Category: Israeli Home demolitions

“How long had you been away from the place you loved best?” – Naomi Shihab Nye

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NEWS OF THE DAY

Palestinian territories stable after Trump plan, but for how long?

AL-MONITOR, PALESTINE PULSE
Feb 20 2020
A relative calm has returned to the West Bank after a brief outbreak of violence between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers on the outskirts of cities and contact points after US President Trump announced his so-called deal of the century for Israeli-Palestinian peace on Jan. 28.
– – – – Confrontations on the West Bank in early February went beyond Palestinians throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli forces to include deadly clashes involving gunfire, a car-ramming attack and resisting the demolition of a home. In Gaza, Palestinians launched more than 20 rockets and hundreds of incendiary balloons toward Israeli communities. In response, the Israeli army decided on Feb. 6 to send reinforcements to the border with Gaza and to the West Bank.
– – – – In a speech at the UN Security Council on Feb. 11, PA President Mahmoud Abbas said, “We will not resort to violence and terrorism, no matter the aggression against us. We believe in peace and fighting violence. We are ready to cooperate with any country to combat terrorism, and we will fight with peaceful popular resistance.”    More . . . .

‘We gave up on historic Palestine in exchange for nothing’

Bassem Tamimi, who has led popular protests in Nabi Saleh for more than a
decade, says the two-state solution is ‘no longer an option.’
+972 MAGAZINE
Feb 19 2020
“We need to wake up and change our strategy, to unite our struggle,” says Bassem Tamimi, a veteran Palestinian activist and father of Ahed Tamimi, as he sits in his Nabi Saleh home in the occupied West Bank. Tamimi, who was born in 1967 and has only ever known military occupation, was jailed during the First Intifada and has been among the leaders of the village’s popular protests over the past decade. Now, however, he has given up on the two-state solution. “It’s no longer an option,” he says.
– – – – The Tamimi family, and their village, made global headlines in late 2017 when Ahed slapped an Israeli soldier who had entered her family courtyard during a Friday demonstration. Earlier that day, a soldier had shot a 15-year-old relative in the head. A few days later, soldiers arrested Ahed, then 16, from her home in the middle of the night. Her mother, Nariman, was arrested shortly after her daughter for filming the slapping incident. Both spent eight months in prison.    More . . . .

  • Israeli court approves demolition of homes of five Palestinian detainees
    WAFA
    Feb 20 2020
    The Israeli Supreme Court today gave the go-ahead to demolish the Ramallah-area family homes of five Palestinian detainees allegedly involved in the killing of a settler in late August 2019.
    – – – – Israeli media reported that the Israeli court unanimously approved the demolition despite multiple petitions filed by the prisoners’ families against the demolition.
    – – – – The court explained its approval by the need to “establish credible deterrence against attacks.” Israel commenced in January the trial of the five prisoners, who were detained in December purportedly for being responsible for the killing of an Israeli settler. . . .  More . . . .
  • IOF shoot Palestinian youth east of Khuza’a town
    PALESTINOW
    Feb 20 2020
    Israeli soldiers shot, on Wednesday afternoon, a young Palestinian man east of Khuza’a town, east of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
    – – – – Media sources said the soldiers shot the young man near the perimeter fence, inflicting moderate wounds before he was rushed to the European Hospital for treatment.
    – – – – The Israeli army claimed that sharpshooters of the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad fired rounds at military vehicles and soldiers across the fence and that the soldiers fired back.    More. . . .
  • Dozens of Palestinians choke by IOF tear gas during clashes in West Bank
    PALESTINOW
    Feb 19 2020
    Dozens of Palestinian citizens on Tuesday choked on tear gas fired by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) during confrontations in Tulkarem and Ramallah in the West Bank.
    – – – – In Tulkarem, scores of Palestinians marched in protest at the US deal of the century, raised Palestine flags and burned car tires, local sources reported.
    – – – – The IOF attacked them with rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters. Dozens suffered breathing difficulties as a result of inhaling tear gas.    More . . . .

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Searching for Lost Sons and Daughters: Statistics on Palestinians in the Diaspora
This Week In Palestine
Issue #262, Feb 2020
By: Ola Awad
Satistical data indicate that on the eve of the 1948 war, the population in Palestine had reached 2.1 million, 1.45 million of which were Palestinians. Varying estimates and divergent figures have been circulated by different sources regarding the number of Palestinian refugees displaced from their homes during this war. The Israeli occupation took over 774 Palestinian cities and villages, 531 of which were completely demolished, whereas the others were subjugated to the Israeli occupation and its regulations, eventually to be incorporated into the Israeli state. . . . The most modest estimates of Palestinian refugees counted around 736 thousand individuals, more than 50 percent of the Palestinian population. They were moved to refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the neighboring countries Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. . . .
. . . . At the beginning of the current century, PCBS took the initiative of listing Palestinians who live in the diaspora in order to build a database that may serve as the basis for efforts to bridge existing gaps between the Palestinian people in their homeland and in the diaspora in order to connect them. . . . This catalogue will be the tool by which data are collected and monitored, providing as well an agreed-upon list of indicators. The database will be updated whenever possible. Palestinian embassies and representative offices in places around the world where Palestinians live constitute the main source of data and serve as focal points and PCBS’ link to Palestinian diaspora communities.    More . . . .

POEM OF THE DAY

“HELLO, PALESTINE” — Naomi Shihab Nye

Hello, Palestine
In the hours after you died,
all the pain went out of your face.
Whole governments relaxed in your jaw line.
How long had you been away
from the place you loved best?
Every minute was too much.
Each year’s bundle
of horror stories: more trees chopped,
homes demolished, people gone crazy.
You’d turn your face away from the screen.
At the end you spoke to your own blood
filtering through a machine:
We’ll get there again, friend.
When you died, your long frustration
zipped its case closed. Everyone in a body
is chosen for trouble and bliss.
At least nothing got amputated,
I said, and the nurses looked quizzical.
Well, if only you had seen his country.

From Transfer, by Naomi Shihab Nye, BOA editions, 2011.
Available from Barnes and Noble.

“. . . I’m old enough, almost four, I’ve seen enough . . .” (Hanan Ashrawi)

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❶ IOF arrests seven Jerusalemite minors
CONTEXT: Military Court Watch (monitoring the treatment of children in detention)
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) Israeli settler attacks Palestinian child in Hebron
CONTEXT: Space to play: West Bank refugee camps are facing a crisis of safety and square feet
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) A life worth living?

  • Background: “The Right to Home: Domicide as a Violation of Child and Family Rights in the Context of Political Violence.” Children & Society

❷ Palestinian demolishes own home in Jerusalem to avoid Israeli fines
❸ POETRY by Hanan Ashrawi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ IOF  ARRESTS  SEVEN  JERUSALEMITE  MINORS
Alray-Palestinian Media Agency
Nov. 12, 2017 ― Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested on Sunday morning, five Jerusalemite minors after storming their houses in the town of Silwan, south of Al Aqsa Mosque.
___The IOF arrested from Silwan. Abdulrahman Shweky, 14, Qosay Zaiton 13, Imran Mansour ,15, Mehdi Mansour, 12, and Khaled Mayala, 20, and were transferred to investigate at Maskobeya police station in the occupied Jerusalem, confirmed the lawyer Mohammed Mahmoud.
___Wadi Hilweh Information Center said that the intelligence and occupation forces stormed Silwan neighborhoods and arrested five children after storming their houses.   MORE . . .
CONTEXT:    MILITARY  COURT  WATCH  (MONITORING  THE  TREATMENT  OF  CHILDREN  IN  DETENTION).   Briefing Note, October 2017 ― This Briefing Note reviews developments in the Israeli military detention system for children and covers the period up to October 2017.
. . . . . ❶― (ᴀ) ISRAELI  SETTLER  ATTACKS  PALESTINIAN  CHILD  IN  HEBRON 
Alray-Palestinian Media Agency 
Nov. 12, 2017 ― Ahmed Hadeeb, 15, was injured by bruises on Saturday after an Israeli settler beat and injured him in the center of Hebron.
__According to local sources, the settler hit Habeed with the butt of his rifle; he was injured and then transferred to the hospital.   MORE . . .
CONTEXT:  SPACE  TO  PLAY:  WEST  BANK  REFUGEE  CAMPS  ARE  FACING  A  CRISIS  OF  SAFETY  AND  SQUARE  FEET 
Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP)       
Oct. 5, 2017   ― [. . . .] Overcrowding and fifty years of Israeli military occupation, as well as the now-frequent Palestinian security forces’ raids, have negatively impacted the available spaces for play. When schools let out for the summer, children spend their time between camp spaces that are either too cramped or too dangerous for play [. . . .]
. . . . . ― (ᴃ) A  LIFE  WORTH  LIVING?
The Electronic Intifada      
Hamza Abu Eltarabesh
Nov. 9, 2017 ― Young people in Gaza are finding few prospects for a better life.
___On Tuesday, 29 August, Mohannad Younis swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills and ended his life.
___He was only 22 and seemed to have much going for him. A budding author, he had recently completed a series of short stories and just put the finishing touches on a stage play – Escape.   MORE . . .

