Tag: Donald Trump

“I heard the conqueror on the high roof under the naked sky. . .” Reja-e Busailah

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NEWS FROM PALESTINE

Release of long-delayed UN settlement database significant step towards holding Israel accountable 

Feb. 12, 2020 / Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)
Palestinian civil society welcomes this long-awaited UN list of companies that are complicit in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise, which constitutes a war crime under international law. We thank all human rights organizations that worked tirelessly for the release of such an important instrument of transparency and accountability. Upholding international law is the one appropriate response to attempts by authoritarian and far-right regimes, led by the Trump White House and Israel’s extremist government, to undermine human rights and the rule of law and enforce domination by the most powerful instead.  More . . .

  • Israel freezes ties with UN rights chief after release of settlement blacklist 
    FM Israel Katz says he ordered ‘exceptional and harsh measure’ in retaliation for Commissioner Michelle Bachelet’s office promoting the anti-Israel boycott movement.  More . . . 

Trump Administration Nixes Funding for Palestinian Security Forces From 2021 Budget Plan

Feb 11, 2020/ Haaretz
The Trump administration excluded funding for the Palestinian Security Services in its budget request for the 2021 fiscal year, after 27 years of bipartisan support and Israeli backing.
However, the budget request does include $200 million for a “Diplomatic Progress Fund” that could be used to support the administration’s Mideast plan, unveiled two weeks ago. According to the State Department, some of that money could go toward an “agreement to resume security assistance in the West Bank.” But such an agreement would likely require the Palestinian Authority to accept the Trump plan.  More . . . 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION/ ACTION NOTICES

In Palestinian culture, the olive tree enjoys an almost sacred status

Feb. 9, 2020 / Al-Bushra, by Barbara Green  
Last year I wrote a Peace Parsha for Tu B’Shevat in which I asked: When did we go from being a people who plant trees to a people who cut them down?

I didn’t mean ordinary every-day Jews who go about their business without thinking much about trees. Or ordinary Jewish Israelis who have a long tradition of planting and caring for trees. The Torah commands us to refrain from picking fruit from trees until they are three years old. When we go to war against another people, we are commanded to leave fruit-bearing trees intact to ensure a source of food.  No, I’m talking about Israeli Jewish settlers in the West Bank — the occupied territories.  More . . .

POEM OF THE DAY

ALI OF LYDDA, by Reja-e Busailah

Before the conqueror shot him dead
from the top of our roof,
Ali had on his head,
as he walked homeward in the morning sun,
a tray made of straw, of circles,
none vicious though:
Each circle flowed into the next
from small to large to larger rounds:

The first bore the transformation
of the dream of wheat, its ears still close to the ground,
into loaves of exciting breath;
the second of a humble communion
of young and old breaking bread into lasting bond
under the sanctity of one roof;
the third of modest hopes
which rose and tossed like one vast field shedding green
in the wind and the ripening sun;
the fourth of a dream beyond,
half formed, half grasped —

After he shot Ali dead,
and the tray fell in manner undignified
and the bread tumbled and scattered on hot, hard stone
in shapes of heads rolling about a sanctuary,
I heard the conqueror on the high roof
under the naked sky,
I heard him snort,
I heard him clear his throat,
I heard him spit on the ground,
I heard him piss
through the eye of light.

In his ninety-first year, Reja-e Busailah looks back on growing up in a small Palestinian town in the 1930s until the turbulent upheaval of 1948, when over 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes by the Israelis, and the author was forced to join the Death March from Lydda. Although blind since infancy, Busailah recalls with stunning detail a boyhood shaped by disability, education, family and friends, British soldiers and Zionist settlers. Poems of a Palestinian Boyhood is an extraordinary book: unapologetic, unflinching, raw and beautiful.

“Palestinian― The name pursues me, lives with me . . .” (Harun Hashim Rashid)

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Selected News of the Day

Israel confiscates 100 dunums of land south of Nablus

WAFA
September 8, 2019
Israeli authorities issued today a military order to size about 100 dunums of Palestinian-owned lands in Qaryut and Jaloud, two villages located south of Nablus in the West Bank, local sources said.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official who monitors settlement activities, told WAFA that Israeli authorities decided to seize 100 dunums of land in Qaryut and Jaloud villages in order to expand the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Shilo.  More . . . .

Israel Warplanes Bomb Different Areas In Gaza Strip

Days of Palestine
September 8, 2019
Israeli warplanes attacked this night several targets throughout the Gaza Strip causing damage but no injuries, according to DOP correspondent.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙He said the targets included open areas east of Gaza City as well as Resistance posts in the central Gaza Strip.  More . . . .   

Opinion

Palestinians see Greenblatt resignation as sign of failure for US Mideast vision

Al-Monitor – Palestine Pulse
Daoud Kuttab

September 7, 2019

As pundits try to mull over the meaning of the upcoming resignation of US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Middle East peace, Jason Greenblatt, most Palestinians are celebrating his exit, calling it proof of the failure of Trump’s policy. Others argue the US plans will not be deterred by the resignation.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi told Al-Monitor Greenblatt was a “failure, ill-equipped for the post, showed blind support for Israel, indulged in bashing Palestinians and lacked understanding of the realities of the region.” Ashrawi said Greenblatt simply “had no chance to succeed.”  More . . . .

Poem of the Day

“PALESTINIAN,”  BY  HARUN  HASHIM  RASHID

Palestinian,
Palestinian is my name.
In a clear script,
On all battlefields
I have inscribed my name,
Eclipsing all other titles.
The letters of my name cling to me,
Live with me, nourish me,
Fill my soul with fire
And pulse through my veins.
Palestinian,
Such is my name, I know
It torments and grieves me,
Their eyes hunt me,
Pursue me, wound me.
For my name is Palestinian.
And as they pleased
They have made me wander.

