Tag: Nabi Saleh

“. . . Though they betray me and my cause, Palestinian I am . . .” (Harun Hashim Rashid)

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❶ Netanyahu threatens Hamas with “greater force”
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) US envoy to Israel: PA is reason there’s no peace

Background: “Religious, Hateful, and Racist Speech in Israel.” Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies.

. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) How the Israeli Right succeeds at making itself the victim
❷ Israeli army declares Nabi Saleh, home to Tamimi family, closed military zone
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) Civilians arrested, access roads closed by IOF throughout West Bank
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴃ) Life-saving treatment to be halted at Gaza hospitals over fuel dearth
❸ POETRY by Harun Hashim Rashid
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ NETANYAHU  THREATENS  HAMAS  WITH  “GREATER  FORCE” 
Palestine News Network – PNN   
Jan. 14, 2018 ― Israeli Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu on Sunday threatened to use “even greater force if necessary,” after Israeli strike on a Gaza tunnel on the Palestinian Rafah, Gaza-Sinai border.
___“There are those who have said the IDF just targeted sand dunes — this is incorrect,” Netanyahu said in remarks to Israeli media before departing on his trip to India. “Hamas must understand that we will not permit these attacks and we will respond with even greater force.”
___Hours later, the Israel army confirmed reports that the target of the strike was a Hamas tunnel . . . .   MORE . . .   
.  .  .  .  .  ❶  ―  (ᴀ)  US  ENVOY  TO  ISRAEL:  PA  IS  REASON  THERE’S  NO  PEACE
Palestine News Network – PNN
Jan. 14, 2018 ― US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman slammed the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the wake of shooting that killed Jewish rabbi settler in occupied West Bank city of Nablus . . . .
___On Twitter, Friedman accused the PA of spending the financial aid it receives from donors on “killers” of Israelis and basing the amount of financial reward they receive on the amount of damage they cause to Israelis.
___His comments came after an Israeli settler was shot and killed on Tuesday evening in the Nablus region of the occupied West Bank.
___The diplomat went on to justify America’s threats to cut financial aid to the PA and UNRWA which supports Palestinian refugees.   MORE . . .  

Cohen-Almagor, Raphael.
“RELIGIOUS,  HATEFUL,  AND  RACIST  SPEECH  IN  ISRAEL.”
SHOFAR: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF JEWISH STUDIES, vol. 31, no. 2, Winter2013, pp. 95-117.
[. . . .] This essay is largely concerned with Israel’s policy on hate speech and racial expressions as they have come into expression by religious authorities . . .  Those expressions have stemmed from the ideologically motivated religious authorities against two groups of people: those who aimed to give away parts of Israel’s territory, and Palestinian Arabs. . . .
[. . . .] In 2008, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu called on the government to carry out “state-sanctioned revenge” against Arabs in order to, in his words, “restore Israel’s deterrence”. . .   Rabbi Eliyahu wrote: “It’s time to call the child by its name: Revenge, revenge, revenge. We mustn’t forget. We have to take horrible revenge for the Arab terrorist attack on Mercaz Harav Yeshiva,” referring to the incident in which eight students were killed in June 2008. “I’m not talking about individual people in particular, I’m talking about the state,” Eliyahu wrote. Israel has “to pain them to the point where they scream ‘Enough,’ to the point where they fall flat on their face and scream ‘help.’ Not for the sake of satisfying the need for revenge but for the purposes of deterrence.” 
___In the newsletter that was distributed to synagogues around the country, Eliyahu proposed “hanging the children of the terrorist who carried out the attack in the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva from a tree.” The rabbi said: “We’ll stay here. We need to live with those who understand very well the language of revenge.”    SOURCE . . . 

