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 . . . .
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.
(The United Nations World Humanitarian Day was August 19. It is never too late to participate. See “Notices from Organizations” below.)
SELECTED NEWS OF THE DAY. . . .
EU, UK CONDEMN ISRAEL’S APPROVAL OF NEW SETTLEMENT UNITS
The European Union (EU) condemned the Israeli government’s approval of constructing some 1,000 new settlements units in the occupied West Bank. ___The EU said in a statement, issued late Thursday, that “within the past two weeks the Israeli authorities have advanced plans and tenders for over two thousand settlement units in the West Bank including East Jerusalem. If implemented, these plans would further jeopardize the prospect of a contiguous and viable future Palestinian state.” ___The EU stressed that it strongly opposes Israel’s settlement policy, saying that the policy is illegal under international law and an obstacle to peace. More. . . ASHRAWI: ‘ISRAEL SEEKS NOT ONLY TO DEFY BUT TO DEFEAT THE WHOLE WORLD’
Member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee Hanan Ashrawi strongly condemned, on Thursday, “Israel’s expansion of illegal settlement enterprise on stolen Palestinian land.” ___In her statement, Ashrawi said that “in response to media inquiries concerning the approval by Israel’s Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration to construct 2,000 illegal settlement units in the occupied West Bank, as well as the authorization of the Jerusalem ‘Municipality’ and the Israel Land Administration to build 20,000 settlement units in occupied Jerusalem.” ___”In a blatant disregard for and violation of international law and conventions, as well as United Nations Security Council resolutions and the basic requirements of stability and peace, Israel persists in its illegal policies and oppressive measures in favor of its extremist settler population and colonial project.” More. . . See also: Erekat: “Israel’s Illegal Expansion Of Colonies, Direct Outcome of American Greed.” HAMAS PURSUES TRUCE WITH ISRAEL, BUT NOT ALL FACTIONS APPROVE Flare-ups earlier this month between the Israeli army and Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip seemed likely to escalate into an expanded war were it not for the Egypt-brokered cease-fire in place. Instead, Hamas and Israel are close to reaching a genuine truce that could last for years. . . ___A real truce, however, will require the PLO’s blessing and the participation of various factions besides Hamas. . . . ___ Egypt and the UN are trying to mediate a long-term agreement between Israel and Hamas. The quest started July 26 with Nickolay Mladenov, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, visiting first the Gaza Strip to meet with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and then Israel, where he met with Israeli officials. More. . .
COMMENTARY AND OPINION. . . .
ISRAEL CONTINUES TO MISTREAT RELATIVES OF THOUSANDS OF PALESTINIANS HELD ILLEGALLY IN ITS TERRITORY According to figures from the Israel Prison Service (IPS), on 30 June 2018 Israel was holding some 5,300 Palestinian residents of the West Bank as security detainees or prisoners in incarceration facilities. With the exception of Ofer Prison, all the facilities used to hold Palestinians are located inside Israel. ___Residents of the West Bank who wish to visit their loved ones have to overcome bureaucratic hurdles in order to secure permission from the relevant authorities – the Civil Administration, the IPS and the Israel Security Agency (ISA). After permission is received, the visits themselves entail a long day of traveling due to countless inspections and protracted delays. More. . .
JERUSALEM IN MAPS from THE APPLIED RESEARCH INSTITUTE – JERUSALEM (ARIJ).Presents a series of maps showing the changing boundaries of the Occupation in Jerusalem from 1948 to the present. More. . .
PALESTINIAN DANCER FROM BELGIUM JAILED BY ISRAEL
There is growing concern in Belgium for a Palestinian refugee and dancer who was detained by Israeli authorities as he tried to enter the occupied West Bank from Jordan a month ago. ___Mustapha Awad, who was born in Ein al-Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon, has been granted refugee status and citizenship in Belgium. . . . ___According to Samidoun, Awad appeared in court on 16 August, and was then returned to an Israeli interrogation center. ___“My client was arrested at a frontier post for belonging to a terrorist organization, something he firmly denies,” Awad’s Belgian lawyer told media last Friday. ___The 36-year-old Awad is the co-founder of Raj’een, a Palestinian folk dance group. More. . .
NOTICES FROM ORGANIZATIONS. . . .
THE PALESTINIAN CAUSE ON WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAYAugust 19, 2018 There are almost no limits to the pleasure of giving, and there is a great deal of satisfaction to be gained when it is related to taking happiness into the hearts of others. This is, without doubt, one of the benefits of involvement in charitable and humanitarian work. . . . ___ The Palestinian cause remains one of the most prominent and important of contemporary issues. . . . ___ The Palestinian cause in general and the siege of Gaza, in particular, are gaining the support of free people around the world, but more must be done. . . . ___Humanitarian work, therefore, is an essential component of the struggle for Palestinian rights; for justice; and for peace. More. . .
“POEM TO JERUSALEM,” BY HARUN HASHIM RASHEED For the sake of a city that’s imprisoned,
for its Dome and Aqsa Mosque,
for the annihilated sanctuary
where Muhammad’s feet once stood,
for all this city has endured,
and for all it has preserved,
for Mary and Jesus,
for all the beings she has known,
for my city’s sake,
raped and abused,
on its wounded brow
God’s words are effaced.
I call on all our dead
and all our living
with verses from the Bible
if only they could hear
with verses from the Quran
in the name of God
calling the young among them and the very old
calling them from my depths
to every brave fighter
I tell them the struggle is for Jerusalem
I call on them to resolve and have faith
tell them how Jerusalem’s sanctity is wounded
I call upon them all to help Jerusalem
She cannot wait any longer,
she overflows with grief.
From the Atlantic to the Arabian Gulf
I call upon you in the name of God
with the purity of anger I beseech you
for the city with the humiliated eyes
I call you in your name,
I call my Arab people.
―translated by Sharif Elmusa and Naomi Shihab Nye
❶ Netanyahu threatens Hamas with “greater force”
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) US envoy to Israel: PA is reason there’s no peace
Background: “Religious, Hateful, and Racist Speech in Israel.” Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies.
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) How the Israeli Right succeeds at making itself the victim
❷ Israeli army declares Nabi Saleh, home to Tamimi family, closed military zone
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) Civilians arrested, access roads closed by IOF throughout West Bank
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴃ) Life-saving treatment to be halted at Gaza hospitals over fuel dearth
❸ POETRY by Harun Hashim Rashid
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ❶ NETANYAHU THREATENS HAMAS WITH “GREATER FORCE” Palestine News Network – PNN
Jan. 14, 2018 ― Israeli Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu on Sunday threatened to use “even greater force if necessary,” after Israeli strike on a Gaza tunnel on the Palestinian Rafah, Gaza-Sinai border.
___“There are those who have said the IDF just targeted sand dunes — this is incorrect,” Netanyahu said in remarks to Israeli media before departing on his trip to India. “Hamas must understand that we will not permit these attacks and we will respond with even greater force.”
___Hours later, the Israel army confirmed reports that the target of the strike was a Hamas tunnel . . . . MORE . . . . . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) US ENVOY TO ISRAEL: PA IS REASON THERE’S NO PEACE Palestine News Network – PNN
Jan. 14, 2018 ― US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman slammed the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the wake of shooting that killed Jewish rabbi settler in occupied West Bank city of Nablus . . . .
___On Twitter, Friedman accused the PA of spending the financial aid it receives from donors on “killers” of Israelis and basing the amount of financial reward they receive on the amount of damage they cause to Israelis.
___His comments came after an Israeli settler was shot and killed on Tuesday evening in the Nablus region of the occupied West Bank.
