Category: Qatar

“. . . the day is impudent and selfish. . .” (Mourid Barghouti)

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Gaza4
Palestinian children at the Great Return March, near  Gaza City, April 10, 2018. (Photo: Mohammed Zaanoun/Activestills.org)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY 
|  ILLEGAL  SETTLEMENT  EXPANSION  UNDERWAY  AT  COST  OF  A  NORTHERN  WEST  BANK  VILLAGE
The Israeli army razed land in Dhar al-Maleh village, southwest of Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank, in order to expand an illegal Jewish settlement, the village’s head of council Ahmad Khatib said on Tuesday.    ___He told WAFA that bulldozers started to work on 120 dunums of the village land and in the process destroyed a paved road as the military was working on expanding the illegal settlement of Shaked, built on expropriated village land.     More . . .
~~  Israel  plans  new  settlement  units  in  Bethlehem    More . . .
~~  Israeli  settlements  threaten  to  engulf  West  Bank  communities    More . . .
|  QATAR  DEAL  EXPECTED  TO  BOOST  PALESTINIAN  TRADE
Qatar and Palestine are working to boost their bilateral trade, taking steps that one expert says will double their exchange over five years.    ___The Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently signed a cooperation agreement with the Palestine Trade Center (PalTrade) to increase partnership efforts between the two countries. During a Dec. 12 meeting in Doha that was also attended by Palestinian Ambassador to Qatar Amir Ghannam as well as Qatari and Palestinian businesspeople, the two sides agreed to allow nine Palestinian food and agriculture companies to export their products to the Qatari market.    More . . .
~~  Palestinian  Poverty  Level  Almost  Double  Israel  Average    More . . .
|   EIGHT  PALESTINIANS  KIDNAPPED  BY  IOF  IN  W.  BANK
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at dawn Tuesday kidnapped at least eight Palestinian citizens during campaigns in the West Bank.    ___The Israeli army claimed in a statement that its forces arrested eight wanted Palestinians overnight in the West Bank.    ___According to local sources, the IOF kidnapped a number of citizens in Beit Ummar town. . .    More . . .
~~  Israeli  navy  kidnaps  two  fishermen  in  Gaza  waters    More . . .
~~  Israeli  army  opens  fire  at  Palestinians  south  of  besieged  Gaza    More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION
|  THE  GRASSROOTS  MOVEMENTS  IN  ISRAEL-PALESTINE  THAT  WON  2018
Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man
+972 Magazine’s story of the year for 2018 is the protest movements that managed to beat the odds by forcing governments to revisit and even change their policies. The story of African refugees stopping their deportation from Israel, and Gazans using popular protests to make sure the world doesn’t forget about them.   ___The global rise of nationalist and right-wing governments has not been particularly good for progressive movements over the past year. But two grassroots movements in Israel and Palestine, respectively, managed to push back against oppressive policies and, at least temporarily, achieve real victories on the ground. These stories are not only impressive, against-the-odds wins — they are also a reminder that the work of organizers and activists on the ground does stand a chance facing down governments, armies, and immensely powerful economic interests.   More . . .
|  THE  UN’S  VISION  OF  ‘PEACE’  FOR  PALESTINE  EXCLUDES  ORDINARY  PALESTINIANS
Ramona Wadi
The UN is now adamant that the Palestinian Authority should return to govern the Gaza Strip. In the aftermath of Israel’s 2014 Operation Protective Edge, this hypothesis was raised by the US and has seldom been questioned, ostensibly due to other pressing factors such as delivering the necessary humanitarian aid to displaced and injured Palestinians in the besieged enclave.    ___Since the Palestinian cause has become fragmented into separate issues to prevent national unity, the PA — through decisions taken by its leader Mahmoud Abbas — has slowly imposed its own sanctions on Gaza, bizarrely in the name of unity. Ths facade was dropped swiftly, though, to reveal the real reason for the sanctions; the Fatah-led PA wants to force Hamas to relinquish its political power in the enclave. Hamas, remember, won the last Palestinian elections in 2006, but has never been allowed to govern both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.     More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY

Excerpt from “MIDNIGHT,”  BY  MOURID  BARGHOUTI

The new day does not ask your permission to enter,
it does not ask if you are ready to receive it.
The day is impudent and selfish,
it insists on arriving every day.
You hear dawn climbing the stairs
before it breaks into your house,
the same way you hear them coming to arrest you
before they break down the door,
before you rub your eyes,
before you’re asked to have a cup of coffee
with the hyena
with the gold tooth
and heavy makeup.

As for the birds,
don’t they know that this is not the time for singing?
Here they are, singing
as usual,
twittering melodies you do not understand.
May be they echo the refrain:
nothing equals
one more hour with you.

From: Barghouti, Mourid. MIDNIGHT  AND  OTHER  POEMS. Trans. By Radwa Ashour. Todmorden, Lancashire, UK: Arc Books, 2008. Available from B&N.

“. . . 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.

“. . . My friend / You cannot ask me to leave . . .” (Fouzi el-Asmar)

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SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .
|    TENSIONS  EASE  IN  GAZA,  ALLOWING  MONEY  AND  FUEL  TO  ROLL  IN
For months, Israel has tried to quell Gaza’s border protests through force. Now Israel is taking a different approach, easing a blockade and allowing millions of dollars in aid to flow into Gaza, the impoverished enclave controlled by Hamas, its bitter foe.    ___The aim of the change, in a plan mediated by Egypt and with money supplied by Qatar, is to provide much-needed relief for Gaza, restore calm on the Israeli side of the border and avert another war.    ___The clashes along Gaza’s border have caused misery on both sides: At least 170 Palestinians have been killed, and thousands of acres of Israeli farmland have been torched.    ___But the change in Israel’s approach presents risks for leaders on both sides, pressures that could doom even this limited warming of relations.    More . . .
|    QATARI  CASH  CAN’T  STOP  ISRAELI  BULLETS
One Palestinian was killed during the 33rd consecutive Friday of mass protests along the eastern perimeter of the occupied Gaza Strip.    [. . . .] Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza . . . said his faction was reaching “understandings” with Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations to lift the blockade.    [. . . .] Qatari officials brought in $15 million in cash to Gaza in recent days, disbursing it to some 30,000 civil servants hired by Hamas since 2007 whose salaries hadn’t been paid in months. The money will also be used to create 10,000 jobs in Gaza, where unemployment is currently nearly 55 percent – believed to be among the highest rates in the world, if not the highest.    ___The Qatari funding is the first installation of a total of $90 million pledged by the Gulf country for Gaza to be paid over the following six months.    More . . .
|    ISRAEL’S  NEW  DECISION  TO  BAN  DEALING  WITH  LARGE  CASH  A  NEW  CHALLENGE  TO  THE  PALESTINIAN  ECONOMY    In few weeks, the Israeli decision barring dealing with large cash in commercial transactions that exceed 11,000 Israeli shekels ($3000) will get into force, which may have big and immediate repercussions on the Palestinian economy.    [. . . .] The Israeli decision prohibits dealing with cash in commercial transactions. . .  replacing it with electronic means of payment . . .   [. . . .] With the weakness of modern means of payment in Palestine, in light of large daily transactions in Israeli currency, there is fear of large inflow of shekel into the Palestinian market, which already suffers from a large surplus of this currency.    More . . .
|    PALESTINIANS  CONDEMN  HOLLYWOOD  STARS’  FUNDRAISER  FOR  ISRAELI  ARMY
Palestinian people condemned several Hollywood starts who celebrated and raised millions of dollars to fund the Israeli army last week.    ___The Middle East Eye London-based news outlet reported that the gala was organized on November 1st, by Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces, adding that Hollywood stars such as  Ashton  Kutcher,  Gerard  Butler  and  Andy  Garcia attended and celebrated the event.    [. . . .] The event was met with condemnation in Palestine and by Palestinians on social media.    ___One of the organizers of  “The Great March of Return,“  which takes place every Friday at the eastern borders of the besieged Gaza Strip, Ahmad Abu Artema, told Middle East Eye that “The Israeli army will use these funds to buy more bullets and more bombs, only to kill more civilians.”    More . . .
. . . . Related  ISRAELI  FORCES  INJURE  AT  LEAST  37  PALESTINIANS  AT  EASTERN  GAZA  BORDERS
. . . . Related  PALESTINIAN  SUCCUMBS  TO  WOUNDS  SUSTAINED  IN  GAZA  PROTESTS
. . . . Related  FOUR  PALESTINIANS  INJURED  IN  KAFR  QADDUM  MARCH