.  .  .  .  .  ❶  ―  (ᴃ)  HOW  THE  ISRAELI  RIGHT  SUCCEEDS  AT  MAKING  ITSELF  THE  VICTIM
+972 Magazine  
By Almog Behar
We are in the historical stage of the ideological Right, in which every single detail, which would have previously embarrassed the right wing, now only strengthens it.
___ The most recent example of this phenomenon is that of Ateret Cohanim, the settler organization that used prostitutes, front organizations, and threats of murder to buy Palestinian properties in East Jerusalem. The ideological Right . . .  view the organization’s deeds as a mitzvah on the way to taking control of more land. Ateret Cohanim’s cleverness evokes wonderment rather than criticism . . .  As Yair Netanyahu, son of the prime minister, recently wrote on his personal Facebook page, the real danger is the Left, including groups such as Black Lives Matter and the BDS movement, rather than the extreme right that believes in white supremacy or neo-Nazism.   MORE . . .  
❷ ISRAELI  ARMY  DECLARES  NABI  SALEH,  HOME  TO  TAMIMI  FAMILY,  CLOSED  MILITARY  ZONE
Ma’an News Agency
Jan. 13, 2018 ― The Israeli army declared the central occupied West Bank village of Nabi Saleh — home to imprisoned teenage activist Ahed al-Tamimi — a closed military zone on Saturday, closing off all entrances and exits.
___Official Palestinian Authority (PA)-owned Wafa news agency reported that that Israeli forces set up barriers on the main road that leads to Nabi Saleh and prevented Palestinians, including journalists, from entering the village.   MORE . . .  
.  .  .  .  .  ❷  ―  (ᴀ)  CIVILIANS  ARRESTED,  ACCESS  ROADS  CLOSED  BY  IOF  THROUGHOUT  WEST  BANK
The Palestinian Information Center 
Jan. 14, 2018 ― Several Palestinians were kidnapped by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in abduction sweeps rocking the West Bank at predawn Sunday.
___The Israeli army claimed responsibility for the abduction of 15 Palestinians on allegations of involvement in anti-occupation activities.
___The IOF wreaked havoc on civilian homes and aggressively beat several arrestees in the presence of their family members.
___Reporting from the northern West Bank, a PIC reporter said the occupation forces kidnapped 26-year-old Islam Samar from Jenin’s western town of Yamon after they ravaged his family home.
___The IOF also seized surveillance cameras from a Palestinian home in Mesliya town, in Jenin.   MORE . . .    
.  .  .  .  .  ❷  ―  (ᴃ)  LIFE-SAVING  TREATMENT  TO  BE  HALTED  AT  GAZA  HOSPITALS  OVER  FUEL  DEARTH 
The Palestinian Information Center
Jan. 14, 2018 ― The Palestinian healthcare system in the besieged Gaza Strip is facing an alarming crisis due to the shortage of fuel supplies for generators that provide power for hospitals, a spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza has warned.
___Health Ministry spokesman, Ashraf al-Qidrah, said the ministry has enacted a “Plan B” which involves the redistribution of resources to more critically needed health assets.
___Al-Qidrah also warned of the possibility of delayed or canceled surgeries and inter-hospital transfers if no urgent action is taken on the part of the concerned authorities.   MORE . . .  

“PALESTINIAN,”  BY  HARUN  HASHIM  RASHID
Palestinian,
Palestinian is my name.
In a clear script,
On all battlefields
I have inscribed my name,
Eclipsing all other titles.
The letters of my name cling to me,
Live with me, nourish me,
Fill my soul with fire
And pulse through my veins.
Palestinian,
Such is my name, I know
It torments and grieves me,
Their eyes hunt me,
Pursue me, wound me.
For my name is Palestinian.
And as they pleased
They have made me wander.

I have lived all my life
Without traits and features
As they pleased,
They gave me names and titles.
Jails with their gates flung wide
Summon me
And in all the airports of the world
Are found my names and titles―
The lying wind carries me,
Disperses me.
Palestinian―
The name pursues me, lives with me.
Palestinian is my fate,
Clinging to me, reviving me.
Palestinian I am
Though they betray me and my cause
Palestinian I am
Though they sell me in the market
For what they please,
For thousands of millions;
Palestinian I am,
Though to the gallows they drive me;
Palestinian I am,
Though to the walls they bind me.
Palestinian I am,
Palestinian I am,
Though to the flames they cast me.
I―what am I?
Without my name, Palestinian,
Without a homeland to live for,
To protect and be protected by?
I―what am I?
Answer me, answer me.

Harun Hashim Rashid  
AN  ANTHOLOGY  OF  MODERN  ARABIC  POETRY. Selected, Edited, and Translated by Mounah A. Khouri and Hamid Algar. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1974. Available from Amazon.

