Tag: Israeli settler violence

“. . . Don’t ask me to abandon . . . the memory of my childhood . . .” (Fouzi El Asmar)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
settlers
Settlers break into Palestinian apartments in Hebron (Photo: Elisha Ben Kimon)

❶ Palestinian family of 7 in Hebron Hills faces imminent displacement by Israel
. . . ❶― (ᴀ) Israeli court rejects appeal against [Hebron district] home demolition of Palestinian attacker’s family

  • Background: “The Last Colonialist: Israel In The Occupied Territories Since 1967.” Independent Review

❷ Israeli occupation plans to build new settlement units in Hebron
❸ POETRY by Fouzi El Asmar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ PALESTINIAN FAMILY OF 7 IN HEBRON HILLS FACES IMMINENT DISPLACEMENT BY ISRAEL
Ma’an News Agency
Aug. 21, 2016
Seven Palestinians face imminent displacement after Israeli forces delivered a demolition warrant for their home on Sunday, which is located inside the official village limits of al-Tuwani in the vulnerable Southern Hebron Hills region of the occupied West Bank. ___Al-Tuwani village council head Nasser al-Adra told Ma’an that Israeli forces notified Kamil Mousa al-Rabai and his family for a second time that their 120-square-meter house would be demolished [. . . .]
___“This would be the first time Israeli forces demolish a house located within the official community master plan,” al-Adra told Ma’an. “This new policy is a dangerous escalation against al-Tuwani and its neighboring villages and hamlets.”       MORE . . .    

. . . ❶― (ᴀ) ISRAELI COURT REJECTS APPEAL AGAINST [Hebron district] HOME DEMOLITION OF PALESTINIAN ATTACKER’S FAMILY 
Ma’an News Agency 
Aug. 22, 2016
The family of Palestinian prisoner Muhammad Abd al-Majid Omaireh, who Israel accused of being an accomplice in a shooting attack last month which left one Israeli settler dead, said on Monday that an Israeli court decided to demolish their family home in the village of Dura in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron.      MORE . . .  

❷ ISRAELI OCCUPATION PLANS TO BUILD NEW SETTLEMENT UNITS IN HEBRON 
Alray-Palestinian Media Agency
Aug. 22, 2016
The Israeli occupation authorities (IOF) plan to build new settlement units in the Jewish settlement amid Hebron southern the West Bank, Haartez newspaper reported.  ___The newspaper reported on Monday that the plan is scheduled to be ended these days, noting that the former Army Minister, Moshe Yaalon, has issued a statement to build the settlement unit on h2 area under Israeli sovereignty.      MORE . . .       RELATED . . .

  • Reuveny, Rafael. “The Last Colonialist: Israel In The Occupied Territories Since 1967.” Independent Review 12.3 (2008): 325-374.  FULL ARTICLE.  

During the past five hundred years, three primary types of colonies have been established: colonies of exploitation, colonies of settlement, and colonies of contested settlement. Colonies of exploitation, the large majority, overworked natives in labor intensive sectors and did not include many settlers. In colonies of settlement, the settlers became the majority and gained full control. In Spanish America, for example, settlers intermarried with the local elites, killed many natives, and enslaved others, and in British North America and Australia, settlers ousted the natives and decimated them demographically, turning them into a small minority in the land they had previously inhabited. Some of these settler societies also imported slaves from Africa. In colonies of contested settlement in Africa and Asia, many settlers went to live in the colonized lands, but they remained a minority rejected by the natives.
[. . . .]
Recent settler actions in the West Bank city of Hebron and the former settlement of Homesh provide additional insight. Seeking to gain control over Hebron’s old city, settlers have attacked Palestinians since 2001, playing a key role in driving out 15,000 to 20,000 Palestinian residents and 1,500 to 1,700 Palestinian businesses from the city. Settlers also have often attacked verbally and physically the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel sent to enforce order. In early 2007, settlers took over a large Palestinian house in Hebron and returned to Homesh, from which the government had removed them during 2005. Because they had done so without approval. Defense Minister Amir Peretz from the Labor Party sought to evacuate them, but the World Council tor Saving the People and the Land of Israel, a settler body, warned him not to intervene. IDF evacuated the settlers from Homesh, but they have since returned several times. In Hebron, the settlers reportedly presented forged documents to prove their ownership of the house and have refused to leave.
[. . . .]
In line with historical colonial examples, Israeli settlers have often built settlements, so-called outposts, without state approval. By 2007, some two thousand settlers lived in about one hundred outposts, seizing 75 percent of their lands from Palestinians. Some Israeli governments have promised to remove outposts and have even removed a few, but all the governments have essentially accepted them after the fact.

kelly-demolition
Homes Demolished in the South Hebron Hills, Feb. 12, 2016 (Photo: Cassandra Dixon/antiwar.com blog)

“TO  A  JEWISH  FRIEND,”  BY  FOUZI  EL-ASMAR
Don’t ask me
the impossible
Don’t’ ask me
to hunt stars,
walk to the sun.
Don’t ask me
to empty the sea
to erase the day’s light
I am nothing but a man.

Don’t ask me
to abandon my eyes, my love,
the memory of my childhood.

I was raised
under an olive tree,
I ate the figs
of my orchard
drank wine from
the sloping vineyards
Tasted Cactus fruit
in the valleys
more, more.

The nightingale has sung
in my ears
The free winds of fields and cities
always tickled me
My friend
You cannot ask me
to leave my own country.  (March 1971)

El Azmar, Fouzi. POEMS  FROM  AN  ISRAELI  PRISON. Intro. By Israel Shahak. New York: KNOW Books, 1973.
Available from Amazon.
About Fouzi El Asmar.

“. . . And here I shall remain . . .” (Fouzi El-Asmar)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
1-beit whatever silwan-001
At least nine Palestinians were left homeless after settlers escorted by Israeli security personnel forcibly evicted them from their homes in the Batn Al-Hawa neighborhood of East Jerusalem (Photo: Holy Land 24 News, Oct 16, 2015)

❶ Approving the establishment of a settlement outpost in the neighborhood of Batn Al-Hawa
. . . ❶― (ᴀ) In Controversial Move Israel Approves More Funding for West Bank Settlements
~~From: Refuge Journal
❷ Almost 42% of West Bank and Gaza Strip Residents are Refugees (VIDEO)
❸ Israeli Settlers Storm Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa
~~From: Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture
❹ POETRY by Fouzi El-Asmar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ APPROVING  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  A  SETTLEMENT  OUTPOST  IN  THE  NEIGHBORHOOD  OF  BATN  AL-HAWA
Wadi Hilweh Information Center – Silwan
June 19, 2016
The Local Constructions and Organizing Committee recently approved the establishment of a settlement outpost in the neighborhood of Batn Al-Hawa in Silwan [. . . .]
___The committee of Batn A-Hawa will submit through its lawyer an objection against the settlement project within 30 days. The lawyer pointed out that the Constriction and Organizing Committee ratified the establishment of the building without publishing anything regarding the project in the newspaper to avoid any objections. Also, the area of the project is bigger than the area of the land that Ateerat Cohanim organization claims to own.    MORE . . .     

. . . ❶― (ᴀ)  IN  CONTROVERSIAL  MOVE  ISRAEL  APPROVES  MORE  FUNDING  FOR  WEST  BANK  SETTLEMENTS
The New Arab
Jun 20 2016
The Israeli government on Sunday approved some $18 million in additional funding for settlements in the occupied West Bank, calling it a response to security concerns.
___The decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing cabinet will see some 70 million shekels ($18 million, 16 million euros) allocated to settlement-related spending.
___According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the amount is in addition to an already allocated $88 million.    MORE . . .

