Tag: Bethlehem Wall Museum

“. . . We wait for the promise of July And the joyous dance . . .” (Jabra Ibrahim Jabra)

Harold KnightLeave a comment

IMG_3102 - Copy - CopyFrom the  WALL  MUSEUM  in Bethlehem.
(Photo: Harold Knight, November 6, 2015)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .
|  PALESTINIANS  GEARING  UP  FOR  ANTI-OCCUPATION  PROTESTS  AT  GAZA  BORDER 
The Higher National Commission of the March of Return and Breaking the Siege has called on the Palestinian masses to take part in the large-scale protests set to be staged on Friday along Gaza’s borderlands.    ___The Higher Commission said in a statement that the peaceful protests make part of Palestinians’ struggle to liberate their land, lift the siege on Gaza, and thwart the US-drafted deal of the century.    More . . .
. . . . Related  Israel returns fishing boats, tools to Gaza
. . . . Related  Gaza hospitals overwhelmed by wounded in Israeli violence: Report
. . . . Related  Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (22 – 28 November 2018)
|  CHRISTMAS  2018  PREPARATIONS  WELL  UNDERWAY  IN  BETHLEHEM:  “A  FEAST  OF  PEACE,  HOPE  AND  JUSTICE”
Preparations for Christmas 2018 are well underway according to the Press Conference held at the Bethlehem Peace Center today. With the world’s spotlight beaming down this December on the city – the birthplace of Jesus Christ – the municipality of Bethlehem announced that the theme of this Christmas is ‘Being and Existence’.    ___The mayor of Bethlehem, Anton Salman, explained that this Christmas is a time to show the world that the Palestinian people “are rooted in this land, just as the trees are”. The Palestinian people “are one community, regardless of different religions”, the mayor said, squelching any notion that the occupation had spread of the oppression of Palestinian Christians by its Muslim majority.    More . . .
. . . . Related  Bethlehem Prepares to Celebrate Christmas 2018
| ASHRAWI  URGES  EBU  NOT  TO  BROADCAST  EUROVISION  IN  ISRAELI  SETTLEMENTS
Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee Member, Hanan Ashrawi, called upon the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to respect the Palestinian people’s rights by not broadcasting any Eurovision Song Contest events in Israel’s illegal settlements.    ___Ashrawi said, in a statement, that giving Israel the privilege of hosting the 2019 Eurovision amounts to rewarding it for and helping it to conceal its decades-old military occupation and grave violations of Palestinian national and human rights.    [. . . . ] Last week, three Manchester, UK-based pro-Palestine groups called on European artists and performers to Boycott Eurovision 2019 hosted by Israel, while over 140 artists, including musicians, writers, actors, directors, novelists and poets had signed a letter calling for the event’s boycott.    More . . .
. . . . Related  Japan funds project to enhance water quality in West Bank town
. . . . Related  Palestinian Forum in Britain Organizes Largest Palestinian Festival in London
. . . . Related  Alray International Media Watch from Alray Palestinian Media Agency (Nov. 29, 2018)

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
| ZIONISM:  CYCLES  OF  TRAUMA  AND  AGGRESSION  IN  THE  SERVICE  OF  SETTLER  COLONIALISM
By Yoav Litvin
The origins of Zionism are profoundly misunderstood by many. This is not coincidental and can be seen largely as the result of propaganda, which opportunistically and erroneously asserts that Zionism is the natural expression of Judaism.    ___In fact, Zionism gained traction among some Jews only in the late 19th  century in response to antisemitism and romantic European nationalist movements. Zionists syncretized many white supremacist, antisemitic, messianic and fascistic racialized dogmas and were thus overwhelmingly unpopular among most Jews, who viewed the ideals of the enlightenment–emancipation, equality and integration – as their target.    [. . . .] In response to antisemitism, Zionists embraced their fear and contempt of their abusers to produce defensive aggression, reinventing identity in a reactionary attempt to ensure survival and restore  pride. The reward of violence–power-quickly enticed Zionist leaders to morph what began as a defensive strategy into an offensive one that culminated with a settler colonialist vision of a homeland in Palestine at the expense of its Indigenous population, the existing Palestinian people.    More . . .
. . . . Related  Israeli journalist lectures against ‘Zionist racism’ in Prague

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . .

“IN  THE  DESERTS  OF  EXILE,”  BY  JABRA  IBRAHIM  JABRA
Spring after spring,
in the deserts of exile,
What are we doing with our love,
When our eyes are full of frost and dust?

Our Palestine, green land of ours;
Its flowers as if embroidered of women’s gowns;
March adorns its hills
With the jewel-like peony and narcissus;
April bursts open in its plains
With flowers and bride-like blossoms;
May is our rustic song
Which we sing at noon, in the blue shadows,
Among the olive trees in our valleys,
And in the ripeness of the fields we wait for the promise of July
And the joyous dance amidst the harvest.

O land of ours where our childhood passed
Like dreams in the shade of the orange grove,
Among the almond trees in the valleys―
Remember us now wandering
Among the thorns of the desert,
Wandering in rocky mountains;
Remember us now
In the tumult of cities beyond deserts and seas;
Remember us with our eyes full of dust
That never clears in our ceaseless wandering.
They crushed the flowers on the hills around us,
Destroyed the houses over our heads,
Scattered our torn remains
Then unfolded the desert before us,
With valleys writhing in hunger
And blue shadows
Scattered into red thorns
Bent over corpses left as prey for falcon and crow.

Is it from your hills that the angels sang to the shepherds
Of peace on earth and goodwill among men?
Only death laughed when it saw
Among the entrails of beasts
The ribs of men,
And through the guffaw of bullets
It went dancing a joyous dance
On the heads of weeping women.
Our land is an emerald,
But in the deserts of exile,
Spring after spring,
Only the dust hisses in our face.
What then, what are we doing with our love,
When our eyes and our mouth are full of frost and dust?

–From THE  PALESTINIAN  WEDDING:  A  BILINGUAL  ANTHOLOGY  OF  CONTEMPORARY  PALESTINIAN  RESISTANCE  POETRY. Ed. and Trans. A. M. Elmessiri. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2011. Reprint from Three Continents Press, Inc., 1982.  Available from Palestine Online Store.
(“Jabra Ibrahim Jabra’s Baghdad Home Destroyed; The End of an Era?”)

“. . . We stand in Manger Square and mimic the dance-steps of Zorba the Greek . . .” (Samih Mohsen)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
aaIMG_3159 - Copy
Bethlehem Wall. (Photo by Harold Knight. Nov. 6, 2015)

SAM_2122
❶ Banksy hotel opens in Bethlehem, eliciting heated reactions by Palestinians
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) Lonely Planet [TOURIST GUIDEBOOK] erases Israeli occupation of Syrian Golan Heights
❷ The ‘Beautiful Resistance’ of Aida Camp – “People cannot tolerate injustice for eternity”
❸ BACKGROUND ARTICLES

  • “Impossible Intimacies: Towards a Visual Politics of “Touch” at the Israeli-Palestinian Border.” Journal for Cultural Research.
  • “Banksy and the Walled Off Hotel: a personal view.” International Solidarity Movement

❹ POETRY by Samih Mohsen

bansky
Banksy’s art.

❶ BANKSY  HOTEL  OPENS  IN  BETHLEHEM,  ELICITING  HEATED  REACTIONS  BY  PALESTINIANS   
Ma’an News Agency
By Jaclynn Ashly and Reem Alqam
March 11, 2017
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israel’s infamous separation wall in the occupied West Bank, while cutting off Palestinians from their lands and religious sites, isolating communities, and eroding the livelihood of scores of Palestinians along its route, has become an unlikely breeding ground for tourism.
___Adjacent to the graffiti-stained separation wall in the city of Bethlehem, which is surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements, and next door to the Aida refugee camp, elusive UK artist Banksy now welcomes guests to his latest project: the Walled Off Hotel.     _____In a message written in Arabic, English, and Hebrew, a plaque posted at the entrance to the hotel-cum-art museum tells its guests not to “choose sides” in the conflict. In describing the separation barrier, deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice, the statement says: “The wall is a lie. It sells the idea that there is a simple divide between the people here, but there isn’t.”       MORE . . . 

aIMG_3097
Bethlehem Wall Museum. (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 6, 2015.)

. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) LONELY  PLANET  [TOURIST  GUIDEBOOK]  ERASES  ISRAELI  OCCUPATION  OF  SYRIAN  GOLAN HEIGHTS
The Electronic Intifada
The Lonely Planet website highlights sites in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights as “Top experiences in Israel.”      April 26, 2017         Why has Lonely Planet – publisher of the popular travel guidebooks – erased Israel’s occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights?
___Following the 1967 War, 66 percent of the Syrian Golan – a land mass slightly smaller than Greater London – has been militarily occupied by Israel.
___Its mountainous terrain, forests and rivers means that it is an area of stunning natural beauty, home to a variety of wildlife, including a species of wolf found only in the region. As such, it is no surprise that the Golan has attracted vast numbers of Israeli tourists since its occupation.       MORE. . . .

aIMG_3122
Bethlehem Wall Museum. (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 6, 2015)

❷ THE  ‘BEAUTIFUL  RESISTANCE’  OF  AIDA  CAMP –  “PEOPLE  CANNOT  TOLERATE  INJUSTICE  FOR  ETERNITY”
International Solidarity Movement
April 19, 2017
Tucked within the antiquated corridors of the municipality of Bethlehem, there lies Aida Camp, established 1950.  The densely populated cement structures, thinly outlined by narrow passageways, are a living summation of the occupation of Palestine itself.   ___Scraping elbows with the massive checkpoint pathway between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, hedged by the West Bank apartheid separation wall and situated nearby two large illegal Israeli settlement blocs, Aida camp sits on the front lines of the Palestinian struggle to exist in the grim face of an ethnic cleansing.       MORE . . .

aIMG_3099
Bethlehem Wall Museum.(Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 6, 2015)

❸ BACKGROUND ARTICLES

  • Ball, Anna. “IMPOSSIBLE  INTIMACIES:  TOWARDS  A  VISUAL  POLITICS  OF  “TOUCH”  AT  THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN  BORDER.”
    Journal For Cultural Research, vol. 16, no. 2/3, Apr-Jul2012, pp. 175-195.
    For the British media in particular, Banksy’s image appeared to represent a daring transgression of authoritarian boundaries, his physical and artistic touch upon the Wall serving as a form of transnational and experiential empathy. Indeed, there is much that is “touching” about Banksy’s image, which juxtaposes the cold, stark materiality of the Wall with a whimsical portrait of childhood innocence in a way that is both poignant and provocative. And yet, during his trip to what Banksy described as “the ultimate activity holiday destination for graffiti writers”, one encounter shattered this illusion of intimacy. Banksy records how a Palestinian man approached him in order to comment that his work made the Wall look beautiful. “Thank you”, Banksy replied. “We don’t want this wall to be beautiful, we hate it. Go home”, was the man’s curt response. Despite Banksy’s proximity to the Wall, it would seem that something eluded his grasp; not the ability to touch, but the ability to be touched by the border in a way that might engender an empathetic visual intimacy with its spatial experience for the Palestinian subject.    MORE . . . 
  • BANKSY  AND  THE  WALLED  OFF  HOTEL:  A  PERSONAL  VIEW
    International Solidarity Movement
    By al-Khalil team
    March 14, 2017
    Over the last weeks there has been a lot of noise about Banksy (a street artist from the UK, now darling of the art world) and his new hotel in Bethlehem. Initially the vast majority of news articles seemed to glow with praise for this new project.  However I quickly found myself uncomfortable with the language that the project uses in its narrative. And other commentators have also expressed discomfort.  A number of articles have now come out that are somewhat more critical of the enterprise. I decided that to further my own understanding I would talk to some Palestinian activists and then write something myself – so here it is to be shared.
    [. . . .] Banksy’s stated aim is to bring Israelis and Palestinians together in his hotel, but with a few dorm rooms at $30 a night and the next cheapest rooms at $215 up to $965, the only people that the hotel will bring together are the international bourgeoisie, people who are the least affected by the occupation, who maintain their riches in the face of occupation, or even increase them. The global elite do not effect any real change in this world, but rather maintain injustice for their own profit and comfort. So what does he hope to achieve?     MORE . . .