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|    JERUSALEM  CHURCHES  ACHIEVE  NEW  VICTORY  AGAINST  ISRAEL  GOVERNMENT  (VIDEO) 
The Council of Jerusalem Churches has achieved a new victory against the Israeli government, with an “unprecedented number of US churches condemn[ing] Israeli attempts to confiscate church lands,” a Council statement – a copy of which was sent to MEMO – said on Friday.     ___The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, who heads the Council of Jerusalem Churches has toured the USA and EU countries to lobby against an Israeli law – known as the “Properties Bill” – which was recently advanced in the Knesset to target church property.    More . . .
|    ‘LIVING  STONES’  OF  AL  AHLI  ARAB  HOSPITAL  BUILD  A  MINISTRY  OF  HEALING,  WITNESS  IN  GAZA
By  Mary  Frances  Schjonberg,  Posted  Mar.  27,  2018
(Note: reposted to show the people of the US continue relationship with Gazans despite the actions of the US government)
Healing comes in many forms, and Al Ahli Arab Hospital’s medical ministry . . .  provide[s] the people of the Gaza Strip with an example of the love of Christ in action.    ___That example is set in an area whose Christian population is dwindling. Suhaila Tarazi, the hospital’s director general, estimates there are no more than 900 Christians among Gaza’s 2 million residents. Ten years ago, the number of Christians stood at 3,000 and the total population was around 1.5 million.    ___Tarazi told Bishop Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, United States. . . that the remaining Christians are “the living stones” of Gaza, and so too are institutions like Al Ahli Arab Hospital, which is one of more than 30 social service ministries of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.   More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“TO  A  JEWISH  FRIEND,”  BY  FOUZI  EL-ASMAR
Don’t ask me
the impossible
Don’t’ ask me
to hunt stars,
walk to the sun.
Don’t ask me
to empty the sea
to erase the day’s light
I am nothing but a man.

Don’t ask me
to abandon my eyes, my love,
the memory of my childhood.

I was raised
under an olive tree,
I ate the figs
of my orchard
drank wine from
the sloping vineyards
Tasted Cactus fruit
in the valleys
more, more.

The nightingale has sung
in my ears
The free winds of fields and cities
always tickled me
My friend
You cannot ask me
to leave my own country.  (March 1971)

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

 

“. . . The gates of my heart Are wide open to misery . . .” (Abdul Karim Sabawi)

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Nasser_Sept_28Israeli forces killed Nasser Musbeh with live ammunition on September 28, 2018.
(Photo: From Defense for Children Palestine, Courtesy of Musbeh family)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

|  QATARI  FUNDED  FUEL  PUMPED  TO  ONLY  POWER  PLANT  IN  GAZA
Fuel trucks funded by the Qatari government on Tuesday morning began entering the Gaza strip through Kerem Shalom commercial crossing, southeast of the Strip.    ___Six fuel trucks funded by Qatar are scheduled to enter the strip today, pumping fuel for the only power plant in the Gaza Strip.    [. . . .] The agreement came within the framework of the donor conference held recently in New York and with Israeli approval,  under which Qatar was allowed to finance part of the Gaza Strip’s electricity by providing the necessary fuel, which is expected to double the electricity hours, ie eight hours.   More . . .
| NETANYAHU  SAYS  ARMY  PREPPING  FOR  POSSIBLE  MILITARY  CAMPAIGN  AGAINST  GAZA 
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly informed his cabinet that the army is preparing for a possible military campaign against the blockaded Gaza Strip in case the situation was not improved, according to Israeli media.    ___“If the reality of civil distress in Gaza is diminished, that is desirable, but that is not certain to happen, and so we are preparing militarily — that is not an empty statement,” Netanyahu said.    More . . .
|  12  PALESTINIANS,  INCLUDING  WOMEN,  KIDNAPPED  IN  W.  BANK  IOF  CAMPAIGNS
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Tuesday morning kidnapped 12 West Bankers, including relatives of Ashraf Abu Sheikha, who recently carried out a deadly shooting attack in the Barkan industrial zone near the illegal settlement of Ariel.    ___Local sources told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that the IOF stormed at dawn Shuweika suburb in Tulkarem and raided homes belonging to Abu Sheikha’s family.    ___Israeli soldiers maltreated and rounded up the mother of Abu Sheikha and his two sisters, and said they would remain in detention until Abu Sheikha turned himself in, according to the sources.   More . . .
. . . .Related  Israeli  Forces  Detain  Palestinian  Family  In  Aida  Camp
. . . .Related  Israeli forces detain Palestinian siblings in East Jerusalem
. . . .Related  Israel  Court  Sentences  Anti-Occupation  Protester  To  7  Years  In  Jail

