Category: Palestinian Prisoners’ Society

“. . . The stranger awakens in his exile, his homeland. . .” (Mourid Barghouti)

Harold KnightLeave a comment

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .
|  GERMANY  ALLOCATES  €55  MILLION  TO  PALESTINIAN  DEVELOPMENT  PROJECTS
Germany allocated 55 million Euros to be dispersed to Palestinian development projects in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip in 2019.    ___Klaus Kramer, the Head of Division in the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, told reporters in Ramallah that it was agreed, in coordination with various ministries in the Palestinian government, that the money will go to mainly three sectors: sustainable economic development, infrastructure such as water projects and local governance, including projects with municipalities.    ___While the funds in form of grants will go mainly to these three areas, which are government-run projects, other development projects in other fields will also get part of the money, such as projects carried out by civil society organizations.     More . . .    ..
. . . . Related  PEA rejects Israeli threats against renewable energy projects
. . . . Related  Israel plans to turn settlements in Salfit into one large city
. . . . Related  Israel demolishes Palestinian school in southern Hebron
. . . . Related  US envoy Greenblatt: ‘We stand with Israel’
. . . . Related  Is the Israeli military operation along the border with Lebanon for real?
|  ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  23  PALESTINIANS  FROM  WEST  BANK         
Israeli forces Wednesday detained 23 Palestinians, including three former prisoners and a 14-year-old minor, during multiple overnight raids across the West Bank, said Palestine Prisoner’s Society (PPS).    ___Israeli military jeeps raided Salfit city, where they detained two Palestinians. . .   ___Israeli forces also detained two other Palestinians in separate two raids into Iskaka and Qarawat Bani Hassan, east and west of Salfit city.    ___In Ramallah district, military jeeps raided Deir Nitham village, northwest of Ramallah, where soldiers detained three Palestinians. . . .   More . . .    ..
. . . .  Related  Over 2,000 Israelis break into 3rd holiest site in Islam in November
|  ISRAELI  COURT  RULES  AGAINST  GAZA  FATHER  WHO  LOST  3  DAUGHTERS  IN  2008  WAR
An Israeli court yesterday ruled against a Palestinian from Gaza whose three daughters were killed by the Israeli army during its 2008 war on the Strip, denying Israel’s responsibility for their deaths.    ___Izzeldin Abuelaish, a 63-year-old doctor from Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip, lost three daughters and a niece during Israel’s 2008-2009 war on the besieged enclave. His story was made famous after he discovered his children had been killed while speaking to an Israeli TV channel, with his suffering broadcast live across the country and later shared widely around the world.    More . . .
. . . . Related  MOFA demands ICC to try Israeli killers of Tulkarem martyr
. . . . Related  ‘Gender violence pushed Jewish, Palestinian women into a corner — together’

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|  PROFESSIONAL  SOLIDARITY  WITH  PALESTINE:  A  MENTAL  HEALTH  IMPERATIVE
By Dr. Samah Jabr
In the field of medicine, we often speak of the social determinants of health. In Palestine, not only social, but political determinants of health have a grave impact on the well-being and mental health of our community. I am not just talking about the political blackmail through recent blatant cuts of the US administration of millions of US dollars from East Jerusalem hospitals and defunding UNRWA educational and health services, but also through the daily realities of dismal work opportunities, a vacuum of leadership, the threat of political detention haunting our youth, and the pervasive experiences of loss and grief. Centuries of political oppression has created a cascade of damage to collective identity and individuals’ personalities.    ___The ongoing siege of Gaza is only a single dramatization of how the political realities of occupation deliberately destroy the quality of life for Palestinians.    More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“HOW  ARE  YOU?”  BY  MOURID  BARGHOUTI
Waiting for the school bus,
watching his breath turn into mist near his nose
in the icy morning,
the schoolboy’s fingers are frozen,
too stiff to make a fist.

On the pillow of regret,
the defeated soldier
lazily tries to get up,
raising his broken toothbrush
to his teeth.

Early or late,
The stranger awakens in his exile, his homeland.
Their clothes, their car number pates, their trees,
their quarrels, their love, their land, their sea
belong to them.
His memories are like rats gathering on his doormat,
new and warm
in front of his closed door.

On a lonely pillow,
the mother throws a quick glance
at the bed of her elder son,
made for the final time
and empty, forever.

A voice from the neighbouring window is heard:
“Hello, good morning, how are you?”
“Hello, good morning, we’re fine,
we’re fine!”

From: Barghouti, Mourid. Midnight and other Poems. Trans. By Radwa Ashour. Todmorden, Lancashire, UK: Arc Books, 2008. Available from B&N.

“. . . She gazes at me like a little child. . .” (Muhammad al-Dhahir)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
IMG_3697 - Copy - Copy - Copy
Neighborhood of Jericho (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 15, 2015)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .  
|  PRISONER’S  SOCIETY:  ISRAEL  DETAINED  OVER  900  PALESTINIAN  CHILDREN  SINCE  BEGINNING  OF  YEAR
Israel detained 908 Palestinian children under 18 years of age since the beginning of the year, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said on Tuesday.    ___It said in a statement marking  UNIVERSAL CHILDREN’S DAY, which coincides on Tuesday, that out of the 908 detained since January 2018 until the end of October, 270 are still held in detention in various prisons in Israel.   More . . .
|  THE  RIGHT  TO  EDUCATION  CAMPAIGN  CONDEMNS  ARBITRARY  ARREST  OF  BIRZEIT  UNIVERSITY’S  HEAD  OF  STUDENT  COUNCIL
The Right to Education Campaign expresses its grave concern over the Israeli Occupying forces’ arrest of the head of Birzeit University student council Yehya Rabie’ at dawn on November 19, 2018, from his house in Al- Mazra’a Al Gharbiya near Ramallah. Rabie’ is a third-year student in the Faculty of Business and Economics.    ___ Such outrageous acts are categorical violation of international laws and norms, which all forbid any violation against the basic right of people to the right of education.   More . . .
|  ISRAEL  RAZES  PALESTINIAN  LANDS,  UPROOTS  500  PALM  TREES  IN  JERICHO
Israeli bulldozers razed and leveled Palestinian-owned agricultural lands, and uprooted about 500 palm trees, on Tuesday, in Jericho City, near road 90, in the central occupied West Bank district of Jericho.    ___Ibrahim Ahmad, the tenant of the razed lands, said that Israeli forces along with several bulldozers stormed the area and razed agricultural lands that belong to the ISLAMIC  ENDOWMENT  (WAQF)  DEPARTMENT.    ___No reason was given for the razing and leveling of the lands.  More . . .
. . . . Related  Netanyahu: KHAN AL-AHMAR to Be Demolished Very Soon
. . . . Related  Israeli  bulldozers  raze  lands  in  GAZA
. . . . Related  Israeli  bulldozers  demolish  Palestinian  structures  in  EAST  JERUSALEM 

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|  WHY  IS  NETANYAHU  SO  DESPERATE  FOR  A  CEASEFIRE  WITH  HAMAS?
It was supposed to be a routine intelligence undercover operation whereby the Israeli agents would infiltrate into “enemy territory”, carry out the mission, and leave without being detected . . .  But the Israeli intelligence operation on November 11 in Gaza did not go according to plan. . .    [. . . .] Seven Palestinians were killed in the botched operation, including a prominent al-Qassam Brigades commander, Nour Baraka . . .    [. . . .] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had little space for manoeuvre: he was forced to settle for a ceasefire with Gaza armed groups, which prompted Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman to resign and plunged his government into a major political crisis.    ___This time, provoking a new conflict in Gaza in order to take attention away from the domestic political mess he has made is not an option for Netanyahu. He is cornered by a resurgent Hamas and his own geopolitical game in the Middle East, so he needs to keep Gaza quiet.    More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“THE  LITTLE  GIRL,”  BY  MUHAMMAD  AL-DHAHIR

I tell her:

speak to me—she holds her breath
and draws a circle of suffering
a circle of soldiers
a circle of guns

She lets down her ropelike braids
I tell her:
Plough my body
travel in my palm
and give me a sign

She gazes at me like a little child
opens her album
pointing to the map of the big Arab homeland
writing in blood the names of the tribes

I tell her:
Draw a moon for proof
She slams her album shut
and enters me to sleep within my ribs
Out comes a troop of children,
a bouquet of wheatstalks,
And her voice, whispering:
—All others but you are enemies
and every god but you, an intruder.

