Tag: Khader Adnan

“. . . tired of minds that have become hotels . . .” (Rashid Hussein)

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Caption: Father Ramiz Baker, with Muntaser [left] and Sayid [right] (Photo, The Middle East Monitor)
Father Ramiz Baker, with Muntaser [left] and Sayid [right] (Photo, The Middle East Monitor)
❶ From THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR
ISRAEL APPROVES 800 NEW SETTLEMENT UNITS IN BETHLEHEM
July 15, 2015
Israeli Public Prosecution has revealed an Israeli settlement plan consisting of 800 new settlement units in Bethlehem, south of the occupied West Bank, Palestinian newspaper Al-Resalah reported yesterday.
____The plan was approved by the Israeli Housing and Construction Minister Ori Ariel, during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s previous government at the end of last year.
(More. . .)

❷ From INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
ISRAELI EXTREMISTS UPROOT VEGETABLE CROPS IN BETHLEHEM
July 19, 2015
Several fanatic Israeli settlers invaded, on Saturday evening, Palestinian farmlands in the town of al-Khader, south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and uprooted hundreds of tomato and cauliflower plants and seedlings, in addition to destroying an entire field planted with Okra.
____Ahmad Salah, coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in al-Khader, said the Israeli extremists came from the illegal Israeli settlement of Efrat, built on stolen Palestinian lands.
(More. . .)
(Background)
(Background)

Caption: Israeli settlers uprooted hundreds of olive trees from the lands of al-Khader village, south of Bethlehem, March 20, 2013 (Photo flotillahyves.com).
Israeli settlers uprooted hundreds of olive trees from the lands of al-Khader village, south of Bethlehem, March 20, 2013 (Photo flotillahyves.com).

❸ From THE PALESTINIAN INFORMATION CENTER
ISRAELI VANDALS ATTACK PALESTINIANS IN AL-KHALIL
July 19, 2015
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– A horde of Israeli extremist settlers, residing in the illegal Ma’un settlement, attacked on Saturday Palestinian passers-by and shepherds in al-Khalil’s town of Yatta, in the southern West Bank.
____ . . . the Israeli settlers, ESCORTED BY ARMY OFFICERS, attacked shepherds and unarmed citizens.
(More . . .)

❹ From AL-MONITOR: THE PULSE OF THE MIDDLE EAST
WEST BANK COMMUNITY WELCOMES KHADER ADNAN HOME FROM ISRAELI PRISON
Aziza Nofal
July 17, 2015
JENIN, West Bank — Cries of joy were heard at the home of administrative detainee Sheikh Khader Adnan after he was released and carried on the shoulders of supporters into his town of Arraba, near Jenin . . . .
____After his release July 12, Adnan stepped out to the rostrum in front of his house and addressed hundreds of people who came from the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem to welcome him. He said Israel made a mistake by detaining him and has paid a high price.
(More. . .)

❺ From MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PALESTINIAN YOUTHS STUCK AT CAIRO AIRPORT
July 18, 2015
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Several Palestinian youths from the Gaza Strip heading to Saudi Arabia and European countries have been stuck at the Cairo International Airport for a month.
_____Three young men and two young women were reportedly taken by Egyptian authorities from the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt to the airport where they were prevented from travelling due to expired residency permits for their destination countries.
(More. . .)

❻ OPINION
From THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR
ONE YEAR ON FROM THE ISRAELI OFFENSIVE, GAZA’S CHILDREN ARE UNABLE TO FORGET
Motasem A Dalloul
July 16, 2015
During the 51-day Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip . . . a group of Palestinian children fled to the beach to escape from the harsh and extensive bombing of houses, hospitals, healthcare centres and playgrounds; they went there to play football.
____They thought that the beach, an open area, was a safe place because it has never been used by the Palestinian resistance. Although the seven of them arrived on the beach safely, minutes later, four had been killed and three were wounded after being targeted by shells apparently fired from an Israeli warship.
(More. . .)

“WITHOUT A PASSPORT,” BY RASHID HUSSEIN (1936-1977)

I was born without a passport
I grew up
and saw my country
become prisons
without a passport

So I raised a country
a sun
and wheat
in every house
I tended to the trees therein
I learned how to write poetry
to make the people of my village happy
without a passport

I learned that he whose land is stolen
does not like the rain
If he were ever to return to it, he will
without a passport

But I am tired of minds
that have become hotels
for wishes that never give birth
except with a passport

Without a passport
I came to you
and revolted against you
so slaughter me
perhaps I will then feel that I am dying
without a passport

From Rashid Hussein, Al-A`mal al-Shi`riyya (al-Taybe: Markaz Ihya’ al-Turath al-`Arabi, 1990), Translated by Sinan Antoon.
Rashid Hussein (1936-1977) was born in Musmus, Palestine. He published his first collection in 1957 and established himself as a major Palestinian poet and orator. He was the first celebrity poet to appear on the Arab-Israeli stage; other poets called him “the star“. He showed them it was possible to write about “human things“ – bread, hunger, anger.
(More. . .)
(Another poem by Rashid Hussein)

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“. . . my country is the wave that froths and foams . . .” (Najwan Darwish)

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Caption: An Israeli court has issued an order to demolish Palestinian village Susya and relocate its residents. The village was built even before the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967. (Photo by Guy Butiva.)
An Israeli court has issued an order to demolish Palestinian village Susya and relocate its residents. The village was built even before the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967. (Photo by Guy Butiva.)

❶ From +972 MAGAZINE
U.S. WARNS ISRAEL AGAINST EVICTING PALESTINIANS FROM SUSYA
Mairav Zonszein
July 18, 2015
While the Iran nuclear deal captured most of the attention . . . . this week, the tiny rural Palestinian village of Susya also managed to get the U.S. State Department’s attention. . . .
____According to Susya resident Nasser Nawaj’ah, who is also a B’Tselem researcher, the Israeli army’s Civil Administration . . . . notified residents of its intention to demolish about half of the village’s structures. . . .
____U.S. State Department spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday . . . “we strongly urge the Israeli authorities to refrain from carrying out any demolitions in the village. Demolition of this Palestinian village or of parts of it, and evictions of Palestinians from their homes would be harmful and provocative.”
(More. . .)

❷ From INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
TEEN KIDNAPPED AS SOLDIERS ATTACK NABI SALEH PROTEST
Saed Bannoura
July 18, 2015
Israeli soldiers attacked, on Friday, the weekly nonviolent protest against the Annexation Wall and settlements in Nabi Saleh village, northwest of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and kidnapped one teenager.
____Nabi Saleh television reported that the soldiers kidnapped Walid Dhifallah, 18 years of age, and took him to an unknown destination.
(More. . .)
(Further details)

❸ From MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ICC ORDERS PROSECUTOR TO RECONSIDER PROBING ISRAEL’S FLOTILLA RAID
July 17, 2015
THE HAGUE (AFP) — The International Criminal Court on Thursday ordered its chief prosecutor to review a decision not to probe Israel’s deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in 2010, saying “errors were made.”
____Fatou Bensouda late last year dropped the investigation leading to potential prosecution into the incident in which 10 Turkish activists were killed by Israeli forces, saying the incident was “not of sufficient gravity.”
____The case was first filed by the Comoros, where the activists’ ship the Mavi Marmara was registered.
____The tiny Indian Ocean island state in January asked the Hague-based ICC’s judges to review Bensouda’s decision.
(More. . .)

Caption: A boat escorts Turkish ship Mavi Marmara with Israeli forces near Ashdod on May 31, 2010, after the Israeli navy raided a flotilla of aid ships bound for Gaza. (AFP/ Menahem Kahana, File)
A boat escorts Turkish ship Mavi Marmara with Israeli forces near Ashdod on May 31, 2010, after the Israeli navy raided a flotilla of aid ships bound for Gaza. (AFP/ Menahem Kahana, File)

❹ From JADALIYYA–ARAB STUDIES INSTITUTE.
PLANNING UNDER OCCUPATION: ELASTIC GEOGRAPHIES AND ‘AREA C’
Lamya Hussain
July 16, 2015
In recent years there has been growing concern about Israel’s planning regime and its operations across the West Bank . . . the growing number of demolitions, eviction orders, and restrictions in Area C. . .
____Since 2005, the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) has initiated a number of “special outline plans” for Palestinian villages in Area C. These plans . . . set in motion a series of home demolitions and other civil-military orders that forcibly displace the local population . . . in order to maintain Israeli hegemony in Area C.
(More. . .)

❺ Opinion
From THE PALESTINIAN INFORMATION CENTER
KHADER ADNAN: A SYMBOL OF PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE
Ghada Ageel
June 26, 2015
(Ghada Ageel is a visiting professor at the University of Alberta Political Science Department [Edmonton, Canada], an independent scholar, and active in the Faculty4Palestine – Alberta. Her article was published in the Middle East Eye website.)
The body of Khader Adnan is again on the line and the very life of this Palestinian political prisoner is in great danger. Adnan. . . . has drastically deteriorated with his refusal to undergo medical tests and to take certain vitamins offered to hunger strikers. [Note: Adnan has been released.]
____According to Addameer organisation, Adnan is among an estimated 426 political prisoners currently locked up in Israeli jails as administrative detainees. His hunger strike throws a spotlight on some 5,800 Palestinian freedom fighters . . . .
____The strike also casts light on Israel’s use of administrative detention as a way of cracking down on any attempt by Palestinians to speak out against the occupation and its unjust practices.
(More. . .)

“A GLIMPSE IN THE MIRROR,” BY NAJWAN DARWISH

Sometimes I glimpse in the mirror and see
the ideal I strive for
the gallant savior I wait for
I see a thread of beauty rippling
like a river of nobility
But instantly I tell myself:
Shut up and look away
narcissus surrounded by Zionists’ lies
walls and checkpoints rising all around you
Shut up
and avert your gaze
from your so-called beauty

“AWAKE,” BY NAJWAN DARWISH

Awake for longer than forever
and since before eternity
my waking is the wave that froths and foams

Awake in hymns and the mailmen’s passion
Awake in a house that will be destroyed
in a grave that machines will dig up:
my country is the wave that froths and foams

Awake so that the colonizers might leave
Awake so that people can sleep
“Everyone has to sleep sometime,” they say
I am awake
and ready to die

Najwan Darwish (b. 1978) is one of the foremost Arabic-language poets of his generation. Since publishing his first collection in 2000, Darwish’s poetry has been translated into ten languages. . . . While his poetry is at times political, it embodies a universal message, reminiscent of the great mystical poets like Rumi. From Jerusalem (Palestine) where he works and lives, Darwish has become a distinguished voice for his nation’s struggle . . . .
(More. . .)

Caption: Clouds of tear gas in Nabi Saleh. (International Solidarity Movement, Nabi Saleh)
Clouds of tear gas in Nabi Saleh. (International Solidarity Movement, Nabi Saleh)

“. . . in the begging of the willow and in the river’s obstinacy. . .” (Mourid Barghouti)

Harold Knight1 Comment
A Palestinian farmer from the village of Twaneih reacts after finding his olive trees destroyed in the southern West Bank village of Yata near Hebron on 08 September 2013. (EPA/ABED AL HASHLAMOUN
A Palestinian farmer from the village of Twaneih reacts after finding his olive trees destroyed in the southern West Bank village of Yata near Hebron on 08 September 2013. (EPA/ABED AL HASHLAMOUN

❶ From MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI FORCES FREE PALESTINIAN HUNGER STRIKER KHADER ADNAN
July 12, 2015
NABLUS (Ma’an) — The Israeli authorities released Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan on Sunday, two weeks after a deal was reached that ended his 55-day long hunger strike.
____Adnan, 37, went on hunger strike in June to protest the Israeli practice of administrative detention, under which Palestinians can be held without charge or trials for months or years. His release Sunday came after 11 months in Israeli custody, without charge or trial.
(More. . .)

❷ From MONDOWEISS
LIES, SMEAR, AND TWO-STEPS — WHY DID ORGANIZERS REALLY CANCEL THE FEIS?
Annie Robbins
July 10, 2015
Now that the event has been cancelled, you’d think the drama surrounding the Irish campaign to encourage participants to boycott the first 1st Israel Feis, or Gaelic dance competition, would be over and that everything would die down, hush up, and go away. But that won’t happen, because of the way it was cancelled: organizers accused Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) activists of “attacking” them with threatening actions and behavior, and the press parroted those accusations in announcing the cancellation. So activists who organized the #DontDance4Israel/#Don’tShameOurName campaign are not ready to put it in the past, and why should they?
(More. . .)
(Background)

Caption: Palestinians on the West Bank appeal for the Feis to be cancelled Photo: Hamza Burnat
Palestinians on the West Bank appeal for the Feis to be cancelled Photo: Hamza Burnat

❸ From MA’AM NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI DRONE CRASHES IN LEBANON FOR 2ND TIME IN 3 WEEKS
July 11, 2015
BERUIT (AFP) — An Israeli drone crashed in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli on Saturday, the military said, in the second such incident in three weeks.
____”At around 8:30 a.m., a drone belonging to the Israeli enemy went down in the port of Tripoli, and the army has taken the necessary measures,” the Lebanese military said in a statement, without elaborating.
(More. . .)

❹ From INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
ISRAELI EXTREMISTS UPROOT 80 OLIVE TREES IN SALFIT
July 11, 2015
A group of colonialist Israeli settlers, driving a number of bulldozers, invaded earlier Saturday Palestinian orchards belonging to residents of Deir Estia village, northwest of the central West Bank district of Salfit, and uprooted more than 80 olive trees.
____Local villagers said the settlers uprooted the olive trees in order to expand a bypass road, leading to illegal Israeli settlements, built on Palestinian lands.
(More. . .)

❺ Opinion
From MONDOWEISS
OREN MISREPRESENTS 1971 SYNAGOGUE BOMBING THAT CHANGED HIS LIFE
Philip Weiss
July 10, 2015
[The former Israeli ambassador to the United States] In his new memoir, Michael Oren makes out suburban New Jersey in 1971 to be as anti-Semitic as Odessa during the pogroms. To do so, he lies by omission about the facts behind a synagogue bombing. The Jewish terrorist Meir Kahane was due to speak there, and the speech was canceled. Oren doesn’t tell readers that part. –
(More. . .)

“THE STAB,” BY MOURID BARGHOUTI
The moonlight said:
I am the first of the homeless,
the eternal wanderer;
you find me on the breakwaters,
on the soldier’s helmet,
on the false teeth of the party’s general secretary,
in the begging of the willow and in the river’s obstinacy,
on the woman’s brow
when pleasure lifts it,
on the executioner’s fingernails
and the robber’s key-ring,
on parliament’s oppressive dome,
on a deserter’s medals,
on the tilted surface of a bomber,
on the marble steps,
on a knife blade
which a friend takes from the front of his cloak
and points at your backbone.
And in my moment of agony,
I beg the clouds:
“Hide me!”

Barghouti, Mourid. Midnight and Other Poems. Radwa Ashour, Trans. (Todmorden, UK: Arc Publications, 2008.)
Available from Amazon
About Mourid Barghouti

Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan (MaanImages)
Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan (MaanImages)

“. . .the song veering from relevance to insanity. . .” (Majid Abu Ghoush)

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(Beginning today, the last article posted will always be an opinion piece.)

Since the beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, over 700,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel
Since the beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, over 700,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel

❶ From INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
ARMY KIDNAPS FOUR CHILDREN IN OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, TWO IN HEBRON
June 28, 2015
Israeli soldiers kidnapped, late on Saturday and on Sunday at dawn, at least four Palestinian children after the army invaded various neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem. Soldiers also kidnapped two children near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
____Media sources in Jerusalem said the soldiers invaded various neighborhoods in the occupied city, stormed and ransacked several homes, and kidnapped at least four children after assaulting them.
(More. . .)

❷ From PALESTINE NEWS NETWORK
ARAB LEAGUE CALLS FOR RELEASE OF PALESTINIAN DETAINEES HELD WITHOUT CHARGE
June 26, 2015
The regional organization, Arab League, has condemned acts of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners at Israeli jails, calling for the release of all inmates who have been held without charge, Press TV reports.
____The Arab body, consisting of 22 member states, said Wednesday that Israel should release all Palestinian detainees who have been held hostage for extended periods of time without being able to defend themselves, including Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan. . .
____The bloc further called on the international community to take effective measures to help secure the release of Adnan as well as a spokesman for the group.
(More. . .)

Egypt Hostst Arab League summit on March 28-29
Egypt Hosts Arab League summit on March 28-29

❸ From MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
LAWYER: NO DEAL BETWEEN ISRAELI AUTHORITIES AND KHADER ADNAN
June 27, 2015
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — No deal has been reached between the Israeli authorities and Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan who on Saturday entered his 54th day on hunger strike, his lawyer said.
____”(Israel) is seeking to end Adnan’s hunger strike in a way that avoids them a feeling of crushing defeat,” the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society’s chief lawyer Jawad Bolous said at a press conference in Ramallah on Saturday.
____”On the other hand,” he added, “what Adnan seeks is very clear: either to be released or tried. . .
(More. . .)

❹ From +972 MAGAZINE ONLINE
A YEAR SINCE PROTESTS, DETAINED ASYLUM SEEKERS HINT AT NEW STRATEGY
Oren Ziv
June 27, 2015
[Introduction of one of the asylum seekers]. . . when hundreds of asylum seekers detainees in Holot decided to up and leave the detention facility and march toward the Egyptian border, demanding that they be allowed to leave Israel.
____They had lost hope of being recognized as refugees in Israel, they were unwilling to resign themselves to indefinite detention in the Israeli desert, and thought just maybe they could raise some international awareness. They hoped they could push the United Nations to address their refugee claims.
(More. . .) 

❺ From PALESTINECHRONICLE
IS BDS REPLACING IRAN AS ISRAEL’S BLACKMAIL CARD?
Alan Hart
Opinion
Jun 27 2015
My headline question was provoked by an Uri Avnery article with the headline “BDS, the new enemy”. After noting that Netanyahu’s whole career has been based on fear mongering and in recent years his promotion of fear of a nuclear-armed Iran, Avnery wrote this:
“But Netanyahu saw with growing anxiety that the Iranian threat was losing its edge. The US, so it seems, is about to reach an agreement with Iran, which will prevent it from achieving the Bomb… What to do?
“Looking around, three letters popped up: BDS. . .
(More. . .)

“DETENTION,” BY MAJID ABU GHOUSH
In my mind
the sea is wider
bluer

In my mind the
sun is warmer
kinder

In my mind
the roads are longer
they flow like water

In my mind
passion is painful
a bonfire of moths

the moon, like your eyes
(night and magic as they die)
yearns for morning:

a moon weary of night
of too much crying
drunken song and poetry

a theater of landmines
fencing life from death
the song veering

from relevance to insanity
the Universe
from which

you are ready
to be plucked
as am I
―translated by Ellen McAteer

Majid Abu Ghoush (b. Amwas) is a prolific poet, a member of the Secretariat of the General Union of Palestinian Writers, and a founding member of Poets Without Borders Palestine. (Reading one of his own poems.)
From A BIRD IS NOT A STONE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY PALESTINIAN POETRY (Glasgow: Freight Books, 2014) –available From Amazon.com.
The book’s blog. A year ago, 1,000 African asylum seekers marched out of the Holot detention facility toward the Egyptian border, hoping to draw the world’s attention to their plight. Since then, thousands have been pressured to leave Israel. As protests appear ineffectual, two asylum seekers discuss what comes next. (Photo by Activestills.org)
A year ago, 1,000 African asylum seekers marched out of the Holot detention facility toward the Egyptian border, hoping to draw the world’s attention to their plight. Since then, thousands have been pressured to leave Israel. As protests appear ineffectual, two asylum seekers discuss what comes next. (Photo by Activestills.org)

“. . .the splendor of life is being born within the walls of my prison. . .” (Samīh al-Qāsim)

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Khader Adnan and his children. He has been held in prison 10 times under administrative detention which allows Israel to detain people for periods of 6 months without the filing of charges or a trial.
Khader Adnan and his children. He has been held in prison 10 times under administrative detention which allows Israel to detain people for periods of 6 months without the filing of charges or a trial.

❶ From PALESTINIAN INFORMATION CENTER
SERIOUS DETERIORATION IN KHADER ADNAN’S HEALTH CONDITION
June 18, 2015
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The health situation of the prisoner Khader Adnan has seriously deteriorated as he continues his hunger strike for 45 consecutive days protesting his administrative detention, rights group said.
____Head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) Jawad Boulos said that Israeli officials asked him late Thursday to urgently come to Assaf Harofeh Hospital as Adana’s health situation has sharply deteriorated.
(More. . .)
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

❷ From PALESTINE NEWS & INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
ISRAEL ARRESTS 11 PALESTINIANS IN WEST BANK, ASSAULTS TODDLER, TWO ELDERS
June 16, 2015
Israeli forces Tuesday arrested nine Palestinians from across the West Bank and attacked a toddler, while Israeli police arrested two women and assaulted two elders in Jerusalem, according to local and security sources.
____Israeli forces stormed Jenin refugee camp, fired stun grenades, and arrested three youths after raiding and destroying the entire content of their families’ homes, including the main front doors. . . .
____Israeli forces also arrested an 18-year-old identified as Abd al-Hamid Hammad, after raiding several homes in the town of Silwad to the East of Ramallah.
____ . . . forces arrested Tawfiq Nazzal, 30, from Qalqilia after assaulting his family members, including his four-year-old child. The child was transferred to hospital for treatment.
(More . . .)

❸ From THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
WILL US CHURCHES HELP BRING DOWN ISRAEL’S PRISON WALLS?
Ryan Rodrick Beiler
June 18, 2015
Three churches will debate resolutions this month to divest from companies supporting the Israeli occupation. The Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ and Mennonite Church USA will each discuss Palestine during their conventions.
____The discussions are taking place amid strenuous efforts by the Zionist lobby to counter the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.
____Sheldon Adelson, the casino billionaire and mega-donor to the Republican Party, recently hosted a conference in Las Vegas to raise a reported $50 million to put more “boots on the ground” in the “war” against BDS. . . .
____All of the resolutions in question cite the Kairos Palestine document, signed by some 3,000 Palestinian Christians, which calls for “boycott and disinvestment as tools of nonviolence for justice, peace and security for all.”
(More . . .)

❹ From AL MONITOR―PALESTINE PULSE
PALESTINIAN MEN FACE PRISON SENTENCES FOR FACEBOOK POSTS
Aziza Nofal
Posted June 9, 2015
The Jerusalemite family of Omar al-Shalabi did not expect the status updates he posted on his Facebook page to lead to his arrest . . . the family also believed he would be released and allowed to return home. On May 12, Shalabi was sentenced to nine months in prison.
____Shalabi’s brother Mohammed . . . told Al-Monitor that the ruling was unexpected given the apparent trivialness of the acts leading to the charges against him. . . He had been arrested Dec. 14 and charged with incitement based on postings to his Facebook page. The posts followed the kidnapping and murder of a young Palestinian man, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, by extremist settlers
(More. . .)

Atef Alshaer lecturing at Westminster
Atef Alshaer lecturing at Westminster

❺ From PALESTINE CHRONICLE
THE IMPERATIVE OF PALESTINIAN LIBERATION
Atef Alshaer
(Lecturer in Arabic Language and Culture at the University of Westminster, educated at Birzeit University and the University of London, where he obtained his PhD.)
June 18, 2015
Before 1948, there was no country, nation-state, in historic Palestine called Israel. Israel founded itself by the conquest and exclusion of others, the Palestinians, the rightful owners of Palestine. . . Palestine as a name and reality that encompassed diverse ethnic populations living with each other is what that piece of land had been known for . . . not a western-supported colony, as Israel certainly is in origin. [Keith W.] Whitelam puts the record straight in his book, The Invention of Ancient Israel: The Silencing of Palestine History, when he contends that, “viewed from the longer perspective, the history of ancient Israel is a moment in the vast expanse of Palestinian history”.
____The establishment of Israel is therefore an anomaly . . . Israel and its supporters, however, tend to make Israel so natural and normal a state as if it has had existed for thousands of years, and as if its present Jewish population is the direct ancestors of those who trod the same territory more than two thousand years ago. Nothing could be further from the truth.
(More. . .)

“LETTER FROM A PRISON CAMP,” BY SAMĪH AL-QĀSIM
Mother, it grieves me,
That because of me, throughout your night of agony,
You shed silent tears, anxiously awaiting the return
Of my beloved brothers from their chores;
That you are not able to eat
While my seat remains empty, and there is no talk or laughter.
How it pains me, Mother,
That tears rush to your eyes
When friends drop by to ask about me.
But I believe, Mother,
That the splendor of life
Is being born within the walls of my prison,
And I believe that the last of my visitors
Will not be an eyeless bat, coming to me by night.
Surely, the light of day will dawn,
And, dazzled by it, my jailer will be humbled.
He will fall to the ground . . . broken,
Shattered, burnt by daylight.

―Translated by A. M. Elmesseri

Samīh al-Qāsim (1939-2014) was a Palestinian Druze whose Arabic poetry is well known throughout the Arab World. His poetry is influenced by two primary periods of his life: Before and after the Six-Day War. He joined the Communist Hadash political party in 1967. Al- Qāsim has published several volumes and collections of poetry.
(More. . .)
(Poetry Hunter. . .)
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.

C A L E N D A R
• Nakba Museum Project of Memory and Hope, June 13-27
• Upcoming group delegations to Palestine/Israel
. . .o Interfaith Peace Builders Delegation
. . .o 2015 Sabeel Witness Visit

(FILES) Photo taken on September 24, 2008 shows Palestinian poet Samih al-Qasim reading a poem during a literary evening in Tunis.
Photo taken on September 24, 2008 shows Palestinian poet Samih al-Qasim reading a poem during a literary evening in Tunis.

“. . .fill prisons with dignity. . .” (Tawfiq Zayyad)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
Vigil in support of Khader Adnan
Vigil in support of Khader Adnan

❶ From MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
KHADER ADNAN UNABLE TO STAND AS HUNGER STRIKE ENTERS 39TH DAY
June 12, 2015
JENIN (Ma’an) — Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan entered his 39th day on hunger strike Friday as his health continues to deteriorate, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Center for Studies said.
____Rafat Hamduna, director of the center, said that Adnan’s weight was dropping to dangerous levels and he is no longer able to stand up or move.
____The director called on Palestinian, Arab and international actors to take notice and support Adnan’s cause, adding that the detainee is defending the humanitarian rights of the 500 or so Palestinians being held under in Israeli administrative detention.
____Adnan, a father of six children, was detained on July 8, 2014 and sentenced to administrative detention for the 10th time in his life.
____Palestinians held in administrative detention can be held without charge or trial for months or years, and are denied access to the evidence that led to their detention.
(More. . .)

❷ From THE PALESTINIAN INFORMATION CENTER
64 SHALIT DEAL PRISONERS STILL HELD IN ISRAELI JAILS
GAZA, (PIC)– 64 Palestinian prisoners who were kidnapped after being released during Shalit Deal Swap Deal in 2011 are still held in Israeli jails including three women, Palestinian sources said Friday.
____The Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies said, in a new report marking a year after the kidnapping of dozens of Shalit deal prisoners, that their continued detention in Israeli jails constitutes a flagrant violation to the swap deal reached under Egyptian mediation.
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(About the Shalit Deal)

❸ From PALESTINE NEWS NETWORK
LINA KHATTAB RELEASED AFTER 6 MONTHS IN ISRAELI JAIL
June 12, 2015
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) yesterday released Lina Khattab after holding her for 2 months in Ofer prison and 4 months in Israel’s HaSharon prison.
____Khattab (18), a Journalism student at Birzeit university, met family and friends at Jabara checkpoint south of Tulkarem yesterday after her long-awaited release from HaSharon prison in Israel.
____Khattab was arrested in December 2014 during a peaceful protest organized by students in solidarity with the Palestinian Political Prisoners, and sentenced on January 16 2015 to a 6-month imprisonment and a 6,000 Israeli Shekel fine ($1,500 USD). Her charges were “throwing stones” and “participating in an unlawful demonstration”, according to Mondoweiss.
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Lina Khattab released
Lina Khattab released

❹ From INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
SOLDIERS KIDNAP A PALESTINIAN NEAR JENIN
June 12, 2015
Israeli soldiers invaded, earlier on Friday, the village of Kafrit, southwest of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, and kidnapped one Palestinian.
____The soldiers stormed at least one home, and violently searched it, before kidnapping Hammam Yousef ‘Awwad.
____In related news, a Palestinian detainee from Jenin city, received Friday a six-month arbitrary Administrative Detention order, without charges.
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❺ From INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
THREE CHILDREN RELEASED AFTER HOURS OF INTERROGATION
June 12, 2015
The Israeli Police released, late Thursday night, three Palestinian children from Silwan neighborhood, in occupied East Jerusalem, after detaining and interrogating them for several hours, allegedly for throwing stones at a settler’s car.
____The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan (Silwanic) said a settlement guard detained three children in the al-‘Ein area in Silwan, before he contacted the police who later arrived and took them to a police station.
____The three children have been identified as Ahmad ‘Ezz Shweiki, 10, Tamer Mazen Shweiki, 12, and ‘Odai Nidal ar-Rajabi, 13 years of age; they were moved to the Police Station in Salaheddin Street.
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“HERE WE SHALL STAY,” BY TAWFIQ ZAYYAD

In Lidda, in Ramla, in the Galilee,
we shall remain
like a wall upon your chest,
and in your throat
like a shrad of glass,
a cactus thron,
and in your eyes
a sandstorm.

We shall remain
a wall upon your chest,
clean dishes in your restaurants,
serve drinks in your bars,
sweep the floors of your kitchens
to snatch a bite for our children
from your blue fangs.

Here we shall stay,
sing our songs,
take to the angry streets,
fill prisons with dignity.
In Lidda, in Ramla, in the galilee,
we shall remain,
guard the shade of the fig
and olive trees,
ferment rebellion in our children
as yeast in the dough.

—translated by Sharif Elmusa and Charles Doria
From poemhunter.com
Tawfiq Zyyad (7 May 1929 – 5 July 1994) was a Palestinian politician well known for his “poetry of protest”. Born in the Galilee, Zyyad studied literature in USSR. He was elected mayor of Nazareth, a victory that “surprised and alarmed” Israelis. Elected to the Knesset 1973, Zyyad was active in pressuring the Israeli government to change its policies towards Palestinians both in Israel and in the Occupied Territories. A report he co-authored. . .
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Ahmad ‘Ezz Shweiki, 10, Tamer Mazen Shweiki, 12, and ‘Odai Nidal. 13.
Ahmad ‘Ezz Shweiki, 10, Tamer Mazen Shweiki, 12, and ‘Odai Nidal. 13.