Akesson, Bree, et al.
“THE  RIGHT  TO  HOME:  DOMICIDE  AS  A  VIOLATION  OF  CHILD  AND  FAMILY  RIGHTS  IN  THE  CONTEXT  OF  POLITICAL  VIOLENCE.”
Children & Society, vol. 30, no. 5, Sept. 2016, pp. 369-383.
[. . . .] The term domicide was coined by Porteous and Smith to describe the ‘deliberate destruction of home against the will of the home dweller’.
[. . . .] Home is a symbolic place that often embodies togetherness, individual and family growth, accomplishments, memories, and deeply personal and familial connections with land and territory. Scholars have pointed out how places of origin, such as the home, are closely connected to cultural practices, symbolic meanings, memories and rituals that shape individual identity.
[. . . .] One study examining the effects of home demolitions on Palestinian children . . .   compared to children of similar demographics living in the same location, found that children who had their homes intentionally destroyed fared significantly worse on a range of mental health indicators including withdrawal, somatic complaints, depression, anxiety, social difficulties, higher rates of delusional, obsessive compulsive and psychotic thoughts, attention difficulties, delinquency, and violent behaviour. Not surprisingly, the study found that children’s mental health was closely tied to their caregivers’ mental and physical health. Similarly, [a] case study of home demolitions for children in Palestine found that children who were forced from their homes reported feeling anxious, sad and angry after experiencing repeated displacement. Losing their homes and becoming refugees within their own neighbourhoods was reported as the most painful incident that had happened to them and ultimately an experience of ‘living in the hyphen’.   FULL ARTICLE . . .

❷ PALESTINIAN  DEMOLISHES  OWN  HOME  IN  JERUSALEM  TO  AVOID  ISRAELI  FINES    
Ma’an News Agency  
Nov. 12, 2017 ― A Palestinian from the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan was forced to destroy his own home on Saturday in order to avoid incurring a demolition fee from Israel’s Jerusalem Municipality, which was set to carry out the demolition.
___According to the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, Abd al-Ghani Dweik, a resident of the al-Bustan area of Silwan, said that the Israeli municipality issued a demolition order against his house, along with a demolition fee of 80,000 shekels ($22,741).
___Four people were residing in the home, which was built two years ago.
___A spokesman of a Silwan-based committee formed to fight demolitions, Fakhri Abu Diab, previously told Ma’an that all 100 residential structures in the al-Bustan area are slated for demolition, and that the 1,570 residents of the area have exhausted all legal options.   MORE . . .

“FROM  THE  DIARY  OF  AN  ALMOST-FOUR-YEAR-OLD,”  BY  HANAN  ASHRAWI
Tomorrow, the bandages
will come off. I wonder
will I see half an orange,
half an apple, half my
mother’s face
with my one remaining eye?
I did not see the bullet
but felt its pain
exploding in my head.
His image did not
vanish, the soldier
with a big gun, unsteady
hands, and a look in
his eyes
I could not understand.

If I can see him so clearly
with my eyes closed,
it could be that inside our heads
we each have one spare set
of eyes
to make up for the ones we lose.

Next month, on my birthday,
I’ll have a brand new glass eye,
maybe things will look round
and fat in the middle —
I’ve gazed through all my marbles,
they made the world look strange.

I hear a nine-month-old
has also lost an eye,
I wonder if my soldier
shot her too—a soldier
looking for little girls who
look him in the eye—
I’m old enough, almost four,
I’ve seen enough of life,
but she’s just a baby
who didn’t know any better.

Interview with Hanan Ashrawi
From ANTHOLOGY  OF  MODERN  PALESTINIAN  LITERATURE.  Ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Available from Columbia University Press.

 

“. . . the cataclysm comes that will seed them from the borders of Palestine. . .” (Abdel Rahim al-Sheikh)

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Correction by Waqf of item from August 8, 2017.

❶ Israel demolishes 3 homes belonging to alleged Palestinian assailants in Ramallah

  • Background from Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture: “Occupied East Jerusalem: A Continuous Colonial Scheme,”
     and “Jewish Settlements in the Israeli Occupied State of Palestine: Undermining Authentic Resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”

❷ The new normal in Palestine
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) Locals stop Israeli demolitions in Bethlehem town
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴃ) Israeli forces abduct 37 Palestinians in West Bank
❸ POETRY by Abdel Rahim al-Sheikh
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Correction by Waqf of item from August 8, 2017.

❶ ISRAEL  DEMOLISHES  3  HOMES  BELONGING  TO  ALLEGED  PALESTINIAN  ASSAILANTS  IN  RAMALLAH     
Ma’an News Agency
Aug. 10, 2017.   Israeli forces demolished at three homes belonging to the families of alleged Palestinian attackers, while another home was sealed, in the villages of Deir Abu Mashaal and Silwad in the central occupied West Bank district of Ramallah during pre-dawn hours on Thursday, leaving dozens of Palestinians homeless.
___Israeli forces demolished the family homes of two alleged attackers in Deir Abu Mashaal: Baraa Ibrahim Saleh, 18, and Osama Ahmad Atta, 19.
___Meanwhile, the family home of the third alleged assailant Hassan Ankosh, 18, was sealed, not demolished, according to an Israeli army spokesperson.
___The families received demolition orders last month after the youths allegedly carried out a deadly attack near Damascus Gate in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem, which left an Israeli police officer dead. The three Palestinians were shot dead at the scene by Israeli forces.   MORE . . .

Abdelrazek, Adnan.
“OCCUPIED  EAST  JERUSALEM:  A  CONTINUOUS  COLONIAL  SCHEME.”
Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture, vol. 22, no. 2/3, July 2017, pp. 126-132.
[. . . .] According to an Ir Amim report (reference), 66% of building violations in Jerusalem occur in the Jewish neighborhoods, yet 65-70% of house demolitions take place in the Palestinian neighborhoods . . .  as part of an overall policy designed to force Palestinians to leave the city. HOUSE  DEMOLITION  POLICY is viewed as an instrument of COLLECTIVE  PUNISHMENT that the Israeli government uses against Palestinians in East Jerusalem . . .   during the years 2003-05 house demolitions reached one of the highest rates following the second intifada, and again in 2015-16 in response to the so called “individual intifada.”   SOURCE . . .

Isaac, Jad.
“JEWISH  SETTLEMENTS  IN  THE  ISRAELI  OCCUPIED  STATE  OF  PALESTINE:  UNDERMINING  AUTHENTIC  RESOLUTION  OF  THE  ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN  CONFLICT.”
Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture, vol. 22, no. 2/3, July 2017, pp. 85-91. A viable, contiguous Palestinian state remains a challenging concept, as Israel has spared no effort to undermine the “two-state solution” and the peace process altogether with its persistence in continuing with its land seizure policy, HOUSE  DEMOLITION  STRATEGY,  matrix of control on movement  and sustaining the dependency of the Palestinian economy, which ultimately eradicated the essence of the entire peace process and only restructured and repositioned the presence of the Israeli occupation army in the OPT.   SOURCE . . .

