Category: Qalandiya Checkpoint

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

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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.

“. . . Young Palestinians do not go out to murder Jews because they are Jews . . .” (Amira Haas)

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1-amal mukhamara
The mother of Murad Ideis, ACCUSED [not found guilty] . . . stands on the rubble of her home in Beit Amra after it was demolished by the Israeli army on 11 June. Photo: Wisam Hashlamoun APA images)
❶ Palestinian man dies of tear gas inhalation after clashes erupt at Qalandiya

  • From: Journal Of East Asia & International Law

❷ Israel can’t crush solidarity
. . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) Israeli court rejects appeal against punitive demolitions of Tel Aviv suspects’ family homes
❸ Analysis: Lack of Security for Palestinians
❹ POETRY by Zuhair Abu Shayib
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ PALESTINIAN  MAN  DIES  OF  TEAR  GAS  INHALATION  AFTER  CLASHES  ERUPT  AT  QALANDIYA
Ma’an News Agency
July 1, 2016
A Palestinian man was pronounced dead on Friday after suffering from excessive tear gas inhalation when Israeli forces earlier in the morning heavily fired tear gas at Palestinians crossing Qalandiya checkpoint from Ramallah into Jerusalem to attend prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
___The man, reportedly in his 50s, was one of at least 40 Palestinians who suffered from severe tear gas inhalation during clashes that broke out at the Qalandiya checkpoint.
___Witnesses told Ma’an that Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics were prevented by Israeli forces from treating the man at the start of the incident. However, they eventually were able to reach him.       MORE . . .

From: Journal Of East Asia & International Law
[. . . .]
Israel’s claim is also inconsistent with the peace agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinians basically adopting the two-state solution and the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people. The establishment of the Palestinian National Authority and the continued negotiations between the two parties to reach a just and comprehensive settlement constitutes an implicit acknowledgement of the occupation.
___. . .  In the case of Beit Sourik Village Council, the [Israeli] High Court adjudicated that The Hague Regulations and the first three Geneva Conventions constitute a part of international customary law and are thus binding Israel. The High Court also recognized the Fourth Geneva Convention in its Military Order No. 3 issued in June 1967, but revoked this recognition on the ground that the Convention was not mentioned in its own laws. The Court’s decision is a violation of international law, because it is inadmissible for any state to use its local laws as an excuse to refuse enforcing international treaties.
___The Hague and Geneva Conventions are binding on all states because these regulations constitute an integral part of international customary law. The second common article in the four Geneva Conventions states that: “[T]he Fourth Geneva Convention shall apply to all cases of partial or total occupation, even if the said occupation meets with no armed resistance.”

  • Shandi, Yousef. “Israel’s Claim Of The ‘Legitimate Right Of Self- Defense’ Regarding The Gaza Strip In Light Of International Law A Palestinian Lawyer’s Position.” Journal Of East Asia & International Law 3.2 (2010): 387-406.

❷ ISRAEL  CAN’T  CRUSH  SOLIDARITY
The Electronic Intifada
Budour Youssef Hassan
June 30, 2016
Amal Mukhamara is fed up with the questions. She is tired of journalists inquiring why her son Khaled and his cousin Muhammad killed four Israelis in Tel Aviv earlier this month. She is tired of being asked if she condemns their actions or if she knew of their plans beforehand.
___“No mother will allow her son to put his life in danger,” she said. “But our sons do not ask us for our opinions or approval. They are driven to act because of all the injustice and aggression they have been subjected to by Israel.”
___The killings took place in an upmarket Tel Aviv square. Both of the alleged attackers were wounded before being arrested.       MORE . . .  
. . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) ISRAELI  COURT  REJECTS  APPEAL  AGAINST  PUNITIVE  DEMOLITIONS  OF  TEL  AVIV  SUSPECTS’  FAMILY  HOMES
Ma’an News Agency
June 30, 2016
An Israeli military court rejected an appeal against house demolition orders presented to the families of two Palestinians suspected of carrying out a deadly attack in Tel Aviv earlier this month.
___Muhammad Ahmad Moussa Makhamreh and Khalid Muhammad Moussa Makhamreh, two cousins from the town of Yatta in the southern West Bank district of Hebron . . . are set to face trial. However, Israeli forces have ordered the demolition of their families’ homes.      MORE . . .

509748
Palestinians are blocked entry as they wait at the Qalandiya checkpoint in northern Jerusalem 08 December 2005. (Photo: AFP/JAMAL ARURI)

❸ LACK OF SECURITY FOR PALESTINIANS
Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture
21.2 (2015): 28-35
Amira Abd Elrahim
Whether Palestinians protest violently or nonviolently Israel responds with military force, so how can the violence end in the Occupied Palestinian Territories without an end to occupation.
___As we look around us at what has been happening lately, we stand speechless. As natives of the land of Palestine, we live in a never-ending conflict, under an authority that doesn’t recognize us or our rights [. . . .]
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. . . .
___Israelis have a government and weapons. They are protected by an army that stands behind them. . . The Palestinians are the only people on this earth who are asked to guarantee the security of their occupier, while Israel is the only country that calls for defense from its victims. . .  Palestinians chose to resist and express their anger in their own way.
___You cannot be an innocent settler. . . .  you are guilty and your crimes cannot be swept away. As stated by Haaretz correspondent Amira Haas:

Young Palestinians do not go out to murder Jews because they are
Jews. It’s because Jews are their occupiers, their torturers, their jailers,
the thieves of their land and water, their exilers, the demolishers
of their homes, the blockers of their horizon. Young Palestinians,
vengeful and desperate, are willing to lose their lives and cause their
families great pain because the enemy they face proves every day
that its malice has no limits” (Haaretz, Oct 7, 2015).      MORE . . .

“PROBABILITIES,”  BY  ZUHAIR  ABU  SHAYIB
From
what source of light
does the day occur?
Does the earth propitiate itself
and the seas catch fire?
By what light
Do we shell roads until daybreak?
and the sound is bearable
and the morning, like bullets, is bearable.
Stop, you tall handsome one
we pass from
our blood to our blood
and never arrive
and take flight to our blood
and the siege pursues us.
The wound in our suitcases
Bears our features
While it is carried by the sea.
And death is bearable
and silence is bearable
and the morning, like bullets, is bearable.

From ANTHOLOGY  OF  MODERN  PALESTINIAN  LITERATURE.  Ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi.Trans. May Jayyusi and Jeremy Reed. New York: Columbia University Press (August 15, 1994).
About Zuhair Abu Shayib

“. . . youth did not stint in giving his blood for us. He understood. . .” (Mahmoud Shukair)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
Photo by Shadi Hatem, Ma'an News Agency.
Photo by Shadi Hatem, Ma’an News Agency.

❶ From MA’AN NEWS AGENCY

Israeli commander kills Palestinian teenager near Ramallah

July 3, 2015
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A senior Israeli commander shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the West Bank Friday after he threw stones at his patrol, medics and Israeli officials said.
____Muhammad Hani al-Kasbah,17, was killed by two bullets after allegedly throwing stones at an Israeli military vehicle close to the Qalandiya checkpoint, south of Ramallah, medics told Ma’an.
(More. . .)

❷ From MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PALESTINIANS COMMEMORATE MURDER OF TEENAGER ABU KHDEIR
July 2, 2015
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in East Jerusalem Thursday to commemorate the first anniversary of a teenager being burned to death last summer.
____Muhammad Abu Khdeir, 16, was abducted and killed on July 2, 2014, weeks after the kidnap and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank.
____Protesters in the streets of Abu Khdeir’s Shufat neighborhood waved Palestinian flags and held up posters and images of the boy in a beige baseball cap, an AFP correspondent said.
(More. . .)

❸ From THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
WHEN WILL DAD COME BACK?
Refaat Alareer
The story of my brother, martyr Mohammed Alareer
July 2, 2015
The last time my little niece Raneem saw her dad was when the Israeli shells were falling on the heads and houses of more than 10,000 Palestinians in Shujaiya, east of Gaza City, last summer. My brother Mohammed took the time to help guide many families to shortcuts in a desperate attempt to escape the flying shrapnel and debris.
____He never came back. Not because he did not keep his word, but rather because the Israeli occupation has developed a policy of destroying people and their relationships.
(More. . .)

A destroyed home in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 2 July 2015. Ashraf Amra APA images.
A destroyed home in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 2 July 2015. Ashraf Amra APA images.

❹Analysis
From THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEM)
RAND CORPORATION PREDICTS A BLEAK FUTURE FOR ISRAEL

Nonviolent resistance would cost Palestinians $12 billion over ten years and the Israelis $80 billion. Violent uprising, the worst of all possible scenarios, would cost Israel $250 billion (slightly less than its 2014 GDP) and the Palestinians $46 billion (more than three times their 2014 GDP).

Nasim Ahmed
July 2, 2015
The unsustainability of Israel’s occupation is acknowledged almost universally, yet its permanence is the only reality known to most Jews and Palestinians. Its supposed temporary nature has not prevented Israel from becoming more entrenched in its occupation, thus making any future peace deal unviable.
____This unbridgeable divide is reflected in the way that new generations of Israelis make increasingly greater demands on Palestinians . . . . while Palestinians have reached a near consensus that . . . there is nothing left for them to give other than to admit total submission and humiliation.
(More. . .)

❺ Opinion
From +972 MAGAZINE
ONE YEAR SINCE GAZA: WHY THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A ‘PRECISION STRIKE’

You often hear of an airstrike on Gaza being labeled a ‘precision strike.’ But how precise can a half- or one-ton bomb be when dropped on an area the size of Detroit?

Natasha Roth
July 2, 2015
“In Gaza, we use bombs that are extremely precise, and strike only Hamas targets – not civilians…” – Lt. Omer, Israeli Air Force Pilot [. . . .]
____When you read about an airstrike on Gaza by the Israeli Air Force, you invariably hear it being described as a “precision strike.” [. . . .]
____But look a little closer next time you read about the IAF’s “precision strikes.” . . . a phrase culled straight from the euphemistic military patois that goes into much of the IDF Spokesperson’s press releases (note that this is far from a uniquely Israeli phenomenon—see “surgical strikes,” below).
(More. . .)

“THE YOUTH,” BY MAHMOUD SHUKAIR
That tender-skinned youth did not stint in giving his blood for us. He understood. He understood, by virtue of his good instincts, that we needed clean air and a country, so he did not stint.
____It was his right to live so that he could get to know the country’s cities, one by one. It was his right to live so that he could go to university and read, at the least, ten thousand books. It was his right to live so that he could have a beautiful wife who would share the worries and joys of the world with him. It was his right to live so that he could live, like everyone else. Yet he understood by virtue of his good instincts that we. . . . so he didn’t stint. There he is leaving us now, clutching to the last a stone that he was going to hurl at the enemy.
―Translated especially for this collection. (One of the “vignettes” from the collection of short stories. These “vignettes” are more like prose poems than short stories.)

From Shukair, Mahmoud. Mordechai’s Moustache and his Wife’s Cats, and other Stories. Translated by Issa J. Boullata, Elizabeth Whitehouse, Elizabeth Winslow, and Christina Phillips. London: Banipal Books, 2007.
Mahmoud Shukair has been a prodigious creator of short stories since the mid-1960s. He was born in 1941 in Jerusalem and grew up there. He studied at Damascus University and has an MA in Philosophy and Sociology (1965).
____He has published numerous volumes, including nine short story collections, 13 books for children, a volume of folk tales, a biography of a city, and a travelogue. He has written six series for TV, three plays, and countless newspaper and magazine articles, including for online publications.
____He worked for many years as a teacher and journalist, was editor-in-chief of a weekly magazine, Al-Talia’a [The Vanguard] 1994-96, and editor-in-chief of Dafatir Thaqafiya [Cultural File] magazine 1996-2000, when he was also director of literature for the Palestinian Ministry of Culture.
(More. . .)

Mahmoud Shukair
Mahmoud Shukair