–Translated by May Jayyusi and Naomi Shihab Nye
From ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN PALESTINIAN LITERATURE. Ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Available from Columbia University Press.

 

 

Noontime call to prayer, Jericho, November 10, 2015.

“. . . We learned to speak from the margins of pages . . .” (Jehan Bseiso)

Harold KnightLeave a comment

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .
|  INTERNATIONAL  FEDERATION  OF  JOURNALISTS  DEMANDS  RESPONSE  AFTER  ISRAELI  ATTACK  ON  JOURNALISTS  PROTEST
In an open letter to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) demanded an urgent response to the unprovoked attack by Israeli forces . . . against a peaceful march organized by IFJ, at the Qalandiya checkpoint north of Jerusalem in the central occupied West Bank.    ___Several Palestinian and international journalists suffered severe tear-gas inhalation as Israeli forces suppressed the peaceful march . . .    ___The march was organized in support of the rights of Palestinian journalists and demanded freedom of movement for Palestinian journalists.    More . . .
|   PALESTINIAN  ‘GEEKS’  CODE  THEIR  WAY  TO  A  BETTER  FUTURE  IN  GAZA
By Fedaa al-Qedra
When Yasmin Helles was an English literature student at a Gaza college, she would spend most of her time online looking for information that could help her in academic life.   She always wondered who designed these websites . . . .   Six months ago, the 24-year-old saw an advertisement by Gaza Sky Geeks (GSG), a rapidly growing business and tech incubator, calling for young graduates to enroll in the first coding school in the beleaguered Palestinian territory . . .     [. . . .] Gazans are finding opportunities beyond the besieged strip. There is a rise in entrepreneurial start-ups and tech accelerators. . .  GSG’S  CODING  SCHOOL  was established in 2017 with funding from the likes of Google and London-based coding boot camp Founders & Coders. It aims to empower students to be full-stack developers . . .    More . . .
|  ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  ABDUCT  FIVE  PALESTINIANS  IN  BETHLEHEM  AND  JERUSALEM
Israeli soldiers abducted, on Sunday at dawn, five young Palestinian men from several areas in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) has reported.    ___The PPS said the soldiers stormed and violently searched many homes, and interrogated several Palestinians, before abducting three.    More . . .
. . . . Related  IOF  Opens  Fire  at  Farmers  and  Shepherds  Near  Gaza  Border
. . . . Related  Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (08 – 13 November 2018)

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|  STOLEN  CHILDHOODS:  GAZA’S  INJURED  CHILDREN  STRUGGLE  TO  COMPLETE  EDUCATION
For 16-year-old Gaza teenager Abdallah Qassem, getting to school every day is a challenge. . . .  after losing both of his legs during the Great March Return protests, he is now confined to a wheelchair, making the journey much more complicated.    ___Qassem lives in Gaza’s Sheikh Redwan neighbourhood in an apartment situated on the second floor. . .   he has to be carried down the narrow stairwell by his two older brothers.    [. . . .] Around 10,000 Palestinians have been injured during protests, including more than 1,800 children. According to al-Minawi, 210 of these children are registered in Gaza’s public schools and 92 of them have stopped going to school completely or are missing many classes due to their injuries.   More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .
|   UNRWA  AND  QATAR  CELEBRATE  THE  RIGHT  TO  EDUCATION  FOR  PALESTINE  REFUGEES  STUDENTS 
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) organized a Back to School ceremony to celebrate support from the State of Qatar. The US$ 50 million contribution to the Agency’s education programme in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank was a vital component in the decision to open UNRWA schools without delay this August. The ceremony, held at the UNRWA Baqa’a Basic Boys’ School, affirms the importance of the right to education for Palestine refugees in the presence of the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) Managing Director H.E. Mr. Khalifa Bin Jassim Al-Kuwari.   Donate . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“BRAINSTORMING  NAKBA,”  BY  JEHAN  BSEISO
At curious four I asked my mother why Superman did not speak
the same language I did
She told me that
Our cartoon hero is a little boy forever ten
His hands clasped behind his back, invisible handcuffs
She told me I had to learn another alphabet, another geography,
In the Big Yellow Atlas, for kids, full of pictures
We stenciled in your awkward shape into maps that didn’t even want you
We had to learn your name in their language
They told me I spoke funny.
So I rinsed my accent at school; madraseh instead of madrasa
I read about diaspora and exile and power structures
Without knowing what they meant
So you’re American? On paper
And Jordan? Is what I know
And Gaza? An old wives tale
We are bastard children of hyphens and supplements and sentences
that start with
Originally I’m from . . .
At home,
Baba counted in dead bodies, in ratios, and for breakfast we had
Nostalgia and symbols
We read Kanafani, Darwiche, and Said
When we found tongues
We learned to speak from the margins of pages,
From the periphery
Maybe this is Freud’s “Oceanic feeling”.
A veritable storehouse in the unconscious
To be from a place and not know the place
There are simple ways of being in the world, I’m told.
Still I choose Za3tar and Shatta and this awkward Fat7a.

From: I  REMEMBER  MY  NAME:  POETRY  BY  SAMAH  SABAWI,  RAMZY  BAROUD,  JEHAN  BSEISO.  Vacy Vlazna, editor. London: Novum Publishing, 2016. Available from publisher.

