Category: Christian Peacemakers Teams

“. . . I have sworn. . . I will not accept you occupied . . .” (Yusuf Hamdan)

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Fully armed with automatic weapons these Israeli young men are allowed to walk
local streets near Palestinian homes where local children play in the street.
(Photo: Christian Peacemaker Teams, Oct. 1, 2018)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

| ISRAELI  SETTLERS  SEIZE  HISTORICAL  BUILDING  IN  JERUSALEM
Israeli settlers took over a historical Palestinian building in the Aqbat Darwish neighborhood of Jerusalem’s Old City, in the central occupied West Bank, early Thursday morning.    ___. . . residents of the neighborhood were shocked by Israeli settler seizing the building in the early morning hours of Thursday.    ___Israeli settlers reportedly moved into the building, belonging to the Judeh family; the building was used as a clinic.    ___On Wednesday, Israeli settlement group Elad had taken over a Palestinian-owned property in the Silwan neighborhood of the city.  ___There are an upwards of 300,000 Israeli settlers residing in East Jerusalem, with at least 500 living in Silwan among a population of 45,000 Palestinians.   More . . .
| IN  PHOTOS:  KHAN  AL-AHMAR  PREPARES  FOR  DEMOLITION  AFTER  DECADE-LONG  BATTLE  TO  REMAIN
A tiny Palestinian Bedouin town located in the West Bank hills outside of Jerusalem is bracing for an impending eviction to make way for plans to expand an Israeli settlement. The case reached its endpoint on Monday when the deadline ordered by Israel’s high court expired on the community of Khan al-Ahmar to vacate and demolish their own homes and an elementary school.    More . . .

KA-918-7-768x513cPhotographer Thomas Dallal documented demolition preparations in Khan al-Ahmar throughout the month of September. (Photo: Mondoweiss, October 2, 2018)

| ISRAELI  FORCES  KILL  15-YEAR-OLD  PALESTINIAN,  INJURE  DOZENS  IN  GAZA
A 15-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed, while dozens of others were injured, on Wednesday evening, after Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinian protesters near the Erez crossing (Beit Hanoun) between Israel and the northern besieged Gaza Strip.    ___. . .  15-year-old Ahmad Samir Abu Habel was shot in the head by Israeli forces as he participated in protests near the Erez crossing in northern Gaza.   ___Medical sources confirmed that 24 Palestinians were shot and injured by Israeli forces . . .      More . . .
| AS  OLIVE  HARVEST  SEASON  BEGINS  IN  WEST  BANK,  ISRAELI  SETTLERS  STEAL  PALESTINIAN  CROPS
As Palestinians embark on picking their olives, considered one of the main income-generating seasons for thousands of Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler were seen on Thursday stealing their olive crops.    ___According to Yehya Qadoos, head of Burin village council, settlers sneaked to land belonging to farmers in the village and stole their olive crops.   More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

| PALESTINE  UNDER  OCCUPATION:  ONE  VILLAGE’S  RESISTANCE:  VIDEO  . . .
| US,  IN  ITS  BLIND  SUPPORT  FOR  ISRAEL,  DISPLAYS  DISDAIN  OF  INTERNATIONAL  LAW,  SAYS  FOREIGN  MINISTRY
The US Administration’s announcement of its intention to withdraw from the Additional Protocol to the Vienna Convention reaffirms the administration’s disdain towards international law and the rules-based international order, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.    ___“This administration is willfully disrupting and undermining the international order because of its blind support to Israel’s illegal colonial policies, thus advancing this hostile agenda at the expense of global cooperation . . .”     ___The Ministry said that “the State of Palestine has exercised its right to defend itself through legal means by resorting to the International Court of Justice on the issue of the illegal US embassy move to our capital, Jerusalem. This step was based on the compulsory jurisdiction of Court, as stipulated in Article I of the Additional Protocol.”    More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“TO  JERUSALEM,”  BY  YUSUF  HAMDAN
You came to me, chained,
Carried forcibly.
You came
Flowing, like the tears of a wounded heart.
And yet, I will not meet you.
Forgive me,
For today, you are occupied!