___The diplomat went on to justify America’s threats to cut financial aid to the PA and UNRWA which supports Palestinian refugees. MORE . . .
Cohen-Almagor, Raphael. “RELIGIOUS, HATEFUL, AND RACIST SPEECH IN ISRAEL.”
SHOFAR: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF JEWISH STUDIES, vol. 31, no. 2, Winter2013, pp. 95-117.
[. . . .] This essay is largely concerned with Israel’s policy on hate speech and racial expressions as they have come into expression by religious authorities . . . Those expressions have stemmed from the ideologically motivated religious authorities against two groups of people: those who aimed to give away parts of Israel’s territory, and Palestinian Arabs. . . .
[. . . .] In 2008, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu called on the government to carry out “state-sanctioned revenge” against Arabs in order to, in his words, “restore Israel’s deterrence”. . . Rabbi Eliyahu wrote: “It’s time to call the child by its name: Revenge, revenge, revenge. We mustn’t forget. We have to take horrible revenge for the Arab terrorist attack on Mercaz Harav Yeshiva,” referring to the incident in which eight students were killed in June 2008. “I’m not talking about individual people in particular, I’m talking about the state,” Eliyahu wrote. Israel has “to pain them to the point where they scream ‘Enough,’ to the point where they fall flat on their face and scream ‘help.’ Not for the sake of satisfying the need for revenge but for the purposes of deterrence.”
___In the newsletter that was distributed to synagogues around the country, Eliyahu proposed “hanging the children of the terrorist who carried out the attack in the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva from a tree.” The rabbi said: “We’ll stay here. We need to live with those who understand very well the language of revenge.”SOURCE . . .
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) HOW THE ISRAELI RIGHT SUCCEEDS AT MAKING ITSELF THE VICTIM +972 Magazine
By Almog Behar
We are in the historical stage of the ideological Right, in which every single detail, which would have previously embarrassed the right wing, now only strengthens it.
___ The most recent example of this phenomenon is that of Ateret Cohanim, the settler organization that used prostitutes, front organizations, and threats of murder to buy Palestinian properties in East Jerusalem. The ideological Right . . . view the organization’s deeds as a mitzvah on the way to taking control of more land. Ateret Cohanim’s cleverness evokes wonderment rather than criticism . . . As Yair Netanyahu, son of the prime minister, recently wrote on his personal Facebook page, the real danger is the Left, including groups such as Black Lives Matter and the BDS movement, rather than the extreme right that believes in white supremacy or neo-Nazism. MORE . . . ❷ ISRAELI ARMY DECLARES NABI SALEH, HOME TO TAMIMI FAMILY, CLOSED MILITARY ZONE Ma’an News Agency
Jan. 13, 2018 ― The Israeli army declared the central occupied West Bank village of Nabi Saleh — home to imprisoned teenage activist Ahed al-Tamimi — a closed military zone on Saturday, closing off all entrances and exits.
___Official Palestinian Authority (PA)-owned Wafa news agency reported that that Israeli forces set up barriers on the main road that leads to Nabi Saleh and prevented Palestinians, including journalists, from entering the village. MORE . . . . . . . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) CIVILIANS ARRESTED, ACCESS ROADS CLOSED BY IOF THROUGHOUT WEST BANK The Palestinian Information Center
Jan. 14, 2018 ― Several Palestinians were kidnapped by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in abduction sweeps rocking the West Bank at predawn Sunday.
___The Israeli army claimed responsibility for the abduction of 15 Palestinians on allegations of involvement in anti-occupation activities.
___The IOF wreaked havoc on civilian homes and aggressively beat several arrestees in the presence of their family members.
___Reporting from the northern West Bank, a PIC reporter said the occupation forces kidnapped 26-year-old Islam Samar from Jenin’s western town of Yamon after they ravaged his family home.
___The IOF also seized surveillance cameras from a Palestinian home in Mesliya town, in Jenin. MORE . . . . . . . . ❷ ― (ᴃ) LIFE-SAVING TREATMENT TO BE HALTED AT GAZA HOSPITALS OVER FUEL DEARTH The Palestinian Information Center
Jan. 14, 2018 ― The Palestinian healthcare system in the besieged Gaza Strip is facing an alarming crisis due to the shortage of fuel supplies for generators that provide power for hospitals, a spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza has warned.
___Health Ministry spokesman, Ashraf al-Qidrah, said the ministry has enacted a “Plan B” which involves the redistribution of resources to more critically needed health assets.
___Al-Qidrah also warned of the possibility of delayed or canceled surgeries and inter-hospital transfers if no urgent action is taken on the part of the concerned authorities. MORE . . .
“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.
Harun Hashim Rashid AN ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN ARABIC POETRY. Selected, Edited, and Translated by Mounah A. Khouri and Hamid Algar. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1974. Available from Amazon.
❶ Deputy Premier tells US Consul General the administration’s moves on Jerusalem unacceptable
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) Egypt’s FM discusses with Tillerson complications of US moves on Jerusalem
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) Erekat: US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel capital will create serious international chaos
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴄ) PA calls for Arab, Islamic stance on Jerusalem
BACKGROUND: Occupied East Jerusalem: a continuous colonial scheme.” Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture.
❷ Israel arrests 3 lawyers, including head of legal unit at Detainees Affairs Commission
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) Israel releases 5 Palestinian fishermen after hours of detention
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴃ) Palestinian seriously injured in clashes with Israeli forces near Nablus
❸POETRY by Harun Hashim Rasheed
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ❶ DEPUTY PREMIER TELLS US CONSUL GENERAL THE ADMINISTRATION’S MOVES ON JERUSALEM UNACCEPTABLE Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
Dec. 4, 2017 ― Deputy Premier Ziad Abu Amr on Monday told US Consul General in Jerusalem Donald Blome during a meeting in Ramallah that moving the US embassy to Jerusalem or US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel are unacceptable and involve risks no one can tell their consequences.
___Abu Amr stressed in the meeting Palestinian rejection of any action or decision taken by the US administration that would affect the status quo in the holy city.
___He said such an action “is offensive and contrary to the role of the US administration as a mediator and sponsor of the peace process, disqualifies it from playing this role, closes every door to the continuation of a serious peace process, and pushes the entire region into more tension and instability.” MORE . . .
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) EGYPT’S FM DISCUSSES WITH TILLERSON COMPLICATIONS OF US MOVES ON JERUSALEM Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
Dec. 4, 2017 ― Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed with his US counterpart Rex Tillerson the regional developments about media reports that United States intention to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
___Over a phone call, Shoukry discussed the complications of the US decision and its possible negative effects on the US efforts to resume the peace process, Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zaid said in a statement on Monday.
___The minister also noted that the legal, religious and historical status of Jerusalem require careful consideration in dealing with this sensitive issue that is related to the national identity of the Palestinian people throughout the ages . . . MORE . . .
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) EREKAT: US RECOGNITION OF JERUSALEM AS ISRAEL CAPITAL WILL CREATE SERIOUS INTERNATIONAL CHAOS Palestine News Network – PNN
Dec. 4, 2017 ― PLO Secretary-General Dr. Saeb Erekat Commented today on News reports Regarding Possible US Recognition of Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel saying that this move will promote international anarchy and disrespect for global institutions and law.
___Erekat said in statement that PNN receive :”Jerusalem is the social, political, cultural, religious and economic heart of Palestine adding that It is also the heart of billions of believers from the three monotheistic religions, including hundreds of millions of Arab Christians and Muslims. It is, therefore, the heart of the Arab World. It is a significant symbol of our region and its fate is key to any efforts leading to a peaceful and stable region”. MORE . . .
