Tag: Beit Hanoun

“. . . all that pain can be breached. . .” (Ramzy Baroud)

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SELECTED NEWS OF THE DAY

Israeli snipers kill two Gaza boys

The Electronic Intifada
Maureen Clare Murphy
September 6, 2019
Israeli occupation forces shot and killed two Palestinian children during Great March of Return protests, Gaza’s health ministry stated on Friday.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ The ministry named one of those slain as Ali Sami Ali al-Ashqar, 17. He was reportedly shot in the head east of Jabaliya, northern Gaza. The second killed child was identified as Khalid Abu Bakr al-Rabai, 14, shot in the chest east of Gaza City. Sixty-six others were injured during Friday’s protests, 38 of them by live fire.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ Nearly 50 children are among the 210 Palestinians who have been killed during the protests since their launch in early 2018. Nineteen Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and Gaza so far this year, most of them during Great March of Return protests.  More . . . .

IOF launches fresh attack on Gaza Strip

Palestine News Network
September 7, 2019
The Israeli military has launched fresh attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip, after Israeli troops killed two Palestinian teenagers during anti-occupation protests near the fence separating the coastal sliver from the occupied territories.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ Palestinian media reported that an Israeli tank shelled an outpost purportedly belonging to the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement north of Beit Hanoun and a regime drone struck a Hamas observation post near Beit Lahia early on Saturday. More . . . .

Female university student kidnapped by IOF in Bireh city

The Palestinian Information Center
September 7, 2019
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Saturday morning kidnapped a Palestinian female student from her home in al-Bireh city in the central West Bank.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ According to local sources, Samah Jaradat, a student at Birzeit University, was kidnaped after Israeli soldiers broke into and ransacked her home in the city.  More . . . . 

Netanyahu Corruption Case: State Witness Reveals New Details

Palestine Chronicle
September 6, 2019
A state witness in the corruption case against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed scathing details to investigators on Thursday.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ Netanyahu is standing for his fifth term in upcoming 17 September elections. Shortly after the elections, he faces an October pre-trial hearing on the corruption allegations that have dogged him for months.  More . . . .

BACKGROUND

Shaping the Future, Skills and Competencies for Palestinian Youth: Cooperation in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET)

This Week in Palestine
By: Michael Klode and Wissam Deeb
September, 2019
In the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, youth represent about one-third of the population. It is this young generation that constitutes the basis for developing the Palestinian society and economy amid rising unemployment and an unstable political situation. Every August is the time of year when the injaz (tawjihi) results are out, and the new cohort of young Palestinians prepares the next steps in their path through life. Even though the ratio of unemployed academic graduates is extremely high, most young people and their families dream of a future as medical doctors, engineers, or lawyers.  More . . . .

POEM OF THE DAY

“BREATHING,” BY RAMZY BAROUD 

That distance
all that distance
can be bridged
by a touch

that pain
all that pain
can be breached
knowing you meant
every word even when
you ceased to talk

tomorrow
all tomorrows
can only happen if
I know you are breathing
just breathing
and I am yet to die

I heard nothing for so long
I wondered
are you really you
will you ever come back?

Sitting still I thought
maybe you never existed
poetry was just a cruel joke

and the music
all the music
shed crocodile tears
persistently

Words that were
or are yet to be
belong to a language
any language

I am destined
to dream shadows
on grey walls

From I REMEMBER MY NAME, ed. Vacy Vlanza. Novum Publishing, 2016.

“. . . is it my country or the source of my exile . . .” (Zuhair Abu Shaib)

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SELECTED NEWS OF THE DAY

Israeli army destroys road students in West Bank village use to reach their school

WAFA
August 28, 2019
Israeli army bulldozers destroyed today a road the al-Tira village council had opened a year ago to facilitate movement of students to their school and back as well as movement of residents in general, according to Abdul Jaber Mohammad, head of al-Tira village council located to west of Ramallah. . . .
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ He stressed Israel wants to build a road in that area to connect the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit Horon to the highway that connects Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.    More . . . .