Have you indeed come to me?
In my passion, I prayed often
Without a “Rock,”
And when I found no water,
I simulated the ritual ablution;
And when you finally came to me, I vowed:
I will not accept you occupied!

I want you to be a Kaaba for the people of the earth,
A spacious house,
Without guards;
I love you . . . a voice from a minaret,
The sound of horns
Mingled with church bells.
I love you, a jasmine in the open air,
But I have sworn, yes I have,
I will not accept you occupied!

From: THE  PALESTINIAN  WEDDING:  A  BILINGUAL  ANTHOLOGY  OF  CONTEMPORARY  PALESTINIAN  RESISTANCE  POETRY.  Ed. and Trans. A. M. Elmessiri. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2011. Reprint from Three Continents Press, Inc., 1982.    Available from Palestine Online Store. 
___Yusuf Hamdan was born in 1942 in the Triangle area of Palestine. He lived in Haifa in the early ‘60s and taught in a nearby Arabic school. He published his poems in al-Jadid, al-Ittihad, and al-Ghad, and lost his teaching position because of his poetry. In 1970 he left Israel for the US, where he presently lives and works.

“. . . Even her dreams are besieged . . .” (Samih Faraj)

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IMG_3240 - Copy

Members of delegation from Sabeel Liberation Theology Center, Jerusalem,
in Hebron’s al-Shuhada Street with gates closing the street and
Israeli soldier in guard tower above. (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 7, 2015)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

UN  APPOINTS  NEW  CHAIR  OF  COMMISSION  ON  VIOLATIONS  AGAINST  PALESTINIANS
The President of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) . . .  announced the appointment of Santiago Canton of Argentina to serve as a member and chairperson of the Council-mandated Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.   Canton . . .  will replace David Michael Crane of the United States who recently stepped down as a member of the three-person Commission.   ___The Commissioners have been mandated by the Human Rights Council to investigate all alleged violations and abuses of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the blockaded Gaza Strip. . .    More . . .

SPAIN  READY  TO  RECOGNIZE  PALESTINIAN  STATE
Spain has become the latest country to voice its readiness to recognize the State of Palestine and that it will promote a European Union (EU) move to recognize Palestine as an independent state.   ___Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, spoke at a conference of EU leaders in Austria, saying that the Spanish government will promote an EU move to recognize Palestine.   ___Borrell said that “if the EU is not able to reach a unanimous decision, then each to their own.”   More . . .
Related . . . MEMBERS  OF  EU  PARLIAMENT  CALL  ON  EU  TO  RECOGNIZE  PALESTINE

ISRAELI  FORCES  SEVERELY  ASSAULT,  DETAIN  HEBRON  RESIDENTS    Israeli forces raided a Palestinian home, on Wednesday night, the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron, and assaulted its residents.   ___Locals said that Israeli forces raided the home of Palestinian, Ghaleb Abu Sbeih, in the Old City of HEBRON and thoroughly searched it, damaging most of his furniture and personal belongings.  ___Israeli forces assaulted two Palestinians, Shaher and Ibrahim Abu Sbeih, during the raid. . .   More . . .
Related . . . ISRAELI  FORCES  INJURE  DOZENS  OF  PALESTINIAN  STUDENTS  IN  HEBRON

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

HEBRON:  6  ILLEGAL  SETTLEMENTS,  95  PHYSICAL  OBSTACLES,  2200  ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  TO  PRIVILEGE  850  ILLEGAL  SETTLERS.
For centuries, Al-Khalil (Hebron) has been considered a holy city, primarily because of the Ibrahimi Mosque/The Tomb of the Patriarchs, which followers of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity consider a sacred site of pilgrimage. Today, Al-Khalil is an openly segregated city. The daily lives of its 215,000 Palestinian residents are severely disrupted to privilege just 850 hard-line Israeli settlers, enabled by hundreds of heavily armed Israeli soldiers. More . . .   Join  Visualizing Palestine . . .
Related . . .  OCCUPATION  CAPTURED  09/18:  PHOTOS  OF  PALESTINIAN  LIFE  AND  ISRAELI  OCCUPATION  IN  THE  WEST  BANK  CITY  OF  HEBRON
Related . . .  PALESTINIAN  POLICE  PAY  FIRST-EVER  SYMBOLIC  VISIT  TO  HEBRON’S  OLD  CITY

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .

ECUMENICAL  ACCOMPANIERS  PROGRAM  IN  PALESTINE  AND  ISRAEL  (EAPPI)    The World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) was created in 2002 by the WCC. . .    1,800 ecumenical accompaniers (EAs) have worked to create conditions for a just peace.   EAPPI advocates for justice and peace based on non-violence and a non-partisan approach. . . To insure adherence to these vital principles at a local level in Israel and Palestine, a Local Reference Group (LRG) with representatives from the Christian, Muslim and Jewish communities, is appointed . . .     More . . .   Donate . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“A WOMAN,” BY SAMIH FARAJ

Take one step towards the old house
And another down the stairs to the home
Where a woman sits in the early evening light:
Light, the radiance of a dove, shining;
Or light like the light from a shrine.
No one knows where she has come from –
Through which quarter or distant land she passed.
What shadow the light cast when she’d gone.
No one knows the flood she passed through –
The risks she took, the daily deluge.
No one can measure the vast sea she crossed,
The hazards she held in her small hands.
An ordinary woman: one step at a time, one step
On the land lacking, on the barren soil; one step
On the time passing; one step on the clock ticking.
Except for something in her now rising, hot, scolding,
Even her dreams are besieged, it seems; yet
In the middle of a siege it’s still possible to dream.
A dream of the old house, and her first step.
—Translated by Jackie Kay

Samih Faraj is a teacher in Deheishe Refugee Camp and a lecturer at HEBRON and Bethlehem Universities. He has been editor-in-chief of several journals, including VOICE OF THE NATION.
Poem from A BIRD IS NOT A STONE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY PALESTINIAN POETRY (Glasgow: Freight Books, 2014).

“. . . Salaam upon you the day you were killed in the land of peace . . .” (Mahmoud Darwish)

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IMG_3219 - CopyHEBRON: Mother and sons climb into back window of their home
because Israel has closed their street to protect illegal settlers.
(Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 7, 2015)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

THE  PALESTINIAN  ECONOMY  IN  LIGHT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  SANCTIONS
Several reports will be on the table of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHCL) for coordinating international aid to the Palestinian People, which is chaired by Norway, when it meets in New York on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly meetings later this month.   ___The reports, from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Palestinian government, agree that 2018 is the worst for the Palestinian economy since Israel has re-occupied the Palestinian cities in the West Bank 16 years ago.   ___By the beginning of 2018, domestic and international forecasts estimated that growth in the Palestinian economy would range from 2.5% to 3%, reflecting a continuation of the slowdown in the Palestinian economy over the past five years . . .    More . . .
Related . . .   13,000  UNRWA  EMPLOYEES  IN  GAZA  PROTEST  AGAINST  CUTS

PLO  CONDEMNS  ISRAEL’S  MURDER  OF  SIX  PALESTINIANS  IN  THE  LAST  24  HOURS
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) strongly condemned on Wednesday Israel’s murder of six Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the last 24 hours, accusing Israeli forces of deliberately targeting the Palestinians.   ___“The deliberate murder of six Palestinians by Israeli forces in the last twenty-four hours is yet another escalation in the Israeli occupation’s brutality and inhumanity,” said PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi.   More . . .
Related . . .  PALESTINIANS  BID  LAST  FAREWELL  TO  2  YOUTHS  MURDERED  BY  ISRAEL  ARMY