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴄ) PA CALLS FOR ARAB, ISLAMIC STANCE ON JERUSALEM Al Hourriah Magazine (Freedom)
Dec. 4, 2017 ― Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Minister Riyadh Al-Maliki has called for the Arab League and the Organisation of International Conferences to convene to discuss the dangers facing Jerusalem.
___Directed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, Al-Maliki briefed officials about the expected plan of US President Donald Trump to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on Wednesday.
___He explained the consequences of such recognition on Palestine and the Palestinian cause, as well as Palestinian-Israeli and Arab-Israeli relations.
___ “The US will lose its role as a mediator of the peace process if it carries out this step and it will be classified as a supporter of the ambitions of the occupation state [Israel],” Al-Maliki said, blaming the possible “dangerous repercussions” of this step on the US. MORE . . .
Abdelrazek, Adnan. “OCCUPIED EAST JERUSALEM: A CONTINUOUS COLONIAL SCHEME.” Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture, vol. 22, no. 2/3, July 2017, pp. 126-132.
[. . . .] It has become clear that the illegal annexation of these areas was intended to expand and consolidate the Israeli grip on Jerusalem and turn the city into the capital of the Jewish people, denying others’ political and historical rights. The Palestinian people of the annexed areas (recently more than 300,000 persons) have been subjected to fulfill Israeli administrative and legal control, separating them from their West Bank families, socioeconomic activities and political life. It also kept them outside the Israeli system of citizenship. In other words, the land is Israelized and seized while the Palestinian inhabitants are considered “on hold.” This scheme of colonizing and Israelizing East Jerusalem is apparent in many systematic practices.
[. . . .] According to an Ir Amim report (reference), 66% of building violations in Jerusalem occur in the Jewish neighborhoods, yet 65-70% of house demolitions take place in the Palestinian neighborhoods . . . as part of an overall policy designed to force Palestinians to leave the city. House demolition policy is viewed as an instrument of collective punishment that the Israeli government uses against Palestinians in East Jerusalem . . . during the years 2003-05 house demolitions reached one of the highest rates following the second intifada, and again in 2015-16 in response to the so called “individual intifada.”
[. . . .] An interim note: Since the occupation of the Arab city of Jerusalem and the expansion of its municipal boundaries, the city and government authorities have continuously applied colonial policies aimed at weakening the Palestinians’ presence and making formal and arbitrary efforts to reduce their demographic and geographic size in the city. In addition, the Arab residents of the city have been deprived of civil and political rights and cut off from their Palestinian roots in the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories. However, counter trends such as the demographic imbalance to the advantage of the Palestinians and events such as the so-called “individual intifada” and other forms of resistance could shake this colonial scheme or even reverse some of the early decision to “unite” the city with its Arab villages and neighborhoods. SOURCE . . .
❷ ISRAEL ARRESTS 3 LAWYERS, INCLUDING HEAD OF LEGAL UNIT AT DETAINEES AFFAIRS COMMISSION Ma’an News Agency
Dec. 4, 2017 ― Israeli forces detained early Monday three Palestinian lawyers from Jerusalem, including Iyad Misk, head of the legal unit at the Detainees Affairs Commission, to the north of Jerusalem, according to the commission.
___Misk was detained at his Kufr Aqab home, north of Jerusalem, and was taken to Petah Tekva interrogation center in central Israel, the Commission said. No reason was given for this detention.
___In addition to Misk, Israeli forces also arrested two other Palestinian lawyers identified as Khaled Zabarqa and Firas Sabbah.
___Israeli forces also reportedly arrested a total of 20 Palestinians during raids across the occupied West Bank. . . MORE . . .
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) ISRAEL RELEASES 5 PALESTINIAN FISHERMEN AFTER HOURS OF DETENTION Ma’an News Agency
Dec. 4, 2017 ― Israeli authorities on Monday morning released five Palestinian fishermen who had been detained overnight off the coast of the northern Gaza Strip.
___Israeli naval forces detained the fishermen Sunday night and seized their boats, which still remain in Israeli custody.
___Palestinian security sources told Ma’n that the five fishermen — identified as Sami Abu al-Sadeq, Ahmad Abu al-Sadeq, Sayyid al-Halabi and brothers Ayman and Ihab Tulbeh — were released back into Gaza via the Erez crossing with Israel.
___The Israeli army regularly detains and opens fire on unarmed Palestinian fishermen, shepherds, and farmers along the border areas if they approach the so-called ‘buffer zone’, as the authorities have not made clear the precise area of the designated zone. MORE . . .
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴃ) PALESTINIAN SERIOUSLY INJURED IN CLASHES WITH ISRAELI FORCES NEAR NABLUS Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
Dec. 4, 2017 ― Israeli authorities on Monday morning released five Palestinian fishermen who had been detained overnight off the coast of the northern Gaza Strip.
___Israeli naval forces detained the fishermen Sunday night and seized their boats, which still remain in Israeli custody.
___Palestinian security sources told Ma’n that the five fishermen . . . were released back into Gaza via the Erez crossing with Israel.
___The Israeli army regularly detains and opens fire on unarmed Palestinian fishermen, shepherds, and farmers along the border areas if they approach the so-called ‘buffer zone’, as the authorities have not made clear the precise area of the designated zone. MORE . . .
“POEM TO JERUSALEM,” by Harun Hashim Rasheed (b. 1927) For the sake of a city that’s imprisoned,
for its Dome and Aqsa Mosque,
for the annihilated sanctuary
where Muhammad’s feet once stood,
for all this city has endured,
and for all it has preserved,
for Mary and Jesus,
for all the beings she has known,
for my city’s sake,
raped and abused,
on its wounded brow
God’s words are effaced.
I call on all our dead
and all our living
with verses from the Bible
if only they could hear
with verses from the Quran
in the name of God
calling the young among them and the very old
calling them from my depths
to every brave fighter
I tell them the struggle is for Jerusalem
I call on them to resolve and have faith
tell them how Jerusalem’s sanctity is wounded
I call upon them all to help Jerusalem
She cannot wait any longer,
she overflows with grief.
From the Atlantic to the Arabian Gulf
I call upon you in the name of God
with the purity of anger I beseech you
for the city with the humiliated eyes
I call you in your name,
I call my Arab people.
―translated by Sharif Elmusa and Naomi Shihab Nye
Harun Hashim Rasheed (b. 1927)
Born in Gaza, poet Harun Hashim Rasheed witnessed, as a child, British soldiers demolishing his and his neighbors’ home in reprisal against Palestinian rebels, an incident which left a deep mark on him as a poet. After obtaining a Higher Teacher Training Diploma from Gaza College, he worked as a teacher until 1954. He then became director of the Sawt Al-Arab broadcasting station in Gaza. After the fall of Gaza to the Israelis in 1967, he was harassed by the Israeli occupation forces and was eventually compelled to leave. He has had a long and illustrious career as a Palestinian poet and literary figure in exile.
From: ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN PALESTINIAN LITERATURE. Ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Available fromColumbia University Press.
❶ 5 Palestinians shot, injured in the legs during clashes in Ramallah-area village
Background: “The Impact of Occupation on Israeli Democracy.” Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) 2 Palestinians shot by Israeli forces undergo surgery, 1 in critical condition
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) Four Children injured After Being Struck By An Israeli Colonist’s Car In Silwan
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴄ) Israel’s culture of impunity in full view of the world
❷ Behind the headlines in Jerusalem: Recent al-Aqsa clashes are a result of Israel’s long-standing plans to expand control over Jerusalem.