Israel Punishes Gaza with Fuel Cuts

Palestine Chronicle
August 27, 2019
The Israeli government took retaliatory aim at Gaza’s electricity supply Monday ordering fuel shipments into the coastal region to be cut-in-half “until further notice”, over alleged Palestinian rockets attacks against southern Israel on Sunday night.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ Mohammad Thabet, a spokesman for the Gaza power company said:  “We already are in a crisis and now the Israeli decision will make it worse. It will have a grave impact on the lives of 2 million people and on vital services such as hospitals.”   More . . . .

Committee Calls on International Community to Protect Palestinian Civilians

IMEMC-International Middle East Media Center
August 28, 2019
The Legal and International Advocacy Committee of the National Commission for the Return and Siege Breaking Marches strongly condemns the continuation of the Israeli occupation forces targeting the Palestinians participating in the return and siege breaking marches in Gaza Strip.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ The demonstrations have been held for 71 consecutive Fridays, and on August 23, 2019, the Israeli occupation forces, deliberately used excessive and lethal force against demonstrators, injuring 122 civilians, 50 of them with live bullets. These injuries included children, women and 3 badged paramedics and journalists.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ The Committee affirms that the return marches and the popular activities that still maintain a peaceful approach, to which the Israeli occupation forces react with deadly force, demonstrating Israel’s arrogance and contempt for the International Law system of human rights. . . .
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ Therefore, the Legal and International Advocacy Committee calls for the implementation of the recommendations in the report of the international commission of inquiry, which was adopted at the 40th Session of the Human Rights Council. More . . . .

State of the Gaza Strip Border Crossings (01 -31 July 2019)

Palestinian Center for Human Rights
August 27, 2019
During the reporting period (July), the Israeli authorities continued to impose their closure on the Gaza Strip for the 13th consecutive year along with tightened restrictions on the crossings surrounding the Gaza Strip, contrary to the Israeli claims of easing restrictions on the movement of persons and goods.  Further, the Israeli authorities continued to control entry and exit for pedestrians from the Gaza Strip at the Beit Hanoun “Erez” Crossing as they narrowly allow some categorioes such as patients of urgent cases and their companions, who both undergo a very long and complicated process in order to get travel permits and are subject to tightened security measures while traveling through the crossing.  During July, the Israeli authorities at Beit Hanoun “Erez” Crossing obstructed the travel of 661 patients . . . .  More . . . .

POEM OF THE DAY

“NAME OF THE SOIL,” BY ZUHAIR ABU SHAIB

what is its name?
what is the name of the soil
that falls from my withered body?
what is its name as it drifts and gathers
under my clothes
while, slowly, I build wall after wall?

I picture a sky full of clouds
I see it as I wish it to be
when night falls, I gulp my fill of springs
in darkness I lift my latch
to wise men

I ask my guests
who imprisoned the soul in rock?
who left prophets spread-eagled on doorsteps?
who risks everything to capture the earth?
a man who does not know his own shadow

what can I call this rug of soil?
is it my country or the source of my exile?
is it my miracle or my cross?

what is its name?

――Translated by Tom Pow

From A BIRD IS NOT A STONE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY PALESTINIAN POETRY (Glasgow: Freight Books, 2014).
Zuhair Abu Shaib was born in Deir al-Ghusun, a town near the city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank and studied at Yarmouk University. He was a teacher and journalist in Yemen, and a book designer. He was also editor of the journal Awraq.

 

“. . . the stones of your streets grow sad, the towers of mosques downcast . . .” (Nizar Qabbani)

