SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .      
| PALESTINIAN  SHOT,  KILLED  AFTER  JERUSALEM  STABBING  ATTACK
A Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem after carrying out a stabbing attack, predawn Thursday.   ___Witnesses told a Ma’an reporter that Israeli forces opened fire at a Palestinian youth identified as Majd Jamal Mteir, 25, at around 5:00 a.m., critically injuring him, in the al-Wad Street of the Old City of Jerusalem.   [. . . .] Mteir stabbed two Israeli police officers deployed in the al-Wad Street, a female police officer whose injury was reported as moderate and a policeman whose injury was reported as light.     More . . .
. . . . Related  BREAKING:  ISRAEL  IMPOSES  FULL  MILITARY  CLOSURE  ON  RAMALLAH
. . . . Related  2 Israelis [SETTLERS]  killed, 2 critically injured in shooting attack in Ramallah
. . . . Related  2 months later: Israel executes Palestinian attack suspect
. . . . Related  Ashrawi: Israeli field executions and organized terrorism require international action
. . . . Related  Clashes erupt as Israeli forces assault family of Palestinian attacker
|  ISRAELI  MINISTER  TOURS  WEST  BANK  SETTLEMENTS:  ‘WE  ARE  HERE  TO  WIN’ 
Israeli minister Ofir Akunis toured Israeli settlements yesterday and “declared his support” for the annexation of the so-called Gush Etzion settlement “bloc” and “Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] in general”, reported right-wing news outlet Arutz Sheva.    [. . . .] Akunis described the Gush Etzion settlement bloc as, “One of the foundations of our people dating back thousands of years, and anyone who disputes this right is wrong”.  He declared:  “As we have been forced to leave here in the past, we are here to win, and here thousands of families will raise their children for generations to come.”   More . . .
. . . . Related  Fanatic Israeli settlers break into Jerusalem’s Aqsa Mosque
|  THE  EXPLOITATION  OF  MYTHS  TO  EXPAND  JEWISH  SETTLEMENTS
At a large plot of land located east of the top of the Mount of Ebal in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, stone chains that do not hold any archaeological significance exist, yet they are used by Israeli settlers as a self-claimed sacred archaeological site.    ___Israeli settlers’ attempts to seize the site they claim to be the altar of Joshua Ben Nun reveal how far settlers can go about exploiting myths and using them in their ongoing battle to control Palestinian lands.    ___ . . . the Israeli archeologist Adam Zeratal. . . confirms that the existing architectural remains show that it was a Canaanite altar of idolatry, offering sacrifices to the Canaanite Gods.    ___“. . .  assumption that the altar belongs to Joshua Ben Nun contradicts the historical and archaeological facts that prove that Joshua Ben Nun is a myth and not a historical figure,” he says.   More . . .
. . . . Related   Hamas: Sale of Jerusalem real estate to Jews “a national crime”

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
| 8  WAYS  ISRAEL  TAKES  PALESTINIAN  LAND  (VIDEO)
Institute for Middle East Understanding ( IMEU )
Settlements on stolen land. Evicting Palestinians. Military checkpoints. Free-fire zones. We break down the eight ways Israel takes over land to erase Palestinian life and solidify apartheid.    More .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .
|  PLAYGROUNDS  FOR  PALESTINE
Help Us Build Playgrounds For Palestine
We believe Palestinian children deserve to thrive. They deserve a creative outlet for their instinct to play. With your support, we can help Palestinian children thrive.  More . . .   Donate . . .         ..

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“WE  ARE  HERE  NEAR  THERE,”  BY  MAHMOUD  DARWISH

We are here near there, the tent has thirty doors.
We are here a place between the pebbles and the shadows.
. . . A place for a voice.  A place for freedom, or a place
For any place fallen off a mare, or scattered by a bell or the
. . . muezzin’s call.
We are here, and in a moment we’ll explode this siege, and in a
. . . moment we’ll free a cloud,
And travel within ourselves.  We are here near there thirty
. . . doors for the wind, thirty “was”,
Teaching you to see us, to know us, to listen to us, to feel our
. . . blood safely,
Teaching you our peace, We may love or may not love the road
. . . to Damascus, Mecca or Qairwan.
We are here within ourselves.  A sky for the month of August,
. . . a sea for the month of May and freedom for a horse.
We seek the sea only to retrieve from it the blue rings round
. . . the smoke.
We are here near there thirty shapes, thirty shadows for a
. . . star.

–From Adonis; Mahmud Darwish; and Samih al-Qasim. VICTIMS OF A MAP: A BILINGUAL ANTHOLOGY OF ARABIC POETRY.  Trans. Abdullah al-Udhari. London: Saqi Books, 2008. Available from Barnes and Noble.