I have lived all my life
Without traits and features
As they pleased,
They gave me names and titles.
Jails with their gates flung wide
Summon me
And in all the airports of the world
Are found my names and titles―
The lying wind carries me,
Disperses me.
Palestinian―
The name pursues me, lives with me.
Palestinian is my fate,
Clinging to me, reviving me.
Palestinian I am
Though they betray me and my cause
Palestinian I am
Though they sell me in the market
For what they please,
For thousands of millions;
Palestinian I am,
Though to the gallows they drive me;
Palestinian I am,
Though to the walls they bind me.
Palestinian I am,
Palestinian I am,
Though to the flames they cast me.
I―what am I?
Without my name, Palestinian,
Without a homeland to live for,
To protect and be protected by?
I―what am I?
Answer me, answer me.

From AN  ANTHOLOGY  OF  MODERN  ARABIC  POETRY. Selected, Edited, and Translated by Mounah A. Khouri and Hamid Algar. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1974.

“. . . complete this journey To the hour of a country . . .” (Mahmoud Darwish)

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83c899f294e3b1630787bca116670012
From VISUALIZING PALESTINE (see commentary below)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .
|    EUROPEAN  PARLIAMENT  REJECTS  RESOLUTION  TO  MONITOR  ‘INCITEMENT’  IN  PALESTINIAN  EDUCATION
The Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said, on Wednesday, that the Israeli diplomacy has received another defeat in the European Union after the European Parliament rejected a draft resolution on Palestinian education to monitor Palestinian textbooks to remove “incitement against Israel.”    ___The rejected draft was submitted by a group from the Christian Democratic Party that called on the European Commission and the United Nations to monitor Palestinian textbooks and introduce necessary amendments to remove “incitement against Israel and dissemination of a culture of hate against Jews.”    More . . .
. . . . Related  A  New  School  Year…  A  Renewed  Will
|    HUMANITARIAN  AID  TO  PALESTINIANS  ‘AT  AN  ALL-TIME  LOW,’  UN  WARNS
Funding for humanitarian activities in the occupied Palestinian territories is “at an all-time low,” according to a UN agency responsible for humanitarian affairs in the West Bank and Gaza.    ___According to a report published this month by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as of a few weeks ago only $159 million of a requested $539.7 million had been secured for the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), the strategy and funding appeal meant to address the needs of the humanitarian community in the occupied territories.    ___The lack of funding has had a devastating impact on non-governmental organizations in the Gaza Strip. A policy paper published last year by the Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO), a coordination group aiming to strengthen Palestinian civil society, shows that funding for NGOS in the besieged enclave was halved in 2016, compared to the previous year.    More . . .
|    KUSHNER  DEMANDS  HIGHER  LEVELS  OF  BETRAYAL  FROM  THE  PA
After the US unilaterally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, withdrew all funding from the United Nations Relief and Works Organisation for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and closed the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Mission in Washington, Senior Advisor Son-in-Law to the US President Jared Kushner had the audacity to announce that a “reasonable” Palestinian leadership would agree to negotiate with Israel on US President Donald Trump’s purported peace plan.    ___So far, the only detail associated with President Trump’s plan is that “both sides would need to make concessions”. However, this rhetoric doesn’t even pass for an illusion of equity. Adding Kushner’s expectations of “reasonable leadership” to the equation, at a time when the current Palestinian leadership has been stripped of its political viability – despite its acquiescence to the US and Israel – makes it clear that the imbalance of compromise, as always, will be to the detriment of the Palestinian people.    More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|    ONE  WEEK  IN  PALESTINE:  EXISTENCE  AS  A  FORM  OF  RESISTANCE
Laura Vale
My journey begins in a stuffy, dust-coated taxi-sheerut alongside a young American family scrapping together phrases of Hebrew and a few local Israelis loudly bickering with the driver. As I block them from my mind and stare silently out the window, I am struck by the great white hills of settlements, large ghost towns cascading down the desert slopes. . . . We soon reach the infamous walled highway and my fellow travellers continue their journey as if nothing is abnormal about this scene. Driving through the West Bank on Israeli roads inaccessible to the Palestinian population, Palestine is simply erased from view and mind.    More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .
|     VISUALIZING  PALESTINE
Visualizing Palestine creates data-driven tools to advance a factual, rights-based narrative of the Palestinian-Israeli issue. Our researchers, designers, technologists, and communications specialists work in partnership with civil society actors to amplify their impact and promote justice and equality.   Become a member . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“WE  TRAVEL  LIKE  OTHER  PEOPLE,”  BY  MAHMOUD  DARWISH

We travel like other people, but we return to nowhere. As if travelling
Is the way of the clouds. We have buried our loved ones in the
darkness of the clouds, between the roots of the trees.
And we said to our wives: go on giving birth to people like us
for hundreds of years so we can complete this journey
To the hour of a country, to a metre of the impossible.
We travel in the carriages of the psalms, sleep in the tent of the
prophets and come out of the speech of the gypsies.
We measure space with a hoopee’s beak or sing to while away the
distance and cleanse the light of the moon.
Your path is long so dream of seven women to bear this long path
On your shoulders. Shake for them palm trees so as to know their
names and who’ll be the mother of the boy of Galilee.
We have a country of words. Speak speak so I can put my road on the
stone of a stone.
We have a country of words. Speak speak so we may know the end of
this travel.

From: Adonis; Mahmud Darwish; and Samih al-Qasim. VICTIMS  OF  A  MAP:  A  BILINGUAL  ANTHOLOGY  OF  ARABIC  POETRY. Trans. Abdullah al-Udhari. London: Saqi Books. 2008.