    aIMG_3112
    Bethlehem Wall Museum. (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 6, 2015)

“LAMENTATION,” BY SAMIH MOHSEN

At Manger Square, at midday,
The chairs outside the cafes
Are taken by Western tourists, in September
They sip at their longing for God
The streets teem with passers-by
And foreign languages
We tread on the shadow
Of an old man stretched out on the pavement
With his arm and a tattered shoe for a pillow
His mattress was a story. . .
We pass by his wounds without seeing
Beer tickles our bellies to laughter
And telling inane anecdotes
We try to release the child within us
We stand in Manger Square
And mimic the dance-steps of Zorba the Greek
We step
We laugh
We step into the ring of lamentation.
–translated by Henry King

Samih Mohsen was born in the village of Naqour in Nablus, Palestine (Occupid Territories) in 1953, and has published two collections of poetry, Exiting the Narrow Rooms and Kingdoms & Peril.       From A  BIRD  IS  NOT  A  STONE:  AN  ANTHOLOGY  OF  CONTEMPORARY  PALESTINIAN  POETRY.  Ed. by Henry Bell and Sarah Irving. (Glasgow: Freight Books, 2014) –available from Amazon.com.

aIMG_3089
Bethlehem Wall. (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 6, 2015)

“. . .Make hummus not walls. . .”

Harold Knight1 Comment
Bethlehem 3155
From the Bethlehem Wall Museum. SEE DESCRIPTIONS AT END OF THIS POST.

❶ Palestinian teen shot dead after alleged attack near Tulkarem
❷ Army Kills a Palestinian Teen in Bethlehem
❸ 13-year old Palestinian Boy has Court Appearance; Trial will Begin in January
❹ Five Projects That Are Leading Bethlehem Into a Brighter Future
❺ Opinion/Analysis: RELIGION,  THE  SCAPEGOAT  OF  THE  ISRAEL-PALESTINE  CRISIS
❻ Personal statements by Bethlehem Young People
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `

Faded dreams 3154
Bethlehem Wall Museum (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 6, 2015)

❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PALESTINIAN  TEEN  SHOT  DEAD  AFTER  ALLEGED  ATTACK  NEAR  TULKAREM
Dec. 1, 2015
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — An Israeli military officer shot and killed a 19-year-old Palestinian woman at a checkpoint east of Tulkarem on Tuesday, saying that she had attempted to stab him, Israel’s army said.
___An Israeli army spokesperson said that the officer killed the young woman at a checkpoint near the illegal settlement of Enav east of Tulkarem because she posed an “immediate danger” to him.
___The Israeli officer was not injured during the encounter. A spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent said that one of their emergency teams arrived on the scene shortly afterward. She confirmed that the young woman had no vital signs.
___The team was prevented from taking away her body, which was instead taken away in an Israeli army medical jeep.
More . . .
❷ IMEMC-INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER
ARMY  KILLS  A  PALESTINIAN  TEEN  IN  BETHLEHEM
Dec. 01, 201
The army claims he “attempted to stab a settler”; Israeli soldiers shot and killed, on Tuesday morning, a Palestinian teen, sixteen years of age, near the Gush Etzion settlement block, built on Palestinian lands, south of Bethlehem.
___Palestinian medical sources said the slain teen has been identified as Ma’moun Raed al-Khatib, 16 years of age, from Doha city, in the Bethlehem district.
___According to the Israeli army, al-Khatib “approached a settler with the intention to stab him,” before a soldier shot and injured him.
___The slain Palestinian was left bleeding on the ground, and died of his wounds.
___Israeli sources said the army also accidentally shot and injured one settler in his arm, suffering a mild wound, and that no Israelis were hurt in the reported “stabbing attack.”
More . . .

