“. . . an equitable distribution of goods and resources according to pre-agreed criteria of rights. . . .” (Leila Farsakh)

gaza-fish
Israel Navy attacks Gaza Fishermen, Dec. 3, 2011 (Photo by @rosa_schiano)

❶ . Israeli forces open fire at Gaza fisherman, detain two, confiscate boats
❷ . . Under BDS Pressure, G4S Ends Most Illegal Business with Israel
. . . ❷― (a) Poll shows growing support among Americans for sanctions against Israel

  • Background: “Economic Prospects For A One-State Solution In Palestine-Israel.” Holy Land Studies: A Multidisciplinary Journal

❸ . Opinion/Analysis:  Economic collapse in East Jerusalem: strategies for recovery             ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ . ISRAELI  FORCES  OPEN  FIRE  AT  GAZA  FISHERMAN,  DETAIN  TWO,  CONFISCATE  BOATS  
Ma’an News Agency 
Dec. 4, 2016
Israeli forces on Sunday at dawn opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of the Gaza Strip, according to witnesses.
___Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli naval forces opened fire at the fishing boats while at sea in both the northern and southern Gaza Strip.
___No injuries were reported.
___Shortly after the fisherman were shot at, Israeli naval forces detained two fishermen and confiscated their boats off the coast of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip. . .    More . . .

g4s_3
Subvertising campaign at King’s Cross, London (Photo: Global Exchange, international human rights organization)

❷ . UNDER  BDS  PRESSURE,  G4S  ENDS  MOST  ILLEGAL  BUSINESS  WITH  ISRAEL       International Middle East Media Center – IMEMC   
Dec. 3, 2016
The world’s largest security company,  G4S,  announced today that it is selling most of its Israeli business after an effective campaign against the company, waged by the Palestinian-led, global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights, caused it “reputational damage.”
___. . .  Rafeef Ziadah, speaking for the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), said:   “We have succeeded to push one of the world’s largest corporations into selling its key business in Israel. Our globally coordinated campaign has had a real impact. We will continue campaigning until G4S ends all involvement in violations of Palestinian human rights.”     More . . .  
. . . ❷― (A) POLL  SHOWS  GROWING  SUPPORT  AMONG  AMERICANS  FOR  SANCTIONS  AGAINST  ISRAEL   
Times of Israel
Dec. 2, 2016
The number of Americans supporting sanctions against Israel over its settlement policy grew by 9 percent over the past year and now stands at 46%, according to a new poll released by the Brookings Institution on Friday.
___According to twin surveys conducted by the think tank’s Shibley Telhami before and after the November 8 presidential elections, support for punitive measures against Israel has increased among members of both major parties: 60% of Democrats and 31% of Republicans back economic sanctions and more serious action, compared to 49% and 26% in November 2015.   More . . .

  • Farsakh, Leila. “Economic Prospects For A One-State Solution In Palestine-Israel.” Holy Land Studies: A Multidisciplinary Journal (Edinburgh University Press) 12.2 (2013): 119-140.    SOURCE.

[. . . .]  Although the concept of economic justice can be nebulous, it is generally understood to mean an equitable distribution of goods and resources according to pre-agreed criteria of rights. However, to talk about the notion of economic justice in the Israeli-Palestinian context is particularly difficult, given that we do not have clear criteria on which to base our discussion of economic rights for two peoples fighting over the same piece of land: are we talking about nations or about citizens, about resources confiscated or owned, about consumer or producers, workers or owners? It is all the more challenging given the difficulty of defining the boundaries and content of each of the Palestinian and Israeli economies. The two-state solution . . . is problematic as it violates national boundaries and obfuscates how facts on the ground have eroded [Palestinian] economic and political validity.
[. . . .] The question of economic separation or integration is . . .  intrinsically tied to the nature of the political, sic territorial, solution proposed to the conflict.
[. . . .] Shimon Perez argued that the Oslo peace process ushered a ‘New Middle East’ that would allow the free flow of capital and labour and thereby cause standards of living to rise and violence to fall. However 20 years of the peace process did not bring economic viability or justice to both parties. It rather enabled Israel to grow economically more prosperous and independent of the Palestinians while rendering the latter poorer and aid dependent.
___The contrast between Israeli and Palestinian economic performance under the Oslo peace process could not be more revealing.

❸ .  Opinion/Analysis:  ECONOMIC  COLLAPSE  IN  EAST  JERUSALEM:  STRATEGIES  FOR  RECOVERY 
Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network
by Nur Arafeh
Nov. 30, 2016
Overview     In an unusual move, and after years of neglect, American and European delegations and development agencies have recently been visiting East Jerusalem and showing an increased interest in “doing something” about its deteriorating socioeconomic conditions. Moreover, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is, after a prolonged silence, working on updating the Strategic Multi-Sector Development Plan for East Jerusalem 2011-2013.     ___There are fears that the election of Donald Trump might put a damper on these welcome and long overdue initiatives. It is also problematic that these delegations focus on economic development when the reality is that real economic development is not possible without progress on the political front to free the Occupied Palestinian Territory and fulfill Palestinian rights in the context of a just and comprehensive peace.     ___This brief by Al-Shabaka Policy Fellow Nur Arafeh focuses on Israel’s deliberately engineered economic collapse of East Jerusalem, which renders the city essentially unlivable for Palestinians so as to ensure Jewish control over it.      More . . .  