“. . . You will be liberated from your own tyranny . . .” (Samah Sabawi)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
gaza1 - Copy
“Israel is once again looking to instigate a war on Gaza,” Yousef Munayyer, U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, wrote on Twitter. (Photo: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .
|    VIOLENCE  ESCALATES:  6  PALESTINIANS  KILLED,  20  INJURED  IN  ISRAELI   [ GAZA]  AIRSTRIKES 
Six Palestinians were killed and at least 20 others were injured during a campaign of Israeli airstrikes from overnight Monday until predawn Tuesday across the northern besieged Gaza Strip.    ___Medical sources in Gaza reported that six Palestinians were killed and 20 others were injured during continuous Israeli airstrikes over various parts of Gaza.    More . . .
. . . . Related  PLO  HOLDS  ISRAEL  FULLY  RESPONSIBLE  FOR  ESCALATION  IN  GAZA
. . . . Related  HAMAS  CONDEMN  ISRAEL  DESTRUCTION  OF  AL  AQSA  TV  STATION  (VIDEO)
. . . . Related  [AL-QASSAM  BRIGADES]:  ISRAEL  RESPONSIBLE  FOR  CONSEQUENCES  OF  ITS  AGGRESSION  AGAINST  GAZA
|    POLITICAL  SOURCE:  ISRAEL  SUSPENDS  GAZA  TRUCE  TALKS
A senior Israeli political source said the government had suspended contacts with Egypt and the United Nations regarding a truce with the Gaza Strip.    ___Israeli media, including Channel 10, quoted a senior political source, who it did not identify, as saying that Tel Aviv “has no contacts with Egypt and the United Nations on the ceasefire in Gaza”.    ___The announcement came at the height of the Israeli cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.    More . . .
|    ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  9  PALESTINIANS  IN  WEST  BANK 
Israeli forces detained at least nine Palestinians across the occupied West Bank during raids, on predawn Tuesday.    ___Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) confirmed that Israeli forces detained two Palestinians in the southern West Bank district of Hebron . . .   In the southern West Bank district of Bethlehem, two Palestinians were detained . . .   In the central West Bank district of Jerusalem, four Palestinians were detained by Israeli forces. . .    More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|    HAMAS  DIDN’T  START  THIS  FIGHT,  BUT  IT  WON’T  WIN  IT  EITHER
Israel’s killing of  Hamas  commander  Nour  Baraka  on Sunday and the predictable response from the Islamist movement have sparked fears of renewed hostilities between the two sides. . . .   observers see parallels with Israel’s 2012 assassination of  Ahmad  Al  Jabari  . . .   That incident set off eight days of fighting in which six Israelis and 167 Palestinians were killed.    ___If the deadly exchange six years ago was about avenging a senior Hamas commander, its casualties, even according to the Israeli military’s official figures, were mostly civilian. . . .  though Netanyahu has demonstrated time and again that he will not hesitate to kill innocents, especially in pursuit of domestic political gain, what options does Hamas have?    [. . . . ] Whether they intended it or not, Israel’s military planners know that Baraka’s killing will bait Hamas. Any sustained response by the Palestinian faction would clearly benefit Netanyahu, who has been lambasted by his political opponents for allowing $15 million in Qatari cash to be transferred to the Strip. . .  Netanyahu has a more pressing political problem — mass resistance to Israel’s ongoing siege and the humanitarian disaster it has created.    More . . .
. . . . Related  ISRAELI  INCURSIONS  INTO  GAZA  ARE  THE  RULE,  NOT  THE  EXCEPTION

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . .

“THE  LIBERATION  ANTHEM”  BY  SAMAH  SABAWI
(June 27, 2011)

To the people of Israel who fear our freedom:  Don’t be afraid,
we will liberate you too.
This is my rendition of an anthem to be sung
That day you and I will stand side by side
Shoulder to shoulder
Watching a new dawn wipe away decades of hate and savagery
The day I rise from the ashes of your oppression
I promise you I will not rise alone
You too will rise with me
You will be liberated from your own tyranny
And my freedom will bring your salvation

This is my rendition of an anthem to be sung
I’ll craft new words of expression
Outside of this suffocating language that has occupied me
Your words are like your walls
They encroach on my humanity
I am more than demography
I’m neither your collaborator
Nor your enemy
I am not your moderate
Not your terrorist
Not your Islamist
Funammentalist
Extremist
Militant
Radical
I am more than adjectives letters and syllables
I will construct my own language
And replace your words of power
With the power of my words

This is my rendition of an anthem to be sung
I don’t want to obliterate nor humiliate you
I refuse to hate you
Don’t care to demonize or proselytize or theorize your intentions
Every breath you draw reminds me you are human
The sound of your beating heart is a rhythm familiar to my ears
You and I are no different
We are made of blood and tears

This is my rendition of an anthem to be be sung
I will resist and soar above your matrix of control
With the power of my will your wall will fall
And the concrete that once segregated us will be used to rebuild homes
Your bulldozers and your tanks will dissolve into the earth
The sap will return to the olive trees
The gates will open wide for the refugees
We will be free
I will be your equal
And only then you will be mine
My other self
My fellow human being

From: I  REMEMBER  MY  NAME:  POETRY  BY  SAMAH  SABAWI,  RAMZY  BAROUD,  JEHAN  BSEISO.  Vacy Vlazna, editor. London: Novum Publishing, 2016. Available from publisher.

“. . . No matter your sanctions, no matter your rhetoric . . .” (Jehan Bseiso)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
gazans-are-bending-israel-and-hamas-to-their-will-all-the-way-toward-a-deal
A demonstrator holding the Palestinian flag along the Gaza border, November 2, 2018. (Photo: AFP)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .
|    PALESTINIAN  FAMILIES  LEFT  HOMELESS  AFTER  EAST  JERUSALEM  DEMOLITION
Israeli bulldozers . . .  stormed the Silwan Palestinian neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, and demolished a building, on Tuesday.    ___The Wadi Hilweh Information Center said that Israeli forces stormed Silwan and surrounded one of the neighborhood’s buildings, which belonged to the Odeh family, and demolished it shortly after.    ___The building was demolished under the pretext that it was built without the difficult-to-obtain Israeli permit.    [. . . .] According to . . .  the NGO Terrestrial Jerusalem, “since 1967, the Government of Israel has directly engaged in the construction of 55,000 units for Israelis in East Jerusalem; in contrast, fewer than 600 units have been built for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the last of which were built 40 years ago.    More . . .
|    ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  ABDUCT  EIGHTEEN  PALESTINIANS  IN  THE  WEST  BANK
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) has reported that Israeli soldiers abducted, overnight until morning hours Tuesday, at least eighteen Palestinians, including a wounded young man, in several parts of the occupied West Bank.    ___The PPS office in Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, said the soldiers invaded and ransacked many homes, before abducting seven Palestinians.    More . . .
. . . . Related  PALESTINIAN  WITH  SPECIAL  NEEDS  DIES  OF  INJURIES
. . . . Related  ‘WORST  FEAR  CAME  TRUE’:  ISRAEL  DETAINS  YOUNG  PALESTINIAN  MAN  FOR  20  MONTHS  IN  EFFORT  TO  EXPEL  HIM  TO  BRAZIL
|    OFFICIAL  DENIES  REPORTS  OF  TRUCE  IN  RETURN  FOR  MONEY  GOING  INTO  GAZA  THROUGH  ISRAEL
A senior Palestinian official denied on Tuesday Israeli reports that the Palestinian leadership has agreed to support truce between Hamas and Israel in return for the entry of funds into Gaza through Israel.    ___Azzam al-Ahmad, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and of Fatah Central Committee, said these reports were unfounded.    ___Ahmad also denied in statements to Voice of Palestine radio that the issue of paying Israel to supply the Gaza Strip with some needs has been discussed by President Mahmoud Abbas and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.    More . . .
. . . . Related    JOINT  HAMAS,  ISLAMIC  JIHAD  PRESS  RELEASE  ON  CURRENT  DEVELOPMENTS
. . . . Related    ASHRAWI:  ‘GAZA  WILL  REMAIN  AN  INSEPARABLE  PART  OF  PALESTINE’

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|    ANALYSIS:  GAZANS  ARE  BENDING  ISRAEL  AND  HAMAS  TO  THEIR  WILL  –  ALL  THE  WAY  TOWARD  A  DEAL 
Gazas’s residents have become a strategic force that managed to cultivate a political relationship between Israel and Hamas, even forging an unofficial security coordination. Now, both sides can’t keep ignoring them.  [. . . .] BUT  THE  PUBLIC  IN  GAZA  TURNED  INTO  A  STRATEGIC  FORCE  that led even the IDF to speak up about the severe living conditions in the Strip, and in the end forced Hamas to pursue an arrangement that is still being negotiated. For six months, tens of thousands of people were enlisted in a show of force called the March of Return. Some 20,000 to 30,000 people, young and old, women and children, take their lives in their hands, and they don’t come to the confrontation line just because Hamas orders them to. THEY  ARE  THE  FORCE  THAT  REPRESENTS  TWO  MILLION  PEOPLE  WHO  HAVE  NOTHING  TO  LOSE.  More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .
|    MUSEUM  OF  THE  PALESTINIAN  PEOPLE 
The Museum of the Palestinian People shares the rich history, vibrant arts and culture, and spirit of the Palestinian people. It is a space where we dissolve the artificial distinctions that separate us, a space where people can open their hearts to discover what unites us all. Together, we can create a world without borders.    ___We are looking for PALESTINIAN  ARTISTS  TO  SUBMIT  THEIR  PROPOSALS  &  BE  FEATURED  IN  AN  UPCOMING  EXHIBIT. All mediums are welcome – music, dramatic production, film, photography, painting, or other. We will sponsor selected artists to travel to DC and see their work featured at Museum of the Palestinian People. Submit your proposal to us before January 1st 2019.   Submit proposal . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . .

“GAZA,  2009,”  BY  JEHAN  BSEISO
No matter flag.
No matter medicine.
No matter civilian.
No matter international community.
No matter your international waters.
No matter your sanctions, no matter your rhetoric and foreign policy.
Only 62 years status quo,
Everyday Nakba,
Subsidized settlements,
Even more walls-
Matter.
Children on the ICRC bus, visiting their Baba’s in your prisons―
Matter.
Food and medicine rotting at every border―
Matter
From the shadows, the silent majority watch water go on fire.

From: I  REMEMBER  MY  NAME:  POETRY  BY  SAMAH  SABAWI,  RAMZY  BAROUD,  JEHAN  BSEISO.  Vacy Vlazna, editor. London: Novum Publishing, 2016. Available from publisher.

“. . . I have recognized my griefs . . .” (Mahmoud Darwish)

Harold KnightLeave a comment

40621272_1057618021070822_4718318601709289472_o - Copy

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . . . 

AL-ARAQIB  REFUSES  TO  SURRENDER  AFTER  133RD  DEMOLITION
Israeli military bulldozers demolished the unrecognized Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Negev desert in southern Israel for the 133rd time, on Thursday.   ___Despite continuous demolitions of the village by the Israeli authorities, residents insist on rebuilding their homes each time they are demolished to the ground.   ___Al-Araqib was demolished for the 132nd time on August 16th; Israeli forces had detained Sheikh of the village, Sayyah al-Turi, and his son Aziz, alongside another resident identified as Salim Abu Ashraf under the pretext of obstructing the work of Israeli authorities and attempting to prevent the demolition.   More . . .

ILLITERACY  RATE  IN  PALESTINE  AMONG  THE  LOWEST  IN  THE  WORLD  –  [UNESCO]  STATISTICS  BUREAU
Marking International Literacy Day, which coincides on September 8 of every year, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said in a report published on Thursday on illiteracy rate in Palestine that it is one of the lowest in the world and stood at 3.3% in 2017 among persons 15 years of age and above compared to 24.8% in the Arab states and 13.8% in the world in 2016 for the same age group.   ___It said that the illiteracy rate in 2017 was 3.3% (7,898 illiterate) in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip refugee camps run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which is currently facing a severe financial crisis after the United States has stopped all of its contributions to the humanitarian agency that may affect its educational program for tens of thousands of Palestinian refugee students, compared to 3.1% (67,324 illiterate) in urban areas and 4.8% (20,228 illiterate) in rural localities.   More . . .

ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  ABDUCT  SEVEN  PALESTINIANS  IN  THE  WEST  BANK 
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) has reported that Israeli soldiers abducted, on Thursday at dawn, seven Palestinians in several parts of the occupied West Bank.   ___The Bethlehem office PPS said the soldiers abducted three Palestinians, identified as Ziad Naim al-Masri, Zeid Ahmad Sheikh and Bassel Mizhir, in Deheishe refugee camp and Marah Rabah village, and shot a young man.   ___During the invasion into Marah Rabah, the soldiers searched the home of Ahmad Sheikh Qassem, who is held by Israel, and summoned his wife for interrogation.    More . . .
ISRAELI  NAVY  OPENS  FIRE  AT  PALESTINIAN  FISHING  BOATS  IN  GAZA  More . . .
VIDEO:  AWAD  RAJABI  ..  TORTURE  INSIDE  ROOM  4   More . . .
IOF  CLOSES  WATER  LINES  FEEDING  SCHOOL  IN  NABLUS      More. . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

ISRAEL’S  LACK  OF  REMORSE
Mohamed Mohamed   
In an interview with a right-wing Israeli newspaper, Elor Azaria, said he had “no remorse whatsoever” for killing an incapacitated Palestinian in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron in 2016.   ___After an alleged stabbing attack against Israeli occupying soldiers, the young Palestinian man, Abd al Fattah Al-Sharif, had already been shot and was seriously wounded. He was lying motionless on the ground, surrounded by many Israeli soldiers. In the video of the murder documented by the Human Rights Defenders in Hebron and the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem (warning: many viewers may find this video and the others below, to be disturbing), two other soldiers were closer to the wounded man, and it is clear they did not see him as a threat anymore.   ___Out of nowhere, Azaria cocks his weapon, aims at Al-Sharif, and fires one round into his head. . .    More . . .
Background . . . ELOR  AZARIA  .  .  .  SET  FREE  AFTER  NINE  MONTHS

PLO:  ‘DEMOLITION  OF  KHAN  AL-AHMAR  BLATANT  ETHNIC  CLEANSING’    Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee Member, Hanan Ashrawi, said that the demolition of the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, east of the central occupied West Bank district of Jerusalem, is “blatant ethnic cleansing.”   ___The Israeli High Court had rejected, on Wednesday, an appeal against the demolition of the village and ruled for its evacuation and for demolition to take place within the next seven days.   ___Ashrawi said in a statement “the inhumane and immoral decision by Israel’s High Court of Justice to green light the destruction of the village of Khan al-Ahmar located near occupied Jerusalem reveals Israel’s intent to erase and eradicate the Palestinian presence and continuity on the land.”  ___She added that “this is blatant ethnic cleansing and constitutes a cause for serious alarm.”   More . . .

ISRAEL  TO  SELL  FREEDOM  FLOTILLA  BOATS  TO  SUPPORT  SETTLERS
Israel plans to sell four boats seized while sailing towards the besieged Gaza Strip and distribute the funds among two settlers families.   ___Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported yesterday that the move came in response to the Israeli Central Court’s decision following a request filed by the families.   More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . . 

Dandanat Dance & Music Festival
Presented by DAR AL-KALIMA University College of Arts & Culture, Bethlehem
With ‎‎‎Dar Annadwa Icb, ‎Diyar Consortium مجموعة ديار‎‎, Studieförbundet Bilda, Beit Jala Municipality, Al-Jisser‎ and Beit Jala International Festival for Peace 2018‎.

“TO  THE  READER,”  BY  MAHMOUD  DARWISH
Black tulips in my heart,
flames on my lips:
from which forest did you come to me,
all you crosses of anger?
I have recognized my griefs
and embraced wandering and hunger.
Anger lives in my hands,
anger lives in my mouth
and in the blood of my arteries swims anger.

O reader,
don’t expect whispers from me,
or words of ecstasy;
this is my suffering!
A foolish blow in the sand
and another in the clouds.
Anger is all I am –
anger, the tinder
of fire.

– – From WHEN  THE  WORDS  BURN:  AN  ANTHOLOGY  OF  MODERN  ARABIC  POETRY:  1945-1987.  Translated and edited by John Mikhail Asfour. Dunvegan, Ontario, Canada. Cormorant Books, 1988

40621272_1057618021070822_4718318601709289472_o - Copy (2)

“. . . I guard one seed of a tree . . .” Fawaz Turki

Harold KnightLeave a comment
Untitled-design-8-5
Israel has carried out hundreds of punitive house demolitions over the years. (Photo: ActiveStills.org, Published in Palestine Chronicle, Aug. 28, 2018)


SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . . . 

FOREIGN  MINISTRY  SAYS  REMARKS  BY  US  ENVOY  TO  UN  ON  REFUGEES  IGNORE  INTERNATIONAL  LAW         
The Foreign Ministry strongly criticized on Wednesday statements by United States envoy to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, in which she questioned the official figure of Palestinian refugees and called for cutting it down by the millions and expressed opposition to their right of return to the homeland they were forced out from after Israel was created on their land in 1948.     ___The remarks by Nikki Haley on Palestinian refugees and their right of return “ignore international law and international legality and are hostile to the Palestinian people and their rights,” said the ministry in a statement [. . . .]   ___It said this is a further step in the war US President Donald Trump’s administration has waged against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, which is the symbol of the Palestinian refugee issue.   More . . .
ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  25  PALESTINIANS,  INCLUDING  TWO  MINORS            Israeli forces detained at least 25 Palestinians, including a teen and a child, during predawn raids in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.     ___Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) confirmed that Israeli forces detained five Palestinians from the southern West Bank district of Hebron. . . .   ___In the southern West Bank district of Bethlehem, three Palestinians were detained . . . .   ___In the Silwan neighborhood of the central West Bank district of Jerusalem, Israeli forces assaulted and detained two Palestinians . . . .  ___In the central West Bank district of Ramallah and al-Bireh, four Palestinians were detained . . . .    More . . .
ISRAEL  DESTROYS  FAMILY  HOME  OF  KILLED  PALESTINIAN  TEENAGER  (VIDEO)   
Israeli forces have demolished the family home of the Palestinian teenager who was recently killed in the occupied West Bank.    ___ The Israeli army said on Tuesday it had destroyed the family home of Mohammed Dar Youssef in the village of Kobar, north of Ramallah.   More . . .
—Background:  ISRAELI  DEMOLITION  OF  ATTACKERS’  FAMILY  HOMES  PROVOKES  PALESTINIAN  BACKLASH   (2015)
[. . . .] Ruth Edwards of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions said [2015] such drastic steps ensure that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank “is a permanent presence in people’s daily lives, that there’s always a sense of instability, of insecurity.”    ___Israel frequently demolished homes during a Palestinian uprising in 2000 to 2005. . . .    ___Netanyahu revived the tactic last year [2012] after the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank.   More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . . 

IN  VIDEO  –  PALESTINIAN  CHILD  FORCED  TO  CLIMB  HER  WAY  HOME 
An Israeli activist and spokesperson of the Breaking the Silence Non-Governmental Organization, Achiya Schats, captured on video the moment a Palestinian child was forced to climb an Israeli military fence to be able to go home in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron. . . .  ___The caption also reads that the girl’s house was recently blockaded by a fence and that Israeli forces locked the gate leading to her home, which forces Palestinian residents to climb the fence. “Don’t worry, it’s not because we’ve made them less than humans, it’s about security.”   More . . .    Related . . .

PLO  OFFICIAL  DENOUNCES  ISRAELI  COURT’S  RULING  LEGALIZING  SETTLEMENT  OUTPOST  AS  TRAVESTY 
Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), strongly denounced on Wednesday the Israeli Jerusalem District Court’s ruling to legalize Mitzpeh Kramim settlement outpost, north of Ramallah and which was built illegally on private Palestinian land, describing the decision as “an outrageous travesty.”   ___The court had said that if the settlers built with “good intentions,” then the settlement should not be removed, in contradiction with previous court rulings forcing the Israeli government to remove outposts . . . on private Palestinian land in the occupied territories.   ___”The Israeli annexation of Palestinian territory, whether on public or private land, and its illegal settlement enterprise are an egregious violation of international law and conventions, including UN Security Council Resolution 2334; it also constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Fourth Geneva Convention”. . .   More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .

International Solidarity Movement | Ramallah, occupied Palestine
CALL  TO  ACTION:  OLIVE  HARVEST  2018  –  JOIN  ISM  NOW!
the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is issuing an urgent call for volunteers to join us for the 2018 Olive Harvest Campaign at the invitation of Palestinian communities.   ___The olive tree is a national symbol for Palestinians. As thousands of olive trees have been . . .  destroyed since September 2000—harvesting has become more than a source of livelihood; it has become a form of resistance.   ___The olive harvest is an annual affirmation of Palestinians’ historical, spiritual, and economic connection to their land, and a rejection of Israeli efforts to seize it. Despite efforts by Israeli settlers and soldiers to prevent them from accessing their land, Palestinian communities have remained steadfast in refusing to give up their olive harvest.   ___ISM volunteers join Palestinian farming communities “on the ground” each year to harvest olives, in areas where Palestinians face settler and military violence when working their land.   MORE INFORMATION . . .

“THE SEED KEEPERS: A Recital,” by FAWAZ TURKI (b. 1940)

Burn our land
burn our dream
pour acid onto our songs
cover with sawdust
the blood of our massacred people
muffle with your technology
the screams of our imprisoned patriots,
destroy,
destroy
our grass and soil
raze to the ground
every farm and every village
our ancestors had built,
destroy every city and every town
every tree and every home
every book and every law,
flatten with your bombs
every valley
erase with your edicts
our past
our literature
our metaphor,
denude our forests
and the earth
till no insect
no word
can find a place to hide.
Do that and more,
I do not fear your tyranny.
I guard one seed
of a tree
my forefathers have saved
that I shall plant again
in my homeland.

—From Anthology of Modern Palestinian Literature, Columbia University Press, 1992.

“. . . And gagging on disaster, My sad city choked. . .” (Fadwa Tuqan)

Harold KnightLeave a comment

SPECIAL    POSTING:    ISRAEL’S  DESTRUCTION  OF  SOCIETAL  INFRASTRUCTURE  IN  EAST  JERUSALEM

(Articles generally in chronological order. The first of several such single-subject postings.)

ISRAEL  BANS  ACTIVITIES  IN  JERUSALEM  CONNECTED  TO  PALESTINIAN  AUTHORITY  GOVERNMENT.
National Public Radio (NPR)
Heard on All Things Considered, January 19, 2018.
KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:   President Trump has recognized Jerusalem as the capital Israel, but that doesn’t change Palestinian aspirations for a capital in part of the city. One thing that could strengthen these Palestinian claims would be national political institutions. NPR’s Daniel Estrin looks at how Israel has worked for decades to limit those institutions, whether they’re offices for leadership or even performances in theaters.   DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: This used to be the Palestinian headquarters in Jerusalem – an old, stone mansion called the Orient House. Foreign diplomats were received here. The Palestinian flag used to fly. But Israel closed it in 2001 during a wave of Palestinian bombings. Israeli authorities deliver a new closure order every six months. It’s on the door for everyone to see.   More . . .

ISRAEL SHUTS DOWN PALESTINIAN INSTITUTIONS IN EAST JERUSALEM.
Asharq Al-Awsat.
February 3,2018.
The Israeli authorities decided on Friday to shut down a number of Palestinian institutions operating in the occupied city of East Jerusalem.   ___Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan extended the order against a number of Palestinian institutions, including the Orient House, in East Jerusalem due to their affiliation to the Palestinian Authority.   ___The Israeli decision anticipated an expected decision from the PA to announce the city of Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian State.   ___Israeli sources said on Friday that Erdan’s order does not only involve political institutions, but also include a number of vital civil institutions, the East Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce, the Supreme Council for the Arab Tourism Industry, the Center for Palestinian Studies, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, and the Office for Social and Statistical Studies.
More . . .    Related . . .

PLO  CHIEF  DENOUNCES  CLOSURE  OF  PALESTINIAN  INSTITUTION  IN  JERUSALEM.
Ma’an News Agency.
March 14, 2017.
Israeli authorities sealed off and shut down the Mapping and Geographic Information Systems Department of the Arab Studies Society in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday, with police detaining the center’s director, Khalil Tufakji, during the raid.
___PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat denounced the closure and “the illegal detention” of Tufakji, describing the man as “a distinguished scholar from Jerusalem.”
___Erekat said in a written statement that Israeli forces also seized the documents, computers, and equipment from the office.
More . . .

ANGER  AFTER  ISRAEL  SHUTS  DOWN  PALESTINIAN  UNIVERSITIES  IN  EAST  JERUSALEM.
The New Arab.
July 15, 2018.
Anger has spurred over Israel shutting down two Palestinian education facilities in occupied East Jerusalem, as Israeli plans to annex the territory continue.
___Israel closed down Hind al-Husseini College and Al-Quds University’s College of Art – both of which are located in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood – until further notice after banning an academic conference taking place and detaining 15 participants.
___The conference was due to take place on Saturday at al-Quds University’s College of Arts.
___The two-day conference was organised by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf and Heritage Reservation Society and was supposed to discuss the status of Muslim endowment and property, as well as the protection of Islamic and Christian heritage in the occupied city.
___The move was also condemned by the president of the Arab American University, Ali Abu Zuhri, who said Israel was taking exceptional measures to disrupt the Palestinian education system, according to Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA.
More . . .   Related . . .

OPINION:    DESTROYING    PALESTINIAN    UNIVERSITIES.
Haaretz.
Daphna Golan.
July 26, 2018.
As Israeli students are finishing their final exams, Palestinian students in the occupied territories don’t know whether their institutions will be opening for the coming academic year or if their lecturers will continue to teach, as dozens of lecturers with European and American citizenship are being expelled.
___Around half the foreign lecturers at Palestinian universities started receiving letters last November, saying their requests to have their residency visas extended had been refused because they’ve been “living in the area for more than five years.”
More . . .

EARLIER  REPORTS . . .

HOW  ISRAEL  IS  TARGETING  PALESTINIAN  INSTITUTIONS.
AL JAZEERA.
Ylenia Gostoli.
May 20, 2017.
[. . . .] According to the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, more than 30 Palestinian institutions and organisations have been shut down in the city since the 2001 closure of Orient House. Six-month closure orders have been continuously renewed ever since, in defiance of recommendations made in the 2003 Road Map drawn up by the Middle East Quartet as part of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
___”Targeting NGOs is targeting the presence of Palestinians in East Jerusalem. NGOs are the main body providing services, because according to Oslo [the interim accords signed by Israel and the Palestinians in 1993 and 1995], the Palestinian Authority is not allowed to be in Jerusalem,” Zakaria Odeh, executive director of the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, told Al Jazeera. “All policies, including house demolitions and residency revocations, have the goal to alter the demographic structure of Jerusalem as a whole.”
More . . .

ISRAEL  HAS  CLOSED  120  PALESTINIAN  INSTITUTIONS  IN  JERUSALEM  SINCE  1967.
Middle East Monitor.
February 17, 2014.
A Palestinian human rights organisation has revealed that the Israeli occupation authorities have closed more than 120 Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem since it completed its occupation of the city in 1967. Around 88 were closed down completely, while the others had to transfer their operations from occupied Jerusalem to the occupied West Bank.
___In a press statement, the Almakdasi Foundation said that the Israeli authorities have now closed-down the Islamic Club and Salwan Charity Foundation for a period of 30 days under the pretext of them receiving funding from Hamas and conducting activities on its behalf. This is despite the fact that both foundations have appropriate licences and Salwan presented evidence to prove its independence.
___The Almakdasi statement said, “These closures, along with all the others last year and every year since 1967, are part of Israel’s policy since the occupation began. The Israeli occupation authorities are trying to obliterate Palestinian identity and institutions.” The first to go was the Arab Jerusalem Municipality which was closed by the Israelis in 1967.
More . . .

“MY  SAD  CITY,”  BY  FADWA  TUQAN

(The day of Zionist Occupation, June 27, 1967)

The day we saw death and betrayal,
The tide ebbed.
The windows of the sky closed,
And the city held its breath.
The day the waves were vanquished, the day
The ugliness of the abyss revealed its true face,
Hope turned to ashes,
And gagging on disaster,
My sad city choked.

Gone were the children and the songs,
There was no shadow, no echo.
Sorrow crawled naked in my city,
With bloodied footsteps,
Silence reigned in the city,
Silence like crouching mountains,
Mysterious like the night, tragic silence,
Burdened,
Weighed down with death and defeat.
Alas! My sad and silent city.
Can it be true that in the season of harvest,
Grain and fruit have turned to ashes?
Alas! That this should be the fruit of all the journeying!
―Translated by A.M. Elmesseri

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 B&N.

“. . . the bark of artillery came near to the flowers . . .” (Yousef Al-Mahmoud)

Harold KnightLeave a comment

❶ Israel closes Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) EU’s security committee discussed secret report on Israel, says official

  • Background: “State-Sponsored Vigilantism: Jewish Settlers’ Violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.” Sociology.
    “. . . the Israeli state itself, assisted by its agents, works in collusion with the settlers, and maintains the structural preconditions for this provisional political activity. . .”

❷ UN report says at least 206 international companies tied to Israeli settlements
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) Haley slams UN anti-settlement report: It is a “waste of time”
❸ Israeli settlers attack Palestinian farmers north of Hebron
. . . . . ❸ ― (ᴀ) ‘Construction terror’ Israel’s metaphor for Palestinian displacement
❹ POETRY by Yousef Al-Mahmoud
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ ISRAEL  CLOSES  PALESTINIAN  INSTITUTIONS  IN  JERUSALEM
Al Hourriah Magazine (Freedom)
Feb. 3, 2018 — Israel Hayom newspaper on Friday said that the Israeli authorities have decided to close a number of Palestinian institutions in Occupied Jerusalem.
___According to the Hebrew newspaper, the Israeli Minister of Public Security, Gilad Erdan, on Thursday issued a decision to close the Palestine Chamber of Commerce, the Higher Council of Tourism, the Palestinian Center for Studies, the Palestinian Prisoner Society and the Office of Social Studies and Statistics.
___Erdan’s decision was based on an Israeli law issued in 1994 preventing the Palestinian Authority from opening offices or carrying out activities in “Israeli areas”. The same law grants the minister the authority to issue decisions prohibiting such activities.
___The paper said, quoting Erdan, that efforts will continue to impose Israeli sovereignty over every part of Jerusalem. . . following the US president Donald Trump’s recognition . . . .  MORE . . . 
.  .  .  .  .  ❶  ―  (ᴀ)  EU’S  SECURITY  COMMITTEE  DISCUSSED  SECRET  REPORT  ON  ISRAEL,  SAYS  OFFICIAL
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
Feb. 3, 2018 ― The European Union’s (EU) Political and Security Committee (PSC) discussed in its session on Wednesday a secret report that strongly criticized Israel and its policies, Palestine’s ambassador to the EU, Abdul Rahim al-Farra, said on Saturday.
___He said in an interview with the official Palestine TV that the PSC, which is composed of ambassadors from the 28 EU member states, also discussed the situation in occupied East Jerusalem in particular and came out with recommendations that will be presented to the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council when it meets on February 25 and 26 in Brussels.
___He said the PSC recommended that the EU plays a primary and active role in the Middle East peace process in order to salvage the two-state solution.      MORE . . .

Gazit, Nir.
“STATE-SPONSORED  VIGILANTISM:  JEWISH  SETTLERS’  VIOLENCE  IN  THE  OCCUPIED  PALESTINIAN  TERRITORIES.”
SOCIOLOGY, vol. 49, no. 3, June 2015, pp. 438-454.
[. . . .] Civilian violence often disrupts government authority and undermines its exclusive sovereignty. However, it may also operate as an extra-juridical force that reproduces governmental power through unofficial channels. This dynamic is salient in situations of contested and fragmented sovereignty, when state power is discontinuous and lacks international and local legitimacy . . .  provisional violence by state forces and ordinary civilians becomes an important mechanism of political power and control.
[. . . .] These trends . . .  suggest a correlation between the two forms of Israeli violence – institutional military violence and non-institutional civilian violence. In times and places of low military presence and violence, unofficial civilian political mechanisms come into play. These reproduce Israeli dominance through direct violence or through initiating Palestinian hostility resulting in provisional active military involvement. The dialectical relationship between the two forms of violence is not trivial . . .  Hence, it is important to analyse the relationship between Israeli ground-level state agents and settlers, and consider how the two sides manage this tension.
[. . . .] . . . the ambiguity surrounding the formal status of the Israeli state in the OTP creates a governmental void. This void is filled, inter alia, by greater freedom of action of the settlers, who, in effect, act as informal agents of the state, behaving as vigilantes and taking the law into their own hands. The settlers’ violence contributes to the manifestation of Israeli rule in two significant ways. First, it brings Israeli dominance to areas with a scarce presence of military forces, generating ad hoc ‘effective control’ over Palestinian territory and population even in the absence of state officials. . .  While the state has limited direct influence over these domains, they undoubtedly contribute to the overall Israeli dominance in the region. The second and complementary mode of support these acts provide to the overall control system is when the Israeli security forces intervene and prevent the settlers from harassing the Palestinians. Such interventions paradoxically demonstrate and reproduce the Israeli power in the region – this time as protectors of the local civilian population. The elusive political and legal structural frameworks of the Israeli occupation are important factors of this phenomenon, generating the necessary ‘degrees of freedom’, so to speak, that allow, and even support, a proliferation of settlers’ violence against Palestinian civilians. In other words, the Israeli state itself, assisted by its agents, works in collusion with the settlers, and maintains the structural preconditions for this provisional political activity, even if it challenges its exclusive jurisdiction.     SOURCE . . .

❷ UN  REPORT  SAYS  AT  LEAST  206  INTERNATIONAL  COMPANIES  TIED  TO  ISRAELI  SETTLEMENTS
Ma’an News Agency
Feb. 1, 2018 ― The United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report on Wednesday identifying 206 companies from around the world that are doing business linked to Israeli settlements, which are built in the occupied West Bank in violation of international law.
___The long-delayed report was initially intended to include the names of companies, but reportedly after intense pressure from the US and Israel, the published report included only the number of companies from each country, rather than naming them.
___”Businesses play a central role in furthering the establishment, maintenance and expansion of Israeli settlements,” the UN report said.    MORE . . .
.  .  .  .  .  ❷  ―  (ᴀ)  HALEY  SLAMS  UN  ANTI-SETTLEMENT  REPORT:  IT  IS  A  “WASTE  OF  TIME”
Palestine News Network – PNN 
Feb. 1, 2018 ― US Ambassador to the United Nations on Wednesday slammed a UN report on 206 companies tied to Israeli settlements as “a waste of time and resources” that showed an “anti-Israeli obsession.”
___The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights released the report that did not name the companies but could pave the way to a “blacklist” of businesses that Israeli officials fear would be targeted for an international boycott.
___“This whole issue is outside the bounds of the High Commissioner for Human Rights office’s mandate and is a waste of time and resources,” Haley said.   MORE . . . 
❸ ISRAELI  SETTLERS  ATTACK  PALESTINIAN  FARMERS  NORTH  OF HEBRON
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA   
Feb. 3, 2018 ― Israeli settlers attacked on Saturday Palestinian farmers in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to Yousef Abu Maria, a local activist.
___He told WAFA that a group of settlers from the illegal settlement of Karmi Tsur and settlement security guards threw rocks at farmers, cursed them and prevented them from cultivating their land. The settlement is built on seized Palestinian land that belong to Beit Ummar and other area villages.   MORE . . . 
.  .  .  .  .  ❸  ―  (ᴀ)  ‘CONSTRUCTION  TERROR’  ISRAEL’S  METAPHOR  FOR  PALESTINIAN  DISPLACEMENT
The Palestinian Information Center
Feb. 1, 2018 ― Israel’s construction of its politics on contrasting levels which echo its colonial agenda knows no limits. Now that the international community is largely reluctant to do more than refer to previous statements of colonial expansion as illegal, Israel is more explicit in promoting its state and settler narratives in its appropriation of land ownership.
___A news report published on Monday in Haaretz quotes Jewish Home Party MK Moti Yogev: “Our goal is to protect state lands, consistent with decisions by the state not letting their status be determined by construction terror guided by the Palestinian Authority with the intervention of international elements such as the European Union.” He also suggested legal recourse against Palestinians opposing demolition orders.
___This is not the first time that such rhetoric has been used. In April 2016 a press release titled “Re-evaluate state’s handling of EU-funded construction in Area C” described Palestinian dwellings in similar terms, accusing the EU of financing “construction and infrastructure terror”.     MORE . . . 

“ABOVE  THE  CARNATIONS,”  BY  YOUSEF  AL-MAHMOUD
Her house is above the carnations
on the path to the wind-swept hills. . .
At evening we sought refuge there
watching out for the guns and the aeroplanes.

The crack of bullets followed our coffee
and smashed into our conversation.
The crack of bullets and the bark of artillery
came near to the flowers inside the windows
came near to the warmth and the water jug
debris clattered down the outside stairway
and fell towards the marble pavement.

Her house is above the carnations
there we were in it
we had sought refuge there
and so we moved to where the Jewish soldiers could no longer see us.

—Translated by DM Black
—Yousef Al-Mahmoud is a prominent broadcaster and poet, and former head of the Ministry of Culture in his native Jenin.
—From A  BIRD  IS  NOT  A  STONE:  AN  ANTHOLOGY  OF  CONTEMPORARY  PALESTINIAN  POETRY (Glasgow: Freight Books, 2014) –available from Amazon.com.

“. . . Jerusalem, beloved city of mine, tomorrow your lemon trees will bloom . . .” (Nizar Qabbani)

Harold KnightLeave a comment

❶ “Unified Jerusalem” bill passes in Knesset plenum
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) Trump will move embassy to Jerusalem in 2018

  • Background: “‘The Road to the Village’: Israeli Social Unconscious and the Palestinian Nakba.” International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies.

❷ Settlers set up tents in Nablus area, seen as nucleus for building settlement
. . . . . ❷ ― CONTEXT: Netanyahu’s Party Votes to Annex West Bank, Increase Settlements
❸ Ahed Tamimi indicted on charges of assaulting a soldier and stone throwing
. . . . . ❸ ― (ᴀ) Administrative detention orders issued against 41 Palestinians
❹ POETRY by Nizar Qabbani
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ “UNIFIED  JERUSALEM”  BILL  PASSES  IN  KNESSET  PLENUM 
The Palestinian Information Center
Jan. 2, 2018 ― The “unified Jerusalem” bill which provides for separating Palestinian neighborhoods from Jerusalem and prohibits relinquishing any part of the city under any future agreement has passed its second and third readings at the Israeli Knesset.
___Any decision relating to Jerusalem, the bill stipulated, will require the consent of 80 MKs—even in the case of a peace agreement.
___64 MKs supported the bill and 51 objected. MK Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid) ended up abstaining, despite his intention of voting against it.
___The bill, filed by the Jewish Home party, requires the approval of 80 MKs for any decision to hand over parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority in the future.     MORE . . . 
.  .  .  .  .  ❶  ―  (ᴀ)  TRUMP  WILL  MOVE  EMBASSY  TO  JERUSALEM  IN  2018
Palestine News Network – PNN
Jan. 2, 2018 ― Hebrew “0404” website on Tuesday said that US President Donald Trump, has confirmed to Israel his intention to transfer the embassy of his country from “Tel Aviv” to Jerusalem as soon as possible, and begin to transfer this year.
___The website reported that Trump is pressuring his staff in Washington in coordination with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to start working on moving the embassy.
___“President Trump has sent a clear message that he wants to start moving the embassy soon,” a source at the White House said, adding work will begin in 2018.    MORE . . .  

Even-Tzur, Efrat.
“‘THE  ROAD  TO  THE  VILLAGE’:  ISRAELI  SOCIAL  UNCONSCIOUS  AND  THE  PALESTINIAN  NAKBA.”
INTERNATIONAL  JOURNAL  OF  APPLIED  PSYCHOANALYTIC  STUDIES, vol. 13, no. 4, Dec. 2016, pp. 305-322.
[. . . .] Historical research clearly reveals an active policy designed to erase the memory of the Nakba from Israeli collective memory. . . .  On a material level, the destruction of buildings in depopulated Palestinian localities that has been going on since the 1960s explicitly served to eliminate the traces of previous Palestinian presence and to conceal the void left behind by this presence . . . . a 1957 letter from the ministry of foreign affairs to the ministry of Labor, present[s] the raison d’être for this extensive demolition: “The ruins of Arab villages […] standing desolate and empty since 1948, bring up harsh associations that cause considerable diplomatic damage . . . . the remains of dozens of villages now reside within the bounds of various tourism and recreation sites run by the JNF and the “Israel Nature and Parks Authority” . . .  signs posted in these sites offer ample information about the historical and geographical aspects of the area – while repeatedly failing to mention the fact that these places were inhabited by vibrant communities until quite recently.
[. . . .] Understanding the Nakba as a trauma that is shared . . . accounts for an interesting aspect of these practices – the fact that their wide-scale implementation did not begin immediately after the war, but gained full momentum only a decade later . . . .
[. . . .] Insufficiently worked through as it is, Israeli society’s traumatic past leads to yet another “pathological” manifestation: the appearance of repressed materials in a compulsively repetitive manner, “not as an event of the past, but as a present-day force”. Today, the ongoing repetition of the Nakba’s injustices is re-enacted in the violent relationship between Israel and its discriminated Palestinian citizens . . .  The destructive assaults on Palestinian society. . .  have been continuously launched and re-launched through the state’s actions and policies to this day. The besiegement and recurring bombardment of Gaza, for example, are not unrelated to the ignorance, on the part of most Israelis, of the fact that the majority of Gaza’s current inhabitants are descendants of refugees who lost their homes in 1948. This ignorance should be understood, in my view, in terms of the repression and effacement processes described . . .    SOURCE . . .  

❷ SETTLERS  SET  UP  TENTS  IN  NABLUS  AREA,  SEEN  AS  NUCLEUS  FOR  BUILDING  SETTLEMENT    
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
Jan. 2, 2018 ― Jewish settlers set up on Tuesday tents on Palestinian land that belongs to Deir al-Hatab village, east of Nablus, which is seen as a nucleus for a new settlement in the area, said a local activist.
___Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement construction in the northern West Bank, told WAFA that settlers from the illegal Elon Moreh settlement set up tents on a land in Ras al-Ein, an area east of the village, and fenced it off.    MORE . . . 
. . . . . ❷ ― CONTEXT: Netanyahu’s Party Votes to Annex West Bank, Increase Settlements   
Haaretz
Jan 01, 2018 ― The Likud Central Committee voted Sunday to unanimously accept a resolution that calls on the party’s leaders to move to formally annex the West Bank.
___The vote by the ruling party is nonbinding and was called for in a letter signed by some 900 members of the central committee.
___The wording of the resolution states: “On the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the regions of Judea and Samaria [the West Bank], including Jerusalem our eternal capital, the Likud Central Committee calls on the Likud’s elected officials to act to allow free construction and to apply the laws of Israel and its sovereignty to all liberated areas of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria.”   MORE . . .  
❸ AHED  TAMIMI  INDICTED  ON  CHARGES  OF  ASSAULTING  A  SOLDIER  AND  STONE  THROWING 
Ma’an News Agency    
Jan. 2, 2018 ―An Israeli military court on Monday indicted 16-year-old Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi on 12 charges, including assaulting an Israeli soldier, interfering with a soldier’s duties, and two past instances of stone throwing.
___Tamimi, who along with her family is well-known internationally for her fierce opposition to the Israeli occupation, was detained last month after a video went viral of her slapping and kicking two Israeli soldiers near her home in the central occupied West Bank village of Nabi Saleh.
___Since her arrest, Tamimi has had her detention extended several times, until charges were finally presented against her on Monday.
___Ahed’s mother Nariman has been charged with “incitement” for livestreaming the altercation, while her cousin Nour, who also appeared in the video, was charged with assaulting a soldier and interfering with a soldier’s duties.  MORE . . . 
.  .  .  .  .  ❸  ―  (ᴀ)  ADMINISTRATIVE  DETENTION  ORDERS  ISSUED  AGAINST  41  PALESTINIANS 
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
Jan. 2, 2018 ― The Israeli authorities recently issued administration detention orders against 41 Palestinians, including a member of the Palestinian parliament, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said on Tuesday.   MORE . . .    ..

“JERUSALEM,”  BY  NIZAR  QABBANI
Oh Jerusalem, luminous city of prophets
The shortest path between heaven and earth!

Jerusalem, you of the myriad minarets,
become a beautiful little girl with burned fingers.
City of the Virgin, your eyes are sad.
Shady oasis where the Prophet passed,
the stones of your streets grow sad,
the towers of mosques downcast.
City swathed in black, who’ll ring the bells
at the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday mornings?
Who will carry toys to children on Christmas Eve?
City of sorrows, a huge tear
trembling on your eyelid,
who’ll save the Bible?
Who’ll save the Qur’an?
Who will save Christ?
Who will save man?

Jerusalem, beloved city of mine,
tomorrow your lemon trees will bloom,
your green stalks and branches rise up joyful,
and your eyes will laugh. Migrant pigeons
will return to your holy roofs
and children will go back to playing.
Parents and children will meet
on your shining streets,
my city, city of olives and peace.
—Translated by Sharif Elmusa and Naomi Shihab Nye

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 Barnes and Noble.
Nizar Qabbani (1923-1998) was a Syrian diplomat and poet revered by Arabs for his sensual and romantic verse. A man of his times and of all times, he is by far the most popular contemporary poet in the Arab world.