❷ THE  NEW  NORMAL  IN  PALESTINE
Palestine News Network – PNN 
By Iris Mark
Aug. 10, 2017.   On the 14 of May 1948, the state of Israel was declared. By the time Israel and the Arab States signed the Armistice agreement in 1948, Israel had gained control over 75% of mandate Palestine. . . .  800 000 were expelled or forced to flee and 15,000 were killed in a series of mass atrocities, including more than 70 massacres. This is known as the Nakba, and is a violation of international law.
[. . . .] THE NEW NORMAL OF TODAY
___Israelis uphold their discriminatory policies in several ways and are severely affecting life in the West Bank.
___The enforced permit system, were the Palestinians have to apply for living in their own homes, travel a few kilometers to see their family, harvest on their own land and traveling to occupied east Jerusalem to pray. There are more than 100 different types of permits, which includes movement, residency, travel, work, farming, trade and money transfer, education, worshipers, visiting holy sites, construction, renovation and health. With only 19% of the West Bank being controlled by the Palestinian Authorities, the Israeli are using checkpoints to control where and when the Palestinians can travel.   MORE . . .
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) LOCALS  STOP  ISRAELI  DEMOLITIONS  IN  BETHLEHEM TOWN
The Palestinian Information Center   
Aug. 10, 2017.   Local residents in Walaja town, south of Bethlehem, managed Thursday morning to stop Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) from demolishing the exterior wall of a house and from bulldozing a nearby agricultural land.
___Head of the village council told Quds Press that Israeli forces stormed the town early today to demolish a home wall only to find a large number of Palestinian standing outside the property to stop its demolition.   MORE . . .
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴃ) ISRAELI  FORCES  ABDUCT  37  PALESTINIANS  IN  WEST  BANK
Days of Palestine
Aug. 10, 2017.   Israeli occupation forces abducted on Wednesday night 37 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian rights group said.
___Reporting local sources, the Palestinian Prisoner Club (PPC) said that the Israeli occupation forces raided several Palestinian villages, towns and cities.
___In a statement, the PPC said that the Israeli occupation forces abducted at least 37 Palestinian civilians during the raids.
___The PPC also said that the Israeli occupation inspected houses of the Abductees and confiscated mobiles, laptops and money.   MORE . . .

“SINGLE  ADDRESS  FOR  THE  POST,”  BY  ABDEL  RAHIM  AL-SHEIKH
On my way to them, I pass Him by,
(as, on his way, God passes me by)
for as we go our separate ways
we see no one but those on high.
The beds are allotted before the violet dawn.
The black and endless night is spent alone
and then the cataclysm comes
that will seed them from the borders of Palestine
the Great Thorn.
They are the only roses that grow.
From where they stalk the edge of paradise
the first paradise.
From where the children use thorns
to draw maps of this paradise.
From this spot.
We raise in the sky a glorying arc
the first milestone to Mecca
and we leave a kiss for those who left
with neither luggage nor papers for their passage.
This is the way the journey will always be.
They leave their bags for the postman to deliver
He takes them from the hands
of those who follow
And those who follow leave their packages
as the first ones do.
It’s hard for the post to make it to paradise.
There is no address
neither here nor there.
—translated by Rachel McCrum

Abdel Rahim al-Sheikh is from Jerusalem. He teaches philosophy, history, and creative writing at Bir Zeit University and the Qattan Center in Ramallah, and is the author of many literary and academic books.
From A BIRD IS NOT A STONE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY PALESTINIAN POETRY (Glasgow: Freight Books, 2014) –available from Barnes & Noble.

“. . . This special relationship with native lands is critical to formulating the status and rights . . .” (Yousef Jabareen)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
wall-and-church-acre
Wall and church, Acre (Photo source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Akko_Walls_%26_Church.jpg ― Arkadi voller)

❶ . Israel is keen to evict Palestinians of Acre

  • Background: “The Arab-Palestinian Community In Israel: A Test Case For Collective Rights Under International Law.” George Washington International Law Review

❷ . Israeli forces deliver 13 demolition notices to Palestinian neighborhood in Jerusalem
❸ . East Jerusalem: Israeli Strategy Explored in New Video
❹ . West Bank demolitions displace 1,500 Palestinians in 2016
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶. ISRAEL IS KEEN TO EVICT PALESTINIANS OF ACRE
Days of Palestine
Dec 10, 2016
Jenny Nyman
Palestinians of the Old City of Acre in northern Israel face continuous, intensifying struggle against Israeli displacement plans.
___As the Palestinian identity and heritage of the Old City are gradually obscured, local residents are forced to leave in order to make way for wealthy investors and tourism projects.
___Located on the Mediterranean coast in northern Israel, the port city of Acre is one of the oldest in the region, with evidence of continuous settlement dating back as far as 4,000 years.
___Due to its rich history, combining Arab, Crusader and Ottoman heritage, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001.   More. . .        Heritage site . . . 
Related: Shoval, Noam. “Street-Naming, Tourism Development And Cultural Conflict: The Case Of The Old City Of Acre/Akko/Akka.” Transactions Of The Institute Of British Geographers 38.4 (2013): 612-626.  Article . . .

  • JABAREEN, YOUSEF T. “The Arab-Palestinian Community In Israel: A Test Case For Collective Rights Under International Law.” George Washington International Law Review 47.3 (2015): 449-480.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 13 September, 2007

[. . . .] Palestinians currently living in historical Palestine . . . live under three different legal and political systems. These groups are: (1) stateless Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza under a mixture of Israeli military rule and self-rule; (2) Palestinian Jerusalemites, or Palestinian residents of Israeli-occupied and annexed East Jerusalem; and (3) Palestinians living in Israel—minority citizens in Israel since the 1948 war. . . .
___Arab-Palestinians . . .  have consistently resided in three main geographical areas within Israel: the Galilee and Triangle regions in the north and center of the country and the Naqab in the south. . . in about seventy towns and villages, which are entirely Arab; the remainder reside in several mixed Arab-Jewish cities, primarily Haifa, Acre, al-Led, Ramleh, and Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Legally, Israel defines itself as a “Jewish and democratic” state. However, nearly one-fifth of Israel’s citizens belong to the Palestinian national group, with their own ethnic, cultural, religious, and linguistic characteristics.
[. . . .] the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. . . supports . . . preservation and development of the groups’ identity, political participation, the right to autonomy and self-definition, and historical rights. . . . [It] emphasizes the additional need for land rights and similar historical rights. This parallels one of the defining features of indigenous peoples, as opposed to other minorities, in their connection to specific geographic regions. Indeed, they may view their indigenousness through their historical relationship with and attachment to these lands. . . . This special relationship with native lands is critical to formulating the status and rights of such groups, from both a moral and international legal perspective . . . .
___In addition, land use and the right to such lands . . .  are often prerequisites for the fulfillment of other rights including those of a cultural or religious nature. Therefore, one of the key factors motivating indigenous groups to fight for land rights and to gain access to traditional lands is to enable full realization of their group-based rights.
[. . . .] Land rights, as conceptualized by the 2007 Declaration, are closely intertwined with historical rights, past grievances, past compensation, redress, and restorative justice. Accordingly, land is the primary vehicle for addressing all of these issues . . .
[. . . .]  One of the defining features of indigenous peoples, as opposed to other minorities such as immigrants, is their connection to a specific geographic area . . .

❷. ISRAELI  FORCES  DELIVER  13  DEMOLITION  NOTICES  TO  PALESTINIAN  NEIGHBORHOOD  IN  JERUSALEM
Ma’an News Agency  
Dec. 10, 2016
Israeli Jerusalem municipality crews escorted by armed Israeli forces raided the al-Bustan neighborhood of the village of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem on Friday and delivered 13 demolition notices for several residential structures.
___Activist and member of the Committee for the Defense of Silwan Properties Fakhri Abu Diyab told Ma’an that municipality crews handed 13 demolition notices to several families in al-Bustan neighborhood.
___Abu Diyab noted that the houses slated for demolition were built tens of years ago, and are home to more than 100 Palestinians, including women and children.  More . . .

acre-mosque
Al-Jazzar Mosque, Old City and fortified Town of Acre (Photo: UNESCO Heritage Site web page)

❸ . EAST  JERUSALEM:  ISRAELI  STRATEGY  EXPLORED  IN  NEW  VIDEO  
International Middle East Media Center – IMEMC
Dec. 11, 2016
A new video released by the Negotiations Affairs Department, titled “East Jerusalem: Israel’s Colonial Project Unraveled,” declares that Israel’s policy in the city, since the 1967 occupation, is three fold: creating a Jewish majority, reducing Palestinian presence and isolating East Jerusalem and dividing it from its West Bank parts.
___According to WAFA, the 2:43-minute documentary describes the policy as one of “special colonial segregation enforced by Israel’s settlement enterprise.”   More . . .
❹ . WEST  BANK  DEMOLITIONS  DISPLACE  1,500  PALESTINIANS  IN  2016 
+972 Magazine      
Natasha Roth
Dec. 10, 2016
Israel ramped up its practice of demolishing Palestinian structures in the West Bank this year, destroying more than twice as many as it did in 2015.      More . . .  

