Tag: International Monetary Fund

“. . . Salaam upon you the day you were killed in the land of peace . . .” (Mahmoud Darwish)

Harold KnightLeave a comment

IMG_3219 - CopyHEBRON: Mother and sons climb into back window of their home
because Israel has closed their street to protect illegal settlers.
(Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 7, 2015)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

THE  PALESTINIAN  ECONOMY  IN  LIGHT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  SANCTIONS
Several reports will be on the table of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHCL) for coordinating international aid to the Palestinian People, which is chaired by Norway, when it meets in New York on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly meetings later this month.   ___The reports, from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Palestinian government, agree that 2018 is the worst for the Palestinian economy since Israel has re-occupied the Palestinian cities in the West Bank 16 years ago.   ___By the beginning of 2018, domestic and international forecasts estimated that growth in the Palestinian economy would range from 2.5% to 3%, reflecting a continuation of the slowdown in the Palestinian economy over the past five years . . .    More . . .
Related . . .   13,000  UNRWA  EMPLOYEES  IN  GAZA  PROTEST  AGAINST  CUTS

PLO  CONDEMNS  ISRAEL’S  MURDER  OF  SIX  PALESTINIANS  IN  THE  LAST  24  HOURS
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) strongly condemned on Wednesday Israel’s murder of six Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the last 24 hours, accusing Israeli forces of deliberately targeting the Palestinians.   ___“The deliberate murder of six Palestinians by Israeli forces in the last twenty-four hours is yet another escalation in the Israeli occupation’s brutality and inhumanity,” said PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi.   More . . .
Related . . .  PALESTINIANS  BID  LAST  FAREWELL  TO  2  YOUTHS  MURDERED  BY  ISRAEL  ARMY

ISRAELI  FORCES  INJURE  DOZENS  OF  PALESTINIAN  STUDENTS  IN  HEBRON
Dozens of Palestinian school students suffered injuries, on Wednesday, during clashes with Israeli forces in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron.   ___Local sources said that Israeli forces provoked Palestinian students as they were on their way to school in Hebron City, resulting in violent clashes between students and Israeli forces. . . .  Israeli forces fired tear-gas bombs at the Palestinian students, causing dozens of students to suffer from tear-gas inhalation.    ___Palestinian students are regularly harassed by Israeli forces and settlers in Hebron City.   More . . .
Related . . .    15,000  JEWS  VISIT  HEBRON’S  IBRAHIMI  MOSQUE  AHEAD  OF  YOM  KIPPUR

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

‘OSLO  SOLD  US  OUT’:  YOUNG  PALESTINIANS  ON  THE  MOMENT  THAT  SHAPED  THEIR  GENERATION
In September 1993 the world celebrated what it thought was the beginning of the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.   ___The Oslo Accords was supposed to lead to a “comprehensive peace agreement” by 1999, and eventually, a Palestinian state . . .  ___Twenty-five years after Oslo. . .  a fair and just peace agreement for the Palestinians remains far out of reach. The dream of an independent Palestinian state even further.   [. . . .] “What does Oslo mean to me? For me, Oslo means that the Palestinian people did not get to decide their fate as a whole.” The words of Yasmin Abu Shakdim, a 22-year-old Sociology student from the city of Hebron, are expressive of a sentiment held by many Palestinian youth.   More . . .

7AMLEH:  GOOGLE  MAPS  ENDANGERING  PALESTINIAN  HUMAN  RIGHTS
The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media released a new report entitled, “Mapping Segregation – Google Maps and the Human Rights of Palestinians”.   ___The report reveals new insights about how  Google Maps’ mapping process in the occupied Palestinian territories serves the interests of the Israeli government and contradicts Google’s commitment to international human rights frameworks.   More . . .

REMEMBERING  THE  SABRA  AND  SHATILA  MASSACRE
Between September 16 and 18, 1982, Palestinian refugees in Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila refugee camps were massacred. Estimates vary, but about 3,000 Palestinian refugees, mostly women, children, and the elderly were killed. The attack took place during Lebanon’s civil war, a few months after Israel’s invasion of the country.   More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . . 

CHRISTIAN  PEACEMAKER  TEAMS  PALESTINE
Christian Peacemaker Teams Palestine is a faith-based organization that supports Palestinian-led, non-violent, grassroots resistance to the Israeli occupation and the unjust structures that uphold it. By collaborating with local Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers and educating people in our home communities we strive to help create a space for justice and peace.   More . . .    Donate . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“I  DIDN’T  APOLOGIZE  TO  THE  WELL,”  MAHMOUD  DARWISH

I didn’t apologize to the well when I passed the well,
I borrowed from the ancient pine tree a cloud
and squeezed it like an orange, then waited for a gazelle
white and legendary. And I ordered my heart to be patient:
Be neutral as if you were not of me! Right here
the kind shepherds stood on air and evolved
their flutes, then persuaded the mountain quail toward
the snare. And right here I saddled a horse for flying toward
my planets, then flew. And right here the priestess
told me: Beware of the asphalt road and the cars
and walk upon your exhalation. Right here
I slackened my shadow and waited, I picked the tiniest
rock and stayed up late. I broke the myth and I broke.
And I circled the well until I flew from myself
to what isn’t of it. A deep voice shouted at me:
This grave isn’t your grave. So I apologized.
I read verses from the wise holy book, and said
to the unknown one in the well: Salaam upon you the day
you were killed in the land of peace, and the day you rise
from the darkness of the well alive!

—From THE  BUTTERFLY’S  BURDEN, by Mahmoud Darwish, Trans. Fady Joudah. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press. 2007.

“. . . a theater of sounds on the west bank of our ancient river . . .” (Fawaz Turki)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
Israel Demolishes Three Homes in Bethlehem Village April 12, 2016 (Photo: WAFA)
Israel Demolishes Three Homes in Bethlehem Village April 12, 2016 (Photo: WAFA)

❶ Israeli Forces Detain Six Palestinians from West Bank
Israeli Forces Detain Nine Palestinians, Karate Team Coach from West Bank, Gaza
❷ Israeli Army Destroys Playground near Nablus
Israel Demolishes Three Homes in Bethlehem Village
❸ Palestinian PM says he is ‘bitterly disappointed’ in US
❹ Analysis: Would pre-state Zionist militias be terrorists by today’s standards
❺ Opinion/Analysis: AS  THREATS  AGAINST  BDS  GROW,  IT  IS  TIME  FOR  ‘SUMOUD’ [RESOLVE]  IN  ACTIVIST  COMMUNITIES
❻ POETRY by Fawaz Turki
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  SIX  PALESTINIANS  FROM  WEST  BANK
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
April 12, 2016
Israeli forces detained early Tuesday six Palestinians from the West Bank, bringing the total number of detainees to 17, said WAFA correspondent.
___Israeli forces detained three Palestinians during a raid into Qalandia Youth Center in Qalandia refugee camp, north of Jerusalem.
MORE . . .
RELATED . . .  ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  NINE  PALESTINIANS,  KARATE  TEAM  COACH  FROM  WEST  BANK,  GAZA

❷ ISRAELI  ARMY  DESTROYS  PLAYGROUND  NEAR  NABLUS
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
April 12, 2016
Israeli army on Tuesday destroyed a playground in Za’tara, a small village to the south of Nablus, according to local sources.
___Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors Israeli settlement activities in northern West Bank, told WAFA that Israeli military bulldozers broke into the village and demolished playground, which was used a children’s park.      MORE . . . 
RELATED . . .    ISRAEL  DEMOLISHES  THREE  HOMES  IN  BETHLEHEM  VILLAGE 

❸ PALESTINIAN  PM  SAYS  HE  IS  ‘BITTERLY  DISAPPOINTED’  IN  US
Al-Monitor (Palestine Pulse)
Daoud Kuttab
April 11, 2016
Since being appointed Palestinian prime minister in June 2013, Rami Hamdallah has run a tight economic ship, earning him praise from Christoph Duenwald, the local representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) . . . .
___Praise from the IMF aside, Hamdallah said, “As prime minister I am bitterly disappointed when it comes to the US. . .  Hamdallah explained that although US support in 2010 reached $1.45 billion, in 2015 Washington pledged to provide $290 million but only delivered $130 million. The remaining $160 million was frozen by Congress.      MORE . . .

❹ Analysis:  WOULD  PRE-STATE  ZIONIST  MILITIAS  BE  TERRORISTS  BY  TODAY’S  STANDARDS?
+972 Blog
Tomer Persico
April 10, 2016
Labor MK Zohair Bahloul in recent days raised the ire of Israeli politicians from across the political spectrum, including members of his own party, for his unwillingness to label Palestinians who attack Israeli soldiers “terrorists.”      MORE . . . 

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American comedian and actress Roseann Barr seen at the opening of “Yedioth Aharonots” conference “Fighting the Boycott” discussing issues and ways to fight the BDS movement, at the Jerusalem Convention Center, on March 28, 2016. Photo by Miriam Alster/Flash90

❺ Opinion/Analysis:  AS  THREATS  AGAINST  BDS  GROW,  IT  IS  TIME  FOR  ‘SUMOUD’  [RESOLVE]   IN  ACTIVIST  COMMUNITIES
Mondoweisss
Nada Elia
April 11, 2016
The attacks on BDS, and BDS organizers, are intensifying globally.  “The BDS organizations will have no rest,” warned Gilad Erdan at the recent “Stop BDS” conference in Occupied Jerusalem.
___One of the better-known BDS organizers, Omar Barghouti, has been directly named as a target of “civil assassination.”  [. . . . ]
___And historically, Palestinians have given the world many terms.  “Nakba,” our catastrophe, which started before the day of its commemoration, May 15, 1948, and is ongoing today . . . .  “Intifada,” the “shaking off” of an oppressive system intent on our total annihilation . . . .  And “SUMOUD.”  Sumoud is the persistence of the Palestinian people . . . .        MORE . . .

“DUSK IN GALILEE,” BY Fawaz Turki
(on request)

A feast of colors
is the sunset in Galilee,
a silent orgy
in the horizon of our
West Bank,
silver grey stars
quivering in the sky
speeding to hug one another
body and soul
like erotic grapes of sorrow
the wind
and the desolate music
of the oud
are a theater of sounds
on the west bank
of our ancient river
and the evening will unfurl
exquisite delights
in Galilee.
The military governor
tells his guests
all this has come to pass
because he issued an edict
and his soldiers used their guns
to make it so.

Fawaz Turki (b. 1940) was born in Haifa, Palestine. He is a poet and the author of prose accounts of his life as a Palestinian in exile. He has published several books in English. He was writer-in-residence at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, a professor at the State University of New York in Buffalo, and a frequent speaker at conferences on the Middle East.   About Fawaz Turki.
From ANTHOLOGY  OF  MODERN  PALESTINIAN  LITERATURE.  Ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Available from Columbia University Press.
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