 

“. . . He renovates a memory demolished like a wall . . .” (Ibrahim Nasrallah)

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WEb-wo24-israel-demolition
Khan al Ahmar Village with illegal Israeli settlement Kfar Adummim in background. (Photo: Reuters, in The National, Sept. 23, 2018)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

|   AL-MALKI  ON  CLOSURE  OF  US  CONSULATE:  US  HAS  ADOPTED  THE  AGENDA  OF  FAR-RIGHT  ISRAELI  SETTLER  MOVEMENT 
Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad al-Malki strongly condemned on Thursday the recent US’ decision to close the US consulate in East Jerusalem, which mainly serves Palestinians, and merge it with the US embassy in the city.    ___“Closing of the US Consulate General in Jerusalem, which has operated independently since in 1844, and turning it into a unit in the illegally placed American Embassy in Jerusalem reflects the US administration’s determination to entrench its illegal embassy move and force its functions on the Palestinian side,” he said in a press release.    ___Al-Malki stressed that decision clearly “proves that the US administration has adopted the agenda of the far-right Israeli settler movement, treating the entire area of historic Palestine as one political unit under Israeli control.”    More . . .
|   UNRWA  DISMISSES  ISRAELI  THREATS  OF  CLOSING  ITS  JERUSALEM  OPERATIONS
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) dismissed on Thursday threats by the Israeli mayor of West Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, to close down its operations in occupied Jerusalem.    ___Barkat submitted to a parliamentary committee a plan to end UNRWA operations in Jerusalem and to turn over its services in health and education to his municipality.    ___UNRWA spokesman Sami Mshasha told WAFA that while these threats are worrying, they will not change facts on the ground since UNRWA exists based on international resolutions and binding bilateral agreements.    ___UNRWA was created in December 1949 by a United Nations resolution. . .    More . . .
|   122  DAYS  OF  DEMOLITION  THREATS,  ISRAEL  SEALS  OFF  KHAN  AL-AHMAR    Israeli forces assaulted protesters inside the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem in the central occupied West Bank, on Friday.   ___Israeli soldiers fired tear-gas bombs and pepper-sprayed Palestinian and international protesters and activists as they attempted to protest at the main road leading to the village, preventing them from doing so.   [. . . .] Large numbers of Israeli forces surrounded Khan al-Ahmar and sealed off its main entrance, declaring it a closed military zone.   [. . . .] The seal off came as an attempt to prevent hundreds of protesters and journalists from reaching Khan al-Ahmar to show solidarity with the residents of the village after 122 days of being under threat of demolition. . .  as part of an Israeli plan to expand the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Kfar Adummim.  More. . .
. . . . Related   Theresa  May  Condemns  Israel’s  Planned  Demolition  of  Khan  Al-Ahmar  (VIDEO)
. . . . Related   Israel  demolishes  7  structures  in  Jordan  Valley

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

|  THE  UN  ‘SHERIFF’:  NIKKI  HALEY  ELEVATED  ISRAEL,  DAMAGED  US  STANDING
Ramzy Baroud
US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, has made her post a “more glamorous” position than her predecessors – as President Donald Trump [said] following her resignation announcement.    ___. . . we certainly know that, during her relatively brief stint, Haley has further diminished her country’s struggling reputation, entrenching US isolation in the world’s most vital international political body.    ___In her own words, Haley concluded that her mission at the UN was accomplished, commending herself on three achievements: the US has become more respected; it saved a lot of money and vigorously defended Israel against UN ‘bias.’   [. . . .] Nothing could be further from the truth and Haley, who is suspected of engineering a run for the White House in the future, has no evidence to back up her claim of new-found ‘strength’ and ‘respect’.   ___During his speech before the General Assembly on September 25, Trump’s outrageous claims were not met with thundering applause but humiliating laughter. So much for respect.    More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .

Eyewitness  Palestine  PALESTINE  2.0  DELEGATION  WINTER  2019  For  Returning  Delegates  and  Previous  Travelers
___Co-sponsored by the Hebron Freedom Fund, this delegation is meant for alumni of previous Eyewitness Palestine delegations, as well as other delegation programs.   ___Delve deeper into the issues and spend more time with specific Palestinian communities. Explore the current realities for Palestinians, including the repression of Palestinian strategic organizing, the separation and segregation of the Palestinian population, and creative ways communities are continuing to resist.   More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“RENOVATION,”  BY  IBRAHIM  NASRALLAH

He renovates a tin window
to open it for the morning birds.
And renovates some stars that have burned out
in the streets, and a woman massacred in the neighborhood.
He renovates a memory demolished like a wall,
a bird’s scattered ashes,
light reflected off a blade in the dark,
a woman lost in a spacious bed
and a bellow.
He renovates a friend’s face as the sea breaks over it
and the singer who no longer resembles his songs,
the wind when it sleeps forgetting the immensity of an orbit,
the taste of words in conversation,
the taste of air and fruit
and two legs that have never carried a planet
while destruction prevails.
He renovates a womb, subdues horses
and poems that beg for livelihood in the shade
before slipping into a chicken coop or blowing by
like a steaming train.
He renovates pillars, neighs,
guns covered with moss from waiting.
He renovates a promise, roots, clouds,
and in the end he is slain alone like a lighthouse.

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

“. . . In the rubble I rummage for light and new poetry . . .” (Mahmoud Darwish)

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Art-8bisCanaanite teacher from a school at the archaeological site Tell Balata
near Nablus asks for his salary in a letter dated to around 1400 BC
(Photo, This Week In Palestine, October 2018)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

|  EMBRACING  THE  RIGHT  TO  EDUCATION:  A  STORY  OF  HOPE,  DETERMINATION,  AND  SUCCESS
It all started 25 years ago when Mr. Heikki Kokkala, a senior education specialist from Finland, and the late Mr. Khalil Mahshi, then director general of external relations at the Ministry of Education in Palestine, met at a UNESCO conference on education.   . . .  work had already started on developing the first-ever unified national curriculum which would replace the Jordanian and Egyptian curricula used in the West Bank and Gaza, respectively.    [. . . .] the Finnish government was looking for ways to support the newly established Palestinian Authority and decided to direct its support to the education sector.   ___Thus, Mr. Kokkala and Mr. Mahshi, with their many colleagues, began to design the first cooperation project between Finland and Palestine.   More . . .
|  SPREAD  THE  WORD:  PALESTINE  HAS  ONE  OF  THE  WORLD’S  HIGHEST  LITERACY  RATES
Palestine ranks among countries with the world’s highest literacy rates, with only 3.3 percent of Palestinians aged 15 and over in the West Bank and Gaza Strip unable to read, according to a Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics report released on [September 6, 2018].    ___The report . . .  shows that the illiteracy rate in Palestine has fallen by 10 percent over the past decade. This leaves Palestine with one of the lowest rates of illiteracy in the world . . .     [. . . .] The figures come despite the difficulties faced by thousands of Palestinian students to reach their schools in the West Bank, including having to cross Israeli military checkpoints or the separation wall that disconnects their hometowns from where they attend school.   More . . .

Dar al-Kalima 2017 graduation. Photo by Ben Gray / ELCJHL
Dar al-Kalima 2017 graduation. (Photo by Ben Gray / ELCJHL)

|  ISRAEL  TO  REMOVE  UNRWA  TO  ‘END  LIE  OF  PALESTINIAN  REFUGEE  PROBLEM’
Israeli mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, announced on Thursday that he plans to remove the United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees from occupied East Jerusalem, which he accused of “operating illegally and promoting incitement against Israel.”  ___Following the announcement on Thursday, the Jerusalem Municipality confirmed that UN schools, which serve about 1,800 students enrolled, would be closed .   ___[. . . .] He claimed that these schools, clinics and sports centers were “illegal” and “operate without an Israeli license.”  . . . the decision . . . was triggered after the United States administration decided to end all funding to UNRWA.   More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

|  ANCIENT  SCHOOLS  IN  PALESTINE
Early forms of writing emerged gradually from pictorial representations of nature and human activities, [. . .  including] early alphabets (such as the Proto-Canaanite script, Phoenician consonantal alphabet and Greek alphabet that also indicated vowels). The invention of writing necessitated the obvious need to learn it, and human history consequently witnessed the advent of a new profession: teaching. Palestine and Mesopotamia were among the early showplaces of this emerging skill . . .   ___Early sources include . . . a Canaanite teacher from a school at the archeological site Tell Balata near Nablus asks for his salary in a letter dated to around 1400 BC . . .     More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .

|  JERUSALEM:  WHAT  MAKES  FOR  PEACE?  Bright Stars of Bethlehem
Conference in Houston, Texas, on October 11.    Part of the week-long Room for Hope festival.
|  DAR  AL-KALIMA  UNIVERSITY.  BRIGHT  STARS  OF  BETHLEHEM  GROWS  HOPE  AND  HELPS  BUILD  A  FUTURE  FOR  COLLEGE  STUDENTS  IN  PALESTINE. 
In a country with limited natural resources, Palestine’s human resources are its most valuable capital. Dar Al-Kalima University, through a comprehensive system of human resource development that reflects Palestine’s emerging needs, equips its students with vital skills for the 21st century job market. Bright Stars of Bethlehem envisions that most of the country’s future artists, musicians, actors, journalists, IT professionals, film-makers and the leaders of tomorrow are alumni of the University.    More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . .

“THE  ROSES  AND  THE  DICTIONARY,”  BY  MAHMOUD  DARWISH

Be that as it may,
I must . . .
The poet must have a new toast
And new anthems.
Traversing a tunnel of incense
And pepper and ancient summer,
I carry the key to legends and ruined monuments of slaves.
I see history an old man
Tossing dice and gathering the stars.

Be that as it may,
I must refuse death
Even though my legends die.
In the rubble I rummage for light and new poetry.
Did you realize before today, my love,
That a letter in the dictionary is dull?
How do they live, all these words?
How do they grow? How do they spread?
We still water them with the tears of memories
And metaphors and sugar.

Be that as it may,
I must reject roses that spring
From a dictionary or a diwan.
Roses grow on the arms of a peasant, on the fists of a laborer,
Roses grow over the wounds of a warrior,
And on the face of a rock.

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.

“. . . I have sworn. . . I will not accept you occupied . . .” (Yusuf Hamdan)

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Fully armed with automatic weapons these Israeli young men are allowed to walk
local streets near Palestinian homes where local children play in the street.
(Photo: Christian Peacemaker Teams, Oct. 1, 2018)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

| ISRAELI  SETTLERS  SEIZE  HISTORICAL  BUILDING  IN  JERUSALEM
Israeli settlers took over a historical Palestinian building in the Aqbat Darwish neighborhood of Jerusalem’s Old City, in the central occupied West Bank, early Thursday morning.    ___. . . residents of the neighborhood were shocked by Israeli settler seizing the building in the early morning hours of Thursday.    ___Israeli settlers reportedly moved into the building, belonging to the Judeh family; the building was used as a clinic.    ___On Wednesday, Israeli settlement group Elad had taken over a Palestinian-owned property in the Silwan neighborhood of the city.  ___There are an upwards of 300,000 Israeli settlers residing in East Jerusalem, with at least 500 living in Silwan among a population of 45,000 Palestinians.   More . . .
| IN  PHOTOS:  KHAN  AL-AHMAR  PREPARES  FOR  DEMOLITION  AFTER  DECADE-LONG  BATTLE  TO  REMAIN
A tiny Palestinian Bedouin town located in the West Bank hills outside of Jerusalem is bracing for an impending eviction to make way for plans to expand an Israeli settlement. The case reached its endpoint on Monday when the deadline ordered by Israel’s high court expired on the community of Khan al-Ahmar to vacate and demolish their own homes and an elementary school.    More . . .

KA-918-7-768x513cPhotographer Thomas Dallal documented demolition preparations in Khan al-Ahmar throughout the month of September. (Photo: Mondoweiss, October 2, 2018)

| ISRAELI  FORCES  KILL  15-YEAR-OLD  PALESTINIAN,  INJURE  DOZENS  IN  GAZA
A 15-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed, while dozens of others were injured, on Wednesday evening, after Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinian protesters near the Erez crossing (Beit Hanoun) between Israel and the northern besieged Gaza Strip.    ___. . .  15-year-old Ahmad Samir Abu Habel was shot in the head by Israeli forces as he participated in protests near the Erez crossing in northern Gaza.   ___Medical sources confirmed that 24 Palestinians were shot and injured by Israeli forces . . .      More . . .
| AS  OLIVE  HARVEST  SEASON  BEGINS  IN  WEST  BANK,  ISRAELI  SETTLERS  STEAL  PALESTINIAN  CROPS
As Palestinians embark on picking their olives, considered one of the main income-generating seasons for thousands of Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler were seen on Thursday stealing their olive crops.    ___According to Yehya Qadoos, head of Burin village council, settlers sneaked to land belonging to farmers in the village and stole their olive crops.   More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

| PALESTINE  UNDER  OCCUPATION:  ONE  VILLAGE’S  RESISTANCE:  VIDEO  . . .
| US,  IN  ITS  BLIND  SUPPORT  FOR  ISRAEL,  DISPLAYS  DISDAIN  OF  INTERNATIONAL  LAW,  SAYS  FOREIGN  MINISTRY
The US Administration’s announcement of its intention to withdraw from the Additional Protocol to the Vienna Convention reaffirms the administration’s disdain towards international law and the rules-based international order, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.    ___“This administration is willfully disrupting and undermining the international order because of its blind support to Israel’s illegal colonial policies, thus advancing this hostile agenda at the expense of global cooperation . . .”     ___The Ministry said that “the State of Palestine has exercised its right to defend itself through legal means by resorting to the International Court of Justice on the issue of the illegal US embassy move to our capital, Jerusalem. This step was based on the compulsory jurisdiction of Court, as stipulated in Article I of the Additional Protocol.”    More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“TO  JERUSALEM,”  BY  YUSUF  HAMDAN
You came to me, chained,
Carried forcibly.
You came
Flowing, like the tears of a wounded heart.
And yet, I will not meet you.
Forgive me,
For today, you are occupied!

Have you indeed come to me?
In my passion, I prayed often
Without a “Rock,”
And when I found no water,
I simulated the ritual ablution;
And when you finally came to me, I vowed:
I will not accept you occupied!

I want you to be a Kaaba for the people of the earth,
A spacious house,
Without guards;
I love you . . . a voice from a minaret,
The sound of horns
Mingled with church bells.
I love you, a jasmine in the open air,
But I have sworn, yes I have,
I will not accept you occupied!

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. 
___Yusuf Hamdan was born in 1942 in the Triangle area of Palestine. He lived in Haifa in the early ‘60s and taught in a nearby Arabic school. He published his poems in al-Jadid, al-Ittihad, and al-Ghad, and lost his teaching position because of his poetry. In 1970 he left Israel for the US, where he presently lives and works.

“. . . A thousand eyes for an eye? . . .” (Lahab Assef Al-Jundi)

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img0567_cropped_778_518
Children of Bedouin community of Khan al Ahmar. (Photo: Medical Aid for Palestinians, March 3, 2017.)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

|  UNRWA  RECEIVES  $118  MILLION  IN  AID  FOR  PALESTINE  REFUGEES
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) has received $118 million from a number of countries to help in upholding its essential services.    ___UNRWA’s spokesman Sami Mashasha said a meeting, which was held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in support of the UNRWA, under the sponsorship of Turkey, Japan, Sweden, Jordan and the European Union, culminated in pledges for allocating further essential funding to the UNRWA.   More . . .
Related . . .    EU proposes additional €40 million for UNRWA to keep schools and health clinics open
|  ABBAS  UNANIMOUSLY  NAMED  CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  GROUP  OF  77  AND  CHINA
The Group of 77 and China meeting in New York on Thursday . . .  unanimously named Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as chairman, replacing Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the current chairman.   ___The representatives of 134 countries, representing 80% of the world’s population, named the State of Palestine as chairman of the Group of 77 and China during the 42nd meeting of the group’s foreign ministers . . .   ___The State of Palestine, while presiding over the group of 134 countries, will . . .  negotiate with the other partners and member states of the organization on all the developmental, humanitarian and legal issues on the agenda of the United Nations 2019.  More . . .
|  ISRAEL  SEALS  OFF,  DECLARES  KHAN  AL-AHMAR  CLOSED  MILITARY  ZONE   Israeli forces declared the Khan al-Ahmar village, east of occupied Jerusalem in the central West bank, on Friday, a closed military zone.   ___A Ma’an reporter said that Israeli forces closed all roads leading to Khan al-Ahmar, preventing Palestinians and journalists from entering the village.   ___Israeli forces closed the iron gate at the entrance of the village, early Friday morning.   More . . .
Related . . . EU Exerts Effort to Halt Demolition of Khan Al-Ahmar
Related . . . Despite Israeli restrictions, Palestinians perform prayer in Khan al-Ahmar
|  ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  SAVAGELY  ASSAULT  [DISABLED]  JERUSALEMITE
He was not protected by his injury nor his crutch. The young Jerusalemite Amir Abu Laban, 28 years old, was hospitalized in the Hadassah Ein Karem hospital in Jerusalem, after he was cruelly beaten by Israeli soldiers at the King Hussein Bridge crossing at the Jordanian-Palestinian border a few days ago.   [. . . .] The crime of the young Abu Laban was that he said to the occupation soldiers that he has special needs, and that he cannot be examined through X-rays which has a negative impact on his health, due to the existence of platinum in his body because of his disability, yet the soldiers violently assaulted him.   More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

|  ISRAEL’S  STRANGLEHOLD  ON  AREA  C:  DEVELOPMENT  AS  RESISTANCE
Ahmad El-Atrash
Israel’s efforts to tighten its grip on the West Bank have been unprecedented since the current Israeli cabinet formed in 2015. . . . Five decades of Israeli occupation – particularly since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993 – have allowed Israel to continue its colonization of Palestinian land while rendering Palestinian development truncated, distorted, and even mythological.    [. . . .]  Israel has developed [Area C] in particular for its own purposes, namely through the construction of settlements and military infrastructure.   ___In the face of Israel’s policy of expansion in the West Bank, Palestinians view their own development as a means of resistance.    More . . .
|  WHAT  NETANYAHU’S  IDEA  OF  PEACE  LOOKS  LIKE 
Haggai Matar
U.S. President Donald Trump said that he favors two states as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, during a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York on Wednesday.   ___ In response to Trump’s comments, which signaled a change from his previous stance, according to which he would back whichever solution Israelis and Palestinians support, Netanyahu told “. . . . I am willing for the Palestinians to have the authority to rule themselves without the capability to harm us.” Israel, said Netanyahu, will not “relinquish security control west of the Jordan.”   More. . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .

KinderUSA:  DR.  MADS  GILBERT:  A  RETURN  VISIT  TO  GAZA,  October 21, 2018 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm. Angelika Film Center, Plano, Texas. Information and REGISTRATION.

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . .

“COLLATERAL  SAVAGE,”  BY  LAHAB  ASSEF  AL-JUNDI
Survivors of The Holocaust please
Talk to me. Help me understand―
Do you sanction what’s being done
In your names?

I thought your spirits
grew more gentle
having lived through the unspeakable.

Bombs are not less lethal or evil―
Stop being so deathly afraid of the other.

A thousand eyes for an eye?
Children of the Holocaust
please do not lash out
as if you lost your sight.

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.

“. . . An old nakba is waiting for a cast of falcons . . .” (Muhammad Fanatil al-Hajaya)

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Bedouin children, Desert Southeast of Jerusalem. Photo: Harold Knight, November 9, 2015

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

RABBIS  FOR  HUMAN  RIGHTS  CELEBRATE  SUKKOT  AT  KHAN  AL-AHMAR   
Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR) announced on that they have set up sukkah’s, which are temporary tents constructed for use during the week-long Jewish holiday of Sukkot, in the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem.   ___RHR decided to set up sukkah’s at the Bedouin village to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, to show solidarity with the residents and as a protest against Israel’s planned demolition of the village.   ___RHR said, in a statement, “We will express solidarity with our Bedouin brothers and we will live as they do for a little bit. We will remember that our forefathers lived as free human beings for 40 years in the Sinai Desert.”    More . . .
Related . . . Qatar  reiterates  condemnation  of  Israeli  decision  to  demolish  Al-Khan  Al-Ahmar  village

EGYPTIAN  PRESIDENT:  ‘TRUMP  MADE  UNIQUE  CHANGES  WORLDWIDE’
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi met with the United States President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly meeting in the US, on Monday.   During the meeting, the US President described al-Sisi as “a great friend.”   [. . . .] For his part, al-Sisi said that this meeting “speaks volumes of the magnitude of the relationship between Egypt and the US,” adding that during Trump’s term, the relationship “has led to even more support.”    More . . .
Related . . .   Erdoğan  vows  to  safeguard  Jerusalem  against  Israeli  invaders

KING  ABDULLAH  II:  ‘UNRWA  MUST  CONTINUE  DESPITE  US  CUTS’ 
Jordanian King Abdullah II told the United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, on Monday that the Jordanian Kingdom believes a two-state solution is the only path to peace and that the international community must continue to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).    ___The two had scheduled a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York . . .      ___Abdullah II reaffirmed his position regarding that the future State of Palestine must have East Jerusalem as its capital and that the only path to peace is through a two-state solution.   More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

PALESTINE:  THE  TESTBED  FOR  TRUMP’S  PLAN  TO  TEAR  UP  THE  RULES-BASED  INTERNATIONAL  ORDER
Jonathan Cook
Washington’s decision to intensify swinging aid cuts to the Palestinians . . .  reveals more than a simple determination to strong-arm the Palestinian leadership to the negotiating table.    ___Under cover of a supposed peace effort . . .  the Trump administration . . .   wants finally to shake off the burden of international humanitarian law, and the potential for war crimes trials . . .  ___The Palestinians . . . are the most troublesome legacy of a post-war, rules-based international order that the US is now committed to sweeping away. Amputate the Palestinian cause, an injustice festering for more than seven decades, and America’s hand will be freer elsewhere.    [. . . .] The Israeli bulldozers sent to KHAN AL AHMAR will also launch an assault on Europe and its resolve to defend international law and the Palestinians. When push comes to shove, will Europe’s nerve hold?    More . . .

THE  TRUMP  ADMINISTRATION  IS  TRYING  TO  REDUCE  THE  NUMBER  OF  PALESTINIAN  REFUGEES,  HERE’S  WHY  IT  WON’T  WORK
Susan Akram
The Trump administration’s decision last month to cut $360 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is a purely political decision that has no relevance to the definition of Palestinians as “refugees”, nor to their legal rights. Although highly significant since the U.S. makes the largest single donation to UNRWA of any country, the claim that defunding UNRWA will somehow terminate the Palestinian refugee problem and lead to peace is absurd.     ___UNRWA has nothing to do with defining or perpetuating “refugee status.” The definition and status of Palestinian refugees is determined by the UN General Assembly . . .     More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“THE  WEST’S  CRAFTY  MEN,”  BY  MUHAMMAD  FANATIL  AL-HAJAYA

The West’s crafty men laid a trap, and Putin fell in
They messed with his mind the way Spaniards mess with bulls

Putin went to save a man who slaughtered half his people
And the chaos is helping out the Balfour Declaration

The Persians are playing the same game:
Divvying up the land and the work and the roles

A conspiracy against the Arabs, so hard for us to bear
A dish of politics cooked up by one thousands specialists

For them we’re just a plate of food, their greed for which has increased
With our divided opinions and broken power

The Arabs’ Baghdad? A Zoroastrian hyena-wolf is tearing it to pieces
The Levant? Now a rabid bear’s slice of the pie

Lebanon? Nasrallah and Hezbollah are mangling it
Yemen? Contracted out to the Houthis

Every form of evil has been sowed in the Arabs’ lands
Sectarian strife has increased, and blood is being spilled in vain

Jerusalem? Our younger generations haven’t even heard of it
An old nakba is waiting for a cast of falcons

A world of injustice, convinced we Arabs have no rights
For that world, injustice is a principle, a way, a constitution

Oh Security Council, you’re also just a game
And I hereby witness that you’re a council of injustice and oppression

—Translated by William Tamplin

“. . . Can a people be born on the guillotine? . . .” (Mahmoud Darwish)

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SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

ISRAEL  TO  SEIZE  PALESTINIAN  LANDS  FOR  SETTLEMENT  EXPANSION      The Israeli Civil Administration announced an expansion plan of the illegal Israeli settlement of Tina Omarim in the town of Dahriyeh, in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron.    ___A Palestinian research center, Land Research Center, released a report on Monday showing that the Israeli Civil Administration have published a detailed plan that would change the classification of the Palestinian-owned land from agricultural into urban, in order to justify expanding the illegal Israeli settlement.   ___The report said that the plan would lead to the seizure of 260 dunums (64 acres) of Palestinian-owned land in the al-Thahriyeh town.   More . . .

IMF  DRAWS  BLEAK  PICTURE  OF  PALESTINIAN  ECONOMY,  SUGGESTS  WAYS  OUT   The International Monetary Fund (IMF) drew a bleak picture of the Palestinian economy as longstanding constraints continue to act as a brake to growth and suggested ways out from this impediment.   ___It said in a report on the West Bank and Gaza economy that will be submitted to the next ad hoc liaison committee meeting that several factors have contributed to worsening economic situation in the Palestinian territories.   ___The IMF cited the worsening situation in Gaza aggravated by a long Israeli blockade, division, violence and other factors have deemed the outlook “increasingly untenable.”    More . . .

EXCESSIVE  FORCE  REASON  FOR  DEATH  OF  DETAINEE,  SAYS  RIGHTS  GROUP    The Ramallah-based Addameer  human  rights  organization  said on Tuesday that excessive use of force by Israeli soldiers during the arrest of a Palestinian youth was the cause for his death.   ___Mohammad Zaghloul Rimawi, 24, died hours after he was detained by Israeli soldiers during an early morning raid at his home in Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah.   ___Addameer said . . . an Israeli army force raided the village at around 4 in the morning on Tuesday. . .  The soldiers assaulted Mohammad’s mother then forced all the family (the father, mother and three of their children) into a corner of the house while they took Mohammad to another room in the middle of the house where he was severely beaten . . .  After that the soldiers dragged him and took him to an unknown location. Two hours later, the family was informed by the Palestinian District Office that its son has died.   More . . .
Related . . .  ISRAELI  OCCUPATION  FORCES  ARRESTS  ADDAMEER’S  LEGAL  UNIT  COORDINATOR  AYMAN  NASSER
Related . . .  IOF  LAUNCHES  LARGE-SCALE  ARREST  CAMPAIGN  IN  WEST  BANK
Related . . .  ISRAELI  POLICE  ASSAULT  PALESTINIANS  AT  AL-AQSA  MOSQUE  AS  JEWISH  FANATICS  INTENSIFY  PROVOCATIONS

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

TRUMP’S  DECISION  TO  CLOSE  THE  PLO  EMBASSY  SAYS  MORE  ABOUT  THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  US  THAN  THE  FUTURE  OF  PALESTINE
Trump’s decision to revoke the presence of the PLO Embassy in Washington says a lot more about the future of the US order than about the future of Palestine.   ___US willingness to parley with the PLO was based on the PLO’s participation in a bi-partisan charade: the peace process. . .  The peace process was the name given to the game of geopolitical management the US used to maintain its relationships with client states in Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. . . The US secured arms markets, purchases of its treasuries, sowing of anti-Shia sectarianism, and socio-political containment . . .  of the largest Arab working class, the Egyptians, in exchange for supporting local elites.  [. . . .] Trump  has  ripped  the  veils  off  US  government  strategy. This portends little for Palestine, since the Democratic Party – Lobby or no Lobby – will disintegrate into a thousand fragments before it will push for even a whisper of justice for Palestinians. There is no hope there. However, larger shifts in turn speak to a larger question: where does Palestine and the struggles to which Palestine is increasingly linked fit into a long-term strategy for those of us who wish for a relatively more equal and just world – a world with room for many worlds?   More . . .
DECODING  THE  PIPES/TRUMP/KUSHNER  ‘DEAL  OF  THE  CENTURY”
Richard Falk
You didn’t have to be a ‘never Trump’ loyalist to have qualms about proposing to bring peace to Palestinians and Jews by creating conditions that would produce ‘The Deal of the Century.’ And let’s be fair, if the game of nations is now played according to the rules of Madison Avenue, the phrase was a winner despite being a loser if evaluated from a problem-solving perspective. Even in the present degraded political atmosphere, to bet on an advertising slogan as a substitute for healing ideas may be a good formula for ensuring a large audience for a reality TV episode, but it is a cruel evasion when it comes to addressing the daily ordeal of the Palestinian people consigned to the victimization associated with living under the Israeli apartheid state.    More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .

RESEARCHING  THE  AMERICAN-ISRAELI  ALLIANCE  (RAIA)   RAIA is a research initiative launched in 2017 dedicated to exposing the connections between American and Israeli state violence. Our work is grounded in the conviction that the ongoing dispossession and oppression of the Palestinian people undermines the possibility of a viable homeland for both Palestinians and Israelis.  Website . . .   Donate . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“WE  ARE  ENTITLED  TO  LOVE  AUTUMN,”  BY  MAHMOUD  DARWISH

We are entitled to love the end of this autumn and ask:
Is there room for another autumn in the field to rest our bodies like coal?
An autumn lowering its leaves like gold. I wish we were fig leaves
…I wish we were an abandoned plant
To witness the change of seasons. I wish we didn’t say goodbye
…to the south of the eye so as to ask what
Our fathers had asked when they flew on the tip of the spear. Poetry
…and God’s name will be merciful to us.
We are entitled to dry the nights of lovely women, and talk
…about what
Shortens the night for two strangers waiting for the north to reach the
…compass.
An autumn. Indeed we are entitled to smell the scent of this autumn,
…to ask the night for a dream.
Does a dream fall sick like the dreamers? An autumn, an autumn.
Can a people be born on the guillotine?
We are entitled to die the way we want to die. Let the land hide in an
…ear of wheat.

– – – From VICTIMS  OF  A  MAP:  A  Bilingual  Anthology  of  Arabic  Poetry.
Trans. by Abdullah al-Udhari. London: Saqi Books, 1984 & 2005.

“. . . [US owes] six East Jerusalem hospitals . . . USD 80 million making the situation of the hospitals unsustainable. . .” (Lutheran World Federation)

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Slain 16-year-old Palestinian Ahmad Misbah Abu Toyour (C) (Photo by Palestine al-Yawm news agency)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

US  CUTS  FUNDING  TO  EAST  JERUSALEM  HOSPITALS
The Lutheran World Federation regrets the decision by the US administration . . .   to cut its funding for the six East Jerusalem Hospitals. According to a budget approved by the US Congress, the hospitals in East Jerusalem, including the Lutheran World Federation’s Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH), were budgeted to receive USD 25 million in funding during financial year 2017 to cover costs for patients referred by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Today’s news reports come following a policy review by the US administration that resulted in several funding cuts affecting people in the West Bank and Gaza.    ___Overall, AVH is owed over USD 38 million while the total owed to the six East Jerusalem hospitals, including AVH, is over USD 80 million making the situation of the hospitals unsustainable.   More . . .
Related . . .  HOSPITALS  IN  GAZA  TO  SHUT  DOWN  DUE  TO  POWER  SHORTAGE

TRUMP  TO  CLOSE  PLO  OFFICE  IN  WASHINGTON
The United States Donald Trump administration is expected to announce on Monday that it will close the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office in Washington.   ___According to reports, this decision is part of a widening U.S. pressure campaign on Palestinian officials amid stalled Middle East peace prospects and that the US National Security Advisor, John Bolton, is expected to announce the decision in several hours.   ___Bolton is also expected to threaten to impose severe sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) if it attempts to investigate or consider any war crime charges against Israel raised by the Palestinians.   More . . .
Related . . . PLO  OFFICIALS:  ‘PALESTINIANS  WILL  NOT  SURRENDER’

IN  VIDEO  –  ISRAEL  INTENTIONALLY  KILLS  16-YEAR-OLD  PALESTINIAN
A video documented the method of how Israeli forces targeted and killed 16-year-old Palestinian, Ahmad Misbah Abu Tyour, while he was participating in “The Great March of Return” protests in the besieged Gaza Strip.    ___The video showed the Palestinian teen, while maintaining his distance, throwing rocks towards the border with Israel as a form of protest to the nearly 12-year Israeli siege of Gaza.    ___Ahmad’s rock-throwing posed no threat to the heavily armed Israeli forces. . . ___Ahmad succumbed to his wounds on Saturday morning.   More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

PALESTINIANS: US CUTS WILL HAVE DIRE EFFECT ON HEALTH CARE
Washington Post
The director of an east Jerusalem hospital said Sunday that a U.S. decision to cut funding to hospitals serving the Palestinians will have a “severe effect.”   ___Bassem Abu Libdeh, of the Makassed Hospital, said the U.S. covers 40 percent of costs in six east Jerusalem hospitals that provide care for Palestinians from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.   ___The Trump administration announced the $25 million funding cut on Saturday, saying it would redirect the money toward “high-priority projects elsewhere.”   More . . .
Related . . .  JERUSALEM  HOSPITAL  CALLS  US  AID  CUT  ‘UNJUSITIFED’

ASHRAWI:  CLOSING  PLO  OFFICE  IN  WASHINGTON  AN  IRRESPONSIBLE  MOVE
Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said on Monday that the US closing the General Delegation of the PLO office in Washington DC is an irresponsible move.   ___”It is ironic that the US is punishing the PLO, the national representative of the Palestinian people and the highest political body that made the commitment to reaching a political and legal settlement of the Palestinian question and that has engaged in negotiations with successive US administrations for decades,” she said in a statement.   ___“It is also extremely cruel and spiteful to persist in deliberately bashing the Palestinian people by denying them of their rights, giving away their lands and rightful capital of Jerusalem, and defunding UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) and Palestinian institutions, including East Jerusalem hospitals.”    More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .  

LUTHERAN  WORLD  FEDERATION   Augusta Victoria Hospital   GET INVOLVED . .
MAKASSED  ISLAMIC  CHARITABLE  SOCIETY  HOSPITAL  DONATE . . .

POEM FOR THE DAY. . . .

THAT SLAP IN THE FACE, BY SHUKRI ABU-BAKR **

This is for you, Ahed

Like a Free Palestine Spirit, your home is hospitable and warm, but has no fireplace for a cold killer.

Your fingernails sun-kissed, your palms soft as a whisper; but you did it, girl; you slapped a lethal weapon right in the face.

Your lips breathless over a million unheard cries… So rouse the world. Make it listen. Make it rise. Stand face-to-face and slap it right in the face.

Your green eyes, what do they see or so desire; but a white dawn to descend upon a nation’s dream set on fire.

So, girl, strip the arsonist of his undue grace…and yes, princess, with your bare hands slap him right in the face.

You’re noble from head to toe, daughter of the mountains, so bring your oppressor down on his armored knees.. and slap him hard. Slap him right in the face.

Slap him every time his psycho boots step into your peace of mind.

Slap him every time his tanks roll over your tender foot-marks. Slap him every time his smoke out-smells the wild sage in your yard. And slap him, daughter of the land…

Slap him for every time he stole dirt from your great grandfather’s grave. Slap him for every time he left an olive tree butchered in your neighbor’s grove. Slap him for every time he demanded respect for his loaded gun.

Slap him for your cousin… for all the young bones punctuated with bullets. And your highness, with your wrists besieged in cuffs as cruel as my own, slap him; not once, not twice, but thrice, for every time he thought that at the sight of coming invaders, Red-headed Palestine would simply run away.

** Shukri Abu Bakr is a Palestinian humanitarian from Dallas, Texas, serving a 65 year prison sentence in the United States following the controversial Holy Land Foundation trial