In the case of Palestine, a complex multi-ethnic society was transformed in 1948 into an ethnocentric state. Ideologues of the new Israel elaborated a highly contentious account of local history in which the indigenous population had no significant role. Palestinians were silenced by the impacts of mass displacement and by an ideological agenda that celebrated certain traditions, rights, and achievements embedded in the new national agenda. At the same time they were affected by continuous efforts of the Israeli state to enforce further ethnic cleansing, a process described by Yiftachel as “ethno-spatial domination and exclusion” (Yiftachel, Oren. Bedouin Arabs And The Israeli Settler State: Land Policies and Indigenous Resistance).
___The dominant Zionist account of foundational events in Israel can be seen as a paradigmatic example of Renan’s contention that “deeds of violence” are excluded from the national narrative. Those who have challenged this record, notably Palestinian academics and Israel’s “revisionist” historians, have often been accused of seeking to “delegitimize” the Israel state—a marker of the importance of the past in contemporary politics. The Palestinian experience also reveals the significance of mass displacement as a functional practice for exclusionary regimes. Most of the Palestinians displaced in 1948, and their descendants to the fourth or even fifth generation, remain in “camps” and settlements in Arab states and in Israel and Israeli-occupied territories, while “internal” displacement (within the borders of Israel)
continues. Exclusion of Palestinian Arabs appears to be an existential principle for the Zionist movement. Here, the violence of the “founding fathers” is revisited continuously upon a historic Other.

  • Marfleet, Philip. “Displacements Of Memory.” Refuge (0229-5113) 32.1 (2016): 7-17.    ARTICLE.
settlers
Israeli extremist settlers storming the compound of the Aqsa Mosque under protection of Israeli regime forces (Photo: Alwaght News & Analysis, July 21, 2015)

❷ ISRAELI  SETTLERS  STORM  JERUSALEM’S  AL-AQSA
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
June 22, 2016
Israeli settlers on Wednesday resumed their provocative visits to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.
___WAFA correspondent said small groups of extremist settlers accompanied by an Israeli police escort broke into the site during the morning to perform rituals [. . . .]
___The al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem has become a flashpoint of the escalating conflict in recent months. It is the third holiest place for Muslims, and has since 1967 been the center of the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict.     MORE . . .

The Muslim-Jewish conflict over the Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif was revived in the aftermath of the Six-Day War, accelerating tensions. Thus, the critical historical change in the status of the Temple Mount, East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories ignited feelings of despair, revenge and religious solidarity among Muslims. In particular, conservative and zealous Muslims deepened their ideological religious attachment to al-Haram al-Sharif, elevating its importance and vowing to liberate it by Jihad against Israel. Similarly, many Jews in Israel and abroad were deeply moved by the redemption of the Western Wall.
___But among zealous Jews, the Messianic longing to rebuild the Temple was empowered by the intention to blow up the mosques that had “desecrated” the Temple Mount. These mutually hostile attitudes have been accompanied by denial of each side’s attachment to their respective holy shrines.
___The political and religious leaders of both sides adopted these positions regarding these critical issues to advance political and national objectives and to please their militant groups. Simultaneously, attempts have been made by the relevant governments, as well as by various global organizations, to settle this dispute, but to no avail.

  • Ma’oz, Moshe. “A National Or Religious Conflict? The Dispute Over The Temple Mount/Al-Haram Al-Sharif In Jerusalem.” Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture 20/21.4/1 (2015): 25-32.    ARTICLE.

❸ ALMOST  42%  OF  WEST  BANK  AND  GAZA  STRIP  RESIDENTS  ARE  REFUGEES  (VIDEO)
Palestine Chronicle
Jun 21 2016
Approximately 41.6 per cent of Palestinian residents in the state of Palestine are refugees, Quds Press reported Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) saying yesterday.
___In an official report, the PCBS said that 26.3 per cent of West Bank residents and 67.7 per cent of those in the Gaza Strip are refugees.
___According to UNRWA, there were 5.6 million Palestinian refugees in January 2015. MORE . . .

“I  AM  THE  SON  OF  THE  LAND,”  BY  FOUZI  EL ASMAR
You may take my hands
and lock them in your chains
You may also blindfold me.

You bereaved me
from the light
and I marched
You robbed me
of the bread
and I ate.
You plundered the land
from me
and I ploughed.

I am the son of the land
and for that
I find goodness in this earth
anywhere I happen to be:
The ants of this land
feed me
The branches of this land
foster me
The eagles of this land
will shield my open revolt

Yes
You may take my hands
And lock them in your chains
You may also blindfold me
But here I will stand tall
And here I shall remain
until the very end. (April, 1970) 

From: El Azmar, Fouzi.  POEMS   FROM   AN   ISRAELI   PRISON. Intro. By Israel Shahak. New York: KNOW Books, 1973.  Available from Amazon
About Fouzi El Asmar 

“. . . In the tumult of cities beyond deserts and seas . . .” (Jabra Ibrahim Jabra)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
1-isreali
Hundreds of settlers closed all roads leading to the evacuated settlements of Sanur and Homesh north of occupied West Bank and performed Talmudic rituals in the area, May 12, 2016. (Photo: Alternative Information Center)

❶ 647 Palestinians Held in Administrative Detention since October 2015
❷ Israel to Demolish Home of Three Jerusalemite Prisoners
❸ Israeli settlers escalate their attacks against Palestinians
❹ Israel imposes “general closure” on Palestinian territory for Israeli Independence Day
❺ Opinion/Analysis: MOST  ISRAELI  JEWS  THINK  THERE’S  NO  OCCUPATION.  SO  WHAT  IS  IT?
❻ POETRY by Jabra Ibrahim Jabra
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ 647  PALESTINIANS  HELD  IN  ADMINISTRATIVE  DETENTION  SINCE  OCTOBER  2015
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
May 12, 2016
Israeli forces placed 647 Palestinians in administrative detention without trial or charge since October 2015, said Palestine Prisoner’s Society (PPS) on Thursday.
___PPS said the number of Palestinians held in administrative detention has reached about 750 for the first time since 2008.
___It added Israeli military courts have issued 1,144 administrative detention orders against Palestinians since the first of October 2015.      MORE . . .

❷ ISRAEL  TO  DEMOLISH  HOME  OF  THREE  JERUSALEMITE  PRISONERS
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
May 12, 2016
The Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem on Thursday handed a notice to the family of three Palestinian prisoners informing them that their home will be demolished, under the pretext of construction without a permit.
___Um Tareq al-Issawi, the mother of Samer, Shereen and Medhat al-Issawi – three prisoners in Israeli jails, told WAFA that she has received a notice from the Israeli municipality regarding their intention to demolish their house, for being constructed without an Israeli permit [. . . .]
She said such a decision aims at “breaking the steadfastness” of her three imprisoned sons.      MORE . . . 

home demolition
The file photo shows Israeli bulldozers demolishing a Palestinian home in Beit Hanina in occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds. (Photo: PressTV. Feb. 14, 2015)

❸ ISRAELI  SETTLERS  ESCALATE  THEIR  ATTACKS  AGAINST  PALESTINIANS
The Palestinian Information Center
May 12, 2016
Israeli settlers stepped up overnight their attacks against Palestinians and their properties as they were celebrating their Jewish holidays.
___In al-Khalil, a group of settlers stoned late yesterday several Palestinian homes in the Old City.
___The settlers threw stones and empty bottles at a number of local homes after they performed Talmudic rituals at the Ibrahimi Mosque, the PIC reporter affirmed.   MORE . . .

❹ ISRAEL  IMPOSES  “GENERAL  CLOSURE” ON  PALESTINIAN  TERRITORY  FOR ISRAELI  INDEPENDENCE  DAY
Ma’an News Agency
May 11, 2016
Israeli authorities declared a “general closure” on Gaza and the occupied West Bank since midnight on Tuesday and continuing until midnight on Thursday, as Israel celebrates its Memorial and Independence Day [. . . .]
___Crossings into Israel from the West Bank and Gaza are only being permitted in humanitarian cases. However, a representative of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has requested approval for Palestinians in need of serious medical assistance. . . .
___An Israeli army spokesperson said the closure was implemented following an army “security assessment” and added that the closure restrictions included the passage of products and the movement of people into Israel and its illegal settlements.
MORE . . .    you will have to copy and paste Ma’an News Agency into your browser; it is no longer possible to link it directly for their security reasons.