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جواد-2
Previous arrest of Jawad Siam, Wadi Hilweh Information Center, Jerusalem, October 31, 2015 (Photo: silwanic.net)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .
|  DIRECTOR  OF  WADI  HILWEH  INFORMATION  CENTER  RELEASED  ON  CONDITIONS
Israeli forces released Jawad Siam, director of Wadi Hilweh Information Center, on Sunday, after several hours in detention on charges of “organizing a protest in SALAH AL-DIN STREET” in occupied East Jerusalem.    ___The Wadi Hilweh Information Center said that Israeli forces banned Siam from entry to Salah al-Din Street, al-Sultan Suleiman Street, and the Damascus Gate, in addition to a ban on participating in protests in the city . . .     [. . . .] ___Siam organized a protest, during which he was detained, against the extended detention of Palestinian Governor of Jerusalem, Adnan Ghaith.    More . . .
. . . . Related  Soldiers storm W. Bank village, clash with local youths [DEIR ABU MASH’AL]
. . . . Related  Including A Woman And A Journalist, Army Abducts Five Palestinians in RAMALLAH
. . . . Related  Army Abducts Eight Palestinians, Including Two Children, In HEBRON
. . . . Related  Israeli Soldiers Abduct 32 Palestinians In JERUSALEM
|  PCHR  CONDEMNS  EXPLOITATION  OF  ISRAELI  SUPREME  COURT  IN  SERVICE  OF  SETTLEMENT  PROJECTS
The Palestinian Center for Human rights (PCHR) condemns the ongoing exploitation of the Israeli Supreme Court in the service of settlement projects in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) in general and in occupied East Jerusalem in particular and the Court’s issuance of decisions that violate the rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.    ___The latest of these decisions was rejecting the petition filed by dozens of Palestinian civilians living in “Batn al-Hawa” neighborhood in Silwan village, south of the occupied Jerusalem.  Their petition was to request overturning the decision by the Custodian of Absentee Property that orders the resident to evacuate their houses and hand them to “Ateret Cohanim” Settlement Association.    More . . .
. . . . Related  Israel seizes land for expansion near Salfit   ..
.  .  .  .  .  Update   Palestinian land bulldozed to expand Israeli occupation watchtower
. . . . Related  Israeli settlements devouring Qaryut, encroaching on Area B
|  STATE  OF  THE  GAZA  STRIP  BORDER  CROSSINGS  (01  –  31  OCTOBER  2018)  [Palestinian Centre for Human Rights] 
The Israeli closure imposed on the Gaza Strip continues for the 12th consecutive year.  During the reporting period (August), the Israeli authorities intensified the restrictions on the commericial crossings as they . . .  banned the entry of all goods and commodities into the Gaza Strip, except for the humanitarian supplies (including food and medicine).  Moroever, the Israeli authorities decided to totally ban the exportation of all goods from the Gaza Strip. As for the Crossings for the movement of persons, the Israeli authorities continue to impose tightened restrictions on the movement of the Gaza Strip residents through Beit Hanoun “Erez” Crossing, narrowly allowing the travel of limited categories . . .    More . . .
. . . . Related  Only handful of Gaza families allowed to visit jailed relatives

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|  ISRAEL  DOESN’T  SURVIVE  BECAUSE  IT’S  STRONG;  IT  SUCCEEDS  BY  WEAKENING  ITS  ENEMIES
By Mohammad Makram Balawi
The result of the latest round of fighting in the besieged Gaza Strip . . .   proved that Palestinian can damage Israel, as never before. Israeli media provided some statistics in this regard that were unprecedented and, from an Israeli point of view, appalling.    [. . . .] Israel and its backers, principally the US government, have always sought to ensure that it maintains its military hegemony in the Middle East, enabling its troops to inflict death and destruction on others while being safe from serious opposition.    [. . . .]  Israel’s policies have gone more or less to plan for the past 20 years or so. All the major Arab armies have either been neutralised by peace treaties, such as the Egyptians and Jordanians; destroyed like the Iraqi army; or completely bogged down in civil wars, like the armed forces in Syria and Yemen. The rest are either intimidated or sidelined by ongoing normalisation with Arab countries, especially in the Gulf. . . . The simple conclusion to draw from all of this is that Israel does not survive because it is strong; it is where it is because it succeeds in weakening its enemies, no matter the cost.   More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“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.

“. . . the [British] government blamed the unrest on excitable elements within the native population, at odds with its best own interests. . .”