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

|  THAT  SINGLE  LINE  OF  BLOOD:  NASSER  MUSBEH  AND  MUHAMMAD  AL-DURRAH 
By Ramzy Baroud
As the frail body of 12-year-old Nasser Musbeh fell to the ground [in Gaza] on Friday, September 28, history was repeating itself in a most tragic way.  [. . . .] Almost 18-years to the day separates Nasser’s recent murder and the Israeli army killing of Muhammad Al-Durrah, also 12, on September 30, 2000. Between these dates, hundreds of Palestinian children have perished [in Gaza] in similar ways.    ___. . . 954 Palestinian children were killed between the Second Intifada in 2000 and Israel’s war on Gaza, the so-called Operation Cast Lead in 2008. In the latter war alone, 345 child were reportedly killed, in addition to another 367 child fatalities reported in Israel’s latest war, ‘Protective Edge’ of 2014.    ___But Muhammad and Nasser . . .  have more in common than simply being the ill-fated victims of trigger-happy Israeli soldiers.    __In that single line of blood that links Nasser Musbeh and Muhammad al-Durrah, there is a narrative so compelling, yet often neglected. The two 12-year-old boys . . . whose families were driven from villages that were destroyed in 1948 to make room for today’s Israel.   More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . .

“WRITTEN  ON  THE  FIRST  MORNING  WHEN  ABDUL  KARIM  SABAWI
WOKE  UP  TO  FIND  HIMSELF A  REFUGEE  IN  EXILE,”
BY  ABDUL  KARIM  SABAWI

When you were parched
We quenched your thirst with our blood
Now…
We carry your burden
Disgraced we cry in shame when asked
Where do you come from?
Dishonored we die
If only the stray bullets
From the occupier’s guns
Were merciful
And pierced through our legs
If only they tore through our knees
If only we sunk into your fields
Deep to our necks
If only we got stuck
And became the salt of your earth
The nutrients in your fertile soil
If only we didn’t leave
The gates of my heart
Are wide open to misery
Don’t ask me where this wind is blowing
Don’t ask me about a house
Or windows
Or trees
The Bulldozers were here
And the houses in our village
Fell like a row of decayed teeth
They haven’t colonized Mars yet
And the moon is barren
Uninhabitable
So carry your children
Your memories
And follow me
We can live in the books of history
They’ll write about us,
“The wicked Bedouins
Landed in Baghdad
The wicked Bedouins landed in Yafa
They landed in Grenada
Then moved on
They packed their belongings
And rode their camels
Leaving no trace on the red clay
All their artifacts
Faded
With the passing of the years.”
What does it really mean to this world?
What does it really mean?
To be Arabs
Native Americans
Or Dinosaurs
(Refugee Camp, Jordan 1968)

Abdul Karim Sabawi was born in 1942 in the Toffah District in Gaza city. He has been a refugee in Australia most of his life.   –From BLOOD  FOR  FREEDOM:  POETRY  FROM  PALESTINE,  BY  ABDUL  KARIM  SABAWI.   Editor: Biblioteca de las Grandes Naciones. Library of the Great Nations. Oiartzun, Basque Country: August, 2014. PDF online.
The poet reads.

“. . . waiting has become an inevitable part of our lives . . .” (Sani P. Meo)

Harold Knight1 Comment
insurance
At the offices of the National Insurance Institute. Apr. 15, 2015 (Photo: Nir Kafri/Haaretz)

❶ When Waiting Becomes an Identity

  • Background:  “Freedom Of Movement V. Restrictions On Movement Under The Two Legal Systems.” Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture
  • Background:  The Chicago Hearing. American Friends Service Committee.

❷ EU guarantees right to boycott Israel
. . . ❷― (a) Qatar University: Student Council Votes for Boycott of Israel
. . . ❷― (b) War on Roger Waters due to supporting Palestine
❸ Why Palestinians are unfazed by calls to cut off US aid
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ WHEN  WAITING  BECOMES  AN  IDENTITY  
This Week in Palestine  
Sani P. Meo
November 2016
For decades now, I’ve seen the queues of Palestinians who live in East Jerusalem . . . Whether you need to renew your identity card, register your marriage or the birth of your child, or submit an address change, for example, the Ministry of Interior is your Mecca! True, all civilized countries need to keep track of their citizens . . .  but it is no secret that the scene is different in West Jerusalem for Israeli citizens . . .  waiting has become an inevitable part of our lives. Whether it’s at red traffic lights, in checkout lines, or in doctors’ clinics, we all wait; however, I dare say that in Palestine, waiting has a special flare to it that has become an integral part of Palestinian identity.    More . . .  

  • Sela, Ronit. “Freedom Of Movement V. Restrictions On Movement Under The Two Legal Systems.” Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture 21.3 (2016): 31-38.   Full article.  

The evolvement of two separate legal regimes in the West Bank is one of the most prominent and troublesome characteristics of the Israeli occupation. This separation is premised on an ethno-national basis, reflected in every aspect of life, and severely infringes upon the rights of the Palestinian residents. . . .
[. . . .] Restriction of movement infringes not only upon the right to freedom of movement but rather violates a range of rights. For Palestinians, those restrictions impact where a person can live, whether family members will be able to come and visit, how fast one can reach a hospital, which opportunities for studies and employment are available, and much more.
[. . . .] This occurs in spite of the fact that international humanitarian law . . . places numerous obligations on Israel to protect the Palestinian population over whom it occupies. Moreover, international law clearly and unambiguously forbids the creation of settlements in the heart of the occupied land. . .  As a consequence of the expansion of the settlement blocs, the human rights violations against the Palestinian people have increased and become more entrenched. Three aspects of limitations on the freedom of movement of Palestinians . . .  physical restrictions on movement, limits on choosing one‘s place of residency, and traffic law enforcement that hinders on movement. . . .The Israeli authorities routinely justify this discrimination against Palestinians by stating security considerations, both for national security and tor the sake of providing protection to settlers.
[. . . .] These and other hardships are the result of the systematic separation that exists on the ground and within the legal framework of the dual legal system. The separation essentially exists between Palestinians on the one hand, and all those who are not Palestinian on the other hand, be it settlers, Israeli visitors or international visitors. The basic principles of international humanitarian law, meant to protect residents of the occupied territory, are routinely ignored, leaving Palestinians exposed and highly vulnerable.

  • The Chicago Hearing: Does U.S. Policy on Israel and Palestine Uphold Our Values? An Initiative of the American Friends Service Committee, Chicago Sunday, April 18, 2010 from 1:30 PM to 5:30 PM University of Chicago, Ida Noyes Hall     Website
    General Overview [Map of checkpoints and other information]
    In the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt), nearly every facet of life is controlled by Israeli military policies. These policies not only restrict movement, but also isolate and harass the civilian population.
qalandia
Palestinian women walking among cement blocks towards the main checkpoint to enter Jerusalem city. Qalandia checkpoint, June 24, 2016 (Photo by Mohammad Alhaj/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