First Dream 3153
Bethlehem Wall Museum (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 6, 2015)

❸ IMEMC-INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER
13-YEAR  OLD  PALESTINIAN  BOY  HAS  COURT  APPEARANCE;  TRIAL  WILL  BEGIN  IN  JANUARY
Nov. 30, 2015
A 13-year old Palestinian boy accused of stabbing and wounding a 13-year old Israeli boy had a court appearance Thursday. On October 11th, Ahmad Manasra was run over by a car and beaten nearly to death by a group of Israelis, then subjected to brutal interrogation with no lawyer or parent present.
___Ahmad Manasra’s lawyer presented evidence contradicting the Israeli government’s claims that the boy stabbed an Israeli.
[. . . . .]
___A video of Ahmad lying injured and bloody on the ground after being hit by the car was uploaded to social media and went viral. In the footage, a settler onlooker can clearly be heard saying: “Die, you son of a whore! Die!”, while another tells the police officer to shoot the boy until he dies.
More . . .
❹ THIS WEEK IN PALESTINE
FIVE  PROJECTS  THAT  ARE  LEADING  BETHLEHEM  INTO  A  BRIGHTER  FUTURE
Natalie Morcos
Dec. 1, 2015
The municipality of Bethlehem is an institution with a great history, one of the oldest in Palestine. It has conducted projects on various scales over time, starting under the Ottoman Occupation, to the British Mandate, Jordanian Rule, and then the Israeli Occupation. The municipality has been and remains steadfast in its dedication to the development of Bethlehem by aiming to preserve its rich heritage of more than two thousand years and its outstanding historical value as the birthplace of Jesus Christ. Its constant vision toward the city is to raise the level of wellbeing of the citizens through infrastructural, educational, cultural, and environmental interventions. The municipality has an ongoing cycle of projects that aspire to improve different sectors such as the road network, public buildings, historical architecture, and more.
More . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis
THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEMO)
RELIGION,  THE  SCAPEGOAT  OF  THE  ISRAEL-PALESTINE  CRISIS
Megan Hanna
Nov. 30, 2015
The sirens had barely stopped wailing before commentators started exploiting the terror attacks in Paris on 13 November, twisting the horrific event to serve a range of varying political agendas. . . .
___Given his tendency for making tenuous connections between Israel’s plight and disparate foreign events, it’s no surprise that Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was one of the first to climb up on France’s bloodied bandwagon to make hasty links between Paris and present-day Israel. . . .
claiming “the terrorists who attack us have the same murderous intent as those in Paris”, saying that world leaders should condemn the “radical Islam” as effected by Palestinians.
[. . . . ]
___To compare the actions of ISIS with those of dispossessed Palestinians – who are resisting in an anti-colonial struggle against a brutal military occupation – is intentionally deceptive . . . .
More . . . 

Giving up on dreams 3151
Bethlehem Wall Museum (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 6, 2015)

STORIES FROM THE WALL MUSEUM 

All photographs are from the  WALL  MUSEUM  in Bethlehem, a section of the Apartheid Wall on which are posted statements by Palestinians about their personal experiences living under the Occupation. The display is a project  AEI-OPEN  WINDOWS,  an Arab-Palestinian NGO affiliated with Pax Christi International and established in Bethlehem in 1986 by a group of Palestinian educators. These photos are by Harold Knight, Nov. 6, 2015. The title of this post comes from the graffiti on the Wall.

FADED  DREAMS
I just finished my university and I have my degree to become a doctor. But that was not what I wanted to become in life. I wanted to become an artist and inspire people and tell the story of Palestine. But my parents didn’t see any future in that and I was forced to study medicine. Now I have my degree but there’s no work. I have lots of time now because I can’t find work. I decided to pick up my faded dream and work on my art. Finally I’m an artist.
BY  HANNA,  FROM  BETHLEHEM

FIRST  DREAM. . .  AND  THEN  THE  REST
Ruaa always dreamed of a world filled with love and compassion. She loved studying. Her father’s retirement payments got delayed. Her mother was determined to help her to stay in school and started selling fruits and herbs to help Ruaa pay for school. One day, Ruaa was wearing a slightly different uniform, so the principal told her she will be expelled if it happens again. When she arrived home, she saw her parents in the cold collecting plants to sell, and all she could do was cry. Ruaa promised herself to study and repay her parents for all the hardships they have gone through. She attended university and she is about to graduate now. She still dreams of the demise of the occupation, and to live in a beautiful world filled with love and tolerance. Since her first dream came true, she believes the rest can and will.
BY  LEYLA,  A  FRIEND  OF  RUAA,  FROM  AL-KHADER

GIVING  UP  ON  MY  FIRST  DREAMS
I finished last year of high school (tawjih) with a grade of 94 out of 100. At the time I aspired to study law to defend the rights of the Palestinian people, especially women’s rights. However, my parents didn’t let me study law. So, I decided I wanted to study nursing, but again my parents rejected the idea because of the work shifts I would sometimes be required to do, as they do not feel that it is appropriate for a woman to work at night. Finally I got frustrated and I gave up on my dreams. In the end, I studied social education because it is very disciplined, which is fitting for girls as it prepares students to be a teacher, and I like it. I believe I will be a successful teacher.
BY  RANEEN,  FROM  BETHLEHEM

AEI-OPEN WINDOWS Contact information:
info@aeicenter.org – tel-02-2744030

the wall 3134
The Apartheid Wall, Bethlehem (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 6, 2015)

NOVEMBER 29TH: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

Harold KnightLeave a comment
IMG_3126
One of the 100 testimonies from the Bethlehem Wall “Museum” (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 6, 2015)

(About the Bethlehem Wall “Museum”)

❶ NOVEMBER  29TH:  INTERNATIONAL  DAY  OF  SOLIDARITY  WITH  THE  PALESTINIAN  PEOPLE
❷ Israeli settlers storm Palestinian activist center in Hebron
❸ Palestinian man shot dead after alleged attack in East Jerusalem
❹ Scenes from the funeral of Khalid Mahmoud al-Jawabreh, 19
❺ Opinion/Analysis: NOBODY  IS  COMING  TO  END  THE  OCCUPATION
❻ Poetry by Ibrahim Nasrallah
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ NOVEMBER  29TH:  INTERNATIONAL  DAY  OF  SOLIDARITY  WITH  THE  PALESTINIAN  PEOPLE
PALESTINE NEWS NETWORK
Nov. 29, 2015
Today is the annual International day of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
___Thirty years after the UN partition plan of Palestine, the General Assembly passed a new resolution proclaiming an annual observation, on November 29th, to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
___According to the United Nations (UN), this date “was chosen because of its meaning and significance to the Palestinian people… Of the two States to be created under this resolution, only one, Israel, has so far come into being.”
More . . .
Related . . . IS  INTERNATIONAL  PALESTINE  SOLIDARITY  JUST  A  SYMBOLIC  GESTURE? (La nueva Televisión del Sur)
Related . . . U.N. Proclamation
Related . . . From the Electronic Intifada
Related . . . From the Huffington Post

Apartheid wall Bethlehem
The Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek (facing) of Sabeel, the Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in East Jerusalem, with Dr. Robert Ashmore, Professor Emeritus, Marquette University, at the Wall “Museum” in Bethlehem (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 6, 2015)

❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  SETTLERS  STORM  PALESTINIAN  ACTIVIST  CENTER  IN  HEBRON
Nov. 28, 2015
HEBRON ― Dozens of Israeli settlers stormed the headquarters of the Youth Against Settlements activist group in central Hebron on Saturday and demanded its closure.
___Issa Amro, the head of the activist group, told Ma’an the settlers were led by the notorious settler Baruch Marzel into the building, which is known as Beit Sumoud, meaning house of steadfastness.
___Amro said the settlers had placed tables and chairs in the center’s garden, and were demanding that soldiers prevent any of the Youth Against Settlements staff and volunteers from approaching it.
___The building lies in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of central Hebron, and borders one of the city’s illegal Israeli settlements.
More . . .
Related . . . ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  PALESTINIAN  FAMILY  IN  THEIR  HOME  FOR  26  HOURS  &  WREAK  HAVOC  ON  YAS  CENTER (November 9, 2015)
Related . . . ANNOUNCING  7TH  ANNUAL  OPEN  SHUHADA  ST  CAMPAIGN  (22-28/02/2016)
❸ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PALESTINIAN  MAN  SHOT  DEAD  AFTER  ALLEGED  ATTACK  IN  EAST  JERUSALEM
Nov. 29, 2015
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man on Sunday after the man allegedly stabbed and injured an Israeli police officer near the Damascus gate in occupied East Jerusalem, an Israeli police spokesperson said.
___Micky Rosenfeld said the alleged attacker was a 38-year-old Palestinian from the Nablus district of the northern occupied West Bank, while local sources identified the man as Baseem Abdul-Rahman Mustafa Salah.
___The Israeli police officer who was injured during the attack is reportedly in light to moderate condition,
More . . .
❹ MONDOWEISS
SCENES  FROM  THE  FUNERAL  OF  KHALID  MAHMOUD  AL-JAWABREH,  19
Anne Paq
Nov. 28, 2015
More . . .

Lifta - depopulated Palestinian Village
The Palestinian Village of Lifta, one of the few remaining villages depopulated during the Nakba, 1948. Jerusalem. (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 5, 2015)

❺ Opinion/Analysis
+972 MAGAZINE
NOBODY  IS  COMING  TO  END  THE  OCCUPATION
Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man
Nov. 29, 2015
In meetings between top-ranking Israeli and American officials over the past few weeks, the United States reportedly demanded that Benjamin Netanyahu outline steps he is willing to take to ensure the window for a two-state solution doesn’t slam shut. Netanyahu’s answer has more or less been: nothing.
___Asked to make goodwill or humanitarian gestures to the Palestinians to keep a two-state vision alive, Netanyahu reportedly conditioned any step on the United States endorsing Israel’s “right” to build settlements in the occupied West Bank. “Umm, no,” Washington replied for a plethora of obvious reasons.
More . . .

“SURVIVORS,”  BY  IBRAHIM  NASRALLAH

They were here for a year at our doorstep,
sleepless with their brown flesh-and-blood complexions,
knocking against our ribs to make us see them.
At the end of the night they depart.
They circle around the city seven times
like the revolving sun,
like a reverberating echo.
They kill the silence with their flutes
and light and birds hover around them
as they swim in the shadows
of tall wheat spikes and white stags.
As night falls the wind shakes the streets
and the darkness breathes out crazed spears among trees
jostling toward the window and balconies.
We heard the hooves of their horses,
so we hid in the corners,
under beds, between ribs.
We hid like a storm among branches.
Their olives will eventually grow tired. . . . we said:
It might snow . . .
soldiers might come by this evening and immediately kill them,
or like a sun’s fading wish they might grow tired
and kill themselves.
Night falls once more . . . the wind blows.
We hold our breath and retreat.
Boundless fear binds our hands . . . and our beating hearts.
The most recent among us said . . . Let us all rise up and ask them:
You who have been sleepless at our doorstep for a year and two nights:
What do you want?
Storms of corpses rushed to the corners.
The smell of death rose from the roofs of mirrors,
from the colors of the eyes.
Let us all rise . . . the most recent among us said.
And when we reached the door, they shouted at us:
But . . . O dead ones . . . don’t open the door!

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

Shufat Refugee Camp, Jerusalem
Houses in the Shufat Palestinian Refugee Camp in Jerusalem: one of the places the descendants of Palestinians who left villages such as Lifta still live. (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 5, 2015)