“. . . a permanent phenomenon incapable of being nullified, and we need to consider another vision. . .” (Dr. Meir Margalit)

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❶ Government condemns Likud’s decision to annex West Bank settlements
. . . . . ❶― (ᴀ) Knesset to vote on unified Jerusalem bill
. . . . . ❶― (ᴃ) Abbas to make important decisions in 2018 in response to Israel’s violations

  • Background: “Jerusalem between the Veteran and the Younger Generation.” Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture.

❷ Palestinian girl indicted for slapping heavily armed Israeli soldier
. . . . . ❷― (ᴀ) IOF arrest retired General at Jerusalem checkpoint
. . . . . ❷― (ᴃ) IOF extend re-arrest of Parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar
❸ IOF breaks into al-Khalil, erects checkpoint north of Halhul
❹ “On Hope,” poetry by Mahmoud Darwish
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ GOVERNMENT  CONDEMNS  LIKUD’S  DECISION  TO  ANNEX  WEST  BANK  SETTLEMENTS
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA 
Jan. 1, 2018 ― The government condemned on Monday the approval by Likud party, Israel’s ruling party, of a draft resolution that calls on Likud leaders and Israeli lawmakers to agree on annexing Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
__Government’s spokesman Yousef al-Mahmoud described the resolution as “an outrageous violation of the resolutions of international legitimacy, especially the resolutions of the United Nations and the Security Council, as well as an irony and contempt for the entire UN system.”
___“The Palestinian land that includes the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, foremost of which our eternal capital Jerusalem, is a land occupied by Israel. . .   MORE . . .  
.  .  .  .  . ❶ ―  (ᴀ)  KNESSET  TO  VOTE  ON  UNIFIED  JERUSALEM  BILL
The Palestinian Information Center   
Jan. 1, 2018 ― The Knesset is set on Monday to vote on the “unified Jerusalem” bill which provides for separating Palestinian neighborhoods from Jerusalem and prohibits relinquishing any part of the city under any future agreement.
___The bill, filed by the Jewish Home party, requires the approval of 80 MKs for any decision to hand over parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority in the future.   MORE . . .   
.  .  .  .  . ❶―  (ᴃ)  ABBAS  TO  MAKE  IMPORTANT  DECISIONS  IN  2018  IN  RESPONSE  TO  ISRAEL’S  VIOLATIONS  
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA  
Jan. 1, 2018 ― President Mahmoud Abbas said that he is going to make important decisions in 2018 to hold Israel accountable for its grave and systematic violations of international law.
___Abbas’ statement came in response to the decision of the ruling Israeli party, Likud, to annex the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank to Israel, which the president said was a result of the support Israel enjoys from the United States.
___“We shall make important decisions during 2018, including regarding legal venues, in order to hold Israel accountable for its grave and systematic violations of international law, and to revisit agreements signed with Israel,” Abbas said in a press statement.    MORE . . .    ..

Margalit, Meir.
“JERUSALEM  BETWEEN  THE  VETERAN  AND  THE  YOUNGER  GENERATION.” PALESTINE-ISRAEL JOURNAL OF POLITICS, ECONOMICS & CULTURE, vol. 21, no. 2, Nov. 2015, pp. 43-50
[. . . .] We have always known the solution to the conflict . . . .  and in the realm of intellectual debate, there are no inherent deficiencies in our program. However, the general public has not been impressed by our rational arguments . . . .
[. . . .]  We [Israelis] have also ignored the irrational components of the conflict. We provided a rational answer to a conflict that is, to a large extent, irrational. We downplayed (or ignored) the irrational dimensions, and in doing so, we lost most of the public. Freud wrote in 1915 that the behavior of nations stems far more from impulses and irrational compulsions then it does from rational calculations, and most even employ rational arguments to justify irrational urges. . .  We would like to believe that in life there is rational order, but . . . nothing can be taken for granted, and no rational explanation can truly explicate phenomena around us.
[. . . .]  . . .  since the 1990s . . . Jewish settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have changed the reality . . . such that the occupation appears to be here indefinitely, a permanent feature of the landscape that is not going anywhere. A change of such magnitude is not merely quantitative but also fundamentally qualitative, which obligates new thinking, a different perspective and an alternative political model. If our occupation is akin to that of Algeria, Ireland or apartheid, then the impetus to disengage is correct. However . . . we are dealing with a permanent phenomenon incapable of being nullified, and we need to consider another vision. It would then not be precisely ending the occupation but reducing its associated damages and changing the power relations from within, for example, ensuring full civic equality for all citizens from the Jordan River to Mediterranean Sea and allowing demographic trends to exact their consequences. . . . we need to understand that “peace” itself is also no longer feasible.    SOURCE . . .  

