A Bedouin woman after authorities demolished her village of Al Araqeeb,
January 16, 2011 (Keren Manor/Activestills.org)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .
|    5  PALESTINIANS  KILLED,  HUNDREDS  INJURED  DURING  GAZA  PROTESTS
The total number of those killed during the 31st Friday of “The Great March of Return” rose to five Palestinians killed and more than 232 injured alongside the eastern borders of the besieged Gaza Strip.    ____According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, Israeli forces fired live bullets and rubber-coated steel bullets, as well as tear-gas bombs at Palestinian protesters, who gathered along the Gaza border, killing five protesters and injuring hundreds.    [. . . .] Since the start of the protests on March 30th, more than 205 Palestinians have been killed and over 22,000 others were injured along the Gaza border by Israeli forces.    More . . .
. . . . Related  Israel  targets  Gaza’s  children,  say  witnesse
. . . . Related  Schools  suspended  in  parts  of  Gaza  as  Israeli  warplanes  intensify  airstrikes
. . . . Related  Gaza  Is  At  The  Forefront  Of  Palestine’s  Pain
. . . . Related  Hamas  warns  against  [Mahmoud  Abbas]  undermining  reconciliation  and  ceasefire,  Great  Return  March  to  continue
|    ISRAEL  DEMOLISHES  AL-ARAQEEB  FOR  135TH  TIME,  ARRESTS  RESIDENTS
Israeli forces have demolished the village of Al-Araqeeb in the occupied Negev desert for the 135th time, local sources reported yesterday.    ___Al-Araqeeb’s residents told Arab48 that Israeli bulldozers, reinforced and protected by the occupation forces, stormed the village and proceeded to demolish all the Palestinian houses and tents there, displacing women and children despite the “cold weather and rain”.    More . . .
|    HOME  DEMOLITIONS  IN  THE  NEGEV  AND  TEL  AVIV  SHOW  THE  REAL  FACE  OF  GOVERNMENT  CORRUPTION       Orly Noy     Corruption does not begin with Netanyahu’s cigars or pink champagne. It begins with an ideological system that sees entire segments of the population as undesirable and unnecessary, and as temporary residents in their own homes.    More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|    WHY  ISRAEL  SEES  BDS  AS  A  ‘STRATEGIC  THREAT’    As leaders of a state that is totally alien to the region and its indigenous peoples, Israeli political and military planners are obsessed with what they term “strategic threats”.    ___Such “threats” have varied over the years. The prime targets have included former Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser, the Palestine Liberation Organisation and, since 1988, Hamas, Palestine’s Islamic liberation movement.    ___The PLO, “the Hamas” (or “the Khamas” as Israeli leaders constantly – and wholly incorrectly – insist on naming it) have been joined in the last decade or so by “the BDS” – the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.    More . . .
|     ISRAEL’S  $72M  WAR  CHEST  TO  FIGHT  BDS  COMES  TO  BRUSSELS     In its ongoing battle against the  international  Boycott,  Divestment  and  Sanctions  (BDS)  campaign  Israel is pushing for European political parties to declare the movement “fundamentally anti-Semitic”.    ___The latest drive saw Israel’s Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, Ze’ev Elkin, attending a conference in Brussels backed by the Israeli government which proposed a text for prospective MEPs and political parties to sign up to before European elections in May next year.    More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .
|    BDS  CAMPAIGN   The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement works to end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law.    Get Involved . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“CEASEFIRE,”  BY  JEHAN  BSEISO.

Little men, cross legged, trade war stories like boys trade baseball cards.

These are times ripe and full with want and promise never fulfilled.

This much is true:
Lost boys become lost men.

Too much water, too much blood dilutes history and
We always end up with less than what we started.

In Gaza,
There is no legacy under the rubble, no pride in long fires
Burning.

There is a face at the window, sallow.

One woman sighing, her body bears the marks of all their trudging,
thighs transformed to gallows and trenches.

Her hair shrouds the dead from both sides and her lap
cradles aporias generations can’t understand.

—from I  REMEMBER  MY  NAME.  Novum Pro Publishers. 2016.