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balfour_declaration-2❶ Palestinians prepare to mark 100 years for Balfour Declaration

  • Background: “Tracing Concrete.” Virginia Quarterly Review 

❷ Israeli air forces shell alleged Hamas military post in northern Gaza Strip
. . . ❷― (a) UNRWA disburses $1.7 million to 242 Gaza families to rebuild war damaged homes
❸ Israeli settlers establish new ‘outpost’ in the Jordan Valley
. . . ❸― (a) Palestinians Security forces freed four Palestinian men after settlement visit
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ PALESTINIANS PREPARE TO MARK 100 YEARS FOR BALFOUR DECLARATION     Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA      
Oct. 24, 2016
Palestinian officials and activists decided Monday to hold year-long activities in Palestine and around the world marking 100 years for the Balfour Declaration.
___The campaign will be launched on November 2, the date marking 100 years since then British foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, had promised in a letter to Zionist leaders a homeland for the Jews in Palestine. The letter triggered the century-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict and many wars in the Middle East.
___“The Balfour Declaration is in its essence a colonialist project,” Taysir Khalid, member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told the meeting held at the PLO’s Ramallah headquarters.      More . . .     

  • Lagerquist, Peter. “Tracing Concrete.” Virginia Quarterly Review 85.3 (2009): 54-71.  Full article . . . 

[. . . .] Long after the spring of 1936, when news of a general strike and unrest in Palestine began to creep into the London headlines, government correspondences would speak interminably of events forever on the brink—of growing disturbances, ambushes on colonial troops, a complete absence of rule of law—yet hesitate to put a name to what was happening. General Bernard Montgomery, who was sent to suppress the “riots” . . .  famously dismissed the main protagonists as “bandits.” Throughout, the government blamed the unrest on excitable elements within the native population, at odds with its best own interests. At home as well as abroad, newspapers absorbed interchangeable tales of rampant criminality, religious fanaticism, and still more nefarious influences. “Italian Propaganda Campaign Renewed—Thought to Blame for Most Trouble,” declared a New York Times headline in 1937, divining a new fascism at work in the East. But while the Axis powers were happy to publicize Britain’s troubles in the region, the Times, not for the last had it wrong.
___In 1917, the British government had published a document known as the Balfour Declaration, which promised the distant land of Palestine as a national home for the Zionist movement. Its adherents, a mélange of European Utopians, ideologues, and refugees from the pale of settlement, had been arriving over the preceding decades—at first establishing plantation-model estates with land acquired from semi-feudal landholders, later buying smaller parcels of land, or appropriating communal village and urban lands with governmental connivance, and, with growing frequency, evicting those peasants who worked it.
___By the end of the 1930s, an estimated 120,000 Palestinians had been made landless.. . .  As the term “revolt” began creeping into press coverage, the government acknowledged that it had lost control of much of the country.
[. . . .] 

❷ ISRAELI AIR FORCES SHELL ALLEGED HAMAS MILITARY POST IN NORTHERN GAZA STRIP  
Ma’an News Agency
Oct. 24, 2016
Israeli air forces shelled a military post allegedly belonging to the Hamas movement in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday morning, according to Israeli army and local Palestinian sources.
___Palestinian security sources and eyewitnesses told Ma’an that at least one Israeli artillery shell hit a military post belonging to what they called the “Palestinian resistance,” east of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, next to the border with Israel.     ___The shelling caused material damages, though no human injuries or casualties were reported.
___An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that early Monday morning, sirens went off in the Shaar Hanegev area of southern Israel — which borders the northeastern Gaza Strip — alerting the residents of the area that a rocket had been fired in their direction.
___No rockets hit Israeli territory . . .        More . . . 

gaza-destruction-400x266
(Image Source: Global Research)

. . . ❷― (A) UNRWA DISBURSES $1.7 MILLION TO 242 GAZA FAMILIES TO REBUILD WAR DAMAGED HOMES  
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA      
Oct. 24, 2016
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said Monday that it was able to disburse over $1.7 million for reconstruction and repair work of Gaza homes damaged from Israel’s last war on the coastal enclave.
___The funds reached a total of 242 refugee families across Gaza, it said in a statement.     ___Over $951,000 will go for homes that need reconstruction and over $759,000 to severe repair works.
___ UNRWA’s assessment confirmed 142,071 Palestine refugee houses as impacted during the 2014 war; 9,117 of them are considered totally destroyed.      More . . .  