 

“. . . “States must each protect minorities, their national or ethnic identity and their linguistic, cultural and religious identity. . . .” (UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
super-moon
#Photo of The #SuperMoon from the capital of #Palestine, #Jerusalem (Widely posted on Facebook, Nov. 13, 2016)

❶ US slams Israeli plan to ‘legalise’ settlement outposts

  • Background: “The Palestinians In Israel: The Challenge Of The Indigenous Group Politics In The ‘Jewish State’.” Journal Of Muslim Minority Affairs

❷ Israel moves forward with bill to ban Muslim call to prayer over loudspeakers
❸ PCHR Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the oPt (03 – 09 November 2016)
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ US  SLAMS  ISRAELI  PLAN  TO  ‘LEGALISE’  SETTLEMENT  OUTPOSTS
Al Jazeera English   
Nov. 15, 2016
The US has described as “troubling” an Israeli bill supported by a ministerial committee allowing settlers in the occupied West Bank to remain in homes built on private Palestinian land, additing it hoped the law does not pass.
___”We are deeply concerned about the advancement of legislation that would allow for the legalisation of illegal Israeli outposts located on private Palestinian land,” State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told a briefing on Monday.
___While most of Israel’s settlements in occupied east Jerusalem and the West Bank – all of which are illegal under international law – are constructed under the auspices of the Israeli government, outposts are built without authorisation and technically illegal under Israeli law.      More . . .       Background . . .  Israel to legalise Jewish outposts in occupied territories

jewish-settlement-_3153184b
A file photograph of Adei Ad, the illegal settlement outpost in the West Bank (Photo: REUTERS/Nir Elias, Jan. 2, 2015)

. . . ❶― (a) ISRAELI  AUTHORITIES  DEMOLISH  3  STRUCTURES  IN  JERUSALEM  DISTRICT  AMID  SPATE  OF  DEMOLITIONS       
Ma’an News Agency  
Nov. 15, 2016
Israeli authorities demolished three agricultural structures in the Jerusalem district neighborhoods of Silwan and Jabal al-Mukabbir on Tuesday morning, according to witnesses.
___Alaa Shweiki, a resident of the al-Thuri area in Silwan, told Ma’an Israeli police and Jerusalem municipality inspectors stormed the area around his home and escorted bulldozers onto his property.
___The bulldozers then demolished one structure roofed with steel tubes and tin sheets that he uses as horse stable, as well as a shack he uses to store agricultural equipment.     More . . .     Related . . . Israeli forces demolish residential structures south of Hebron

  • Ghanem, As’ad, and Mohanad Mustafa. “The Palestinians In Israel: The Challenge Of The Indigenous Group Politics In The ‘Jewish State’.” Journal Of Muslim Minority Affairs 31.2 (2011): 177-196.    Source.  

The Palestinians . . .  live in a state that was forced on them and does not represent them. A striking example of the attitude of the ruling majority towards the Palestinian minority in Israel is in the statements . . .  that as part of the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, the Palestinian side should accept Israel as a “Jewish state.”
[. . . .]  According to the definition of . . .  the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities a “minority” is a governed group, with citizenship from the state in which it lives. Its unique ethnic, religious and linguistic attributes separate it from the rest of the people in the nation in which it lives. The term “Indigenous Minority” . . .  refers to the remaining minority of a group that resides in its own homeland, despite other immigrant groups occupying it or founding a new state on its lands. . .  The Palestinian minority in Israel meets most of the criteria to be considered indigenous. These criteria were enumerated by the United Nations . . .  early presence, voluntary conservation of cultural uniqueness, self-definition as an indigenous people, refusal to be subjugated, trivialized, marginalized, expelled or discriminated against by the hegemonic society. . . the presence of a group of people as a society, and their attachment to a specific area.
[. . . .]   The first section of the declaration on persons belonging to national or ethnic minorities, or those belonging to religious and linguistic minorities reads: “States must each protect minorities, their national or ethnic identity and their linguistic, cultural and religious identity. States must also lay the groundwork to facilitate the cultivation of the various identities”.
[. . . .]  The foundation of the Judaization idea is far from being an integral part of the democratic system. Oren Yiftachel calls these practices “ethnocracy”, therefore, the ethnocratic regime is founded on a national project that imposes ethnic national hegemony on the domain through the processes of expansion and settlement. In the case of Zionism, the Judaization of the domain and the land produces an ethnocratic regime. Spatial control is one of the important pillars of the ethnocratic regime. Its goal is the “creation of a new ethno-political geography”. The process of “ethnicizing” a disputed region evolves in the following stages: separation of settlements is used to propagate the control of the majority over the land. In this process the minority is labeled a threat to the ethnic control of land. Subsequently, land planning—which enables the ethnic control of the land. Finally, structural discrimination against the minority, denying it access to development projects and access to the distribution of resources. [. . . .]

❷ ISRAEL  MOVES  FORWARD  WITH  BILL  TO  BAN  MUSLIM  CALL  TO  PRAYER  OVER  LOUDSPEAKERS
Ma’an News Agency
Nov. 14, 2016
The Israeli Ministerial Committee on Legislation approved on Sunday draft legislation which could ban the use of loudspeakers to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer in Israel.     ___The bill, which calls for barring the use of loudspeakers for any religious or “inciting” messages as part of the call to prayer, would need to go through several readings in the Knesset — Israel’s parliament — before making it into law, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Sunday.
___The call to prayer — also known as the adhan — is broadcast five times a day from mosques or Islamic centers.     More . . . 

Call to prayer from area of Masjid al-Aqsa; the first Qiblah of the believers.
May Allah bring liberation to the people of Palestine. Aameen

❸ PCHR  WEEKLY  REPORT  ON  ISRAELI  HUMAN  RIGHTS  VIOLATIONS  IN  THE  OPT  (03 – 09  NOVEMBER  2016)
International Middle East Media Center – IMEMC
Nov. 14, 2016
During the week of 03 – 09 November 2016, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian civilian at the entrance to the “Ofra” settlement, northeast of Ramallah and al-Bireh. Additionally, 6 Palestinian civilians, including a child and a photojournalist, were wounded in the occupied West Bank.
___Israeli violations of international law and international humanitarian law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt), during the reporting period, were as follows:   More . .

“. . . to demolish a man’s house is to tear his heart into little pieces . . . an extremely inhuman act . . .” (Irus Braverman)

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demolition
Demolitions in Umm al-Kheir on Aug. 8, 2016 (Photo: Ma’an News Agency)

❶ Israel poised to raze Bedouin village so Jews can take land

Background from Law & Social Inquiry

. . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) Israeli forces demolishes Palestinian structures across West Bank, assault locals
. . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) Israeli occupation demolishes restaurant, pottery workshop in Nablus, residencies in Hebron
. . . ❶ ― (ᴄ) Israeli forces demolish water pipelines under construction in northern West Bank
❷ Council: Palestinians in need of 30,000 housing units in Jerusalem
❸ POETRY by Yousef El Qedra
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ ISRAEL  POISED  TO  RAZE  BEDOUIN  VILLAGE  SO  JEWS  CAN  TAKE  LAND
The Electronic Intifada
Charlotte Silver
Aug. 8 2016
Israeli bulldozers are poised to raze the Bedouin village Umm al-Hiran in the Naqab (Negev) region in the south of the country.
___On 31 July, bulldozers began ploughing a trench around the village, encircling those homes Israel intends to demolish to make way for a Jewish community.
___The village lost its 13-year legal battle in May 2015, when a three-judge panel on Israel’s high court ruled that the government was authorized to demolish the village and displace its residents  [. . . .]
___Like about 40 other Bedouin villages home to 70,000 people in the Naqab, Umm al-Hiran is not recognized by Israeli authorities, leaving its 1,000 residents, who are Israeli citizens, without basic services or rights.     MORE . . .         RELATED. . .

From: Braverman, Irus. “Powers Of Illegality: House Demolitions And Resistance In East Jerusalem.” Law & Social Inquiry 32.2 (2007): 333-372

. . . . while Foucault’s analysis [of the spectacle of a public execution in DISCIPLINE AND PUNISH, 1979] depicts brutality as inflicted upon the human body, in the demolition instance this brutality is imposed upon the nonhuman body of the house. Significant as it may seem, this distinction between human and nonhuman bodies is rendered irrelevant by most of the Palestinian informants. The Palestinian community planner, for example, claimed that “a person whose house has been demolished, I don’t see any difference between him and a person whose only child is killed,” and a Palestinian defense lawyer told me: “to demolish a man’s house is to tear his heart into little pieces . . . the demolition is an . . . extremely inhuman act.”
___Clearly, most Palestinian informants not only themselves relate to their house as interchangeable with their body but also believe that Israel relates to it in a similar way. Accordingly, this is how a Palestinian Jerusalemite that has worked as a planner in the Jerusalem municipality for over thirty years described the situation: “they twist our hand behind our back until they hear a cry of pain: [then] the municipal officials smile with pleasure, and twist our hand even tighter in order to produce a louder cry. They take pleasure in the Palestinian pain more than in anything else.”
___But while the identification of the Palestinian body with the body of her house may establish one cause for its demolition, another explanation is also possible. Such an alternative explanation is provided by a Jewish Israeli defense lawyer who has been representing Palestinians from East Jerusalem for over twenty years. The lawyer suggests that the official Israeli discourse regards the Palestinians as “airplanes that are not even detected by the Israeli radar,” namely as invisible to Israeli administrators. Rather than choosing between these two seemingly conflicting interpretations, it is important to see their simultaneous existence: while the first interpretation embodies the Palestinian in this space by rendering her body opaque, the second interpretation disembodies her, making for a transparent Palestinian body.
___Instead of undermining each other, the bifurcated dialectic between these two bodily interpretations provides for their reciprocal reinforcement.

. . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) ISRAELI  FORCES  DEMOLISHES  PALESTINIAN  STRUCTURES  ACROSS  WEST  BANK,  ASSAULT  LOCALS
Ma’an News Agency
Aug. 9, 2016
Israeli authorities carried out multiple demolitions across the occupied West Bank on Tuesday morning, including residential structures funded by the European Union, in the midst of an unprecedented campaign targeting Palestinian homes, business, and agricultural structures under the pretext of lacking building permits which are nearly impossible to obtain.
___The demolitions — which included two business in Sabastiya, five homes in Umm al-Kheir, and two homes in al-Jiftlik — were immediately denounced by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in a statement released on Tuesday.
___“Israel is relentlessly destroying Palestinians’ homes and livelihoods in order to make way for more illegal settlements,” Hamdallah said.     MORE . . .

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Demolitions in Umm al-Kheir on Aug. 8, 2016 (Photo: Ma’an News Agency)

. . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) ISRAELI  OCCUPATION  DEMOLISHES  RESTAURANT,  POTTERY  WORKSHOP  IN  NABLUS,  RESIDENCES  IN  HEBRON
Alray Palestine Media Agency
Aug. 9, 2016
The Israeli occupation forces demolished on Tuesday a restaurant and a pottery workshop in the village of Sebastia, north of Nablus, as well as residential structures in the village of Um al-Kheir near Hebron, local sources reported.
___Mayor of Sebastia municipality said that Israeli forces broke into the village and demolished a restaurant and a pottery workshop, both owned by two local Palestinian villagers, under the pretext of construction without permission.     MORE . . .
. . . ❶ ― (ᴄ) ISRAELI  FORCES  DEMOLISH  WATER  PIPELINES  UNDER  CONSTRUCTION  IN  NORTHERN  WEST  BANK
Ma’an News Agency
Aug. 8, 2016
Israeli forces reportedly destroyed large portions of a water pipeline under construction in the northern occupied West Bank district of Tubas on Monday.
___Arif Daraghmah, the head of the village council in the Jordan Valley and neighboring Bedouin communities, told Ma’an that Israeli forces accompanied by military vehicles and two bulldozers began the demolition process early on Monday morning on the pipeline, which he said targeted a pipeline funded by NGO Action Against Hunger that had been under construction for the past four months in order to provide water to residents of the area.
___Daraghmah added that the Israeli forces completely destroyed the four-kilometer water pipeline between the town of Tubas and the village of Yarza, and also destroyed and seized large parts of the nine-kilometer pipeline connecting Yarza to the village of al-Malih.
___He said Israeli forces were carrying out these demolitions in order to pressure Palestinian residents into leaving the area.     MORE . . .

demolitions 3
Demolitions in Umm al-Kheir on Aug. 8, 2016 (Photo: Ma’an News Agency)

❷ COUNCIL:  PALESTINIANS  IN  NEED  OF  30,000  HOUSING  UNITS  IN  JERUSALEM
Al-Hourriah
Aug. 8, 2016
Jerusalem will be in need of 30,000 housing units, the Palestinian Housing Council said Monday.
___The council’s technical director in the occupied West Bank, Zuheir Ali, said, at a workshop held in al-Bireh under the title “Housing in Occupied Jerusalem: Facts and Challenges,” that the Palestinians have been facing difficulties in constructing new homes on at least 13% of east Jerusalem lands.
___Ali added that Israeli restrictive measures resulted in a sharp housing crisis and that Occupied Jerusalem is in need of 30,000 housing units, to the tune of around three billion dollars, until 2020.     MORE . . .  

“I  HAVE  NO  HOME,”  BY  YOUSEF  EL  QEDRA

I saw clouds running away from the hurt.
I have no language.
Its weight is lighter than a feather.
The quill does not write.
The ink of the spirit burns on the shore of meaning.
The clouds are tears, filled with escape and lacking definition.
A cloud realizes the beauty she forms—
beauty which contains all good things,
for whom trees, gardens, and tired young women wait.

I have no home.
I have a night overripe with sweats caused by numbness all over.
Time has grown up on its own without me.
In my dream, I asked him what he looks like.
My small defeats answered me.
So I asked him again, What did he mean?
Then I found myself suspended in nothingness,
Stretched like a string that doesn’t belong to an instrument.
The wind played me. So did irresistible gravity.
I was a run of lost notes that have a sad, strong desire to live.
―Translated by Yasmin Snounu and Edward Morin

Yousef El Qedra is a young poet and playwright living in Gaza. He has his BA degree in Arabic Literature from Azhar University, Gaza. Since 2006 he has worked as a project coordinator of theater and youth groups for the Cultural Free Thought Association in Gaza City. He has written several books and plays and published four volumes of poetry, translated into French and Spanish.
From BEFORE  THERE  IS  NOWHERE  TO  STAND:  PALESTINE  ISRAEL  POETS  RESPOND  TO  THE  STRUGGLE.  Ed. By Joan Dobbie and Grace Beeler. Sandpoint ID: Lost
Horse Press, 2012. Available from Amazon. demolitions 4

Demolitions in Umm al-Kheir on Aug. 8, 2016 (Photo: Ma’an News Agency)



“. . . But it became a black city . . .” (Samih Al-Qasim)

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Bethlehem blockade
Road closure, Bethlehem, May 11, 2016 (Photo: Ma’an News Agency)

❶ 2 Palestinians killed, 44 injured over the past week
❷ Israeli forces close entrances to Bethlehem-area towns after shooting near Israeli settlement

  • background from International Journal Of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies

❸ Israeli forces detain 4, including Oscar-nominated filmmaker and journalist, in Bilin protest
❹ BLOG: Reflections From Palestine
❺ POETRY by Samih al-Qasim
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ 2  PALESTINIANS  KILLED,  44  INJURED  OVER  THE  PAST  WEEK
The Palestinian Information Center
July 22, 2016
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a new report issued Friday that two Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire over the past week while 44 others were injured including 13 children. . . .  from different parts of occupied Palestinian territories.
[. . . . ] 22 Palestinian-owned houses were either demolished or closed since the beginning of the year as part of Israeli punitive measures, leaving 110 persons homeless. Israeli authorities also demolished 23 homes for being allegedly built without permit in Israeli-controlled Area C, displacing 43 persons including 25 children.     MORE . . .