ISRAELI  FORCES  INJURE  DOZENS  OF  PALESTINIAN  STUDENTS  IN  HEBRON
Dozens of Palestinian school students suffered injuries, on Wednesday, during clashes with Israeli forces in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron.   ___Local sources said that Israeli forces provoked Palestinian students as they were on their way to school in Hebron City, resulting in violent clashes between students and Israeli forces. . . .  Israeli forces fired tear-gas bombs at the Palestinian students, causing dozens of students to suffer from tear-gas inhalation.    ___Palestinian students are regularly harassed by Israeli forces and settlers in Hebron City.   More . . .
Related . . .    15,000  JEWS  VISIT  HEBRON’S  IBRAHIMI  MOSQUE  AHEAD  OF  YOM  KIPPUR

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

‘OSLO  SOLD  US  OUT’:  YOUNG  PALESTINIANS  ON  THE  MOMENT  THAT  SHAPED  THEIR  GENERATION
In September 1993 the world celebrated what it thought was the beginning of the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.   ___The Oslo Accords was supposed to lead to a “comprehensive peace agreement” by 1999, and eventually, a Palestinian state . . .  ___Twenty-five years after Oslo. . .  a fair and just peace agreement for the Palestinians remains far out of reach. The dream of an independent Palestinian state even further.   [. . . .] “What does Oslo mean to me? For me, Oslo means that the Palestinian people did not get to decide their fate as a whole.” The words of Yasmin Abu Shakdim, a 22-year-old Sociology student from the city of Hebron, are expressive of a sentiment held by many Palestinian youth.   More . . .

7AMLEH:  GOOGLE  MAPS  ENDANGERING  PALESTINIAN  HUMAN  RIGHTS
The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media released a new report entitled, “Mapping Segregation – Google Maps and the Human Rights of Palestinians”.   ___The report reveals new insights about how  Google Maps’ mapping process in the occupied Palestinian territories serves the interests of the Israeli government and contradicts Google’s commitment to international human rights frameworks.   More . . .

REMEMBERING  THE  SABRA  AND  SHATILA  MASSACRE
Between September 16 and 18, 1982, Palestinian refugees in Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila refugee camps were massacred. Estimates vary, but about 3,000 Palestinian refugees, mostly women, children, and the elderly were killed. The attack took place during Lebanon’s civil war, a few months after Israel’s invasion of the country.   More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . . 

CHRISTIAN  PEACEMAKER  TEAMS  PALESTINE
Christian Peacemaker Teams Palestine is a faith-based organization that supports Palestinian-led, non-violent, grassroots resistance to the Israeli occupation and the unjust structures that uphold it. By collaborating with local Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers and educating people in our home communities we strive to help create a space for justice and peace.   More . . .    Donate . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“I  DIDN’T  APOLOGIZE  TO  THE  WELL,”  MAHMOUD  DARWISH

I didn’t apologize to the well when I passed the well,
I borrowed from the ancient pine tree a cloud
and squeezed it like an orange, then waited for a gazelle
white and legendary. And I ordered my heart to be patient:
Be neutral as if you were not of me! Right here
the kind shepherds stood on air and evolved
their flutes, then persuaded the mountain quail toward
the snare. And right here I saddled a horse for flying toward
my planets, then flew. And right here the priestess
told me: Beware of the asphalt road and the cars
and walk upon your exhalation. Right here
I slackened my shadow and waited, I picked the tiniest
rock and stayed up late. I broke the myth and I broke.
And I circled the well until I flew from myself
to what isn’t of it. A deep voice shouted at me:
This grave isn’t your grave. So I apologized.
I read verses from the wise holy book, and said
to the unknown one in the well: Salaam upon you the day
you were killed in the land of peace, and the day you rise
from the darkness of the well alive!

—From THE  BUTTERFLY’S  BURDEN, by Mahmoud Darwish, Trans. Fady Joudah. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press. 2007.