❷ PALESTINIAN  GIRL  INDICTED  FOR  SLAPPING  HEAVILY  ARMED  ISRAELI  SOLDIER  (In Israel, killing thousands of innocent Palestinians does not matter, but slapping a heavily armed Israeli soldier by a little girl deserves rape and life sentence.)    Days of Palestine 
Jan. 01, 2018 ― Israeli court indicted on Sunday Palestinian girl Nour Tamimi, 21, who was seen slapping heavily armed Israeli soldier along with her cousin Ahed Tamimi two weeks ago.
___The Israeli court charged Tamimi with aggravated assault of an Israeli soldier and obstructing a soldier from carrying out his duty.
___ A short video showed the young Tamimi girls, slapping an Israeli soldier in Nabi Salih after shoting their cousin in the head.   MORE . . .   
.  .  .  .  . ❷― (ᴀ) IOF  ARREST  RETIRED  GENERAL  AT  JERUSALEM CHECKPOINT
Palestine News Network – PNN    
Jan. 1, 2018 ― Israeli occupation forces on Sunday afternoon arrested the retired Major General and activist Yusuf al-Sharqawi at a military checkpoint east of occupied Jerusalem, while on his way from Ramallah to Bethlehem.
___Eyewitnesses said that the Israeli occupation forces arrested Al-Sharqawi during while he was in a taxi heading home from Ramallah to Bethlehem, when the vehicle was stopped by soldiers, and he was asked to show his ID card.
___After that, he was taken to an unknown destination.       MORE . . .  
.  .  .  .  . ❷ ―  (ᴃ)  IOF  EXTEND  RE-ARREST  OF  PARLIAMENTARIAN  KHALIDA  JARRAR 
Palestine News Network – PNN
Jan. 1, 2018 ― The Israeli occupation military issued an order extending the arbitrary administrative detention of Palestinian parliamentarian and national leader Khalida Jarrar for an additional six months on Wednesday, 27 December 2017, four days before her detention was to expire. Jarrar was seized by occupation soldiers who invaded her home in El-Bireh on 2 July 2017. A well-known Palestinian leader, Jarrar is a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, head of its Prisoners’ Committee and Vice-Chair of the Board of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.     MORE . . .  
❸ IOF  BREAKS  INTO  AL-KHALIL,  ERECTS  CHECKPOINT  NORTH  OF  HALHUL
The Palestinian Information Center
Jan. 1, 2018 ― The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Monday morning stormed al-Shuyukh town in al-Khalil province.
___Eyewitnesses told the PIC reporter that six Israeli military vehicles, accompanied by a car belonging to the so-called Civil Administration, broke into a neighborhood to the southeast of the town, conducted some examinations and took several photos of the area.
___More than 20 years ago, the Israeli occupation authorities issued a decision to confiscate dozens of dunums of land privately-owned by Palestinian families living in al-Shuyukh in preparation for the establishment of a new settlement outpost, but the residents’ protests prevented the implementation of the Israeli plan.     MORE . . .  

“ON  HOPE,”  BY  MAHMOUD  DARWISH
Do not tell me:
I wish to be a baker in Algeria
In order to sing with the revolutionaries
Do not tell me:
I wish to be a shepherd in the Yemen
To sing for the uprising of the age
Do not tell me:
I wish to be a waiter in Havana
To sing for the victory of the poor
Do not tell me:
I wish to be a stone carrier in Aswan
To sing for the rocks
My friends:
The Nile will not pour into the Volga
The Congo and Jordan Rivers
Will not serve the Euphrates
Each river has its own
Our land is not barren
Each land has its own rebirth
Each dawn has a date with revolution.

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.  

To Christ the Lord on his birthday (Fadwa Tuqan)

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❶ Live: Christmas Eve in Manger Square
❷ Jerusalem Apostolic Administrator arrives in Bethlehem for midnight mass
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) Abbas wishes Christians merry Christmas
❸ 10 Palestinian students injured in clashes in al-Arroub camp
. . . . . ❸ ― (ᴀ) Rights Groups slam Supreme Court for giving ‘green light’ to torture
❹ Opinion/Analysis: Nabi Saleh is where I lost my Zionism
❺ POETRY by Fadwa Tuqan
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ LIVE:  CHRISTMAS  EVE  IN  MANGER  SQUARE
Palestine News Network – PNN 
Dec. 24-25, 2017    MORE . . .   
❷ JERUSALEM  APOSTOLIC  ADMINISTRATOR  ARRIVES  IN  BETHLEHEM  FOR  MIDNIGHT  MASS
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA  
Dec. 24, 2017 ― Christmas celebrations kicked off on Sunday with the annual procession led by the Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem Rev. Pierbattista Pizzaballa.
___The car procession started at the Latin Patriarchate at Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City with a stopover at Mar Elias Monastery on the outskirts of Bethlehem before completing its journey to Manger Square and the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, the birth site of Jesus Christ, where the official ceremony is expected to be held at al-Salam Center.   MORE . . . 
.  .  .  .  .  ❷  ―  (ᴀ)  ABBAS  WISHES  CHRISTIANS  MERRY  CHRISTMAS
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
Dec. 24, 2017 ― President Mahmoud Abbas Sunday wished Christians in Palestine who follow the Georgian calendar a merry Christmas and happy holidays.
___He hoped that in these blessed times, the hopes and wishes of the Palestinian people come true and that Palestinians finally celebrate an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
___Abbas expressed hope for all Palestinians to celebrate the end of the Israeli occupation and peace and justice in the land of peace next year.   MORE . . . 
❸ 10  PALESTINIAN  STUDENTS  INJURED  IN  CLASHES  IN  AL-ARROUB  CAMP 
The Palestinian Information Center  
Dec. 24, 2017 ― Ten Palestinian students were injured on Sunday in confrontations with the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at the entrance of Palestine Technical University in al-Arroub refugee camp in al-Khalil province.
___Eyewitnesses told the PIC reporter that the IOF soldiers stormed the university campus and fired tear gas canisters, sound bombs, and live and rubber bullets at the students causing at least ten injuries and suffocation cases among them.   MORE . . .  
.  .  .  .  .  ❸  ―  (ᴀ)  RIGHTS  GROUPS  SLAM  SUPREME  COURT  FOR  GIVING  ‘GREEN  LIGHT’  TO  TORTURE
The Palestinian Information Center 
By Ben White
Dec. 24, 2017 ― The Israeli Supreme Court has been accused of redefining torture so as to permit it after a major new ruling was greeted with dismay by local and international human rights groups.
___Last week the court – sitting as the High Court of Justice – denied a petition brought by The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) on behalf of Palestinian prisoner Asad Abu Ghosh.
___According to the petition, Abu Ghosh was tortured with “severe mental and physical violence” during a Shin Bet interrogation in 2007, including “beatings, being thrown against a wall, stress positions including the ‘banana’ position, sleep deprivation, and extreme mental duress”.
[. . . .] Despite this, and the evidence presented by PCATI, the High Court still threw out the petition, accepting an earlier decision of the Attorney General not to open a criminal investigation against the interrogators, and thus granting the agents impunity for their actions.    MORE . . . 
❹ Opinion/Analysis:  NABI  SALEH  IS  WHERE  I  LOST  MY  ZIONISM  
+ 972  Magazine   
By Lisa Goldman
Dec. 24, 2017 ― A short video of 16-year-old Ahed Tamimi slapping an Israeli soldier has dominated the Israeli media for the past week, and received prominent coverage internationally as well. Ahed, a Palestinian girl from the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, makes a big impression with her eye-catching mane of blonde hair, the fierce, intelligent expression in her blue eyes — and her fearlessness.
[. . . .] For Israelis, one of their soldiers was provoked, almost unbearably, but still managed to rise above the situation. For almost everyone else, the video shows an unarmed adolescent . . .  bravely confronting an armed soldier in her own village. Even without knowing the circumstances, a fully-grown man in combat gear and carrying a powerful weapon refraining from hitting a much smaller, unarmed adolescent girl, seems not remarkably praiseworthy but rather a response predicated on basic humanity and ethics.
[. . . .]  By the time I began going to Nabi Saleh, I had spent about four years reporting on what I saw in Gaza and the West Bank, and watching detachedly as my politics moved ever leftward from the liberal place in which they started, as a consequence of what I saw on the ground. But it was in Nabi Saleh that I lost the last remnants of what I would call — for lack of a word to describe my nostalgia for the idea of a state for the Jews — my Zionism.
___My radicalization was not only a consequence of witnessing brutal violence perpetrated right in front of my eyes, by soldiers of the army that was supposed to protect me. It was also a result of my seeing the Tamimi family endure that violence week after week, seeing their relatives injured, arrested and killed, and still not coming to the conclusion that the price of resistance is too high. They simply refuse to submit.   MORE . . .  

TO  CHRIST  THE  LORD  ON  HIS  BIRTHDAY,”  BY  FADWA  TUQAN
But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
St. Mark’s Gospel XII: 7-8

O Lord, O glory of the universe,
crucified this year on your birthday,
are the joys of Jerusalem
silenced on your birthday?
O Lord, all the bells
for two millenia have not been silenced
on your birthday
except for this year:
the domes of the bells are in mourning,
black wrapped in black.

Jerusalem along the Via Dolorosa,
whipped under the cross of ordeal,
bleeding at the hands of the executioner,
and the world is a sealed heart
in the face of affliction.
In this hard indifferent world, O Lord,
the sun’s eye is smothered: the world went astray
and was lost.
In the ordeal it did not even raise a candle.
It did not even shed a tear
to wash away the sorrows in Jerusalem.

The husbandmen killed the heir, O Lord,
and raped the vineyard.
The sinners of the world fledged the bird of evil
dashing off to defile the purity of Jerusalem,
damned and infernal, hated even by Satan.

O Lord, O glory of Jerusalem,
from the well of sorrows, from the abyss,
from the depth of the night,
from the heart of plight,
the wails of Jerusalem are raised up to you.
In your mercy, take away from me, O Lord, this cup!

―Translated by Ferial Ghazoul

About Fadwa Tuqan
From: Smith, Michael. Ed. “Contemporary Palestinian Poetry.” Free  Verse. english.chass.ncsu.edu. 2008. Web. http://freeversethejournal.org/Archives/Spring_2008/poems/M_Smith.html

 

“. . . but with you, the sun’s enemy, I will not bargain . . .” (Samih al -Qasim)

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25348825_1925072917533509_2459295879374347377_n-001
A Meme from FaceBook. Perhaps it should read “recognizes Tel Aviv as the capital of the United States.”

❶ PPS: 490 Palestinians detained by Israeli forces since Trump decision on Jerusalem

  • Background: “A Letter from the Editors: The Longest Occupation.” Against the Current

. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) Israeli forces detain cousin of Ahed Tamimi, extend detention of Ahed and her mother
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) Palestinians injured as Israeli army suppresses rallies against US decision on Jerusalem
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴄ) Palestinian teen remains in a coma after being shot in head by Israeli forces
❷ President Abbas meets Saudi King Salman in Riyadh
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) UNGA to vote on withdrawing US recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴃ) Palestinian delegations holding talks in Russia and China on future of peace process
❸ POETRY by Samih al -Qasim
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ PPS:  490  PALESTINIANS  DETAINED  BY  ISRAELI  FORCES  SINCE  TRUMP  DECISION  ON  JERUSALEM 
Ma’an News Agency    
Dec. 20, 2017 ―Israeli forces detained at least 28 Palestinians overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to official Palestinian and Israeli sources.
___The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) . . .   said that as of Tuesday, the total number of Palestinians detained by Israeli forces since the beginning of the protests that followed US President Donald Trump’s’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was 490, including 148 minors and 11 women.  MORE . . . 

“A  LETTER  FROM  THE  EDITORS:  THE  LONGEST  OCCUPATION.” 
AGAINST THE CURRENT, vol. 32, no. 189, Jul/Aug2017, pp. 2-44.
DONALD TRUMP’S SPEECH to the regional potentates and dictators assembled for the occasion in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was generally acclaimed as eminently presidential, and rightly so. That is to say, it was firmly in the tradition of U.S. presidential addresses on Middle East policy: utterly cynical, dripping with deceit, and above all, irreversibly tied to the United States’ leading role as the chief arms merchant to some of the world’s most brutal regimes.
___Unlike some of his predecessors, of course, Trump paid no lip service to human rights or democracy, both of which he despises — as do his Saudi royal hosts, who understood perfectly that the way to treat him is with limitless pomp and flattery . . .
[. . . .] Trump’s performance in Riyadh . . .  was in some ways as breathtaking as it was presidential. He assured the assembled rulers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain etc. that “we are not here to lecture you,” and declaimed the absence of democracy — in Iran. In fact, Iran just held an election. The population didn’t get to choose the candidates. . .  But given the choices presented to them, Iranians voted overwhelmingly for the “moderate” president Hassan Rouhani who promised openness and social relaxation.
[. . . .] Whatever happens to Trump’s presidency won’t be decided by his antics in Riyadh, Jerusalem or Brussels. It will end if, and at whatever point, he becomes a liability rather than an enabler of the savage rightwing Republican political agenda. But it’s important that the resistance to the Trump regime — which has only intensified after his withdrawal from the international climate agreement — take up the issues of war in the Middle East, Palestine in particular.   FULL ARTICLE . . .

.  .  .  .  .  ❶  ―  (ᴀ)  ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  COUSIN  OF  AHED  TAMIMI,  EXTEND  DETENTION  OF  AHED  AND  HER  MOTHER 
Ma’an News Agency   
Dec. 20, 2017 ― Israeli forces detained the cousin of Palestinian teenage actvist Ahed al-Tamimi during predawn raids on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank.
___Locals in the central West Bank village of Nabi Saleh told Ma’an that Israeli forces detained 21-year-old Nour Naji al-Tamimi, the cousin of 17-year-old Ahed al-Tamimi who was detained . . . after a video went viral of her slapping an armed Israeli officer during a raid on Nabi Saleh.
___Nour, who appeared in the video next to Ahed as the two attempted to push the soldiers out of their property, was reportedly arrested for reasons relating to the video.
___Ahed’s mother, Nariman, was also detained on Tuesday . . .  According to Arabic media, both Ahed and Nariman’s detentions were extended.  MORE . . .
.  .  .  .  .  ❶  ―  (ᴃ)  PALESTINIANS  INJURED  AS  ISRAELI  ARMY  SUPPRESSES  RALLIES  AGAINST  US  DECISION  ON  JERUSALEM
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
Dec. 20, 2017 ― Israeli forces responded with force on Wednesday shooting live and rubber bullets and tear gas canisters to disperse thousands of Palestinians who rallied across the West Bank districts of Ramallah, Hebron, Tulkarm and Bethlehem against the US decision recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital causing dozens of suffocation cases and at least one injury from live bullet.
___The Palestinian national and Islamic forces called for mass rallies in all the Palestinian cities after which participants would march to contact points with Israeli soldiers.     MORE . . . 
.  .  .  .  .  ❶  ―  (ᴄ)  PALESTINIAN  TEEN  REMAINS  IN  A  COMA  AFTER  BEING  SHOT  IN  HEAD  BY  ISRAELI  FORCES
Ma’an News Agency 
Dec. 19, 2017 ― Fourteen-year-old Muhammad Fadel al-Tamimi remains in a medically-induced coma as of Tuesday, days after he was hot in the face with a rubber-coated steel bullet by Israeli forces.
___The Palestinian teenager, a resident of the central occupied West Bank town of Nabi Saleh, was injured during clashes in his village on Friday.    MORE . . . 
❷  PRESIDENT  ABBAS  MEETS  SAUDI  KING  SALMAN  IN  RIYADH 
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA 
Dec. 20, 2017 ― President Mahmoud Abbas met in Riyadh on Wednesday with King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and briefed him on the latest developments and efforts to protect Jerusalem from the dangers facing it following US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel earlier this month.   MORE . . .
.  .  .  .  .  ❷  ―  (ᴀ)  UNGA  TO  VOTE  ON  WITHDRAWING  US  RECOGNITION  OF  JERUSALEM  AS  ISRAELI  CAPITAL 
Palestine News Network – PNN
Dec. 20, 2017 ―Palestine’s Permanent Observer at the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, said the United Nations General Assembly is going to vote on Thursday on a draft resolution that calls for withdrawing the United States’ recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Voice of Palestine radio reported Wednesday.
___He told the Voice of Palestine radio that the UN General Assembly will hold a session named “United for Peace” on Thursday to vote on the draft resolution which asks the US to back down on its recent decision on Jerusalem, after the US vetoed a similar UN Security Council resolution last Monday.    MORE . . .
.  .  .  .  .  ❷  ―  (ᴃ)  PALESTINIAN  DELEGATIONS  HOLDING  TALKS  IN  RUSSIA  AND  CHINA  ON  FUTURE  OF  PEACE  PROCESS  
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA     
Dec. 20, 2017 ― Two official Palestinian delegations are in Russia and China to discuss the future of the peace process, PLO Executive Committee member Saleh Rafat said on Wednesday.
___He told the official Voice of Palestine radio that the visit by the two Palestinian delegations is part of efforts to garner support for the Palestinian position that strongly opposes the US decision recognizing Jerusalem as capital of Israel.
___He said Moscow had confirmed its support for the Palestinian position and would stand by Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly when it meets on Thursday with a goal to denounce the US decision.   MORE . . . 