 

“. . . we have lost the most beautiful thing among us . . .” (Ibrahim Nasrallah)

allami
Yousef Ahmad Mahmoud al-‘Allami – Beit Ummar Facebook Page. (Photo published: INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER, Nov. 25, 2015)

❶ Army Kidnaps 34 Palestinians in the West Bank
―A ―Soldiers Assault and Kidnap a Child, Eight Years of Age, In Hebron
❷ Illegal settlements aren’t rogue, they’re government policy
❸ Why won’t Israel allow autopsy on youth killed by police?
❹ Analysis: Part 1: Palestinian youth revolt – Any role for political parties?
❺ Opinion/Analysis: Identifying the wrong culprit for terrorism
❻ Poetry by Ibrahim Nasrallah
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
IMEMC-INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER
ARMY  KIDNAPS  34  PALESTINIANS  IN  THE  WEST  BANK
Nov. 25, 2015
Israeli soldiers kidnapped, overnight and on Wednesday morning, 34 Palestinians, including many children, in different parts of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
___ In Hebron, the soldiers kidnapped ten Palestinians, including five children, in the city and nearby towns.
___Three Palestinians, identified as Mohammad Yasser Masalma, Hamdi Qassem Masalma, 18, Qussai Hani Masalma, and Qussai Ghazi Shallash, 20, were kidnapped from their homes in Doura town, west of Hebron.
More . . .
   ❶―ARelated . . . SOLDIERS  ASSAULT  AND  KIDNAP  A  CHILD,  EIGHT  YEARS  OF  AGE,  IN  HEBRON
+972 MAGAZINE
ILLEGAL  SETTLEMENTS  AREN’T  ROGUE,  THEY’RE  GOVERNMENT  POLICY
Adam Aloni
Nov. 24, 2015
Consecutive Israeli governments have fabricated a sophisticated system designed to lend a guise of legality to the seizure of land in the West Bank.
More . . . 

soldiers-settlement
Israeli soldiers stand in front of the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit, which was partially built on expropriated land belonging to the Palestinian village of Wadi Fukin, West Bank, September 26, 2014. Number (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
WHY  WON’T  ISRAEL  ALLOW  AUTOPSY  ON  YOUTH KILLED  BY  POLICE?
Alia Al Ghussain
A refusal by the Israeli police to allow an autopsy on a young Palestinian killed by its officers indicates a cover-up.
___On 17 October, Mutaz Uweisat was killed by the police in Armon Hanatziv, an Israeli settlement in occupied East Jerusalem.
___Israeli police have alleged that the 16-year-old boy tried to stab a border guard.
___Palestinian human rights groups are calling for an investigation of the officer implicated in the killing.
[ . . . . . ]
___ Amnesty has documented a number of instances in which Palestinian youths were killed by Israeli forces when they did not present any imminent threat to life, and says the slayings amount to extrajudicial executions.
Nov. 24, 2015
More . . .
❹ Analysis
AL-SHABAKA: THE PALESTINIAN POLICY NETWORK
PART  1:  PALESTINIAN  YOUTH  REVOLT  –  ANY  ROLE  FOR  POLITICAL  PARTIES?
Nov. 24, 2015
Jamal Juma’
(The following is the first segment of a five-part publication at Al-Shabaka.)
For nearly two months, Palestinians have waited for the political parties to shoulder their role in leading and guiding the uprising. Clearly, they are neither able nor willing to do so. There are several reasons for their inaction.
[ . . . . . ]
There are several factors in favor of creating a space for a new national or local leadership. Even if it subsides, the current uprising has raised the question the current leadership’s eligibility and has legitimized the search for alternatives. It has also united the Palestinian people inside the Green Line, the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza. Ironically, the political forces are the ones who remain divided.
More . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS [Dallas, Texas, USA]
IDENTIFYING  THE  WRONG  CULPRIT  FOR  TERRORISM
Sahar Aziz
Nov. 24, 2015
Each time persons claiming to be Muslim commit a terrorist attack in the West, the same two questions arise: 1) Why aren’t Muslims condemning terrorism; and 2) Why aren’t Muslims challenging extremist Islamic interpretations to stop terrorism conducted in its name rather than repeating that terrorism has nothing to do with Islam.
[. . . . . ]
To be sure, Al Qaeda and its progeny, Islamic State, employ Islamic rhetoric to legitimize their political agendas. They pick and choose verses in the Quran and Hadiths to justify an apocalyptic ideology rooted in a clash-of-civilizations worldview.
[ . . . . . ]
So before Americans and Europeans condescendingly demand Muslims get their religious house in order, they should get their own political house in order. A good start is demanding their governments’ foreign policies stop propping up dictators.
More . . .

FROM  “THE  HOURS,”  BY  IBRAHIM  NASRALLAH

The hour of the despot
It will brush away what remains of dust
to see us more clearly
and laugh like a content wolf
when it sees that we have lost
the most beautiful thing among us.

The hour of nightmare
I creep toward absence
carrying the tired earth on my shoulders.
But my blood stirs
and I wake from sleep like a stone
with a bitter body
and veins of wood.

The hour of arrest
Usually, a solitary gazelle prepares songs for its young
and at dawn lullabies the question’s wound.
But suddenly they cross the streets―in great numbers―
and a woman asks:
What are you doing with those guns?
Have they come to arrest the mountains?

The hour of execution
Silently, soldiers go round in the barracks
and famished dogs rush out.
There are the monotonous sounds of footsteps
in chains and in darkness.
Silently, a knotted rope swings
in a rush of bullets and death.

From Nasrallah, Ibrahim. RAIN  INSIDE:  SELECTED  POEMS. Trans. Omnia Amin and Rick London. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 2009. Available from Amazon.
About Ibrahim Nasrallah.

palestine-parade_2949175k
Youths parade through Gaza City in solidarity with Palestinians locked up in Israeli prisons. (Picture: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty)