❶ Israel Orders Halt on Jordan Valley Pipeline Construction
. . . . . ❶― (ᴀ) Newspaper Review: Israel to Build a New Settlement in West Bank
❷ Mainstream media frames Israeli attacks on Gaza civilians as ‘retaliatory’
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) Media promote Israeli distortions as civilians dodge airstrikes in Gaza
❸ Albarghouthi: “Israel Should be Brought to Account not to Repeat Crimes in the Future”
❹ Palestinian Scouts march in celebration of Orthodox Easter
❺ Opinion/Analysis: THE  LAWLESS  STATE  OF  ISRAEL
❻ POETRY by Majid Abu Ghoush
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ ISRAEL  ORDERS  HALT  ON  JORDAN  VALLEY  PIPELINE  CONSTRUCTION
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
May 8, 2016
Israeli authorities on Sunday ordered a halt on the construction of a fresh-water pipeline in the village of Ibzeq, to the east of Tubas in the Jordan Valley.
___Muataz Besharat, who monitors Israeli settlement activities in the area, told WAFA that staff from the so-called Israeli Civil Administration . . .  handed a notification to stop the pipeline project. . . .
___He added that the village lacks any other source of fresh water, and that locals are frequently compelled to buy water at high costs.     MORE . . .
. . . . . ❶― (ᴀ) NEWSPAPER  REVIEW:  ISRAEL  TO  BUILD  A  NEW  SETTLEMENT  IN  WEST  BANK
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
May 8, 2016
The three major dailies focused on the Israeli authorities’ declared plan to build a new settlement to the south of Nablus to accommodate 40 Jewish families.
___They said the Israeli ‘Defense’ Ministry, together with the settlement movement Amana, is planning a new settlement near Shiloh in the northern West Bank. The new construction is intended for the 40 families now living in the outpost of Amona, which is set to be evacuated by the end of the year.      MORE . . .

❷ MAINSTREAM MEDIA FRAMES ISRAELI ATTACKS ON GAZA CIVILIANS AS ‘RETALIATORY’
Mondoweiss
Dan Cohen
May 6, 2016
After 21 months of a one-way ceasefire, Israel is once again escalating attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip.
___Yesterday, Israeli shelling killed Zaina Attia al-Amour, a 54-year-old grandmother [. . . .]
___Outside of Gaza, media outlets have finally broken a de facto vow of silence on Israeli attacks on the besieged enclave, however, they have been framed as retaliatory.
___The Associated Press wire story was picked up by numerous mainstream media outlets. Here’s the headline: ISRAEL  RETALIATES  TO  GAZA  FIRE  WITH  STRIKES  ON  HAMAS  TARGETS.       MORE . . .
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) MEDIA  PROMOTE  ISRAELI  DISTORTIONS  AS  CIVILIANS  DODGE  AIRSTRIKES  IN  GAZA
The Electronic Intifada 
Rania Khalek
May 7, 2016
In recent days, has Israel launched a series of aggressive military actions in the besieged Gaza Strip, killing a Palestinian woman and injuring several other people, including three children.
___And like clockwork, mainstream Western media swooped in to throw the narrative in Israel’s favor, brushing aside Israel’s relentless violations of the Gaza ceasefire and its killings of dozens of civilians in the besieged territory.      MORE . . . .

❸ ALBARGHOUTHI:  “ISRAEL  SHOULD  BE  BROUGHT  TO  ACCOUNT  NOT  TO  REPEAT  CRIMES  IN  THE  FUTURE”
Palestine Chronicle
May 7 2016
Mustafa Albarghouthi, the Secretary General of the Palestinian Initiative said on Friday that Israel “would never dare to repeat its attacks on the Gaza Strip if it was prosecuted for the savage war crimes it committed during its offensive in summer 2014,” as reported by QudsNet.
___In a press statement, Albarghouti stated that “the latest Israeli artillery shelling and air strikes targeted civilians.” He added that “they were intended to escalate the situation in order to find justifications for carrying out new war crimes against the residents of the Gaza Strip.”      MORE . . .   

❹ PALESTINIAN   SCOUTS   MARCH   IN   CELEBRATION   OF   ORTHODOX   EASTER
Middle East Eye
Silvia Boarini
May 3, 2016
RAMALLAH, Occupied West Bank – Beating drums, loud bagpipes and shrill trumpets filled the air in Ramallah on Saturday, when 14 lively Kashaf (Scouts) marching bands paraded in front of an audience of thousands of Christian and Muslim Palestinians. Spectators began lining the streets during the hottest hours of the day in order to attend the traditional Sabt al-Nour parade marking Orthodox Easter; and for the first time in years, out of 14 Scout groups, one was from Gaza.      MORE . . .  

❺ Opinion/Analysis: THE  LAWLESS  STATE  OF  ISRAEL
The Middle East Monitor – MEMO
Asa Winstanley
May 8, 2016
Israel tries to present itself in front of the world as “the only democracy in the middle east”. In more explicitly racist and colonial terms, it sometimes claims to be a “villa” of civilisation in the “jungle” of the middle east, as war criminal Ehud Barak once put it.
___But for the Palestinian people, and anyone who has spent any amount of time visiting or living among them to witness the truth, such claims ring hollow.
___For the Palestinians, Israel is a democracy for its Jewish citizens alone.      MORE . . .

OCCUPATION,”  BY  MAJID  ABU  GHOUSH
Occupied Ramallah 17/11/06

Strange days cast dour shadows
Dusk. The fragrance of death
on a windowsill.
In the lingering heat
an impossible burden weighs
down on eyelids and chest;
the throat aches, the spine throbs.

Rose petals all tarnished with foul dust
from the poisoned world.
Black limousines sail past, flying
the skull and crossbones.
The grave yawns open early,
nightmares never leave.
Death squads. Detention camps.

Somewhere, an oud
pronounces its sad chords.
The invaders smile; tap their feet.
―Translated by John Glenday

MAJID ABU GHOUSH (b. Amwas) is a prolific poet, a member of the secretariat of the General Union of Palestinian Writers, and a founding member of Poets Without Borders, Palestine.
From A BIRD IS NOT A STONE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY PALESTINIAN POETRY. Ed. by Henry Bell and Sarah Irving. (Glasgow: Freight Books, 2014).
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