Selected reports of the day

Israeli forces detain 17 Palestinians from West Bank

WAFA
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Hebron — Israeli forces dawn Tuesday detained 17 Palestinians from various parts of the occupied West Bank, said Palestine Prisoner’s Society (PPS).
· · · · Israeli vehicles raided Beit Kahel town, northwest of Hebron, where soldiers detained six Palestinians, including three brothers of Kassem Asafra, one of two Palestinians suspected of killing an off-duty Israeli soldier outside the settlement of Ofra almost two weeks ago . . . .
· · · · Israeli forces carry out frequent raids across the West Bank—including occupied East Jerusalem—on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians, triggering clashes with residents.
· · · · These raids, which take place also in areas under the full control of the Palestinian Authority, are conducted with no need for a search warrant, whenever and wherever the Israeli forces go in keeping with its sweeping arbitrary powers.
· · · · According to Palestinian figures, roughly 5,700 Palestinians — including numerous women and children — are currently languishing in Israeli detention facilities.  More . . . .

Hamas raises $100,000 for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon

AL MONITOR -PALESTINE PULSE
Entsar Abu Jahal
August 19, 2019
Hamas leader Khalil al-Haya said in a statement Aug. 6 that Hamas had launched a donation campaign in the Gaza Strip to support Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and collected $100,000 from Gaza’s inhabitants.
· · · He said the contributions will soon be sent to Lebanon and praised Gaza’s citizens for being generous and loyal to their roots despite the blockade and tough circumstances. Haya also said Hamas is launching a campaign to support the inhabitants of Wadi al-Homs in East Jerusalem after Israel destroyed 100 apartments there in July.
· · · While some Gazans praised the campaign to help Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, others wondered about its timing given the tough circumstances Gaza residents are living under. Some residents said that the Gaza Strip should be the priority when it comes to support campaigns and that Hamas should alleviate citizens’ suffering first and foremost . . . .
· · · · He noted that the Gaza Strip, a main target and at the forefront of confrontations with Israel, sought to underline its readiness to support Palestinians in Jerusalem and the diaspora, as it considers itself the core of the Palestinian cause. He said the campaign carries more of a political importance than an economic  said Hamas should have launched a similar campaign to support the resilience of Gaza’s poor citizens. More . . . .

Political upheaval over Tlaib and Omar shows the power of BDS

Mondoweiss
Philip Weiss
August 17, 2019
We are in the middle of a political upheaval on Israel/Palestine in the United States, and Americans who are concerned with Palestinian human rights live for these moments. They are the moments of potential change: When more tarnish is added to Israel’s image, and Americans get a clearer picture of what the Jewish state actually means for non-Jews under its sovereignty.
· · · Since I’ve been covering the issue there have been several such moments. The Israeli assault on Gaza in 2008-09. The Israeli assault on Gaza in 2014. Netanyahu’s showdowns with Obama over settlements, the Iran deal (2011, 2015). The move of the embassy last year with Israel’s slaughter of some 60 nonviolent protesters at the Gaza fence. . . .
· · · The story has been a wakeup call in the U.S. to how far right/intolerant Israeli society is. Despite Israel’s apologists’ efforts to blame the US leader for the move (Bari Weiss, MSNBC, the New York Times), a lot of Americans are blaming the country that won’t let our congresspeople in even though we give it more foreign aid than any other country, $3.8 billion a year.   More . . . .

Rashida Tlaib’s Grandmother: ‘I Love Her and I Am So Proud of Her’

PALESTINE CHRONICLE
August 18, 2019
The Palestinian grandmother of Rashida Tlaib [told the Washington Post] she was proud of her granddaughter’s pro-Palestine stance after the US Congresswoman was barred from traveling to Israel. Muftiyah Tlaib, who lives in the family’s village of Beit Ur Al-Foqa in the occupied West Bank. . .  More . . . .

Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (01– 07 August 2019)

PALESTINIAN CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
August 8, 2019
· · · Great March of Return in Eastern Gaza Strip: 72 civilians injured, including 30 children, 3 women, one of them is a paramedic, and 2 journalists by Israeli forces.
· · · Occupied East Jerusalem: 2 Civilians Injured.
· · · 91 civilians, including 9 children, arrested during 65 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.   More . . . .

Poem of the Day

REMEMBRANCE OF AN OLD SPRING by  Reja-e Busailah

Rickety is the sun,
the young year’s bones damaged from within,
neither the bright fruit of the grove
nor the air perfumed with its breath
can dispel the apprehension:

behind, the sore feet and buttocks of the mountains,
like a child’s who hasn’t done his lessons,
and still bare and swollen from the whippings of winter,
and the peaks aren’t done smarting
from the screeching and scratching of the winds:

before, the shallow sky, like a boy
who hasn’t yet learned how to interpret scars
hangs over the liquid expanse
where so much is iffy, you would think
the very how and what of being were in doubt.

From Reja-e Busailah. POEMS OF A PALESTINIAN BOYHOOD. Smoke Stack Books, 2019.