❷ ISRAELI  FORCES  CLOSE  ENTRANCES  TO  BETHLEHEM-AREA  TOWNS  AFTER  SHOOTING  NEAR  ISRAELI  SETTLEMENT
Ma’an News Agency
July 22, 2016
Israeli forces Friday closed several entrances to villages and towns in the eastern and southeastern parts of the occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem with large cement blocks, according to a Ma’an reporter, following a shooting on an Israeli settler’s car Thursday night.
___Israeli forces set up several checkpoints in the surrounding villages and towns in the district, including one at the entrance of the town of Beit Sahour and the entrances to villages in the eastern countryside of Bethlehem, causing heavy traffic, according to the local Ma’an reporter.
Israeli forces also closed the entrance to the town of Janata, two roads leading to the town of Zaatara, and the villages of al-Khas and Marah Rabah in southeastern Bethlehem.  MORE . . .   

From International Journal Of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies
The essence of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has never been religious. The conflict is not between Muslims and Jews, as some tend to believe. It is not even a dispute over a territory. It is a protest against a post-modern colonialist project of creating an exclusive national entity for the Jewish people by eliminating and replacing the existence of Palestine. Many Israelis do not share this perception and believe that they need to have their national home and to build a Jewish and democratic state as a response to a long history of persecution and oppression particularly in Europe.
[. . . .]
The lack of visionary Israeli leadership, the destructive and racist policy of the current Netanyahu government and the lack of Palestinian national unity, resulting from the wide split between the PNA led by Fatah and Hamas, all these factors make the situation more gloomy. While Israelis are not ready yet voluntarily to relinquish supremacy, control and domination, Palestinians are determined not to give up on their legitimate rights for a decent and dignified life and for an independent and viable Palestinian state after a century of suffering and pain. Israelis as a collective national entity, for their own sake as well, must confront the wisdom of their pathological and lengthy use of dissociation and denial as effective defense mechanisms to cover up their unconscious guilt and shame and to prevent them from taking responsibility for the suffering of Palestinians, mostly endured by them.

  • JARRAR, ADIB. “Palestinian Suffering: Some Personal, Historical, And Psychoanalytic Reflections.” International Journal Of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies 7.3 (2010): 197-208.       SOURCE   

❸ ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  4,  INCLUDING  OSCAR-NOMINATED  FILMMAKER  AND  JOURNALIST,  IN  BILIN  PROTEST
Ma’an News Agency
July 22, 2016
Israeli forces detained four people, including a journalist and Oscar-nominated filmmaker, as soldiers dispersed weekly protests in the village of Bilin in the Ramallah district of the occupied West Bank on Friday.
___Israeli forces detained Iranian television reporter Khalid Sabarnah, the head of the local council Basil Mansur, activist Ashraf Abu Rahma, and filmmaker Emad Burnat, the Oscar-nominated director of the documentary film “5 Broken Cameras”, a film showing Burnat’s first-hand account of the protests in Bilin that began 11 years ago in response to the illegal expansion of nearby Israeli settlements, and the construction of Israel’s separation wall which separates Bilin residents from their privately owned lands.  MORE . . .

bilin-2272016-Anat-e1469217550590
Dozens of soldiers attacked, Friday, July 22, 2016, the weekly nonviolent protest in Bil’in village (Photo: IMEMC)

❹ REFLECTIONS  FROM  PALESTINE,  BY  SAMIA  KHOURY  

“STORY OF A CITY,” BY SAMIH AL-QASIM

There was a blue city
that dreamt of foreigners wandering
around and spending their money
day after day.

But it became a black city
despising strangers
with their rifles’ muzzles
making the rounds of its cafés . . . .

From Al-Qasim, Samih. SADDER  THAN  WATER.  NEW  AND  SELECTED  POEMS.  Trans. Nazih Kasis and Adina Hoffman. Jerusalem: Ibis Editions, 2008.    Available from Amazon
Samih Al-Qasim. Obituary, August 20, 2014

“. . . the tactic has not been a very effective deterrent . . .” (Talal Jabari)

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❶ 5 Palestinians injured with live fire during Israeli demolition of prisoner’s home

  • background from Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture

❷ Israeli soldiers open fire, wound Palestinian over stabbing attack

  • background from Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture

❸ Israel sentences Pal boy to 6.5 years, $6,718 fine
❹ Opinion/Analysis:  EQUALITY  COULD  BE  THE  ULTIMATE  DETERRENCE  TO  VIOLENCE
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶  5  PALESTINIANS  INJURED  WITH  LIVE  FIRE  DURING  ISRAELI  DEMOLITION  OF  PRISONER’S  HOME
Ma’an News Agency
July 18, 2016
Five Palestinian civilians were injured by Israeli live fire during the pre-dawn hours of Monday, as Israeli forces carried out the punitive home demolition of Palestinian prisoner Bilal Ahmed Abu Zeid.
___Under the protection of armed Israeli soldiers, bulldozers entered the town of Qabatiya in the Jenin district early Monday morning, where they demolished the home of Abu Zeid, who was accused of transferring weapons to the attackers suspected in the killing of a 19-year-old Israeli border police officer and wounding of one other outside the Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem in February.    MORE . . .

From Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture
The recent unrest experienced across the Occupied Palestinian Territory . . . is the outcome of Israel’s oppressive occupation. While Israel’s violent responses to Palestinian resistance reverberate across the OPT, they have been especially felt in occupied East Jerusalem, specifically through recent legislation.
__Israel has framed much of the recent legislation against the backdrop of a so-called “wave of terrorism.” . . .  on October 13, 2015, Israel passed a series of measures . . .  the demolition of alleged terrorists’ homes . . . among others. In light of various comments made by Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who stated that Israel was “waging a fight to the death against Palestinian terror,” it is clear that the measures are to directly target the Palestinian population generally, and those of East Jerusalem specifically.
[. . . .]
The intent to collectively punish Palestinians is made clear by Knesset Member Oren Hazan, who stated . . . .  “[i]f you think we have done enough by stiffening the punishment, you are wrong. It’s time we realize that the Palestinians only understand force. No more . . .  demolishing homes two years after (a terror attack), but at the exact moment. . . . I plan to submit a proposal that the families of terrorists will be banished to Gaza. It’s time we internalize the fact that terror cannot be fought with democratic tools. (Israeli Knesset Press Release)

  • Baker, Aseil Abu. “Laws Targeting East Jerusalem: Discriminatory Intent and Application.” Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture 21.3 (2016): 55-64.  ARTICLE.

❷ ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  OPEN  FIRE,  WOUND  PALESTINIAN  OVER  STABBING  ATTACK
Palestine News Network – PNN
July 18, 2016
A Palestinian man was wounded after Israeli soldiers opened fire on him, over claims that he stabbed two soldiers who were at the entance of Al-Arroub refugee camp south of Bethlehem, central West Bank.
___The Palestinian Ministry of health said that the man who was shot was identified as Mustafa Barad’iyah from Al-Arroub refugee camp, adding that he was hit by two bullets in the stomach, and is now in a stable condition.   MORE . . .  

From Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture
Palestinians who were accused of attacking Israelis were shot directly, either by Israeli military forces or by settlers who may have just felt insecure or threatened with or without reason. Most of the martyrs would not be liable for a death sentence in a state of law. The homes of these Palestinian martyrs are being demolished in violation of international law. . . . the theft of Palestinian land and spree of barbaric extrajudicial killings are all being buoyed by the cheers of the masses, media incitement and the encouragement of the Israeli government and the Zionist far-right extremists.
[. . . .] Many other similar incidents of the extrajudicial execution of Palestinian youth accused of stabbing Israelis laid bare for the world the inhumanity of Zionism. It was enough to show the ongoing Jewish supremacist ideology which places non-Jews in an inferior relation to Jews and places less value on their lives. . . . It is an intergenerational sense of superiority bred from the dehumanization of Palestinians and Arabs in general that justifies their oppression, brutalization and murder.
__In the absence of international action to put an end to the Israeli occupation or even provide protection, what are Palestinians supposed to do, stand still and wait for the next family to be burned, or for the next Palestinian to be killed, or for the next settlement to be built? Why does the world remain silent while watching the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians?

  • Elrahim, Amira Abd. “Lack of Security For Palestinians.” Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture 21.2 (2015): 28-35.  ARTICLE.  

❸ ISRAEL  SENTENCES  PAL  BOY  TO  6.5  YEARS,  $6,718  FINE
Days of Palestine
Jul 18, 2016
Israel Central Court in Jerusalem sentenced on Sunday 14-year-old Palestinian boy to six and half years and fine worth NIS26,000 ($6,718).
___The verdict against Alqam, who was kidnapped from the Israeli light rail in Jerusalem with his cousin on November 10, 2015, was reached during a hearing held last month.
___Alqam is accused of carrying out a stabbing attack against an Israeli commuter of the light rail in Jerusalem. While his cousin, Ali Alqam, is also accused of planning to carry out a stabbing attack.  MORE . . .
❹ Opinion/Analysis: EQUALITY  COULD  BE  THE  ULTIMATE  DETERRENCE  TO  VIOLENCE
+972 Blog
Talal Jabari
July 17, 2016
One of my very first assignments as a young journalist was to go to Shuafat Refugee Camp in East Jerusalem to take pictures and gather quotes pertaining to the demolition of several homes that day. I remember looking on as the bulldozers went about their work, and as the residents of the homes, male and female, wept helplessly as they watched their life’s savings collapse into neat piles of rubble.
[. . . .]
Of the more than 48,000 structures Israel demolished since 1967, hundreds were destroyed as a punitive measure, in the aftermath of a Palestinian attack — even a failed attack. Logic would suggest that the very fact that Israel has had to demolish hundreds of homes rather than a few dozen means the tactic has not been a very effective deterrent. An Israeli army commission came to the same conclusion in 2005, publishing a report that put an end to the practice of punitive demolitions.
[. . . .]
So why are we still discussing a practice that was halted in 2005? In its infinite wisdom, the Israeli security establishment decided to ignore the findings of two military committees and the research of top Israeli journalists . . . .   MORE . . .

“. . . the pretense of maintaining Israel’s Jewish and democratic character . . .” (Orly Noy)

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1-home demo
Israeli forces demolished a home in the Qalandiya refugee camp in the West Bank, November 16, 2015 (Photo: Majdi Mohammed, STR)

❶ UN ‘gravely concerned’ over imminent home demolitions in Palestinian refugee camp

  • From: Law & Social Inquiry

❷ Israeli forces assault worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, around 10 Muslims worshipers were wounded

  • From: Israel Studies Review

❸ Opinion/Analysis: THE  ROOTS  OF  ISRAEL’S  MOST  RACIST  LAW
❹ POETRY by ‘Abd al-Raheem Mahmoud

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ UN  ‘GRAVELY  CONCERNED’  OVER  IMMINENT  HOME  DEMOLITIONS  IN  PALESTINIAN  REFUGEE  CAMP
Ma’an News Agency
June 26, 2016
The United Nations warned against imminent punitive home demolitions targeting Palestinian families in Qalandiya refugee camp in the central occupied West Bank, putting at least six Palestinian refugees at risk of being left homeless.
___UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, said in a statement on Saturday that it was “gravely concerned” about the Israeli High Court of Justice’s recent rejection of the families’ appeal to save their homes [. . . .]
___The families were notified on June 14 that they had five days to evacuate, after Israeli authorities ruled their homes would be destroyed as punishment for stab attacks carried out by two young members of the families on December 23 at the Jaffa Gate of East Jerusalem’s Old City.
___The two 21-year-old Palestinians, Issa Assaf and Anan Abu Habsa, were shot dead by Israeli police on the scene.      MORE . . .

From: Law & Social Inquiry
Although initially triggered by an individualized act of human agency, the punishment for certain illegal behaviors is usually inflicted upon the product of the illegal labor rather than on the human initiator of this labor. . . .  Why is the house, rather than any other subject or object, the focal center for such legal attention? The infliction of illegality on the house, rather than on any other product of illegal action, is not incidental, and, accordingly, the law is preoccupied with the documentation and regulation of the house.    ___The extensive literature that exists on this subject mostly focuses on the anthropomorphic nature of the house, presenting it as an extension of the self and as an essential ground for personhood (Fenster 2004; Sibley 1996; Radin 1982). However, the struggle over the house/home in the Israeli/Palestinian context is not only over the individual house but also over its collective meaning. . . .
[. . . .]
___Israel demolishes Palestinian houses not only “because they must be made to be afraid,” but also because “they must, to a certain extent, take part in it” (58). Living in constant fear that the next demolition may be inflicted on their home, the distinction between observers and observed is blurred in this instance to the point where “the spectator does not feel at home anywhere, because the spectacle is everywhere.”

  • Braverman, Irus. “Powers Of Illegality: House Demolitions And Resistance In East Jerusalem.” Law & Social Inquiry 32.2 (2007): 333-372.  SOURCE.

❷ ISRAELI  FORCES  ASSAULT  WORSHIPERS  AT  AL-AQSA  MOSQUE,  AROUND  10  MUSLIMS  WORSHIPERS  WERE  WOUNDED 
Days of Palestine
June 26, 2016
A large number of Israeli occupation forces stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque and assaulted Muslim worshippers, injuring around ten of them
___“In the very early morning, we were surprised with the ISRAELI FORCES STORMING THE YARDS OF THE MOSQUE WITH A BIG NUMBER OF SETTLERS and foreign tourists,” Omar Kaswani, chief guard of Al-Aqsa Mosque said.
___“We wanted to neutralise the settlers, but the Israeli soldiers, who were protecting them, interfered violently and attacked the worshipers indiscriminately,” he added.    MORE . .

From: Israel Studies Review
. . a law prescribes that any court that convicts an individual for committing various terrorism-related and other security-based offenses will be authorized to revoke citizenship, in addition to the “ordinary” penalties, including life imprisonment. Despite the obvious fact that there are many heinous crimes that can be committed against society, this law applies only to security-oriented crimes. The singling out of these offenses negatively impacts the notion of equality before the law. . . . This choice of offenses is not neutral, but is motivated by the desire to exclude those few Arab citizens of Israel convicted of security-based offenses and to strip them of their citizenship rights, possibly even leading to their deportation.
[. . . . ]
. . . the Israeli legislature has demonstrated a strikingly different approach with regard to other, “patriotic” offenses. The . . . law, which was enacted by the Knesset in February 2010, adopted an ultra-compassionate approach with regard to offenses committed by Israeli right-wing extremists . . . who committed criminal offenses as part of the resistance to the disengagement [from Gaza] plan . . . This legislation violates the principles of rule of law and equality before the law. It prefers some social groups over others, allowing them to commit crimes—including assault in severe circumstances and assault on a police officer—without facing any consequences. The message conveyed by this law is a dangerous one: violence can be forgiven, overlooked, or even considered normative—if it supports the “right” cause.

  • Kremnitzer, Mordechai, and Shiri Krebs. “From Illiberal Legislation To Intolerant Democracy.” Israel Studies Review 26.1 (2011): 4-11.  SOURCE.
1-settlers
Israeli police accompany Jews past the Dome of the Rock mosque during a visit to the Al-Aqsa mosque on April 25, 2016. (Photo: Ahmad Gharabli / AFP)

❸ Opinion/Analysis:  THE  ROOTS  OF  ISRAEL’S  MOST  RACIST  LAW
+972 Magazine
Orly Noy
June 24, 2016
[. . . .]
Herein lies the failure with which the Zionist Left refuses to contend: the pretense of maintaining Israel’s Jewish and democratic character is at its core a demographic struggle. In order for the Jewish state to be able to allow itself to be democratic — at least when it comes to individual rights (as opposed to national rights) — vis-à-vis its Arab citizens, it needs a significant demographic advantage. Only then will it be able to tell itself stories about democracy when it comes to a national minority without endangering the Jewish character it is so intent on maintaining. This is precisely why since its founding the state has refrained from establishing a new Arab city, despite population growth and a housing crisis in Arab society. This is why the state needs the Jewish National Fund to continue and “Judaize” land. This is why the state needs legislation that unabashedly restricts the growth of the minority.      MORE . . .

“THE  AQSA  MOSQUE,”  BY  ‘ABD  AL-RAHEEM  MAHMOUD  (1913-1948)
(A salute to Prince Saud Ibn ‘Abd al’Aziz when he visited the poet’s town,
‘Anabta, on August 14, 1935.)

Honorable Prince! Before you stands a poet
whose heart harbors bitter complaint.
Have you come to visit the Aqsa mosque
or to bid it farewell before its loss?
This land, this holy land, is being sold to all intruders
and stabbed by its own people!
And tomorrow looms over us, nearer and nearer!
Nothing shall remain for us but our streaming tears,
our deep regrets.

Oh, Prince, shout, shout! Your voice
might shake people awake!
Ask the guards of the Aqsa: are they all agreed to struggle
as one body and mind?
Ask the guards of the Aqsa: can a covenant with God
be offered to someone, then lost?
Forgive the complaint, but a grieving heart needs to complain
to the Prince, even if it makes him weep.
―Translated by Sharif Elmusa and Naomi Shihab Nye
(This poem gained great fame later on because of its prophetic words about the imminent loss of Palestine.)

About ‘Abd al-Raheem Mahmoud
ANTHOLOGY  OF  MODERN  PALESTINIAN  LITERATURE.  Ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Available from Columbia University Press.

 

“. . . I shall sing in spite of fences in spite of jailers . . .” (Fouzi El-Asmar)

Harold KnightLeave a comment

 

demolish_marajem_nablus
Israeli Soldiers Demolish homes near Nablus. April 4, 2016 (Photo: IMEMC, April 4, 2016)

❶ Israel to Demolish Two Homes in Nablus Village
❷ Israel Okays 82 housing units in Ramat Shlomo settlement
❸ Israeli forces raid, blockade Ramallah area village after settler vehicle comes under fire
❹ Opinion/Analysis: THE  PARIS  PEACE  GAMBIT:  EVERYONE  GAINS  EXCEPT  THE  PALESTINIANS
❺ POETRY by Fouzi El-Asmar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ ISRAEL  TO  DEMOLISH  TWO  HOMES  IN  NABLUS  VILLAGE
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
June 7, 2016
Israeli authorities on Tuesday notified Palestinians in the village of Duma, to the south of Nablus, about their intent to demolish two homes and a carpentry workshop of their own, according to local sources.
___Adeeb Dawabsheh, deputy mayor of Duma, told WAFA that the Israeli army cited construction without permission as a pretext for the demolition notice.
___He said the two homes and the workshop are the property of two local Palestinians from the Dawabsheh family.      MORE . . .  
RELATED . . .   ISRAELI  FORCES  SERVE  DEMOLITION  NOTICES  FOR  SHEEP  PENS  IN  BETHLEHEM  VILLAGE  

If the Israeli government recognises ‘pragmatically’ that at present Jews will not be able to settle throughout the territory of their geography of imagination because of demographic and geographic realities—namely the existence of a concentrated Palestinian population in many areas—what would be the expedient territorial adjustment while still adhering in the longer term to ‘core beliefs’? The answer is: adopt a strategy to prevent the creation of a viable Palestinian state by confining Palestinian population concentrations to non-contiguous ‘enclaves’ while Israel retains effective control over all Palestine’s international border . . . . Such ‘dynamic enclavisation’ is probably unique as a tactic of spatial dismemberment in expanding a nation-state with undetermined territorial borders, although it is familiar as a tactic in military geography employed on the battlefield [. . . .]
___Palestinians are invited at best to a kind of ‘mock’ sovereignty over an archipelago of truncated spaces—behind borders which are in some profound sense provisional. Indeed, provisionality seems a kind of modality for the way territory is dealt with under the Zionist – nationalist geopolitical code of control and its extension. In that sense, a kind of dynamic unilateral repartition of Mandatory Palestine seems an underlying strategy.

  • Falah, Ghazi-Walid. “The Geopolitics of ‘Enclavisation’ and the Demise of a Two-State Solution to the Israeli – Palestinian Conflict.” Third  World  Quarterly  26.8 (2005): 1341-1372.

❷ ISRAEL  OKAYS  82  HOUSING  UNITS  IN  RAMAT  SHLOMO  SETTLEMENT
The Palestinian Information Center
June 7, 2016
The Israeli municipality’s planning and construction committee in Occupied Jerusalem on Monday authorized the marketing of the 82 housing units in Ramat Shlomo settlement despite the government’s objection and without notifying it, Israel’s Channel 2 claimed.
___Ramat Shlomo is an illegal settlement located in northeast Jerusalem, next to the Palestinian village of Shuafat.
___A diplomatic crisis erupted between Israel and the US in March 2010 due to the former’s plan to build 1,600 new housing units in the settlement, coinciding with US vice-president Joe Biden’s visit to Palestine in order to push for renewed peace talks.  MORE . . .  

Fouzi  El-Asmar  lived  as  a  Palestinian  Arab  in Israel  for  the  first  thirty-five  years  of  his life.
___His poetry. . . captures the existential predicament of this condition: can one “be” an Arab in Israel if one refuses to accede one’s soul to the state authorities or protests the suffering of one’s people, who live under the oppression of a state that claims to speak for the protection of the Jewish people everywhere and for all time?   [. . . .]
___To be a Palestinian Arab in Israel at this moment is to represent an intractable problem for the demography and long-term “security” of the Jewish state, and is a painful reminder of how the founding conditions of Israeli society were built on the Palestinian Arab’s exclusion, transfer, or vulnerable location within an apartheid state. The Palestinian Arab in Israel lives in the shadow of the destruction of Palestinian civil society, which Israel’s settler colonial violence unleashed, and in the aftermath of the Holocaust and the rise of militant Zionism.

  • Abraham, Matthew. “The Perils Of Separation: Fouzi El-Asmar’s To  Be  An  Arab  In  Israel  As An Allegory Of Settler Colonial Anxiety.” South  Atlantic  Quarterly  107.4 (2008): 715-734.

❸ ISRAELI  FORCES  RAID,  BLOCKADE  RAMALLAH  AREA  VILLAGE  AFTER  SETTLER  VEHICLE  COMES  UNDER  FIRE  
Ma’an News Agency
June 7, 2016
Israeli forces raided and imposed a blockade on the village of Deir Abu Mashal in the central occupied West Bank Monday evening after Palestinian gunmen reportedly fired shots at two Israeli settler vehicles in the area, and an Israeli settler returned fire.___Locals told Ma’an that a large number of Israeli forces stormed Deir Abu Mashal northwest of Ramallah and broke into shops and gas stations, seizing hard drives from outdoor surveillance cameras. Witnesses added Israeli soldiers questioned several Palestinian youths.   MORE . . .

1-ramat shlomo
Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish settlement in the mainly Arab eastern sector of Jerusalem with Palestinian houses seen from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, on June 5, 2014. (Photo: Getty Images)

❹ Opinion/Analysis: THE  PARIS  PEACE  GAMBIT:  EVERYONE  GAINS  EXCEPT  THE  PALESTINIANS
The Middle East Monitor – MEMO
Ramzy Baroud
June 7, 2016
In their defense, the Israelis seem to have figured out the whole thing and opted out. But the hapless Palestinian leadership, along with their Arab League partners, joined by the French, EU and UN representatives, and even US Secretary of State, John Kerry, decided to play along.
___However, the French peace initiative-turned-conference in Paris on June 3 is nothing but a charade, and they all know it, Palestinians included.
___So, why the colossal waste of time?       MORE . . . 

“I  SHALL  SING,”  BY  FOUZI  EL-ASMAR

I shall create
out of the darkness of my jail
my dawn
out of the jaw of hatred
my destiny.
I shall sing
the wind
the sun
the flowers
the spring.
I shall sing
in spite of fences
in spite of jailers
in spite of hatred.
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Fouzi El-Asmar
El-Asmar, Fouzi. THE   WIND-DRIVEN   REED   AND   OTHER   POEMS. Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press, 1979.  Available from Amazon.