“. . . Bound his hands to the rock of the dead and said: Murderer!. . .” (Mahmoud Darwish)

Harold Knight1 Comment
A Palestinian youth reacts during clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank town of Hebron on October 4, 2015. (Agence France‑Presse/Photo)
A Palestinian youth reacts during clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank town of Hebron on October 4, 2015. (Agence France‑Presse/Photo)

❶ Protest called in Hebron as Israel withholds 11 Palestinians’ bodies
❷ Israeli Army Detains 46 Palestinians in West Bank, Jerusalem
❸ UN: Israel should not take unilateral steps in Jerusalem
❹ Personality of the Month: Albert Aghazarian
❺ Opinion/Analysis: Ramzy  Baroud:  Palestine  Remains  the  Core  Struggle  in  the  Middle  East
❻ Poetry by Mahmoud Darwish
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PROTEST  CALLED  IN  HEBRON  AS  ISRAEL  WITHHOLDS  11  PALESTINIANS’  BODIES
Oct. 27, 2015
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Palestinians across the southern West Bank district of Hebron are set to rally on Tuesday in protest against Israel’s decision to withhold the bodies of 11 Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces this month.
____Palestinian factions across Hebron called for the “rally of anger” to march from al-Haras mosque in Hebron’s city center to Ibn Rush Square.
____In a joint statement, Hebron’s factional leaders urged residents of Hebron district to join the rally in solidarity with the families of Hebron’s “martyrs.”
More . . .
❷ PALESTINE NEWS & INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
ISRAELI  ARMY  DETAINS  46  PALESTINIANS  IN  WEST  BANK,  JERUSALEM
Oct. 27, 2015
Israeli forces late Monday and early Tuesday detained 46 Palestinians, including minors, from across the West Bank districts, including Jerusalem, bringing the total number of Palestinians detained since the beginning of violent unrest in October 1, 2015, to 1085, according to local and security sources.
____Forces detained nine Palestinians during a raid and search campaign conducted across the Hebron area.
____In Hebron city, army soldiers detained four Palestinians after raiding and wreaking havoc into their homes.
More . . .
❸ THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEMO)
UN:  ISRAEL  SHOULD  NOT  TAKE  UNILATERAL  STEPS  IN  JERUSALEM
Oct. 27, 2015
Israel must refrain from taking any unilateral steps in Jerusalem; Anadolu Agency reported a UN spokesperson as saying yesterday.
____UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric’s comment came after Israeli media reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to revoke the residencies of Palestinians living in the East Jerusalem side of the Separation Wall.
More . . . 
Related . . . ‘MOST-READ’  ARTICLE  AT  WASHINGTON  POST  CALLS  ISRAEL  ‘SAVAGE,  UNREPAIRABLE  SOCIETY’ 

Albert-Aghazarian
Albert-Aghazarian

❹ THIS WEEK IN PALESTINE
PERSONALITY  OF  THE  MONTH  ALBERT  AGHAZARIAN
[. . . . .] “But of course, Albert Aghazarian!” The mere utterance of his name usually precipitates numerous stories about Al-Ustaz, the teacher… the Old City’s walking encyclopedia who knows the history of Jerusalem up to its each and every stone.
____Albert Aghazarian may be known mostly as a historian, a teacher, and a storyteller, but if you were to ask him, he might say that he is first and foremost an interpreter, because everything in this life is up for interpretation. A fluent speaker of Arabic, English, French, Armenian, Hebrew, Turkish, and some Spanish, Albert would say that he only speaks “one language,” before he pauses and adds… “at a time.”
More . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis
PALESTINE CHRONICLE
RAMZY  BAROUD:  PALESTINE  REMAINS THE  CORE  STRUGGLE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  EAST
Oct 26 2015
[. . . . .]
Historically, chaos, whether that managed by or provoked in its entirety by Israel and its Zionist and neoconservative supporters, has largely served the objectives of successive Israeli governments. Whatever benefits Israel reaped from conflicts, tend to serve it in the short term only. In the long term, agitated conflicts often backfire.
____This has caused Israel an unsolvable dilemma: it is a state that engenders perpetual conflict, yet invariably seeks normalization, security and stability, all at the same time. In reality, however, the position that Israel managed to carve for itself is that of a warring, barbarous nation – a scenario that explains its rise, but also its inevitable downfall [. . . . .]
____So naturally, the Arab world cannot be ‘okay’ if Palestine is not ‘okay’.
More . . . 

“ABOUT  A  MAN,”  BY  MAHMOUD  DARWISH
They gagged his mouth,
Bound his hands to the rock of the dead
And said: Murderer!
They took his food, clothes and banners,
Cast him into the condemned cell
And said: Thief!
They drove him away from every port,
Took his young sweetheart,
Then said: Refugee!

O you with bloodshot eyes and bloody hands,
Night is short-lived,
The detention room lasts not forever,
Nor yet the links of chains.
Nero died, Rome did not:
With her very eyes she fights.
And seeds from a withered ear
With wheat shall fill the valley.

From Poem Hunter. http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/on-man/  Web. 26 Jun 2015.
A conversation with Mahmoud Darwish

CPT members escort children to school in Hebron. Christian Peacemaker Teams Palestine supports Palestinian-led, non-violent, grassroots resistance to the Israeli occupation. By collaborating with local Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers and educating people in our home communities we strive to help create a space for justice and peace. (Photo: CPT)
CPT members escort children to school in Hebron. Christian Peacemaker Teams Palestine supports Palestinian-led, non-violent, grassroots resistance to the Israeli occupation. By collaborating with local Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers and educating people in our home communities we strive to help create a space for justice and peace. (Photo: CPT)

‘ . . . “Does this rock have a story?” . . .” (Ghassan Kanafani)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
Several large eagles inhabit the Middle East. This is the White-tailed Eagle, a fairly common eagle in Palestine. (Photo: Birding Is Fun Blog.) See short story excerpt below.
Several large eagles inhabit the Middle East. This is the White-tailed Eagle, a fairly common eagle in Palestine. (Photo: Birding Is Fun Blog.) See short story excerpt below.

❶ Palestinian prisoners have the will to persevere in the face of the oppressor
❷ VIEW! Israeli occupation of Hebron
❸ Israeli exports hit hard by Palestinian boycott, World Bank says
❹ Solar power pays off for enterprising Palestinians
❺ Opinion/Analysis: Oslo has become a tool for Israeli expansionism — it’s time to let go
❻ Short story excerpt by Ghassan Kanafani (1936-1972)
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR
PALESTINIAN  PRISONERS  HAVE  THE  WILL  TO PERSEVERE  IN  THE  FACE  OF  THE  OPPRESSOR
Dr Fayez Rasheed
Oct. 2, 2015
There are 17 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli prisons. Altogether, almost 5,000 Palestinians are being held by Israel, including 20 women, 230 children and a number of elderly men. They are all subject to the worst types of cruelty and torture in prison. According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society in Ramallah, 95 per cent of Palestinian prisoners are suffering from a form of torture . . . . Over 1,000 of the Palestinians in Israeli jails are ill; 160 have chronic illnesses, including cancer. Eighty are being held under arbitrary administrative detention, based on a law left over from British Mandate days.
____Israel is still holding 30 “old prisoners”, the term describing those who were imprisoned prior to the Oslo agreement . . . .
More . . .
❷ CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKER TEAMS
VIEW!  ISRAELI  OCCUPATION  OF  HEBRON
Oct. 1, 2015
See a week of Israeli occupation in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. [Weekly series of photographs from Christian Peacemakers Teams.]
More . . .
❸ ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
ISRAELI  EXPORTS  HIT  HARD  BY  PALESTINIAN  BOYCOTT,  WORLD  BANK  SAYS
Maureen Clare Murphy
Oct. 2, 2015
The Palestinian campaign to boycott Israeli goods has exacted a major cost on Israel’s exports to the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
____This victory is quietly acknowledged in a World Bank report released this week.
____Palestinian imports from Israel dropped by 24 percent during the first quarter of 2015, the report states.
____The World Bank explains that the drop “is the result of reduced economic activity, but also a growing trend among Palestinian consumers to substitute products imported from Israel by those from other countries, as a result of which non-Israeli imports were up 22 percent.”
More . . .
❹ AL-MONITOR (PALESTINE PULSE)
SOLAR  POWER  PAYS  OFF  FOR  ENTERPRISING  PALESTINIANS
Aziza Nofal
October 2, 2015
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Three years ago, Rabia al-Rabi stopped purchasing electricity from the Jerusalem Electricity Company, the official power provider in the city of Ramallah.
____The Palestinian woman actually started selling electricity to the very same company for 800 shekels (about $200) per month after she started a renewable energy generation project at her home.
____Rabi had carefully studied the economic feasibility of the project. Despite the high cost of installing the solar cells, she decided to run the risk and make her house one of the first in Ramallah to generate electricity from solar energy. Solar cells are installed on rooftops. . . .
More . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis
+972 MAGAZINE
OSLO  HAS  BECOME  A  TOOL  FOR  ISRAELI  EXPANSIONISM — IT’S  TIME  TO  LET  GO
Nathan Hersh
Oct. 3, 2015
(Nathan Hersh served in the Israel Defense Forces from 2009 to 2011. He has an MA in Conflict Resolution from Tel Aviv University. He was managing director of Partners for Progressive Israel.)
The Oslo Accords are the banner accomplishment of the Israeli peace movement. But their impact on the West Bank is no longer to orchestrate a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces, which they intended to do. Instead, the leadership in Israel has become increasingly populated by settlers and their sympathizers, and it has used the Oslo Accords for its own ideological pursuits.
____The lasting accomplishments of the Oslo Accords—the division of the West Bank into Areas A, B and C; the cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian security forces and the creation of the Palestinian Authority—have different uses under Netanyahu’s premiership. . . . The Oslo Accords have been manipulated to strengthen the occupation, not dismantle it.
More . . .

(Note: The following departure from poetry is intended to spotlight more of the vast tradition of Palestinian literature. These excerpts will appear with regularity.)

FROM  “SIX  EAGLES  AND  A  CHILD,”  A  SHORT  STORY  BY  GHASSAN  KANAFANI
. . . I put up with all of this grudgingly. . . but the one thing that could really break down all my dignified reserve, was when a peasant would give me a nudge in that old car rocking and hurtling over the rough mountain road. . . then I was expected to take part in the conversation and show interest for the rest of the way.
____“Do you see that rock, professor?” said an old peasant one day, pointing through the window to a tall tapering stone standing on a small hill. . .
____“Yes, in fact I see it three times a week.”
____His fingers remained extended in the direction of the rock and he asked again: “Do you know its story?”
____“Does this rock have a story?” I asked out of curiosity, since even though I knew full well that everything in the villages had a story, I didn’t know that this rock, way out here on this desolate road, had its story too. Nonetheless, my question had a certain grumbling to it, and raising the newspaper in front of my eyes, I began to read it desultorily.
____“It began a long time ago . . .”
____I ignored him and went on reading, certain that the old peasant wasn’t looking at me, but was gazing at the rock as it slowly disappeared from the window’s range of vision.
____“I used to travel this way every other day . . . and always when I passed this rock I would see a grey eagle perched on top of it as if it were some kind of stuffed eagle . . . it was in the morning . . . spreading its enormous wings, it would fly to the top of the rock and then alight quietly. It remained there like that until evening when it would fly off again to return to the mountains . . .”
[ . . . . ]
____“Love . . . love does that to everyone . . . .”
[ . . . . ]

Kanafani, Ghassan. PALESTINE’S  CHILDREN:  RETURNING  TO  HAIFA  AND  OTHER  STORIES. Trans. Barbara Harlow and Karen E. Riley. Boulder, CO: Lynne Riener, 2000.
Available from Amazon.
About Ghassan Kanafani
(From the introduction to the collection: “There is, in addition, a certain dissonance in Kanafani’s imagery that serves to highlight no only the violence of 1948, but also its brutal abruptness and the powerlessness felt by the Palestinians in the face of it” (Riley and Harlow)).

A Palestinian laborer installs solar panels at a photovoltaic plant in the West Bank city of Jericho, March 27, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman)
A Palestinian laborer installs solar panels at a photovoltaic plant in the West Bank city of Jericho, March 27, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman)