Tag: Museum of the Palestinian People

“. . . No matter your sanctions, no matter your rhetoric . . .” (Jehan Bseiso)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
gazans-are-bending-israel-and-hamas-to-their-will-all-the-way-toward-a-deal
A demonstrator holding the Palestinian flag along the Gaza border, November 2, 2018. (Photo: AFP)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .
|    PALESTINIAN  FAMILIES  LEFT  HOMELESS  AFTER  EAST  JERUSALEM  DEMOLITION
Israeli bulldozers . . .  stormed the Silwan Palestinian neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, and demolished a building, on Tuesday.    ___The Wadi Hilweh Information Center said that Israeli forces stormed Silwan and surrounded one of the neighborhood’s buildings, which belonged to the Odeh family, and demolished it shortly after.    ___The building was demolished under the pretext that it was built without the difficult-to-obtain Israeli permit.    [. . . .] According to . . .  the NGO Terrestrial Jerusalem, “since 1967, the Government of Israel has directly engaged in the construction of 55,000 units for Israelis in East Jerusalem; in contrast, fewer than 600 units have been built for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the last of which were built 40 years ago.    More . . .
|    ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  ABDUCT  EIGHTEEN  PALESTINIANS  IN  THE  WEST  BANK
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) has reported that Israeli soldiers abducted, overnight until morning hours Tuesday, at least eighteen Palestinians, including a wounded young man, in several parts of the occupied West Bank.    ___The PPS office in Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, said the soldiers invaded and ransacked many homes, before abducting seven Palestinians.    More . . .
. . . . Related  PALESTINIAN  WITH  SPECIAL  NEEDS  DIES  OF  INJURIES
. . . . Related  ‘WORST  FEAR  CAME  TRUE’:  ISRAEL  DETAINS  YOUNG  PALESTINIAN  MAN  FOR  20  MONTHS  IN  EFFORT  TO  EXPEL  HIM  TO  BRAZIL
|    OFFICIAL  DENIES  REPORTS  OF  TRUCE  IN  RETURN  FOR  MONEY  GOING  INTO  GAZA  THROUGH  ISRAEL
A senior Palestinian official denied on Tuesday Israeli reports that the Palestinian leadership has agreed to support truce between Hamas and Israel in return for the entry of funds into Gaza through Israel.    ___Azzam al-Ahmad, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and of Fatah Central Committee, said these reports were unfounded.    ___Ahmad also denied in statements to Voice of Palestine radio that the issue of paying Israel to supply the Gaza Strip with some needs has been discussed by President Mahmoud Abbas and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.    More . . .
. . . . Related    JOINT  HAMAS,  ISLAMIC  JIHAD  PRESS  RELEASE  ON  CURRENT  DEVELOPMENTS
. . . . Related    ASHRAWI:  ‘GAZA  WILL  REMAIN  AN  INSEPARABLE  PART  OF  PALESTINE’

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|    ANALYSIS:  GAZANS  ARE  BENDING  ISRAEL  AND  HAMAS  TO  THEIR  WILL  –  ALL  THE  WAY  TOWARD  A  DEAL 
Gazas’s residents have become a strategic force that managed to cultivate a political relationship between Israel and Hamas, even forging an unofficial security coordination. Now, both sides can’t keep ignoring them.  [. . . .] BUT  THE  PUBLIC  IN  GAZA  TURNED  INTO  A  STRATEGIC  FORCE  that led even the IDF to speak up about the severe living conditions in the Strip, and in the end forced Hamas to pursue an arrangement that is still being negotiated. For six months, tens of thousands of people were enlisted in a show of force called the March of Return. Some 20,000 to 30,000 people, young and old, women and children, take their lives in their hands, and they don’t come to the confrontation line just because Hamas orders them to. THEY  ARE  THE  FORCE  THAT  REPRESENTS  TWO  MILLION  PEOPLE  WHO  HAVE  NOTHING  TO  LOSE.  More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .
|    MUSEUM  OF  THE  PALESTINIAN  PEOPLE 
The Museum of the Palestinian People shares the rich history, vibrant arts and culture, and spirit of the Palestinian people. It is a space where we dissolve the artificial distinctions that separate us, a space where people can open their hearts to discover what unites us all. Together, we can create a world without borders.    ___We are looking for PALESTINIAN  ARTISTS  TO  SUBMIT  THEIR  PROPOSALS  &  BE  FEATURED  IN  AN  UPCOMING  EXHIBIT. All mediums are welcome – music, dramatic production, film, photography, painting, or other. We will sponsor selected artists to travel to DC and see their work featured at Museum of the Palestinian People. Submit your proposal to us before January 1st 2019.   Submit proposal . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . .

“GAZA,  2009,”  BY  JEHAN  BSEISO
No matter flag.
No matter medicine.
No matter civilian.
No matter international community.
No matter your international waters.
No matter your sanctions, no matter your rhetoric and foreign policy.
Only 62 years status quo,
Everyday Nakba,
Subsidized settlements,
Even more walls-
Matter.
Children on the ICRC bus, visiting their Baba’s in your prisons―
Matter.
Food and medicine rotting at every border―
Matter
From the shadows, the silent majority watch water go on fire.

From: I  REMEMBER  MY  NAME:  POETRY  BY  SAMAH  SABAWI,  RAMZY  BAROUD,  JEHAN  BSEISO.  Vacy Vlazna, editor. London: Novum Publishing, 2016. Available from publisher.

“. . . Time has grown up on its own without me. . .” (Yousef El Qedra)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
IMG_9342
Maher Karaje stands underneath a canopy of his wilted grape vines (Photo: MEE/Akram al-Wa’ra)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

EU:  ‘ISRAEL  MUST  COMPENSATE  FOR  DEMOLITION  OF  KHAN  AL-AHMAR’
The European Parliament passed a resolution, on Thursday, warning that Israel’s decision to demolish the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem, would constitute a grave violation of international law and threaten peace efforts with the Palestinians.    ___The European Parliament, in a 320 to 277 vote, passed a resolution against Israel that called for monetary compensation for financial losses should Khan al-Ahmar village be demolished.   ___The resolution stated that “the status quo in this area is of fundamental importance for the viability of the two-state solution and for the establishment of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state in the future.”   More . . . 
Related . . . US  SENATOR  [DIANNE  FEINSTEIN]  URGES  ISRAEL  NOT  TO  DESTROY  BEDOUIN  VILLAGE

OVER  150  SCIENTISTS  AND  SCHOLARS  WORLDWIDE  URGE  SUPPORT  FOR  UNRWA
Scientists and scholars from around the world published a letter of support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the Lancet, one of the foremost medical journals in the world, urging support for the Agency after the United States has decided to end its contribution to it.   ___In the letter published on Tuesday, 159 scientist and scholars described the crisis facing UNRWA as “unprecedented,” warning of “a ruinous multifaceted emergency” if no action is taken to the help the humanitarian agency.   More . . .
Related . . . OVER  140  WORLDWIDE  ARTISTS  BOYCOTT  EUROVISION  IN  ISRAEL
Related . . .  UNCTAD  REPORT  PROVES  THAT  ISRAEL  MAIN  OBSTACLE  TO  PALESTINIAN  DEVELOPMENT,  SAYS  MINISTER 

PALESTINIAN  FARMERS  MOURN  CROPS  LOST  TO  SETTLER  ATTACKS  IN  THIS  YEAR’S  GRAPE  HARVEST
Yumna Patel
Every year, in late August, Palestinians begin celebrating the grape harvest, a quintessential part of Palestinian life and heritage.    ___Grape vines can be found on nearly every street in Palestine — on apartment balconies in cramped refugee camps, to sprawling fields and courtyards in cities and villages.   [. . . .] This year’s harvest, for many farmers across the occupied West Bank, is bittersweet, marred by the violence of months past.   ___Between the months of May and July 7, according to documentation from NGO B’Tselem, more than 2,000 grape vines were cut down, directly affecting dozens of farmers and hundreds of their family members, amounting to material damages in the hundreds of thousands of shekels.   More . . .
Related . . .    ‘AGRICULTURAL  TERRORISM’:  PALESTINIAN  CROPS  FACE  DESTRUCTION  BY  ISRAELI  SETTLERS

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

ABU  RUDEINAH:  US’  POSITIONS  “INTOXICATED”  US-PALESTINE  RELATIONS        Spokesperson for President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeinah, condemned on Friday a statement made by US President Donald Trump’s top adviser Jared Kushner to New York Times, saying the recent positions of the United States administration “intoxicated” the Palestinian-US relations.   ___In a press statement, Abu Rudeinah said Kushner’s statement indicates that “[he] is unaware of the reality of the conflict, and is an attempt to mislead and falsify the history of Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian sanctities.”   ___He continued, “Peace will only come through the two-state solution with East Jerusalem as capital of the State of Palestine, in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy and the resolutions of the Arab summits.   More . . .
Related . . .  PALESTINIAN  LEADERS  PLAN  TO  FIGHT  US  PUNITIVE  MEASURES
Related . . .  HAMAS:  ISRAELI  AGGRESSIONS  AT  AQSA  DOVETAIL  TRUMP  ANTI-PALESTINE  DEAL
Related . . .  THE  MOST  DANGEROUS  JUDAIZATION  PROJECT  IN  OCCUPIED  JERUSALEM

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .  

THE  MUSEUM  OF  THE  PALESTINIAN  PEOPLE  will be hosting our inaugural fundraising reception on Monday,  SEPTEMBER  24TH  at the historic Tabard Inn in Washington, D.C, and you’re invited! We hope you will be able to join us to support the opening of the MUSEUM  OF  THE  PALESTINIAN  PEOPLE,  the first and only museum in the nation’s capital that will be dedicated to celebrating Palestinian culture, history and resilience.    Information . . .     Donate . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“I  HAVE  NO  HOME,”  BY  YOUSEF  EL  QEDRA

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.
――Translated by Yasmin Snounu and Edward Morin

――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.