❺ Opinion/Analysis:  MOST  ISRAELI  JEWS  THINK  THERE’S  NO  OCCUPATION.  SO  WHAT  IS  IT?
+972 Magazine Blog
Natasha Roth
May 11, 2016
A recent poll finds that 72 percent of Jewish Israelis believe Israel’s control over the Palestinian territories does not constitute occupation. So what do you call military rule over a captive population that didn’t vote for the army to be there?      MORE . . .  

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

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

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

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

From THE  PALESTINIAN  WEDDING:  A  BILINGUAL  ANTHOLOGY  OF  CONTEMPORARY  PALESTINIAN  RESISTANCE  POETRY. Ed. and Trans. A. M. Elmessiri. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2011. Reprint from Three Continents Press, Inc., 1982.
Available from Palestine Online Store.
About Jabra Ibrahim Jabra

 

“. . build for scoundrels a life of justice and scented plentitude . .” (Tawfiq Zayyad, 1970)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
hebron blockade
Blockade of an entrance to Hebron erected a few days before this photo was taken (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 7, 2015)

❶ Officials: Israel to confiscate 244 dunams of land in northern Hebron
❷ 2 Palestinian teenagers killed in Hebron after stabbing attack
❸ PA, Israel in dispute over Dawabsha family medical bills
❹ The farce of catching Jewish terrorists
❺ Opinion/Analysis: Israel  Ratchets  up  Its  Violence  against  a  New  Generation  of  Palestinians.  A  New  Intifada?
❻ Poetry by Tawfiq Zayyad
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
OFFICIALS:  ISRAEL  TO  CONFISCATE  244  DUNAMS  OF  LAND  IN  NORTHERN  HEBRON
Dec. 3, 2015
HEBRON ― Israeli authorities have ruled to confiscate 244 dunams of land from the villages of Surif and al-Jabaa in the northern Hebron district, local officials told Ma’an Thursday.
___The mayor of Surif, Muhammad Lati Ghneimat, said that the land is located in the al-Ghazal, Khillet Abu Ghneim, Deir Moussa, and Thahr al-Mansara areas in al-Jabaa village.
___“There are hundreds of olive trees planted in these lands that are very old belonging to the Ghneimat, al-Hur, Hmeidat and other families,” the mayor said.  More . . .
❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
2  PALESTINIAN  TEENAGERS  KILLED  IN  HEBRON  AFTER  STABBING  ATTACK
Dec. 4, 2015
HEBRON ― Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian teenagers in Hebron overnight Friday after an alleged stabbing attack on an Israeli soldier, Israel’s army and locals said.
___”Overnight two assailants stabbed an IDF soldier in Hebron. In response to the threat, forces fired at the attackers, resulting in their death. A soldier was moderately wounded,” an Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an.
___Palestinian sources identified the victims to Ma’an as cousins Taher Faysal Fannoun, 19, a student at Hebron University, and Faysal Abd al-Minem Fannoun, 15.
___Witnesses in the Tel Rumeida area where the incident took place reported seeing two bodies on the ground after hearing gunshots after midnight.  More . . .

hebron guard tower
Barricade in Hebron with guard tower overlooking street commandeered by Jewish Settlers (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 7, 2015)

❸ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PA,  ISRAEL  IN  DISPUTE  OVER  DAWABSHA  FAMILY  MEDICAL  BILLS
Dec. 4, 2015
RAMALLAH ― The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health on Thursday said it had been asked to pay the medical bills to treat members of the Dawabsha family after a deadly attack on their home by settlers in July, a claim denied by a senior Israeli official.
¬¬___The ministry issued a statement claiming that the Sheba Medical Center had demanded that the Palestinian ministry cover the medical bills of four-year-old Ahmad Dawabsha, the only surviving member of a deadly arson attack which killed his 18-month-old baby brother and parents Saad and Riham.
___On Oct. 25, the PA ministry received a bill from the medical center for 259,643 shekels ($67,000) to cover treatment of the Dawabsha family.  More . . .
Related . . . DAWABSHA  FAMILY:  ISRAELI  GOVERNMENT  GAVE  SETTLERS  A  ‘LICENCE  TO  KILL’
❹ + 972 MAGAZINE
THE  FARCE  OF  CATCHING  JEWISH  TERRORISTS
Edo Konrad
Dec. 3, 2015
After months of seemingly never-ending promises by Israel’s defense establishment, a number of Israeli youths have been arrested in connection with the arson attack in the West Bank village Duma last summer, which killed three members of the Dawabsha family. . . . Their identity still remains under gag order.
Gag orders are commonly used in cases of Jewish terrorism, a courtesy hardly extended to Palestinian subjects of military rule. In fact, at any given moment there are hundreds of Palestinians, including minors, who Israel holds without trial.
[. . . . ]
The Duma arrests come just months after Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon first claimed he knew who was responsible for the attack, yet abstained from putting anyone on trial so as not to expose the defense establishment’s source’s in court.  More . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
ISRAEL  RATCHETS  UP  ITS  VIOLENCE  AGAINST  A  NEW  GENERATION  OF  PALESTINIANS.  A  NEW  INTIFADA?
Jonathan Cook (first of four commentaries)
December, 2015
Moshe Yaalon, Israel’s defense minister, gave an interview to Israeli army radio on Oct. 15. . . The man who 13 years earlier, during the height of the second intifada, had called for his troops to “burn into [the Palestinians’] consciousness” their defeat, now spoke of the challenges Israel faced in “managing” the conflict.
___“We have to know how to deal with this and not get scared, and understand that there’s a long struggle there and mainly act in our own interests,” he said. Israelis had to concentrate on living a “normal life” while “around us there’s a culture of death.”
___The change of emphasis more than a decade later almost certainly reflected the views of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu too. . More . . .

“THE  PAGAN  FIRE,”  BY  TAWFIQ  ZAYYAD  (1929 – 1994)

Slowly,
I draw the thin thread of light
From the night’s entangled darkness,
Water the nursery of dreams
At the source of the torrent,
And dry the tears of my beloved
With kerchiefs of Arabian Jasmine.

Slowly,
I plant the scarce oases
In the burning sands,
And build for scoundrels
A life of justice and scented plentitude.
If, one day, I trip on the road,
My roots will guide me back.

Slowly,
For I am not like matches
That flicker once and die forever
But like a pagan fire,
I burn from the cradle to the grave,
And from my ancestors to my descendants.
My breath is as wide as the horizon;
I will master the craft of ants.

Slowly,
For we dictate
The course of history.
We have seen the end
Of many a tyrant;
Each gets what he deserves.
We lengthen their ropes,
Not to lengthen their lives, but to hang them.
―Translated by Dr. Mahmud Hassan of Alexandria University

From: A  LOVER  FROM  PALESTINE  AND  OTHER  POEMS:  AN  ANTHOLOGY  OF  PALESTINIAN  POETRY.  Ed. Abdul Wahab Al-Messiri. Washington, DC: Free Palestine Press, 1970. Available from Amazon.
Tawfiq Zayyad (7 May 1929 – 5 July 1994) was a Palestinian politician well known for his “poetry of protest”. Born in the Galilee, Zayyad studied literature in USSR. After returning home, he was elected mayor of Nazareth on 9 December 1973. . . More . . . 

hebron fortress
Fortress of the Israeli military protecting illegal Jewish settlements in Hebron (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 6, 2015)

 

“. . . My anger drips oil and honey, my pain bears almonds . . .” (Yusuf Hamdan)

Harold Knight2 Comments
The boy, Ahmed Manasrah, 13, remains strong, unwilling to break, no matter how much the Israeli officers aggravate him with moral and physical pressure. (Photo: MEMO)
The boy, Ahmed Manasrah, 13, remains strong, unwilling to break, no matter how much the Israeli officers aggravate him with moral and physical pressure. (Photo: MEMO)