❷ EU  GUARANTEES  RIGHT  TO  BOYCOTT  ISRAEL 
Days of Palestine
Nov. 15, 2016
In answer to a parliamentary question on whether the EU commission will commit to defending BDS activists’ right to exercise their democratic freedom of expression, [EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica] Mogherini was clear: “The EU stands firm in protecting freedom of expression and freedom of association, including BDS actions.”
___She also noted that the European Court of Human Rights has affirmed that freedom of expression applies to ideas “that offend, shock or disturb the state or any sector of the population.”    More . . .
. . . ❷― (A) QATAR  UNIVERSITY:  STUDENT  COUNCIL  VOTES  FOR  BOYCOTT  OF  ISRAEL 
International Middle East Media Center – IMEMC 
November 18, 2016
The representative council of Qatar University students voted for the provincial movement and the refusal of normalization with the Israeli occupation, in a new victory of the movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) in the Arabian Gulf.
___ . . . the council stressed the importance of the Arab role in countering normalization, boycott and divestment from Israel in order to strengthen the resistance of the Palestinians amid escalating Israeli crimes.     More . . .   
. . . ❷― (B) WAR  ON  ROGER  WATERS  DUE  TO  SUPPORTING  PALESTINE
Days of Palestine
Nov 16, 2016
Co-founder, ex-lead singer for rock music giant Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, found himself amidst fierce war after supporting pro-Palestine activists    [. . . .]
___According to Page Six, the credit card giant [AMEX] has baulked on its plans to put up $4m (£3.2m) for his 2017 solo tour in North America following his comments at Oldchella festival – an event the company sponsored – earlier this month.
___“I am going to send out all of my most heartfelt love and support to all those young people on the campuses of the universities of California who are standing up for their brothers and sisters in Palestine and supporting the BDS movement,” he said.    More . . .

❸  WHY  PALESTINIANS  ARE  UNFAZED  BY  CALLS  TO  CUT  OFF  US  AID      Al-Monitor (Palestine Pulse)
Daoud Kuttab
Nov. 17, 2016
Mustafa Barghouti, an elected Palestinian legislator, told Al-Monitor that the United States has already reduced aid to the Palestinian government. “In the past two years, we have seen a steady decline in financial support coming from Washington to the Palestinian government. . . ” US funding, which goes straight to the Palestinian government’s creditors, “has dropped from about $100 million in 2014 to roughly $75 million in 2015.”            More . . .

“. . . When cement has chocked the ancient springs . . .” (Samih Al-Qasim)

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Mohammed Abu Tair
Israeli occupation authorities deporting from his home in Jerusalem Palestinian member of parliament Mohammed Abu Tair to West Bank, Oct. 12, 2010. (Photo: Al Qassam Website, 2010)

❶ Israeli forces detain Palestinian lawmaker, at least 22 others
❷ Israel advances settlement plans despite international outcry
. . . . .❷―(ᴀ) The fraud of Gush Etzion, Israel’s mythological settlement bloc
❸ Qatar warns of Israel’s persistence in blockading Gaza [and expanding settlements]
❹ Israel to Evict Several Families in Nablus Locality
. . . . .❹―(ᴀ) Israel demolishes mosque in Negev Desert village
❺ Opinion/Analysis: AMONG  THE  SETTLERS
❻ Poetry by Samih Al-Qasim
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  PALESTINIAN  LAWMAKER,  AT  LEAST  22  OTHERS
Jan. 28, 2016
Israeli forces detained Palestinian lawmaker Muhammad Abu Tair and at least 22 others from across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during raids carried out early Thursday . . . .
___The Ahrar Center for Prisoners Studies and Human Rights condemned Abu Tair’s detention, with the head of the center Fouad al-Khafsh calling the detention raid a “war crime.”
___The 65-year-old MP has spent at least 32 years in Israeli prison previously, and saw his permanent residency status in Jerusalem revoked on Oct. 8, 2010 after five months of detention.
___He joins at least six other members of PLC members held in Israeli prisons including Hatim Qafisha, a Hamas-affiliated MP who was detained on Sunday.   More . . .
❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAEL  ADVANCES  SETTLEMENT  PLANS  DESPITE  INTERNATIONAL  OUTCRY
Killian Redden
Jan. 27, 2016
In defiance of mounting international criticism, Israel has started to formally approve a burst of new settler housing construction across the occupied Palestinian territory.
___Israeli media reported Tuesday that Israel’s Civil Administration had approved a further 153 settler units in settlements across the West Bank last week.
___The approval reportedly came through for 65 homes in the settlements of Etz Efraim and Rachelim in Nablus, 28 apartments in Carmel in the South Hebron Hills, and another 60 in Alon Shvut in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc south of Bethlehem.   More . . .
. . . . .❷―(ᴀ) +972 MAGAZINE
THE  FRAUD  OF  GUSH  ETZION,  ISRAEL’S  MYTHOLOGICAL  SETTLEMENT  BLOC
Hillel Bardin and Dror Etkes
Feb. 1, 2015
Destroyed by Arab armies during the 1948 War, Gush Etzion was repopulated after Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967. Since then, successive Israeli governments have done everything they can to expand the area of the mythological bloc, while settling Israelis on privately-owned Palestinian land.   More . . . 

