tarnished with foul dust
from the poisoned world.
Black limousines sail past, flying
the skull and crossbones.
The grave yawns open early,
nightmares never leave.
Death squads. Detention camps.

Somewhere, an oud
pronounces its sad chords.
The invaders smile; tap their feet.
―Translated by John Glenday

Majid Abu Ghoush is prolific poet and novelist, a member of the secretariat of the General Union of Palestinian Writers, and a founding member of Poets Without Borders, Palestine.
From A BIRD IS NOT A STONE: AN  ANTHOLOGY  OF  CONTEMPORARY  PALESTINIAN  POETRY.  Ed. by Henry Bell and Sarah Irving. (Glasgow: Freight Books, 2014).