❶ Analysis: A Child Triumphs against Israel’s Brutal Occupation
❷ Israeli Troops Force Palestinian Family off Land during Olive Harvest
❸ Thousands Attend Funerals of Two Palestinians Slain in Clashes
❹ Beyond the Natural Scenes of Palestinian Nature Reserves
❹-A– Israeli Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory –October 2015
❺ Opinion/Analysis: Israeli hospital raid reflects the criminal behavior of the country’s political leadership
❻ Poetry by Yusuf Hamdan
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ Analysis
PALESTINE CHRONICLE
A  CHILD  TRIUMPHS  AGAINST  ISRAEL’S BRUTAL  OCCUPATION
Hossam Shaker
Nov 13 2015
It is rare to find scenes that can express a complex reality or major issue, but one such was some video footage leaked recently, which exposed part of the heinous interrogation of a Palestinian child. Ranking officers in the Israeli occupation security services tried to overpower a 13 year old boy, break his will and crush his dignity.
____The astonishing video shows the impressive resilience of the Palestinian people, represented by this child from Jerusalem. The boy, Ahmed Manasrah, remains strong, unwilling to break, no matter how much the Israeli officers aggravate him with moral and physical pressure.
More . . .
❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  TROOPS  FORCE  PALESTINIAN  FAMILY  OFF  LAND  DURING  OLIVE  HARVEST
Nov. 15, 2015
HEBRON (Ma’an) – Israeli troops on Sunday forced a Palestinian family off their agricultural land during an olive harvest for the second time in two days, a popular committee spokesperson told Ma’an.
___Muhammad Ayyad Awad said Israeli troops forced Hammad Abdul-Hamid Sleibi and his family to leave the family’s olive fields on the outskirts Beit Ummar, in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron.
___Sleibi said that security guards from the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Bat Ayin first arrived to tell the family to leave. The security guards allegedly pointed their guns at the family and threatened them, telling them not to come back to the area.
___The family refused to leave their land, and Israeli forces soon showed up to the scene and shot tear gas and stun grenades at the family, forcing them to flee.
More . . .
❸ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
THOUSANDS  ATTEND  FUNERALS  OF  TWO  PALESTINIANS  SLAIN  IN  CLASHES
Nov. 14, 2015
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Thousands of Palestinians gathered in the Hebron and Ramallah districts of the occupied West Bank Saturday for separate funerals of Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes.
___Near Hebron, mourners carried the body of Hassan Jihad al-Baw, 23, whowas shot in the heart on Friday in the town of Halhul and killed immediately, medics told Ma’an at the time.
[. . . . .]
___Mourners demanded international protection and a response to “Israeli violations and executions against Palestinians.”
[. . . . .]
___Meanwhile in the Ramallah-area town of Budrus, mourners buried Lafi Yusif Awad, 22.
___Awad was shot and killed by Israeli forces during clashes in the town Friday after the Israeli army said he attempted to grab a soldier’s weapon.
More . . .

The funeral of Lafi Youssef Awad, 21, shot by Israeli forces. (MaanImages, Nov. 14, 2015)
The funeral of Lafi Youssef Awad, 21, shot by Israeli forces. (MaanImages, Nov. 14, 2015)

❹ THIS WEEK IN PALESTINE
BEYOND  THE  NATURAL  SCENES  OF  PALESTINIAN  NATURE  RESERVES
Roubina Bassous Ghattas
November 2015
At the 1992 Earth Summit the governments of the world agreed on a new agenda for sustainable development. This agenda included a bold new Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which calls on governments to establish systems of protected areas and to manage these in order to support conservation, sustainable use, and equitable benefit sharing. . . . Nature Reserves are places for people to get a sense of peace in a busy world; places that invigorate the human spirit and challenge the senses.
[. . . . .]
The Palestinian Nature Reserves (NRs) harbor a rich base with many species. When applying the precautionary principle for the analysis of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) on the Palestinian NRs, we find numbers of them identified as KBAs, which highlights the outstanding biodiversity value that is represented by the Palestinian reserves.
More . . .
❹-A–  ISRAELI  VIOLATIONS  IN  THE  OCCUPIED  PALESTINIAN  TERRITORY –OCTOBER 2015
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem
Oct. 11, 2015
From the beginning of the month of October 2015, the Palestinian territory witnessed a systematic war carried out by the Israeli Occupation Army and settlers living in the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory. The confrontation began between the Palestinians, who have the right of the land, and the Israeli Army and their settlers, who have nothing unless the military gear. . .
More . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis
MONDOWEISS
ISRAELI  HOSPITAL  RAID  REFLECTS  THE  CRIMINAL  BEHAVIOR  OF  THE  COUNTRY’S  POLITICAL  LEADERSHIP
Michael Marder
Nov. 13, 2015
The thuggish operations of the Israeli army match very closely the criminal behavior of the country’s political authorities. The undercover raid of the Palestinian al-Ahli hospital in Hebron by about a dozen IDF operatives in disguise on November 12 resulted in the killing of 27-year-old Abdallah Shalaldeh and the arrest of his cousin Azzam who was being treated there.
___An armed attack on a hospital is an offense, according to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, to which Israel was a signatory a year after their formulation, in 1950
[. . . . .]
___At bottom, Israel engages in self-dehumanization when it sanctions raids akin to the one that happened this Thursday
More . . .

“THE  TRUTH  IS  SAID,”  BY  YUSUF  HAMDAN
I say that I hate occupation
you get angry
wake the mountain from its sleep
and chide the fox for forgetting
and you draw the arrest order

I say that I hate war and fighting
you get angry
send an armed messenger
polite
to tell me: Come!
and when I smile
you drown in insults and coughs

I say that I hate oppression
and that all I have
of progressive papers is Al-Itthad
you get angry
and from the sky
you pour Jerusalem and the News
al-Subh and al-Masa
and New Outlook
and other names

I say that I hate rape
you get angry
and honor me in a prison cell
and inflict punishment upon me
and guard me from my friends

I say that I love Justice
you hate it!

I say that I hate injustice
you love it
and if you get angry
there is the ocean drink it!

My anger drips oil and honey
my pain bears almonds, flouts, and roses
so jail my piece of bread
I defy

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.
Also in: Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture. Vol.14 No.1 2007.
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.
Al-Ittihad (The Union) is an Israeli Arabic-language daily newspaper based in Haifa. Once considered the most important Arab media outlet in Israel, it is owned by Maki, the Israeli Communist Party. It is currently edited by Aida Touma-Suleiman.

Graph: Monitoring Israeli Colonization Activities in the Palestinian Territories, Oct. 11, 2015.
Graph: Monitoring Israeli Colonization Activities in the Palestinian Territories, Oct. 11, 2015.

“. . . a fierce struggle of liberation in the name of free men everywhere . . .” (Mahmoud Darwish, 1970)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
Palestinian land in the Jordan Valley. (Agence France‑Presse/Photo)
Palestinian land in the Jordan Valley. (Agence France‑Presse/Photo)

❶ Palestinian shot dead in Hebron after alleged stabbing attempt
❷ Israeli forces deliver demolition orders in Jordan Valley
❸ Palestinian Shot Dead By Israeli Army Fire In Hebron
❹ Opinion/Analysis: Jerusalem in Context
❺ Opinion/Analysis: Recasting the rules: An intellectual intifada in the offing
❻ Poetry by Mahmoud Darwish
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PALESTINIAN  SHOT  DEAD  IN  HEBRON  AFTER  ALLEGED  STABBING  ATTEMPT
Oct. 20, 2015
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes in Beit Awwa west of Hebron, Palestinian sources said.
The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health identified the Palestinian as 24-year-old Udaay Hashim al-Masalma, and said that doctors in Hebron’s public hospital confirmed a bullet to the head was the cause of death.
____An Israeli army spokesperson alleged that Masalma was shot after he attempted to stab an Israeli soldier during a “violent riot” in Beit Awwa.
____She said the soldier “responded with live fire,” and that the Palestinian was evacuated for medical treatment by the Palestinian Red Crescent.
____She added that the Israeli soldier was lightly injured, and as far as she was aware, had not been evacuated for medical treatment.
More . . .
❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  FORCES  DELIVER  DEMOLITION  ORDERS  IN  JORDAN  VALLEY
Oct. 20, 2015
TUBAS (Ma’an) — Israeli forces on Tuesday delivered demolition orders to two Palestinian families in the northern Jordan Valley, notifying them that their tin shacks and tents would be destroyed in less than a month.
____Local sources said the structures belonged to the families of Lutfi Muhammad Bani Audah and Muhammad Ali Bisharat and would be destroyed on Nov. 8.
____The families said that the structures slated for demolition were built several years ago and that they have official deeds to prove their ownership of the land.
More . . .
❸ IMEMC-INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER
HEALTH  MINISTRY:  “46  PALESTINIANS,  INCLUDING  10  CHILDREN,  KILLED  SINCE  OCTOBER 1”
The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported, Monday, that the number of Palestinians, killed by Israeli fire since the beginning of this month, has arrived to 45, including 10 children, in addition to a political prisoner who died of medical neglect.
____The Ministry said the youngest slain Palestinian was 16 months of age, and that eight of the children were killed in the West Bank, and two in the Gaza Strip.
____It stated that 31 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, and 14 in the Gaza Strip, including a mother and her infant, in addition to a young man in the Houra area, in the Negev.
____As for wounded Palestinians, the Ministry said 1850 were shot with live rounds and rubber-coated steel bullets; some suffered burns and others were beaten and assaulted by soldiers and settlers, while more than 3500 suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation.
More . . .
❹ +972 MAGAZINE
JERUSALEM,  IN  CONTEXT
Noam Sheizaf
Oct. 19, 2015
Jeffrey Goldberg wrote a powerful piece in The Atlantic last week claiming to scrutinize Palestinian violence . . . . Goldberg starts by discussing Palestinian “paranoia” over Israel’s actions in Jerusalem and ends with a broader, more common claim: that the Palestinian refusal to recognize Jewish ties to the land of Israel is the primary source of the conflict’s intractability, replete with its frequent rounds of violence.
____There are many holes in this theory, and I’d like to point some of them out.  [. . . . .].
____. . . The belief that Palestinians are invaders or mere guests in this land and that their own ties to the Temple Mount are a political hoax is widely held in Israel’s right wing.
More . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis
MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEMO)
RECASTING  THE  RULES:  AN  INTELLECTUAL  INTIFADA  IN  THE  OFFING
Ramzy Baroud
Oct. 19, 2015
My first stop, after living for 22 years in a refugee camp in Gaza, was the city of Seattle. . . . There, for the first time, I stood before an audience outside Palestine, to speak about Palestine [. . . . .].
____Here, I learned, too, of the limits imposed on the Palestinian right to speak, of what I could or should not say. Platforms for an impartial Palestinian discourse were extremely narrow to begin with, and when any was available, Palestinians hardly took center stage [. . . . .].
____However, after spending almost two decades living in the US, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and travelling across the globe to speak about human rights – starting with Palestinian rights, history and struggle – I began to grasp the seriousness of an unmistakable trend: where the Palestinian narrative is marginalized and fundamentally misunderstood [. . . . .].
____So it was not uncommon to see an entire two-day conference on Palestine divided into several sessions and many workshops without a single Palestinian on the podium . . . . the frame of mind that neglected or avoided the Palestinian narrative has not been defeated completely.
Ramzy Baroud is an internationally-syndicated columnist, author and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story.
More . . . 

“I  DECLARE,”  BY  MAHMOUD  DARWISH  (1970)
As long as a hand-span of my land remains
As long as I have an olive tree―
A lemon tree―
A well―and a cactus plant
As long as I have but a single memory
A tiny library
A grandfather’s picture―and a wall
As long as Arabic words are uttered
And folk songs are sung
In my land
Scribes of poetry
Tales of Antar Al-Abse
Epics of the war against Persia and Rome
As long as I possess my eyes
Lips and hands
My own-self!
I shall declare in the face of my foe!―
A fierce struggle of liberation
In the name of free men everywhere
Workers―students―and poets―
I shall declare―
And let the cowards―ENEMIES OF THE SUN
Be satiated of the bread of shame
As long as I have myself
As long as myself remain
My words will remain―
Bread and arms―
In the hands of freedom fighters!

From: Aruri, Naseer and Edmund Ghareeb, eds. ENEMY  OF  THE  SUN:  POETRY  OF  THE  PALESTINIAN  RESISTANCE. Washington, DC: Drum and Spear Press, 1970.
Available from Amazon.
About Mahmoud Darwish

Right-wing ‘Temple activist’ Yehuda Glick holding a book depicting the Jewish Temple while standing in front of the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, May 21, 2009. Glick survived an assassination attempt by a Palestinian man in 2014. (Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
Right-wing ‘Temple activist’ Yehuda Glick holding a book depicting the Jewish Temple while standing in front of the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, May 21, 2009. Glick survived an assassination attempt by a Palestinian man in 2014. (Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

“. . . To dissolve some dream of mine . . .” (Fouzi el-Asmar, 1973)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
Israeli settlers march through the Muslim quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City, Tuesday night. (Photo: Allison Deger) -
Israeli settlers march through the Muslim quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City, Tuesday night. (Photo: Allison Deger) –