watch tower
A watchtower peeks out over the road from Nablus to Ramallah, outside an Israeli settlement in Palestine. (Photo: Postcards from Palestine.com; Sep. 6, 2013)

❸ THE PALESTINIAN INFORMATION CENTER
QATAR  WARNS  OF  ISRAEL’S  PERSISTENCE  IN  BLOCKADING  GAZA  [and  expanding  settlements]
Jan. 28, 2016
Qatar has warned of Israel’s persistence in blockading the Gaza Strip, expanding its settlements, and Judaizing the holy sites in Jerusalem, and committing many violations against the Palestinians and their land.
___Qatar demanded the UN Security Council to compel Israel to respect the international law, to express its rejection clearly of all Israeli illegal practices, and to necessarily take all measures to stop such violations, and provide the Palestinian people with international protection.   More . . .
❹ PALESTINE NEWS AND INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
ISRAEL  TO  EVICT  SEVERAL  FAMILIES  IN  NABLUS  LOCALITY
Jan. 28, 2016
Israeli forces overnight handed several Palestinian families eviction orders from Ein al-Rushrash, a locality southeast Duma village, south of Nablus, said a local activist.
___WAFA reported on Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement construction in northern West Bank, that Israeli forces handed a number of Palestinian families orders notifying them of the intention to evict them from Ein al-Rushrash.
___Daghlas noted that there are about 85 Palestinians living in 30 residential structures in this locality.   More . . .
. . . . .❹―(ᴀ) THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEMO)
ISRAEL  DEMOLISHES  MOSQUE  IN  NEGEV  DESERT  VILLAGE
Jan. 28, 2016
Israeli forces on Thursday demolished a mosque in the Bedouin village of Rakhma in the Negev Desert under the pretext that it had been built without a permit, eyewitness said.  More . . . 
❺ Opinion/Analysis
MONDOWEISS
AMONG  THE  SETTLERS
Philip Weiss
Jan. 26, 2016
This is the first half of a piece about my tour of four Israeli settlements in mid-January. The second half is here. http://mondoweiss.net/2016/01/the-world-the-settlers-made
On my first night in an Israeli settlement, David served chicken soup left over from Sabbath and told me an unsettling story about the birth of Israel. His great uncle had escaped Europe to come to a Jewish kibbutz called Ein Harod. On the next hill was a Palestinian village. When hostilities broke out between Jews and Palestinians in 1948, the Jews went up to the village and announced that the next day they were bringing bulldozers to level the place, the people should leave. The next day they went back and were surprised to find that the Palestinians had all fled– fearing a massacre like the one that took place in Deir Yassin. The Jews then leveled the village and used the stones to build a stadium in their kibbutz. David said his uncle had told this story “with a twinkle in his eye.” More . . .  

“A  MOTHERLAND,”  BY  SAMIH  AL-QASIM
What,
When in my country
Dies the swallow of starvation,
In exile and without a shroud,
While the earthworm is over-fed
On God’s food?

What,
When the yellow fields
Yield to their tillers
Nothing except their weary memories,
While their rich harvest pours
Into the granaries of their usurpers?

What,
When cement has chocked
The ancient springs
And caused them to forget
Their courses,
They cry in the face
Of their creator, “Who are you?”

What,
When the olive and almond
Have become timber
Decoration on the doorway of inns,
Idols,
Whose nudity charms halls and bars,
And souvenirs for tourists
To carry to the far corners of the world,
While nothing meets my eyes
But dry timber and yellow leaves.

From: A  LOVER  FROM  PALESTINE  AND  OTHER  POEMS:  AN  ANTHOLOGY  OF  PALESTINIAN  POETRY. Ed. Abdul Wahab Al-Messiri. Washington, DC: Free Palestine Press, 1970.   Available from Amazon.
Samih Al-Qasim obituary