Category: Knessett Joint List

“. . . The branches of this land foster me . . .” (Fouzi El Azmar)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
[Note from the blogger:  this blog will be published every second day beginning today.]

Selected News of the Day 

EU Slams Israel’s Settlements As “Serious Breach Of International Law”

Days of Palestine
September 18, 2019
Shortly after the Israeli government approved the establishment of a new settlement on the outskirts of Jericho city, the European Union slammed all settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, as a serious breach of international law.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙“The European Union reiterates that all settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, are illegal under international law,” said the EU spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Maja Kocijancic in a press release.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙The EU called on Israel to “end all settlement activity and to dismantle the outposts erected since March 2001 in line with prior obligations”, the statement said.   More . . . .

Israeli Forces Destroy Over 100 Olive Trees In Northern West Bank Village

Days of Palestine
September 18, 2019
Israeli soldiers chopped  down on Wednesday scores of Palestinian-owned olive trees in Burqin village, west of the occupied West Bank district of Salfit, according to  Marwan Abdul Rahman, head of Burqin village council.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙He said soldiers chopped more than 100 olive trees in Khirbet Qarqash area located in the northeastern part of the village.  More . . . .

  • Israeli army cuts water supply to Jordan Valley village
    WAFA
    September 19, 2019
    The Israeli army today cut water supply to the village of Bardalla in the northern Jordan Valley after shutting down the water taps supplying the village with its daily water needs, according to member of Bardalla village council Darrar Daraghmeh.
    ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙He said soldiers raided the village and proceeded to shut the pipes supplying the village’s around 2000 population with their daily water needs without giving reason for this action.  More . . . .
  • Israeli Soldiers Bulldoze Palestinian Agricultural Lands Near Qalqilia And Salfit
    IMEMC-International Middle East Media Center
    September 18, 2019
    Israeli soldiers bulldozed and uprooted, Wednesday, large areas of Palestinian agricultural lands in Hijja village, east of the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, and near Salfit in central West Bank.
    ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙Mohammad Abu Sheikh, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors Israel’s illegal colonialist activities in Qalqilia governorate, said several army bulldozers started uprooted approximately 145 Dunams of farmlands.
    ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙He added that the Israeli violation comes as part of the efforts to expand the Industrial Zone of the illegal Karnei Shomron colony, which was built on privately-owned Palestinian lands.    More . . . .
  • In a large-scale search-and-arrest campaign, Israeli forces round up 22 Palestinians in West Bank
    WAFA
    September 19, 2019  In a large-scale search-and-arrest campaign, Israeli forces detained early this morning 22 Palestinians in various areas of the occupied West Bank, including three 14-year-old minors, according to the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS).
    ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙It said soldiers raided the town of Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, and detained three 14-year-old minors after raiding their family homes.       More . . . .

Commentary

Israelis have made their verdict clear: Benjamin Netanyahu’s time is up

The National
Jonathan Cook
September 18, 2019
For most Israelis, the general election on Tuesday was about one thing and one thing only. Not the economy, nor the occupation, nor even corruption scandals. It was about Benjamin Netanyahu. Should he head yet another far-right government, or should his 10-year divisive rule come to an end?
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙Barring a last-minute upset as the final ballot papers are counted, it is clear that Mr Netanyahu does not command a majority and could well be on his way out. . . . The difficulty is that such a coalition would depend on the support of the 13 Joint List legislators representing Israel’s large Palestinian minority. . . .   More . . . .

Poem of the Day

“I  AM  THE  SON  OF  THE  LAND,”  BY  FOUZI  EL ASMAR

You may take my hands
and lock them in your chains
You may also blindfold me.

You bereaved me
from the light
and I marched
You robbed me
of the bread
and I ate.
You plundered the land
from me
and I ploughed.

I am the son of the land
and for that
I find goodness in this earth
anywhere I happen to be:
The ants of this land
feed me
The branches of this land
foster me
The eagles of this land
will shield my open revolt

Yes
You may take my hands
And lock them in your chains
You may also blindfold me
But here I will stand tall
And here I shall remain
until the very end. (April, 1970)

From: El Azmar, Fouzi. POEMS  FROM  AN  ISRAELI  PRISON. Intro. By Israel Shahak. New York: KNOW Books, 1973.    Available from Google Books.

Support ‘Palestine Writes’, the first Palestinian Literature festival in North America
Mondoweiss
Nada Elia, September 18, 2019  More . . . .

“. . . . The Holy Land seemingly chooses bullets . . .” (Farrah Sarafa)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
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Police and some 1,200 protesters clash during a rally against the government’s plan to resettle some 30,000 Bedouin residents of the Negev, in the southern Israeli town of Hura, earlier this month (Photo credit: David Buimovitch/Flash90)

❶ Palestinian woman shot dead after alleged car attack at Gush Etzion
❷ Israeli forces open fire on Palestinians near Gaza border
❸ PHOTOS: Arabs and Jews protest planned expulsion of 1,200 Bedouin
❹ BDS win: UNICEF in Jordan ends G4S contract
❺ Opinion/Analysis: THE RIGHT TO OWN PROPERTY — FOR JEWS ALONE
❻ Poetry by Farrah Sarafa
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ PALESTINIAN  WOMAN  SHOT  DEAD  AFTER  ALLEGED  CAR  ATTACK  AT  GUSH  ETZION
MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
4 Mar. 2016
Israeli forces shot dead a 34-year-old Palestinian woman on Friday morning after she allegedly rammed her car into an Israeli soldier stationed at the Gush Etzion junction in the southern occupied West Bank.
___An Israeli army spokesperson said that after the woman hit the soldier with her car, Israeli forces “responded to the imminent threat” by shooting and killing her.     MORE . . .
❷ ISRAELI  FORCES  OPEN  FIRE  ON  PALESTINIANS  NEAR  GAZA  BORDER
MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
4 Mar. 2016
Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinian workers east of Gaza City on Friday morning, with no injuries reported, locals told Ma’an.
___Heavy gunfire was heard as Israeli soldiers stationed in military towers along the Gazan border opened fire on workers and bird hunters.
___Witnesses told Ma’an that the Palestinians left the area fearing for their safety. Medical sources said that no injuries were reported.      MORE . . .

bedouin children
Bedouin children take part in a demonstration outside the Be’er Sheva District Court against the planned demolition of Umm al-Hiran and Atir, two unrecognized Bedouin villages in Israel’s Negev Desert, March 3, 2016. (Photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

❸ PHOTOS:  ARABS  AND  JEWS  PROTEST  PLANNED  EXPULSION  OF  1,200  BEDOUIN
+972 MAGAZINE
Yael Marom, photos by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org
3 Mar. 2016
Over 300 demonstrators marched outside the Be’er Sheva District Court Thursday against the planned demolition of two unrecognized Bedouin villages, Umm al-Hiran and Atir, in Israel’s Negev Desert. Two villages are slated to be replaced by a Jewish-only community and a Jewish National Fund forest, respectively
___The protesters, Arabs and Jews, accompanied by members of Knesset from the Joint List and Meretz’s Issawi Freij, chanted “We will not move from Atir and Umm al-Hiran,” and “the Negev belongs to all of us — Jews and Arabs.”      MORE . . .
❹ BDS  WIN:  UNICEF  IN  JORDAN  ENDS  G4S  CONTRACT
PALESTINE NEWS NETWORK
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Jordan has ended its contract with G4S following a campaign by BDS activists in the country and across the world over the company’s role in Israel’s detention and torture of Palestinian political prisoners and other Israeli human rights violations.
___Guman Mussa, the Arab World campaigns coordinator with the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the largest coalition in Palestinian civil society leading the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, welcomed the move.  MORE . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis: THE  RIGHT  TO  OWN  PROPERTY  — FOR  JEWS  ALONE
+972 BLOG
From YESH DIN, by Yossi Gurvitz
4 Mar. 2016
The government never authorized the wholesale annexation of the West Bank. That’s why it’s doing it behind everyone’s backs. . . .
[. . . . ]
The Israeli government never authorized . . . unofficial policy of annexation – one that does not grant equal rights to those being annexed, while at the same time depriving them of the legal defenses they are entitled to as protected persons, since, allegedly, there is no occupation.      MORE . . . 

“LET  THE  LAND  CHOOSE,”  BY  FARRAH  SARAFA

Who do you think the Holy Land
Would choose: Palestine or Israel?

Do you expect the birthplace of 3
Religions to ever really be peaceful?

I mean—Jesus was a saint,
Tortured and crucified by men with gold.

Do we celebrate Pilot’s cursed victory
Or the sacrifices made by a saint,

A hero, who rises from the dead?
His Resurrection marked by Easter eggs,

Reproduction. Do miracles
Require modernity or tradition

To appear? Chemicals or nature?
Mind or heart? Bulldozing olive trees,

Whose oil sustained families, diet
And economy, Israel is yet to produce

A decent olive oil. Its blood somehow
Curdles with the juice of branches needed

To extract an extra virgin olive.
The Holy Land seemingly chooses bullets,

Nightclubs, Capitalism, Snobbery-
(Ignorance is bliss)—but the roots

The veins reaching into mountains’
Throats seem to not be cooperating.

Why is that? Ask Jesus, the rebel,
Who’d say: First get to love Palestine.

About Farrah Sarafa
In 2006 she wrote: “My mother was born in Palestine, my father in Iraq; they married in Egypt twenty five years ago and had me here in the States. I am a pure, product of occupation and war, therefore, confused by my American upbringing. The war has been eating me up more than ever and poetry is my primary response. . .”
From Warpoetry.co.uk
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