❶ Read their lips: Israeli leaders’ plans for the Palestinians
❷ East Jerusalem is closed for Palestinians, but settlers march unimpeded
❸ Alarm grows over summary executions of Palestinians
❹ Settler Violence Continues in Bethlehem
❺ The Palestinian Youth Had to Challenge the Occupation
❻ Poetry by Fouzi el-Asmar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
(Please read “Purpose” above. Thank you for “following.”)
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
READ  THEIR  LIPS:  ISRAELI  LEADERS’  PLANS  FOR  THE  PALESTINIANS
Samah Sabawi
Oct. 15, 2015 5:04 P.M.
History in the Holy Land seems stuck in a loop. In 2000, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, at the time leader of the opposition, visited the Al-Aqsa compound in a deliberate provocation that triggered the Second Intifada. Israel launched operation “Defensive Shield” to crush the protests and eliminate the Palestinian resistance. As a result, more than 3,000 Palestinians and almost 1,000 Israelis lost their lives between 2000 and 2004, and the peace process was forever derailed.
____Fast forward to 2015: The peace process is now dead and what hope Palestinians had during the early Oslo years has turned into bitter disappointment and despair. Jewish colonies, illegal under international law, have expanded on Palestinian land throughout the years of negotiations and now fully surround Palestinian communities. Palestinians, still living under occupation, are denied basic human rights and harassed by the Israeli military and the armed extremist settlers on a daily basis.
More . . . 
NOTE: An authoritative, accurate, and regularly updated account of the day’s incidents of struggle can always be found at Ma’an News Agency.
❷ MONDOWEISS
EAST  JERUSALEM  IS  CLOSED  FOR  PALESTINIANS,  BUT  SETTLERS  MARCH  UNIMPEDED
Allison Deger
Oct. 15, 2015
Israeli police shut hundreds of Palestinian businesses in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City Tuesday night hours before a general order from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for “a closure on, or to surround, centers of friction and incitement” went into effect.
____Yet after the Palestinian stores were shuttered, police escorted more than 200 Israeli settlers through the Muslim quarter as they marched along the Via Dolorosa, the ancient road that Christians believe Jesus walked on the way to the crucifixion.
____The settlers sang prayers to music played on a PA system strapped to a dolly.
____An Israeli tour group also sauntered freely throughout the Muslim Quarter, stopping to take photographs and regale in the city’s history.
More . . .
Related . . .
❸ THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
ALARM  GROWS  OVER  SUMMARY  EXECUTIONS  OF  PALESTINIANS
Charlotte Silver
Oct. 15 2015
Two more Palestinians were shot dead Wednesday following alleged knife attacks, while the Israeli army and government began implementing a rash of new measures approved by the so-called security cabinet late Tuesday night.
____Among the decisions made, Israeli police and Border Police will enforce closures on Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem.
____Human rights groups, meanwhile, have raised the alarm about an Israeli policy of extrajudicial killing aimed at Palestinians.
____The security cabinet also decided the army will deploy its military police to assist civilian police in major cities throughout present-day Israel, and 1,400 Border Police reservists have been called to reinforce Israeli occupation forces in Jerusalem.
More . . .
Related . . .
❹ IMEMC-INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER
SETTLER  VIOLENCE  CONTINUES  IN  BETHLEHEM
Oct. 15, 2015
Israeli settlers, Thursday, resumed their attacks against Palestinians, stoning Palestinian cars to the south of Bethlehem with stones, according to security sources.
Sources informed WAFA Palestinian News & Info Agency that a group of settlers – protected by Israeli army soldiers – gathered near the Israeli settlement of Ifrat, built illegally on Palestinian-owned land – and proceeded to hurl stones at passing Palestinian registered cars. However, no injuries were reported.
____Israeli settlers reportedly blocked the Jerusalem-Hebron main road, hindering Palestinian traffic movement, which forced locals to take alternative ways to reach their destinations.
____Settlers have stepped up their violent attacks against Palestinians and their properties, following the killing of four Israelis at the hands of alleged Palestinian suspects.
More . . .
Related . . . 
❺ THE PALESTINE CHRONICLE
THE  PALESTINIAN  YOUTH  HAD  TO  CHALLENGE  THE  OCCUPATION
Hasan Afif El-Hasan
Oct. 14 2015
Four years after the advent of the “Arab Spring” and the failure to replace the ousted regimes with something better, the people of the Middle East today are engaged simultaneously in civil wars, holy wars, sectarian wars, and old and new foreign invasions. This is happening while Israel continues to commit human rights violations against the Palestinians, colonize their lands and denies them their right to be free, even the right to worship.
____The aftermath of the spontaneous outbreak of the pro-democracy “Arab Spring” in January 2011 brought the authoritarian Arab regimes and Israel closer in their opposition to democracy and Islamist successes, although each has their own reasons. [. . . . .]
____Israel had always prided itself on being an “island of democracy” in a sea of authoritarianism, but contrary to this claim, Israel is a racist state because Zionism is not compatible with a citizenship-based liberal democracy. Its leaders carried out the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians to create a Jewish majority state in 1947-48. [. . . . .]
____Like all of Israel’s prime ministers and leaders, Netanyahu’s premiership is marked by a stubborn refusal to reevaluate Israel’s relations with the Palestinians. . . . Netanyahu’s government is the most aggressively right wing, chauvinistic, and racist government in Israel’s history. Netanyahu’s ambition is to go down in history as the leader who secured greater Israel.
More . . .

TWO  POEMS  BY  FOUZI  EL-ASMAR
“DETERMINATION  I,”
Man, whenever you reach out
to snatch my bread
and the remaining rays of light
in my eyes,
To dissolve some dream of mine . . . a remaining pride
To delay a rising sun:

Deep in my loins
You will only reach
a dignity and
a solid determination.

“IN  PRISON”
An hour passes
Another hour may follow:
Without feeling
Without words
Without work,
Comrade,
What for?

From: El Asmar, Fouzi. POEMS  FROM  AN  ISRAELI  PRISON. Intro. By Israel Shahak. New York: KNOW Books, 1973.
Available from Amazon.
About Fouzi El Asmar.

Israeli police stand near the body of a Palestinian who was shot and killed after he allegedly tried to stab a person in Jerusalem’s Old City on 14 October. (Photo Oren Ziv /ActiveStills)
Israeli police stand near the body of a Palestinian who was shot and killed after he allegedly tried to stab a person in Jerusalem’s Old City on 14 October. (Photo Oren Ziv /ActiveStills)

Yousef el Qedra, “. .Time has grown up on its own without me. . ” [A special post of news analysis]

Harold KnightLeave a comment
Israeli troops shower protesters with tear gas in Bethlehem on Wednesday - Photo by WAFA Israeli troops shower protesters with tear gas in Bethlehem on Wednesday - Photo by WAFA
Israeli troops shower protesters with tear gas in Bethlehem on Wednesday – Photo by WAFA

❶ MONDOWEISS
ON  BRET  STEPHENS’  HATE  SPEECH
Dorgham Abusalim
Oct. 14, 201
For Israel and her allies it seems that panic mode is on, and Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens, who somehow manages to pass himself for a psychologist in his latest column, is freaking out.
____His article “Palestine: The Psychotic Stage” bears the subtitle, “The truth about why Palestinians have been seized by their present blood lust.” In typical desperate fashion of the pro-occupation ilk, Stephens manipulates the tragic deaths of Israelis reported over the past two weeks. Meanwhile, he conveniently pretends that Palestinians are immortal. They don’t die. Hence, not one mention of a Palestinian death is worth his words — never mind that one of the world’s strongest armed forces is flexing its muscles against them. The issue is not so much with reporting on who died. Stephens’ dangerous propagation in this regard is that a Jewish death is a tragic one and worth reporting, while a Palestinian death is just not worth it because a Palestinian is a psychotic blood thirsty terrorist. Stephens writes:

Treatises have been written about the media’s mind-set when it comes to telling the story of Israel. We’ll leave that aside for now. The significant question is why so many Palestinians have been seized by their present blood lust—by a communal psychosis in which plunging knives into the necks of Jewish women, children, soldiers and civilians is seen as a religious and patriotic duty, a moral fulfillment. Despair at the state of the peace process, or the economy? Please. It’s time to stop furnishing Palestinians with the excuses they barely bother making for themselves.

More. . .
❷ THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
PALESTINE:  THE  PSYCHOTIC  STAGE
THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  WHY  PALESTINIANS  HAVE  BEEN  SEIZED  BY  THEIR  PRESENT  BLOOD  LUST.
Bret Stephens
Oct. 12, 2015
If you’ve been following the news from Israel, you might have the impression that “violence” is killing a lot of people. As in this headline: “Palestinian Killed as Violence Continues.” Or this first paragraph: “Violence and bloodshed radiating outward from flash points in Jerusalem and the West Bank appear to be shifting gears and expanding, with Gaza increasingly drawn in.”
____Read further, and you might also get a sense of who, according to Western media, is perpetrating “violence.” As in: “Two Palestinian Teenagers Shot by Israeli Police,” according to one headline. [. . . . .]
____The significant question is why so many Palestinians have been seized . . . Please. It’s time to stop furnishing Palestinians with the excuses they barely bother making for themselves. [. . . . .]
____Above all, it’s time to give hatred its due.
____Today in Israel, Palestinians are in the midst of a campaign to knife Jews to death, one at a time. This is psychotic. It is evil. To call it anything less is to serve as an apologist, and an accomplice.
More . . .
❸ OPENDEMOCRACY. FREE THINKING FOR THE WORLD
PALESTINIANS  MUST  NOT  FALL  INTO  THIS  TRAP,  AGAIN!
Sam Bahour
Oct. 14, 2015
To cover up its crimes, Israel needs to feed all the western stereotypes of Palestinians as violent and subhuman rather than hungry for freedom and equal rights.
____The lid on the powder keg of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, has been rattling for years now. Palestinians from all walks of life have lost their voices making the case that Israel’s right-wing government . . . is pursuing policies bound to lead to exactly what we are witnessing today, violence. [. . . . .]
____Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has built his entire political career on a platform of violence against Palestinians.. . . . Netanyahu prides himself on being the leader who stopped the peace process in its tracks. To make sure peace would never have a chance, he accelerated settlement building in the West Bank, attacked Gaza multiple times, demolished more Palestinian homes, arrested Palestinians, including minors, often without charges, and failed to bring to justice the Jewish settlers who recently burned alive a Palestinian family while they slept in their home.
____But why does Israel seemingly seek violence? The answer is elementary to anyone following this conflict: Israel has a single gamebook against the legitimate Palestinian struggle for freedom and independence, that of using their well-oiled military machine to squash any Palestinian who attempts to resist occupation. Israel since 1948 and 1967 has routinely used war and violence to seize more land, all the while pushing Palestinians to either turn violent or emigrate.
More. . .
❹ CBS/AP
U.S.  CONDEMNS  PALESTINIAN  ATTACKS  AGAINST  ISRAELI  CIVILIANS
Oct. 13, 2015
Video of the CBS coverage. No mention of settler terrorism. No mention of the International treaty that gives the Palestinians sole right to administer Al-Aqsa mosque. Palestinians are “terrorists.” The Israelis are afraid to go out, to ride buses. No mention of the complete control of Palestinian society by Israel.
More. . .
❺ +972 MAGAZINE
ISRAEL’S  SCAPEGOAT  PROBLEM
Talal Jabari
Israeli governments always found someone to blame for whatever violence came their way, and then they bombed them. This time around there’s nobody to blame. Except for that one thing.
Oct. 14, 2015
This current wave of “lone-wolf” attacks by Palestinians against Israelis poses a threat to the Israeli government unlike any other. Obviously I am not referring to the security risk they pose — after all, Israel has far more deaths and injuries from car accidents. Nor am I referring to the fear this onslaught of attacks may be causing Israelis. No, the real threat is that for the first time since the First Intifada, almost 30 years ago, the Israeli government has nobody to blame. [. . . . .]
____Clearly the Israelis haven’t found anyone to blame, but that’s only because they’re not looking in the right place. Here’s a short list of where they should be looking.
____Let’s start with the obvious. No Palestinian under 50 living in the West Bank, and to an extent the Gaza Strip, has known a day of freedom in his or her entire life. No freedom of movement, no freedom of worship, no sense of personal safety or stability.
More. . .