❸ ISRAELI SETTLERS ESTABLISH NEW ‘OUTPOST’ IN THE JORDAN VALLEY       Al-Hourriah
Oct. 24, 2016
Israeli settlers are establishing a new outpost in the northern Jordan Valley on privately owned Palestinian land.
___According to the Haaretz report, although Israeli authorities have not authorized its construction, and are aware of its existence, construction is currently continuing unimpeded.
___The outpost is close to another unauthorized outpost, Givat Salit, established in 2001.
___Israeli occupation authorities claimed that a stop-work order had been issued at the outpost. However, a visit by Haaretz showed that the settlers have continued regardless.     More . . .
. . . ❸― (A) PALESTINIANS SECURITY FORCES FREED FOUR PALESTINIAN MEN AFTER SETTLEMENT VISIT    
Al-Hourriah
Oct. 24, 2016
Security forces in the West Bank have released four Palestinian men detained last week after visiting a Jewish settlement during a religious festival, a security official said Monday.
___The men were among about 30 Palestinians who visited the West Bank settlement of Efrat on Wednesday during the annual Jewish festival of Sukkot, Oded Revivi of the Yesha council for settlements.
___Palestinians are forbidden from “normalizing” relations with Israeli settlements in the West Bank.      More . . .   

 

“. . . a certain hope, the hope to live . . .” (Marwan Makhoul)

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highway
Highway 60, bisecting Palestine from Jerusalem, through Beit Jala, to Hebron as seen from Beit Jala (Photo: Harold Knight, November 8, 2015)

❶ Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the oPt (19 – 25 November 2015)
❷ Palestinian killed after injuring 6 Israeli soldiers in car attack
❸ Jews, Arabs march on Israeli checkpoint to demand an end to occupation
❹ Dogs supplied to Israeli military by The Netherlands involved in abuses
❺ Opinion/Analysis: ISRAEL’S  OPEN  SEASON  ON  ‘ARABS’
❻ Poetry by Marwan Makhoul
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ IMEMC-INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER
PCHR  (PALESTINIAN  CENTRE  FOR  HUMAN  RIGHTS)  REPORT  ON  ISRAELI  HUMAN  RIGHTS  VIOLATIONS  IN  THE  OPT (19 – 25  NOVEMBER  2015)
Nov. 28, 2015
Israeli forces have continued to commit crimes, inflicting civilian casualties. They have also continued to use excessive force against Palestinian civilians participating in peaceful protests in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the majority of whom were youngsters. Occupied East Jerusalem witnessed similar attacks. During the reporting period, Israeli forces and settlers killed 8 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children, in the West Bank, while 2 other civilians, including a child, succumbed to their injuries. Moreover, 121 Palestinian civilians, including 29 children, 2 young women and 2 journalists, were wounded. Thirty of whom, including 5 children and a journalist, were wounded in the Gaza Strip and the others were wounded in the West Bank. Concerning the nature of injuries, 100 civilians were hit with live bullets and 21 ones were hit with rubber bullets.
More . . .
Related . . .
❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PALESTINIAN  KILLED  AFTER  INJURING  6  ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  IN  CAR  ATTACK
Nov. 27, 2015
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A Palestinian suspect was shot and killed on Friday after a vehicle attack in Beit Ummar which left six Israeli soldiers injured, Israel’s army and locals said.
___An Israeli army spokesperson said that six Israeli soldiers were injured in a “car ramming” in Beit Ummar north of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, with the Palestinian suspect shot and killed.
___The area was closed off following the attack, Israeli police said.
___Locals identified the victim as Omar Arafat Issa al-Zaaqiq, 19.
___Four soldiers were moderately injured and two suffered light injuries. Israeli media later reported five total injuries, four moderate and one light.
More . . .
❸ +972 MAGAZINE
JEWS,  ARABS  MARCH  ON  ISRAELI  CHECKPOINT  TO  DEMAND  AN  END  TO  OCCUPATION
Haggai Matar
Nov. 28, 2015
Some 300 Israelis and Palestinians marched on the Israeli army’s “tunnels checkpoint” south of Jerusalem Friday to demonstrate against the occupation, against the ongoing violence, and in support of two states.
___The demonstrators gathered on Route 60, the southern West Bank’s main north-south artery that connects Jerusalem, Beit Jala, the Gush Etzion settlements, and Hebron. For an hour, the demonstrators marched north along the side of the road to drums while chanting political slogans. Israeli and Palestinian drivers passing the protest along Route 60 couldn’t miss the long procession. . . .
More . . .

protest-marching
Anti-occupation protesters march along the side of Route 60 in the West Bank, November 27, 2015. (Photo: Mustafa Bader/Activestills.org)

❹ MILITARY COURT WATCH
DOGS  SUPPLIED  TO  ISRAELI  MILITARY  BY  THE  NETHERLANDS  INVOLVED  IN  ABUSES
Oct. 29, 2015 – A recent article published in the Dutch media indicates that the Dutch Government has been approving export licenses for the supply of service dogs to the Israeli military for use in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. This has raised concerns in The Netherlands due to evidence indicating that the service dogs are used to attack Palestinian civilians, including minors, and frequently accompany military units when they conduct intimidating raids on Palestinian homes in the middle of the night.
___The granting of export licenses for service dogs is controversial due to an EU ruling supposed to prevent the issuing of export licenses for the shipment of “strategic goods”, such as pistols and camouflage paint, to Israel.
More . . .
Related . . . ISRAEL  USING  DUTCH  DOGS  TO  TERRORIZE  PALESTINIANS (Nov. 27, 2015)
❺ Opinion/Analysis
PALESTINE CHRONICLE
ISRAEL’S  OPEN  SEASON  ON  ‘ARABS’
Jeremy Salt
Nov. 25, 2015
Sometimes it must be such fun to be an Israeli undercover agent especially if you like amateur theatricals and perhaps thought of an acting career but were not quite good enough and had to settle for something less.
[ . . . . . ]
You find the young man you want, Azzam al Shelaldeh, in hospital for surgery after being shot by a settler, and you pull him out of his bed. You shoot his unarmed cousin Abndullah dead as he comes out of the bathroom. . . . You leave the dead man on the floor of the ward in a pool of his own blood. You don’t care that the CCTV cameras are filming everything. . . . you want people to see that you are capable of doing anything, anywhere and anytime.
More . . .

“HELLO  BEIT  HANOUN,”  BY  MARWAN  MAKHOUL

Hello!
Beit Hanoun?
I heard on the news
that an artisan baker has come
to distribute bread
on the back of fresh artillery,
and I also heard
that one of his loaves feeds
at least twenty children
and is so warm it burns, and solid
like a randomly targeted shell.
They said
the children woke up early that day
not to go to school
but to the local youth club
opposite the town’s playground
that in summer is big enough for two massacres
and a certain hope, the hope to live.
I also heard
that when they were on their way
they made light of their wounds
and poured blood on the corners
till blood took the colour of the streets
and feelings.
When I saw what I saw on the screen
I thought I was dreaming
or the TV was dreaming the impossible made real.
I never imagined, Beit Hanoun,
that you’d mean anything to me
what with all the fun I’m having
like being busy with friends discussing
whether wine in the bottle
ferments or not.
I never knew you’d mean anything to me,
even something small
something small, Beit Hanoun.
Hello . . . ?
Hello . . . ?
Beit Hanoun?
Can you hear me?
I think the phone’s not working
or is perhaps asleep,
it is very late after all.
Never mind, let it go.
I’ve nothing better to do
than catch up with my brothers shading themselves
by the axed trunk of Arab solidarity.
Goodbye, Beit Hanoun.
Goodbye.

THE MASSACRE AT BEIT HANOUN (Nov. 8, 2006)
From Banipal: Magazine  of  Modern  Arab  Literature  45 (Winter 2012). WWW.banipal.co.uk
Marwan Makhoul was born to a Palestinian father and a Lebanese mother in 1979 in the village of Boquai’a in the Upper Galilee region of Palestine. He currently lives in the village of Maalot Tarshiha. Marwan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Al-Mustaqbal College and now works as a civil engineer and is the director of a construction company. His first book of poetry was published in 2007 in both Beirut and Baghdad by Al-Jamal Publishers.

hospital
Israeli forces shot Abdullah al-Shalaldeh multiple times in the process of arresting his cousin Azzam at a Hebron hospital. An elite Israeli military force that operates undercover stormed the al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron and shot dead a 27-year-old Palestinian, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. (Photo: Al Jazeera, Nov. 12, 2015)