❸ POETRY by Harun Hashim Rashid
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ 5 PALESTINIANS SHOT, INJURED IN THE LEGS DURING CLASHES IN RAMALLAH-AREA VILLAGE Ma’an News Agency
Aug. 11, 2017. Five Palestinians were injured with live fire during clashes that erupted Thursday evening in the Beit Rima town in northern Ramallah between Palestinian youths and Israeli undercover forces that raided a house in the town, according to official Palestinian sources.
___Israeli forces fired live bullets, rubber-coated steel bullets, tear-gas and stun grenades at youths that surrounded the undercover forces as they were raiding a house in the area. ___The Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement that five Palestinians were injured with live fire during clashes in Beit Rima, which is located in the central occupied West Bank. MORE . . .
Schnell, Izhak. “THE IMPACT OF OCCUPATION ON ISRAELI DEMOCRACY.”
Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture, vol. 22, no. 2/3, July 2017, pp. 18-25.
Military control of large numbers of people who are denied basic human rights and the right for national self-determination cannot be aligned with democratic values. International law legitimizes such situations in occupied territories but only for a limited time and under strict regulations that do not allow putting the occupied people’s interests at risk except for security reasons of both the occupiers and the occupied. . . .
___We have identified five main processes of deterioration in Israeli democracy: first, intensive use of propaganda in order to adopt a blind and a narrow definition of national patriotism; second, the loss of consensus concerning the balance between the Jewish and the democratic characteristics of the state; third, a weakening of the authority of law; fourth, the involvement of the military in politics; and fifth, the undermining of the authority of the Supreme Court.
[. . . .] In its struggle for hegemony, the new elite increasingly applied propaganda techniques that played on the deep fears of the public in order to promote an uncritical and narrow definition of Israeli identity. . . . the one-sided historical “truth” of the neo-Zionist narrative infiltrated into the established Israeli discourse. Statements like those of . . . former military generals like Uzi Dayan, who repeatedly say that they care about the interests of Israel and not the Palestinians . . . helped establish a blind uncritical patriotism. Increasingly, the Bible was introduced as the ultimate justification to our attachment to the land and our identity as Jews and heavenly promise became the ultimate justification for our sole ownership of the land with disregard to the rights of Palestinians who have lived on the land for hundreds of years.
[. . . .] The vicious circle of violence between the occupier and the occupied only increases mistrust and dehumanization of the other. In such a milieu children grow up with a mistrust of foreigners, which may lead to hatred and racism. This mindset is amplified by the fortification of space by fences, walls and guards. Under such a regime the discourse of human rights developed in Western culture could not be adopted by Israelis who support the occupation, thus increasing Western countries’ criticism of Israel and the perception among right-wing Israelis of a nation under siege that, as a consequence, is allowed to use any and all means for its survival. FULL ARTICLE . . .
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) 2 PALESTINIANS SHOT BY ISRAELI FORCES UNDERGO SURGERY, 1 IN CRITICAL CONDITION Ma’an News Agency.
Aug. 10, 2017. Two injured Palestinian detainees, who were detained on Wednesday after they were shot with live ammunition by Israeli forces during a raid on the Bethlehem-area al-Duheisha refugee camp, have undergone surgery and are still in the hospital, with one in critical condition.
___Lawyer of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) Karim Ajwa released a statement on Thursday after visiting the two injured Palestinians, Abd al-Aziz Arafeh and Raed al-Salhi, who are being held in Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital.
[. . . .] Ajwa added that a court session is expected to be held on Thursday to extend the detention of the two, who were detained during a predawn raid on the camp, located in the southern occupied West Bank. MORE . . . . . . . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) FOUR CHILDREN INJURED AFTER BEING STRUCK BY AN ISRAELI COLONIST’S CAR IN SILWAN International Middle East Media Center – IMEMC
Aug. 11, 2017. Palestinian medical sources have reported that four children were injured, Thursday, after being rammed by a speeding Israeli colonist’s car, in the al-‘Ein Street, in Silwan town, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied East Jerusalem.
___The sources said the four children suffered various cuts and bruises, before an Israeli ambulance moved them to Hadassah Medical Center.
___Two of the wounded children have been identified as Hamza Abu Sbeih and his brother Amir.
___Eyewitnesses said the colonist deliberately rammed the children with his car as they were walking along the sidewalk . . . MORE . . . . . . . . ❶ ― (ᴄ) ISRAEL’S CULTURE OF IMPUNITY IN FULL VIEW OF THE WORLD Ma’an News Agency
April 12, 2016. “Whether he made a mistake or not, is a trivial question,” said an Israeli Jewish man who joined large protests throughout Israel in support of a soldier who calmly, and with precision, killed a wounded Palestinian man in al-Khalil (Hebron). The protesting Jewish man described Palestinians as ‘barbaric,’ ‘bestial,’ who should not be perceived as people.
[. . . .] The vast majority of Israelis, 68 percent, support the killing of Abdel Fatah Yusri al-Sharif, 21, by the solider who had reportedly announced before firing at the wounded Palestinian that the “terrorist had to die.”
[. . . .] The incident, once more, highlights a culture of impunity that exists in the Israeli army, which is not a new phenomenon. MORE . . .
See post of July 8, 2017 for further discussion of “culture of impunity.” ❷ BEHIND THE HEADLINES IN JERUSALEM: RECENT AL-AQSA CLASHES ARE A RESULT OF ISRAEL’S LONG-STANDING PLANS TO EXPAND CONTROL OVER JERUSALEM. Al Jazeera English
By Nur Arafeh
Aug. 11, 2017. Jerusalem has been in the spotlight again recently as tensions reached the boiling point after the mid-July attack on Israeli forces in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem. Despite the apparent resolution of the immediate crisis owing to mass Palestinian civil disobedience, which forced Israel to reverse its attempt to change the status quo that has been in place since 1967 at the historic Noble Sanctuary mosque complex, the underlying issues remain in place.
___Media coverage of Jerusalem has tended to focus on clashes as and when they erupt, and to frame these as the harbingers of an emerging “religious war”. However, this approach fails to address the history of and context in which such clashes unfold, and the explicit aims of the Israeli government. MORE . . .
(After occupying Gaza in 1967, the Israelis searched houses and forced men and women to stand next to walls with arms raised. Often they shot at them. The poet had this experience.)
“RAISE YOUR ARMS,” BY HARUN HASHIM RASHID
――Raise your arms . . .
they aimed their guns at me . . .
――Raise your arms . . .
I stood, my eyes flaming
and scorching with anger
as an insistent film of events
assailed me.
Can defiled cities be
the outcome of our struggle?
Have years of suffering,
long days of vigilance
in trenches, on hills
and in tattered tents
led to this?
The world blackened in my eyes
my hands on the wall
as guns were pointing at me
I wished the wall would fall on my head
My comrades and I waited
for their bullets,
for their bullets
They walked away, and the wall
remained, gazing back at us
waiting for a fiery volcano, for the flames.
―Translated by Sharif Elmusa and Naomi Shihab Nye
AboutHARUN HASHIM AL RASHID (born in Gaza, 1927)
From ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN PALESTINIAN LITERATURE. Ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Available from Columbia University Press.
Monday, Aug. 4, 2014, a Palestinian woman passes by rescuers inspecting the rubble of destroyed houses following Israeli strikes in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
❶ On 10th anniversary of siege, Gaza reaching humanitarian and political breaking point
. . . . . ❶― (ᴀ) Gaza braces itself for ‘collapse’ after Israel approves reduction of electricity supply
. . . . . ❶― (ᴃ) PLO Ashrawi condemns Netanyahu’s call to shut down UNRWA
BACKGROUND: One million Palestinian refugees in 8 Gaza Strip camps
❷ MOH warns of stopping heart catheter in Gaza
BACKGROUND: Shalev G. “A Doctor’s Testimony: Medical Neutrality and the Visibility of Palestinian Grievances in Jewish-Israeli Publics.”
HISTORICAL NOTE: Zunes, Stephen. “The Gaza War, Congress and International Humanitarian Law.”
❸ POETRY by Harun Hashim Rasheed (b. 1927, Gaza)
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ❶ ON 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF SIEGE, GAZA REACHING HUMANITARIAN AND POLITICAL BREAKING POINT Ma’an News Agency
Chloe Benoist
June 15, 2017 As the Gaza Strip marked the ten-year anniversary of Israel’s siege of the small Palestinian enclave on Thursday, the humanitarian situation has continued to alarm rights groups, which have denounced the “inhuman conditions unparalleled in the modern world.”
___Gaza, which has often been compared to an “open air prison” for its 1.9 million inhabitants crowded into 365 square kilometers, has suffered from a decade of isolation and deprivation, made all the worse by three devastating Israeli military operations, and persistent intra-Palestinian political strife.
___The recent decision by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to request that Israel reduce its supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip has made many fear that the situation in Gaza could soon reach a political and humanitarian breaking point with unforetold consequences. MORE . .. . . . . . ❶― (ᴀ) GAZA BRACES ITSELF FOR ‘COLLAPSE’ AFTER ISRAEL APPROVES REDUCTION OF ELECTRICITY SUPPLY Ma’an News Agency
June 12, 2017 The Israeli security cabinet has approved a 40 percent reduction in Israel’s electricity supply to the besieged Gaza Strip, where Palestinians are already coping with a crippling power crisis and daily, hours-long blackouts, according Israeli media reports.
___While Gaza’s electricity company said it had not received an official order regarding the impending power cut, it called upon Palestinians in Gaza to prepare for the worst, while human rights groups urged Israel to reconsider the move — expected to have immediate and disastrous effects on the medical sector in particular.
___The approval came after Israeli authorities announced plans to make the cuts last month, upon request of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in occupied West Bank, which foots Gaza’s monthly electricity bill from Israel, by subtracting from taxes collected by Israel on behalf of the PA. MORE . . . . . . . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) PLO ASHRAWI CONDEMNS NETANYAHU’S CALL TO SHUT DOWN UNRWA Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
June 16, 2017 PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi strongly condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand to shut down the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
___”Netanyahu’s call to disband UNRWA is the epitome of arrogance, particularly since Israel itself is responsible for creating the Palestinian refugee problem,” Said Ashrawi in a press statement issued on Thursday.
___The statement said Israeli government bears a moral and legal responsibility for Palestinian refugees and the serious injustices of the past.
___“It should not be permitted to defame or slander UNRWA which still remains a lifeline for millions of Palestinian refugees residing in Occupied Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, providing them with essential services, assistance and opportunities for work, growth and development.”
BACKGROUND: ONE MILLION PALESTINIAN REFUGEES IN 8 GAZA STRIP CAMPS May 16, 2013 Alray-Palestinian Media Agency The Gaza Strip is home to more than 1.1 million registered refugees, of which more than half a million live in the eight refugee camps established by UNRWA.
___The refugee camps have one of the highest population densities in the world. The blockade on Gaza has had a devastating impact on refugees across the Gaza Strip, including those living in camps. Unemployment continues to be at unprecedented levels particularly affecting young people in Gaza. MORE . . .
❷ MOH WARNS OF STOPPING HEART CATHETER IN GAZA Alray-Palestinian Media Agency
June 15, 2017 The head of cardiac catheterization at Al-Shifa Medical Compound, Mohammad Habib, warned that the cardiac catheter service will be stopped in the coming weeks if the basic items are not supplied, confirming that the department uses only sterile tools.
___Habib said that many of the basic types were run out, such as pharmacological blockers, pacemaker of various types, and catheterization of the arteries.
[. . . .] He pointed out that the cases are now transferred to treatment abroad, such as catheter therapy for the heart and peripheral arteries, due to stopping the remittances. [. . . .] the heart catheter section at Al-Shifa carries out 1500 operations every year, an average of 150 operations a month between diagnosis and treatment. MORE . . .
BACKGROUND: Shalev G. “A Doctor’s Testimony: Medical Neutrality and the Visibility of Palestinian Grievances in Jewish-Israeli Publics.” Culture, Medicine & Psychiatry[serial on the Internet]. (2016, June), 40(2): 242-262. Abstract: This paper follows the testimony of Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian physician who bears witness to his experiences working, living, and suffering under Israeli rule. He presents his story as a doctor’s story, drawing on his identity as a medical professional to gain credibility and visibility and to challenge the limited legitimacy of Palestinian grievances. . . . at once recounts the suffering and loss endured by the Palestinian people and also struggles to negotiate the values associated with being a ‘‘reliable’’ witness. . . In comparison with most Palestinian narratives, Abuelaish’s testimony achieved an extremely rare degree of visibility and sympathy, a phenomenon that calls out for analysis. I identify the boundaries that typically render Palestinian grievances invisible to Israeli publics and suggest how medicine’s self-proclaimed ethos of neutrality served as a channel for crossing them. . . . the political possibilities and limitations of medical witnessing to render suffering visible and arouse compassion toward those construed as a dangerous/enemy Other. SOURCE:RELATED . . .
HISTORICAL NOTE: Zunes, Stephen. “The Gaza War [2008-2009], Congress and International Humanitarian Law.” Middle East Policy, vol. 17, no. 1, Spring2010, pp. 68-81. Support for the impending war began months earlier, in June 2008, when 77 senators — including future Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — signed a letter . . . to President George W. Bush defending Israeli air strikes on the heavily populated Gaza Strip. The letter also urged the Bush administration to block any UN Security Council resolution critical of Israel, claiming that UN opposition to Israeli attacks against crowded urban areas constituted a refusal to “acknowledge Israel’s right to self-defense.” ___An almost identical letter in the House, drafted by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD). . . received 268 signatures. Americans for Peace Now (APN), a liberal Zionist group, warned that these letters were designed to build “a defense, in advance, for a large Israeli military offensive in Gaza.” APN, among others, also noted that such an Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip would likely result in large-scale civilian casualties.
___In apparent anticipation of such a scenario, the House of Representatives had passed a resolution that March, during an upsurge of fighting between Hamas militiamen and Israeli forces, which claimed, “Those responsible for launching rocket attacks against Israel routinely embed their production facilities and launch sites amongst the Palestinian civilian population, utilizing them as human shields.” . . . . However, human-rights groups monitoring the situation at that time noted that, while Hamas had failed to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians in the densely populated Gaza Strip, they found no instances of the use of human shields by Hamas. (Footnote: Interview, Joe Stork, Middle East division, Human Rights Watch, June 18, 2008.) ARTICLE . ..
Government ministry buildings destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on December 30, 2008 in Gaza City, Gaza Strip. (Photo Credit: Abid Katib/Getty Images)
“LET IT BE KNOWN,” BY HARUN HASHIM AL RASHID (b. 1927, Gaza)
Let it be known:
there will be no peace.
because the lodgers in the tents
have become fed up with humiliation of
living there,
become tired of suffering, misery and illness,
bored with the death creeping in their bones,
sick of life itself,
because they are homeless,
walking in darkness. –Source AboutHARUN HASHIM AL RASHID
Jamal Burham, 56, and Shaher Ra’ee, 47, from Tulkarem and Qalqiliya respectively. Administrative detentions renewed. (Photo: Palestine Information Center)
❶ Erekat: Paris meeting send a clear message if Israel continue colonization the future will be for more extremism
❷ Palestinian factions slam French initiative as dangerous violation of rights
❸ IOA renews administrative detention of PFLP leaders for 3rd time
. . ❸ ― (ᴀ) MP Jarrar: Prisoners call for ending the rift, activating their cause
❹ Opinion/Analysis: WHAT’S BEHIND THE US MEDIA’S SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL?
❺ POETRY by Harun Hashim Rashid
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ❶ EREKAT: PARIS MEETING SEND A CLEAR MESSAGE IF ISRAEL CONTINUE COLONIZATION THE FUTURE WILL BE FOR MORE EXTREMISM Palestine News Network – PNN
June 3, 2016
PLO Secretary General Dr. Saeb Erekat said in press reels on the Paris Middle East Peace Meeting that the Paris Meeting is a very significant step and its message is clear: If Israel is allowed to continue its colonization and Apartheid policies in Occupied Palestine, the future will be for more extremism and bloodshed rather than for coexistence and peace. MORE . . .BACKGROUND . . . FRANCE FELT ‘COMPELLED TO ACT’ ON MIDDLE EAST PEACE TALKS
By the colonisation principle . . . powers do not conquer for the sake of imposing administrative rule on the indigenous population, but they end up managing the conquered inhabitants in order to facilitate the extraction of resources. [. . . .]
___The colonisation principle thus incorporates . . . the first separation principle. Levi Eshkol, Israel’s prime minister in 1967, clearly articulated this separation principle . . . He turned to Golda Meir, who was then the party’s general secretary, and said: ‘I understand . . . you covet the dowry, but not the bride’ [. . . .]
___. . . The desire to normalise the occupation and successfully annihilate the Palestinian national subject through a series of disciplinary technologies that were supported when need be by the sword proved to be unrealistic . . . the second separation principle was adopted. . . .The paradigmatic sentence describing this principle is ‘We are here, they are there’. The ‘we’ refers to Israelis, and the ‘they’ to Palestinians.
___. . . the second principle does not aim to solve the occupation, but rather to alter its logic. In other words, ‘We are here, they are there’ does not signify a withdrawal of Israeli power from the Occupied Territories . . . but is used to blur the fact that Israel has been reorganising its power in the territories in order to continue its control over their resources.
Gordon, Neve. “From Colonization To Separation: Exploring The Structure Of Israel’s Occupation.” Third World Quarterly 29.1 (2008): 25-44. Available.
❷ PALESTINIAN FACTIONS SLAM FRENCH INITIATIVE AS DANGEROUS VIOLATION OF RIGHTS Ma’an News Agency
June 3, 2016
Palestinian factions from across the political spectrum came together on Friday to announce their rejection of the French-led Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative, calling it a dangerous violation of national rights.
___In conjunction with the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, Hamas published a statement signed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, saying “the ideas suggested by France as an initiative impose a dangerous violation against agreed-upon national rights, especially the right of return.” MORE . . .
❸ IOA RENEWS ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION OF PFLP LEADERS FOR 3RD TIME The Palestinian Information Center
June 4, 2016
The Palestine center for studies said on Saturday that the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) had renewed the administrative detention of two leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) for the third consecutive time. The PCS said in a press release that the IOA renewed the detention without trial or charge of Jamal Burham, 56, and Shaher Ra’ee, 47, from Tulkarem and Qalqiliya respectively for sixth months. MORE . . . . . . ❸ ― (ᴀ) MP JARRAR: PRISONERS CALL FOR ENDING THE RIFT, ACTIVATING THEIR CAUSE The Palestinian Information Center
June 4, 2016
The Palestinian Legislative Council member, Khalida Jarrar, said that all Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli occupation prisons appeal to all Palestinians to prioritize their issue. The released MP stressed the need to end the internal division and the completion of the unity of the Palestinian people, saying: “This is the demand of all prisoners in Israeli jails.” Jarrar’s remarks came after her release from Israeli jails on Friday afternoon, at the Jubarah military checkpoint south of Tulkarem. MORE . . .
This paper . . . spring[s] directly from a singular personal event, a nightmare forced upon me while travelling in northern Palestine in the early summer of 2006. While touring on 8 July 2006 along Israel’s northern border . . . I was stopped by Israeli security forces and two hours later was detained by the Israeli Shin Bet (Security Police) for 23 days, placed under severe conditions, and subjected to maltreatment, abuse and humiliation [. . . .] ___This paper has attempted to describe and reflect on my personal experience as one of the hundreds of thousands of individuals of Palestinian background who have been detained and tortured by the Israeli authorities for political reasons. . . . I speak as an academic who was seized by state force and transported to a hellish space/time with my body at its core. My research on this hell, while at a distance of increasing reflection, is also totally from the inside. It has led me to explore new areas of knowledge I would probably never had been led to by my previous history of curiosity as a Palestinian geographer.
___What I report is true.
Falah, Ghazi-Walid. “Geography In Ominous Intersection With Interrogation And Torture: Reflections On Detention In Israel.” Third World Quarterly 29.4 (2008): 749-766. Available.
Ghazi-Walid Falah is a Bedouin Israeli-Canadian geographer, who is a tenured professor at the University of Akron, Ohio.
❹ Opinion/Analysis: WHAT’S BEHIND THE US MEDIA’S SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL? The Electronic Intifada
Rod Such
June 3, 2016
[The film] The Occupation of the American Mind poses the question: why are mainstream US media such a reliable conduit for Israeli propaganda compared to other countries?
___In attempting to answer this question, the film, narrated by Roger Waters [Pink Floyd], illuminates not just the inner workings of Israeli hasbara (propaganda) but also the root causes of the occupation itself by depicting the systematic denial of Palestinians’ human and national rights.
___This film could not possibly arrive at a better time, given the extent to which Israeli hasbara will be promoted during the US presidential election campaign. MORE . . .
“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.
Harun Hashim Rashid AN ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN ARABIC POETRY. Selected, Edited, and Translate by Mounah A. Khouri and Hamid Algar. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1974. Available from Amazon.
PLEASE NOTE: The content of this blog is changed: it presents fewer news items and gives more background for those items in hope of providing deeper understanding of the issues shaping the news. All articles without direct links can be found through a search in any library with EBSCO online databases. See FINDING SCHOLARLY ARTICLES above.
A Palestinian youth places a flag on the Israeli wall during a protest marking nine years of struggle against the wall in the West Bank village of Bil’in, February 28, 2014. (Photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
❶ Israeli forces avoid crowd dispersal weapons in Bilin protest for first time in 11 years
❷ Israel Delivers Demolition Notices for Palestinian Houses in Jerusalem Town
❸ Opinion/Analysis: THE PALESTINIANS IMPRISONED BY ISRAEL FOR THEIR FACEBOOK POSTS
❹ POETRY by Harun Hashim Rasheed
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ ISRAELI FORCES AVOID CROWD DISPERSAL WEAPONS IN BILIN PROTEST FOR FIRST TIME IN 11 YEARS Ma’an News Agency
May 27, 2016
For the first time in the 11-year history of weekly popular resistance demonstrations in the central occupied West Bank village of Bilin, Israeli forces did not use tear gas and other crowd control weapons to disperse protesters [. . . .]
___Protesters raised Palestinian flags and marched in the streets chanting songs of unity and resistance [. . . .]
___Bilin has long been one of the most active villages in organized opposition against Israeli policies, this year marking the eleventh consecutive year of weekly marches against expanding nearby settlements and the separation wall which separates residents from their private land. MORE . . .
Snaking its way through the West Bank, weaving an intricate path that encircles, isolates and sometimes divides Palestinian cities and villages, the Israeli ‘separation’ wall stands as a stark symbol of both the occupation and overall Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The ‘wall’ is in fact a hybrid system of control, made up of a complex mix of electronic fences, dirt paths, barbed wire, radar, cameras, trenches, checkpoints and 8-metre tall concrete blocks, with almost 70 per cent of its path completed since construction began in 2002. As one of the most prominent and contested instances of such a structure built in the last decade, the Israeli wall is particularly unique in a global scene increasingly captivated by the fortification of borders and the building of barriers, in the sense that the line it traces is disputed and not internationally recognized [. . . .]
___Perhaps the most apparent among these factors is that the wall by no means represents a simple division of territory: it does not run along the 1967 borders (the 1949 Armistice line) that are internationally agreed upon as the basis for future peace settlement, and in fact . . . only 15 per cent of the wall sits on the 1967 borders, with the remaining 85 per cent cutting at times 18 kilometres deep into the West Bank . . . . Not only are some 80 Israeli settlements located behind it (with an overall population of approximately 75,000), but the wall also separates Palestinian from Palestinian – cutting off neighbouring villages from each other and sometimes dividing them in two. This is most evident in Jerusalem.
Busbridge, Rachel. “Performing Colonial Sovereignty and the Israeli ‘Separation’ Wall.” SOCIAL IDENTITIES 19.5 (2013): 653-669. SOURCE.
❷ ISRAEL DELIVERS DEMOLITION NOTICES FOR PALESTINIAN HOUSES IN JERUSALEM TOWN Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
May 28, 2016
Israeli police Saturday delivered demolition notices for at least two Palestinian houses in Silwan town, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, said WAFA correspondent.
___Israeli police along with staff from the so-called Jerusalem Municipality raided the Silwan neighborhood of Ein al-Louza, where they handed notices to demolish the houses . . . .
___Israel has systematically targeted Palestinian residential structures in Silwan with demolition orders. MORE . . .
Israel ‘s policy―one may even say obsession―of systematically demolishing Palestinian homes, urban neighborhoods and entire towns and villages goes back to 1948 and continues with a vengeance up to this moment, both within Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The motivation is obvious: it is merely one expression of the twin processes of ethnic cleansing and Judaization, both of those, in tum, being consequences of defining Israel as a “Jewish state” and taking the steps necessary to make it so. The house demolition policy represents the essence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: denying the Palestinian people the right to remain in the Land of Israel, either as a national collective or as individuals, and their displacement by Jews. [. . . .]
___The “neighborhoods” built in East Jerusalem serve to isolate Palestinian populations in small and disconnected enclaves, and to prevent the development and expansion of the Palestinian side of the city. Together with a new system of Israeli “ring roads” and the creation of a “Greater Jerusalem” enveloped by a wall, Jerusalem is being transformed from a city into a region dominating the entire central portion of the West Bank.
Halper, Jeff. “The Policy Of House Demolitions In East Jerusalem: What It Is, How It Is Done And To What End.” PALESTINE-ISRAEL JOURNAL OF POLITICS, ECONOMICS & CULTURE 17.1/2 (2011): 74-82. SOURCE.
Israeli soldiers stop and search a young Palestinian man walking near the Damascus gate. They forced him to “raise your arms” to pat him down. A member of a Sabeel Witness delegation crossed the street to investigate and was blocked. (Photo: Harold Knight, November 13, 2015)
❸ Opinion/Analysis:THE PALESTINIANS IMPRISONED BY ISRAEL FOR THEIR FACEBOOK POSTS The Middle East Monitor – MEMO
Asa Winstanley
May 28, 2016
The propaganda goes that Israel is the “only democracy in the Middle East”. But for anyone familiar with the realities that Israel imposes on the Palestinians and on its neighbours, this has always been a cruel joke.
___The West Bank, occupied in violation of international law by Israel since 1967, is for Palestinians a military dictatorship imposed by Israel. The 600,000 or so (estimates vary) violent Israeli colonists that live in the West Bank settlements are the direct beneficiaries of this dictatorship. MORE . . .
There is a natural inclination among political scientists and politicians involved in peacemaking to look at the past and memory as obstacles to progress. They recommend liberating oneself from the past as a prerequisite for peace. This view is entrenched in a wider context of reconciliation and mediation policies that emerged in the United States after the Second World War. This school of thought was based on a businesslike approach that treats the past as an irrelevant feature in the making of peace.
___[. . . .] Noam Chomsky, noting such a tendency in the Middle East peace process, concludes that the result was a never-ending “peace process” which was not meant to bring peace, but rather provides jobs and preoccupations for a large group of people belonging to the peace industry.
___This philosophy has informed the peace process in Palestine ever since 1948 and in particular after 1967. It has destroyed the chances of peace in Israel and Palestine; only the re-introduction of the historical dimension can save the peace effort. The starting point that has been totally neglected . . . is the year 1948.
Pappe, Ilan. “Historiophobia or the Enslavement of History: The Role of the 1948 Ethnic Cleansing in the Contemporary Peace Process.” ARAB STUDIES QUARTERLY 38.1 (2016): 402-417. SOURCE.
(Note: The poetic image below is of the speaker being forced against a wall, either for search by soldiers or for execution. It is, however, an uncanny [prophetic?] description of the “separation” wall, construction of which did not begin until exactly ten years after this poem was published.)
“RAISE YOUR ARMS,” BY HARUN HASHIM RASHEED
―Raise your arms . . . .
they aimed their guns at me . . . .
―Raise your arms . . . .
I stood, my eye flaming
and scorching with anger
as an insistent film of events
assailed me.
Can defiled cities be
the outcome of our struggle?
Have years of suffering,
long days of vigilance
in trenches, on hills
and in tattered tents
led to this?
The world blackened in my eyes
my hand on the wall
as guns were pointing at me
I wished the wall would fall on my head
My comrades and I waited
for their bullets
for their bullets
They walked away, and the wall
remained, gazing back at us
waiting for a fiery volcano, for the flames.
―translated by Sharif Elmusa and Naomi Shihab Nye
Harun Hashim Rasheed (b. 1927)
Born in Gaza, poet Harun Hashim Rasheed witnessed, as a child, British soldiers demolishing his and his neighbors’ home in reprisal against Palestinian rebels, an incident which left a deep mark on him as a poet. After obtaining a Higher Teacher Training Diploma from Gaza College, he worked as a teacher until 1954. He then became director of the Sawt Al-Arab broadcasting station in Gaza. After the fall of Gaza to the Israelis in 1967, he was harassed by the Israeli occupation forces and was eventually compelled to leave. He has had a long and illustrious career as a Palestinian poet and literary figure in exile.
From: ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN PALESTINIAN LITERATURE. Ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Available fromColumbia University Press.
PLEASE NOTE: The content of this blog is slightly changed: it presents fewer news items and gives more background for those items. This will provide deeper understanding of the issues shaping the news. All articles without direct links can be found through an EBSCO search in any library with online databases.
Inside Al-Aqsa Mosque (Photo: November 13, 2015, Harold Knight)
❶ Israeli calls for collective break-ins into al-Aqsa
❷ Israeli Justice Minister: West Bank settlements will continue
❸ Retracing Jaffa’s erased Palestinian history (Photo essay)
❹ Opinion/Analysis: IT JUST AIN’T CRICKET: HOW ISRAEL ‘TRANSFERS’ LAND FROM PALESTINIANS TO SETTLERS
❺ POETRY by Harun Hashim Rasheed
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ❶ ISRAELI CALLS FOR COLLECTIVE BREAK-INS INTO AL-AQSA The Palestinian Information Center
May 26, 2016
Israeli extremist groups have called on Thursday for collective break-ins into al-Aqsa Mosque on the 5th of June that coincides with the occupation of the eastern part of Jerusalem. According to Quds Press, the extremist groups called through social media for massive participation in collective break-ins into the Islamic holy shrine and Talmudic rituals in its plazas to celebrate what they called “the anniversary of Jerusalem’s reunification.” Israeli police will provide security protection for the plan, the groups pointed out. MORE . . .
Jerusalem is an arena of conflicting and competing visions of both the past and the future. While Israeli political and military control over both halves of the city has not been disputed since its occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, there is no sense in which the Zionist imaginary of a Jewish city has been achieved or is irreversible. This has meant that alternative visions of the city, both ethno-national and eschatological in nature, continue to vie for dominance and act as mobilizing forces for dissident groups.
___This battle for the sacred is most famously played out on Jerusalem’s ancient fault line: the Jewish “Temple Mount” [ Har haBayit] or the Muslim “Noble Sanctuary” [al Haram al-Sharif] , the site of the Western (Wailing) Wall and the only visible remainder of the second Jewish Temple and the al-Aqsa Mosque, the place of Muhammad’s legendary night journey to Heaven. While scholars have extensively charted the historic conquests and religious imaginings that imbue this revered 66 square acre compound, our interest is in its contemporary politicization as a dynamic symbol and site of Israeli Zionist domination and Palestinian-Muslim resistance.
Larkin, Craig, and Michael Dumper. “In Defense Of Al-Aqsa: The Islamic Movement Inside Israel And The Battle For Jerusalem.” Middle East Journal 66.1 (2012): 31-52.
❷ ISRAELI JUSTICE MINISTER: WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS WILL CONTINUE Palestine News Network
May 26, 2016
The Israeli Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked on Tuesday night promised that her government will continue settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
___Shaked’s statement came during the opening of a new school in Itamar illegal settlement. MORE . . .
Since 1967, Israeli policy in the West Bank (referred as Judea and Samaria by Israel since 1967) have been to create facts on the ground by annexing land without its people, by constructing enclaves within and a round the Palestinian built-up areas.
___Since 1967, Israel has been attempting to create facts on the ground that would forever link East Jerusalem to West Jerusalem and Israel. Israel has been trying to limit Palestinian natural growth as much as possible. . .
___According to many Israeli criticisms, settlement polices considers as a problematic issue for both Palestinian and Israeli communities, this is due to many reasons such as the way the settlements damage the Arab-Jewish relations, the negative influence of the settlements on the Israelis security, the role of settlements in deepen the social disparities, and the way the settlements generate a massive waste of resources. In spite of that, Israel continue constructing settlements as a part of its national strategy. . .
Thawaba, Salem A. “Jerusalem Walls: Transforming and Segregating Urban Fabric.” African & Asian Studies 10.2/3 (2011): 121-142. EBSCO.
❸ RETRACING JAFFA’S ERASED PALESTINIAN HISTORY (PHOTO ESSAY) The Electronic Intifada
Silvia Boarini
24 May 2016
In mid-May, when Israeli Jews celebrate Independence Day, Palestinians commemorate the Nakba — the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of people from cities and villages across Palestine that began in December 1947 and intensified throughout 1948, both before and after the declaration of the State of Israel.
___This process of removing Palestinians from their land continues in various forms to this very day.
___Palestinian refugees as a whole have never been allowed to exercise their right to return to their homeland. MORE . . .
In Jaffa, 4,000 Palestinians–a mixture of original inhabitants and refugees from surrounding villages–were gathered in the southern Ajami neighborhood while their houses in other parts of the city, or the surrounding villages, were occupied or destroyed. In June 1948 Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion wrote in his diary: “Jaffa will be a Jewish city. War is war.” Less than a year later he reported to the Israeli parliament that 45,000 new Jewish immigrants had been settled in the city’s “abandoned” homes.
[. . . .]
___A look at the Judaization of Jaffa’s Old City illustrates something of what Israeli policymakers have in mind for the Ajami neighborhood. The heart of the Old City today has been totally renovated, with Palestinian residents long gone. Spotless pedestrian walkways weave between buildings that once served as Palestinian homes, shops and factories and now have been transformed into expensive restaurants, galleries and gift shops for foreign and Israeli tourists. The simple fact that the asking price is beyond the range of the average Jaffa Palestinian would prevent them from even attempting to move into the area.
Humphries, Isabelle. “The Nakba Continues: The Ethnic Cleansing Of Jaffa’s Ajami Neighborhood.” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs 27.5 (2008): 14-15.
Evidence of Israeli “transfer” of land, Hebron. (Photo: Harold Knight, November 18, 2015)
❹ Opinion/Analysis: IT JUST AIN’T CRICKET: HOW ISRAEL ‘TRANSFERS’ LAND FROM PALESTINIANS TO SETTLERS The Palestinian Information Center
Kamel Hawwash
May 22, 2016
The cricket season is in full swing in England and this was possibly playing on my mind when I read this headline in Haaretz: “Israel seized Palestinian family’s East Jerusalem land behind its back, gave it to settler NGO.”
___My immediate reaction was this is simply not cricket, a British term used to describe an act that is unfair, not honest, or immoral. . . . Israel expropriated the land from the Abu Ta’ah family in East Jerusalem without a tender and against the rules, then handed it over to Amana, an organisation that works to establish settlements and outposts for Jews. MORE . . .
“POEM TO JERUSALEM,” Harun Hashim Rasheed (b. 1927)
For the sake of a city that’s imprisoned,
for its Dome and Aqsa Mosque,
for the annihilated sanctuary
where Muhammad’s feet once stood,
for all this city has endured,
and for all it has preserved,
for Mary and Jesus,
for all the beings she has known,
for my city’s sake,
raped and abused,
on its wounded brow
God’s words are effaced.
I call on all our dead
and all our living
with verses from the Bible
if only they could hear
with verses from the Quran
in the name of God
calling the young among them and the very old
calling them from my depths
to every brave fighter
I tell them the struggle is for Jerusalem
I call on them to resolve and have faith
tell them how Jerusalem’s sanctity is wounded
I call upon them all to help Jerusalem
She cannot wait any longer,
she overflows with grief.
From the Atlantic to the Arabian Gulf
I call upon you in the name of God
with the purity of anger I beseech you
for the city with the humiliated eyes
I call you in your name,
I call my Arab people.
―translated by Sharif Elmusa and Naomi Shihab Nye
Harun Hashim Rasheed(b. 1927)
Born in Gaza, poet Harun Hashim Rasheed witnessed, as a child, British soldiers demolishing his and his neighbors’ home in reprisal against Palestinian rebels, an incident which left a deep mark on him as a poet. After obtaining a Higher Teacher Training Diploma from Gaza College, he worked as a teacher until 1954. He then became director of the Sawt Al-Arab broadcasting station in Gaza. After the fall of Gaza to the Israelis in 1967, he was harassed by the Israeli occupation forces and was eventually compelled to leave. He has had a long and illustrious career as a Palestinian poet and literary figure in exile.
From: ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN PALESTINIAN LITERATURE. Ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Available fromColumbia University Press.
❷ MOH WARNS OF STOPPING HEART CATHETER IN GAZA
Palestine InSight 