“I  HAVE  NO  HOME,”  BY  YOUSEF  EL  QEDRA (June 22, 2009)
I saw clouds running away from the hurt.
I have no language.
Its weight is lighter than a feather.
The quill does not write.
The ink of the spirit burns on the shore of meaning.
The clouds are tears, filled with escape and lacking definition.
A cloud realizes the beauty she forms―
beauty which contains all good things,
for whom trees, gardens, and tired young women wait.
I have no home.
I have a night overripe with sweats caused by numbness all over.
Time has grown up on its own without me.
In my dream, I asked him what he looks like.
My small defeats answered me.
So I asked him again, What did he mean?
Then I found myself suspended in nothingness,
stretched like a string that doesn’t belong to an instrument.
The wind played me. So did irresistible gravity.
I was a run of lost notes that have a sad, strong desire to live.

From BEFORE  THERE  IS  NOWHERE  TO  STAND:  PALESTINE  ISREL  POETS  RESPOND  TO  THE  STRUGGLE. Ed. By Joan Dobbie and Grace Beeler. Sandpoint ID: Lost Horse Press, 2012.
Available from Barnes and Noble.
Yousef el Qedra is a young poet and playwright living in Gaza, Palestine. He has a B.A. degree in Arabic literature from al Azhar University, Gaza. His poems have been published in local, national and international magazines, newspapers, and internet websites. More. . .

“. . . But have you pondered the cause behind my tears . . .” (Ahmad Hussein)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
Israeli soldiers on the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip. (Agence France‑Presse /File Menahem Kahana)
Israeli soldiers on the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip. (Agence France‑Presse /File Menahem Kahana)

❶ 2 killed, 19 injured as Israeli forces open fire at Gaza demo
❷ Israeli settlers assault PA minister of communications
❸ Two Palestinians Shot, While Dozens Suffocate during Jericho Clashes
❹ Analysis: The Dogs Not Barking: Netanyahu and Harper Muzzled
❺ Opinion/Analysis: The next Intifada should be a Palestinian revolution until the occupation ends
❻ Poetry by Ahmad Hussein
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
(Please read “Purpose” above. Thank you for clicking on “follow.”)

❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
2  KILLED,  19  INJURED  AS  ISRAELI  FORCES  OPEN  FIRE  AT  GAZA  DEMO
Oct. 9, 2015
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Two Palestinians were killed and 19 others injured as Israeli military forces opened fire at a demonstration by the border fence east of Gaza City, medics said.
____Medical sources told Ma’an that Ahmad al-Harbawi and Hussam Dawla were shot and killed during the clashes east of the al-Shujaiyeh neighborhood east of Gaza City.
____At least 19 Palestinians were injured.
More . . .
❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  SETTLERS  ASSAULT  PA  MINISTER  OF  COMMUNICATIONS
Oct. 8, 2015
NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers assaulted the Palestinian Authority Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Alam Moussa, in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus on Thursday, smashing his car windows during the attack, PA officials said.
____Palestinian officials condemned the attack, noting that the assault against the PA minister is evidence of settlers indiscriminately targeting Palestinians.
____Government officials called upon institutions of the international community, particularly the United Nations Security Council, to intervene in Israeli violations against Palestinians.
More . . .
❸ PALESTINE NEWS & INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
TWO  PALESTINIANS  SHOT,  WHILE  DOZENS  SUFFOCATE  DURING  JERICHO  CLASHES
Oct. 7, 2015
JERICHO – Two Palestinian youth were shot while dozens others suffocated on Wednesday during clashes with Israeli army forces at the southern entrance of Jericho.
____Israeli forces stationed at the military checkpoint at the southern entrance of Jericho opened fire on Palestinians who marched to express their solidarity with Al-Aqsa Mosque and denunciation of settlers’ attacks against Palestinians.
____Israeli soldiers fired rubber-coated steel bullets at demonstrators, hitting and injuring Rami Abu Qamar and Mohammad Barahma. Forces also fired tear gas canisters at demonstrators, causing dozens of them to suffocate from excessive tear gas inhalation.
More . . .

It may be entirely coincidental, but why are they so silent now? (Palestine Chronicle Photo)
It may be entirely coincidental, but why are they so silent now? (Palestine Chronicle Photo)

❹ Opinion/Analysis
PALESTINE CHRONICLE
THE  DOGS  NOT  BARKING:  NETANYAHU  AND  HARPER  MUZZLED
Jim Miles
Oct 8 2015
Most people know the now cliché passage from Sherlock Holmes:

Holmes: “To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”
Gregory: “The dog did nothing in the night-time.”
Holmes: “That was the curious incident.”

____Two days after Putin made his historic speech at the UN indicating that the new world order was not necessarily that of the U.S., Russia has vigorously entered into the war against the terrorists in Syria/Iraq. Caught off guard and unawares, the U.S. and its allies, notably the U.K., pounced on Russia’s actions.
____It would appear that Putin and his advisors have the upper hand. [. . . . .]
____The western mainstream media has made a significant outcry from this [. . . . .]
____ Where there has been a deafening silence is from two surprising sources, Canada and Israel.
More . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis
THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEM)
THE  NEXT  INTIFADA  SHOULD  BE  A  PALESTINIAN  REVOLUTION  UNTIL  THE  OCCUPATION  ENDS
Samah Jabr
Oct. 8, 2015
President Mahmoud Abbas’s speech at the UN, which had been preceded by inflated propaganda claiming that it would be a “bombshell”, turned out to be no more than a litany of well-worn complaints and appeals to the international community. The speech certainly failed to raise any new challenges, offer new strategies or inspire hope among the Palestinians burning under Israeli occupation. . . .
____Palestinian youths had hoped that the announcement would mean that the PA would stop acting like Israel’s subcontractor in the effort to crush Palestinian resistance. They then stood up to fight the Israeli appropriation of the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, to resist the closing of the city to its own people and to oppose the relentless attacks by settlers on villagers in the West Bank. . . .
____ . . . they are blamed in accordance with the typical dynamics of abuse: “They brought all that suffering upon themselves and their families!” We have heard similar comments about women who have been raped: “She asked for it; she provoked it; she is the one to blame for it.” Israel has ordered the shooting of any Palestinian child who is seen throwing stones.
More . . .

“THE  WAILING  SONG,”  BY  AHMAD  HUSSEIN
I found you in grief
Which was ever present,
Whence the promises,
The clouds,
And the rain,
And whence the dust that turned into tears
In my eyes.
Say, where did you hide the trees?

I found you in grief,
And long was our meeting!
Thirty partings,
Thirty captivities
Thirty dishonors.
I found you between what I left behind me and what I must face.
Waiting is ahead of me,
Waiting is behind me.

Looking at you I became hooked, coiled
Around an almond twig like a woman’s hair.
Should you release me, I’ll still be part of you.
Praised be your face,
Your bosom,
Praised be your lap so warm!

You read me! How time rolled by,
I became the etching, you the stone;
And, as you know, I was the singer,
And I was . . .
But have you pondered the cause behind my tears
A long, long time ago?
Can words precede images?
Then, listen to me, hear me
A song, a bower, over the lands,
Whenever you recall the sound of my voice, it pours.
I am love, and you will never lose me
So long as the soil in you lives,
And Jericho is surrounded by trees.

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.
____Born in 1939 in Haifa, Ahmad Hussein received his education in the local Arab schools of Haifa, Umm al-Fahm, and Nazareth. He has published short stories and poems in the local daily al-Yawn, in the bi-weekly al-Ittihad, and in the periodicals al-Mujtama, al-Jahid, and al-Fajr. His first collection of poems, Zaman al-Khawf (Time of Fear) was published in 1977 after the tragic death of his celebrated  brother,  Rashid  Hussein.  His poetry often uses romantic love as imagery for love of Palestine.

"Settlers and Soldiers at Iraq Burin" originally posted to Flickr as Settlers and Soldiers attacking demonstrators in Iraq Burin, 2009. (International Solidarity Movement photo)
“Settlers and Soldiers at Iraq Burin” originally posted to Flickr as Settlers and Soldiers attacking demonstrators in Iraq Burin, 2009. (International Solidarity Movement photo)

“. . . children of Abraham! You are not pagans or witches . . .” (Aftab Yusuf Shaikh)

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An Israeli man shows his son how to work a machine gun. (AFP PHOTO/GALI. Photo via Newscom.)
An Israeli man shows his son how to work a machine gun. (AFP PHOTO/GALI. Photo via Newscom.)

❶ West Jerusalem mayor tells settlers to ‘come out with their guns’
❷ Palestinian detained after Israeli man stabbed, injured in Jerusalem
❸ Palestinian traders stay put in Jerusalem’s Old City, despite intimidation
❹ Raed Salah blames Netanyahu for escalation in Palestinian territories
❺ Opinion/Analysis: In Israel/Palestine we are witnessing the end of a colonial regime
❻ Poetry by Aftab Yusuf Shaikh
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(Please read “purpose” above. And thank you for “following.”)
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❶ PALESTINE NEWS NETWORK
WEST  JERUSALEM  MAYOR  TELLS  SETTLERS  TO  ‘COME  OUT  WITH  THEIR  GUNS’
Oct. 8, 2015
Jerusalem―The Israeli mayor of West Jerusalem, Nir Barkat on Thursday delivered a message to the settlers to ‘come out with their guns.”
____“Come out today with your licensed guns, for those who know how to use it, that’s what needed right now. In a way, this is like reserve duty,” Barkat said on the Israeli GLZRadio.
____Barkat also said that the Palestinians groups “harassing” settlers in general have to be prevented from going up to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
More . . .
Related . . . 
Related . . .
Related . . .
❷ MA’AN NEWS ANGENCY
PALESTINIAN  DETAINED  AFTER  ISRAELI  MAN  STABBED,  INJURED  IN  JERUSALEM
Oct. 8, 2015
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — A Palestinian suspect was detained after an Israeli man was stabbed and injured Thursday near a main road in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, Israeli police said.
____Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld told Ma’an the Palestinian suspect was apprehended and the Israeli man was left with light injuries.
____Israeli media reported that the victim, a 25-year-old Haredi man, was seriously injured in the attack and taken for treatment at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center.
____The attack took place near Highway 1, a main thoroughfare cutting West to East across northern Jerusalem and crossing through areas currently site to high tensions after ongoing attacks.
More . . .
❸ THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEM)
PALESTINIAN  TRADERS  STAY  PUT  IN  JERUSALEM’S  OLD  CITY,  DESPITE  INTIMIDATION
Lydia Noon
Oct. 7 2015
The entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City is partially blocked by police vans.
____“Where are you from?” barks one of several Israeli police officers at a makeshift checkpoint near Damascus Gate.
____“Britain,” I reply. He looks confused. “UK… England.” He’s not happy.
____“Are you Muslim?” I shake my head.
____He passes my passport on to his colleague who asks if I am a tourist. I reply to the affirmative and I am finally let through. At the bottom of the steps is another checkpoint and I count around 25 within the 0.9 square kilometre of the walled city. Palestinians are stopped at these smaller checkpoints; tourists are waved through.
More . . .
❹ THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEM)
RAED  SALAH  BLAMES  NETANYAHU  FOR  ESCALATION  IN  PALESTINIAN  TERRITORIES
Oct. 7, 2015
The head of the Islamic Movement in Israel has blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the ongoing escalation of tension and violence in the occupied Palestinian territories, Anadolu has reported
____“Netanyahu thought that the weakness in the Arab region would give him a chance to partition Al-Aqsa, but this will not happen,” said Shaikh Raed Salah. “This uprising is going to turn into a massive intifada if Netanyahu does not recognise his mistake.”
____Regarding the Israeli government’s claim that his movement is behind the uprising, the veteran Palestinian rights campaigner said that it is a “laughable” accusation. “The people in Jerusalem are Palestinians who see and hear what is happening. The violations of the Israeli occupation are increasing and fuelling the escalation.”
More . . .
Related . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis:
MONDOWEISS
IN  ISRAEL/PALESTINE  WE  ARE  WITNESSING  THE  END  OF  A  COLONIAL  REGIME
Ilene Cohen
Oct. 7, 2015
What is happening in Israel today and what happened last week, last month, last year, and for the past almost fifty years is about cementing sovereignty over land that the international community agrees does not belong to Israel and over a subject people, the Palestinians—all in contravention of international law.
____I’m in Israel now, taking a break from the inanity and horrors of American politics, and watching the situation in Israel/Palestine heating up. Frequent topic in the Israeli press: is this or isn’t this the start of the third intifada? And, if it is, the discussion goes, how can Israel tweak the occupation so as to pacify the Palestinians? As for, how can Israel address the root cause—the very fact of the occupation—by decolonizing, well, that’s not part of the discourse.
More . . .

“JERUSALEM,”  BY  AFTAB  YUSUF  SHAIKH
If this city were a woman,
She must have earned a bad name by now,
For the number of swords unsheathed,
For the cauldrons of blood shed,
For the haunting silence that rings in wombs,
For the innocent childhoods weeded,

But, No!
This is a city, and a holy one!
Holy for whom? The ones who heap
unholiness on it.

O children of Abraham!
You are not pagans or witches,
You must remember very sharply,
That the shedding of blood cleanses nothing,
And nothing cleanses the shedding of blood,

Man remembers the Promises of God,
But very casually forgets
The Promise God took from him.

From BEFORE  THERE  IS  NOWHERE  TO  STAND:  PALESTINE  ISRAEL  POETS  RESPOND  TO  THE  STRUGGLE. Ed. By Joan Dobbie and Grace Beeler. Sandpoint ID: Lost Horse Press, 2012.
Available from Barnes and Noble.
About Aftab Yusuf Shaikh

A Palestinian protester hurls stones at Israeli soldiers during clashes in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Oct. 6, 2015. (Photo: Xinhua/Luay Sababa)
A Palestinian protester hurls stones at Israeli soldiers during clashes in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Oct. 6, 2015. (Photo: Xinhua/Luay Sababa)