“A  SPEECH  IN  THE  UNEMPLOYMENT  MARKET,”  BY  SAMIH  AL-QASIM
If you like, I will forfeit my wages
and put up my clothes and bed for sale.
I’ll work as a stonecutter, porter or street-sweeper,
and search for grain in the dung of cattle
and languish, naked and hungry
but with you, the sun’s enemy, I will not bargain.
With the last throb in my veins I will resist.

Though you steal the last foot of my land
and feed my youth to the prison,
seize my grandfather’s inheritance
of furnishings, dishes and pots,
burn my poems and books,
throw my flesh to the dogs
and dwell as a dream of horror over my village
with you, the sun’s enemy, I will not bargain.
With the last throb in my veins I will resist.

You may smother my flame in the night,
withhold my mother’s kiss
and let children curse my kinfolk.
You may slip past the guardian of my sorrows
and settle my history between a coward and a senseless god.
You may deny my children holiday clothes
and fool my friends with a borrowed face,
hedge me around with all your walls
and sacrifice my days on some humble spot
but with you, the sun’s enemy, I will not bargain.
With the last throb in my veins I will resist.

Enemy of the sun,
in the port there is feasting, a flood of good tidings,
shrills and shouts and a cry of joy;
heroic anthems burst from every throat!
On the horizon, a boat
challenges the wind and boundless sea, and passes out of danger.
It is Ulysses’ return
from the lost seas―
the return of the sun, and of the exiled―
and by her eyes,
and by his eyes,
I swear I will not bargain!

I will resist.
― (1967)

An interview with Samih Al-Qasim.
From WHEN THE WORDS BURN: AN ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN ARABIC POETRY: 1945-1987. Translated and edited by John Mikhail Asfour. Dunvegan, Ontario, Canada. Cormorant Books, 1988.

“. . . The crowd has scattered and the guests are gone . . .” (Jabra Ibrahim Jabra)

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❶ FM Malki says ‘United for Peace’ will be invoked at UN General Assembly
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) Abbas signs 22 int’l treaties to boost legal status of Palestine
❷ Nablus: Qusra village sees no end to settler violence
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) Israel settler who killed Palestinian farmer acted in ‘self-defense’
. . . . . ❷ ― (ᴃ) Israel army exonerates itself over killing of Palestinian wheelchair-user

  • Background: “Freedom of Expression and Social Media in Palestine.” Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture

❸ Video: Israeli forces detain 17-year-old Palestinian girl in overnight raid
. . . . . ❸ ― (ᴀ) Israeli forces arrest Palestinian mother hours after detaining her teenage daughter
❹ POETRY by Jabra Ibrahim Jabra
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ FM  MALKI  SAYS  ‘UNITED  FOR  PEACE’  WILL  BE  INVOKED  AT  UN  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
Dec. 19, 2017 ― Foreign and Expatriates Minister Riyad Malki said on Tuesday that Palestine is going to call for an extraordinary session for the United Nations General Assembly under the term “United for Peace” to transfer the powers of the Security Council to the General Assembly in order to vote on the same draft resolution that the United States has vetoed the night.
___Malki said in an interview with Voice of Palestine radio that the General Assembly is going to meet on Tuesday to vote on a draft resolution affirming the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
___He said he expects that most of the member states are going to vote in favor of this resolution, which will constitute a slap in the face of the US and a strong response to its use of veto power to kill the Arab-sponsored draft resolution on Jerusalem.   MORE . . . 
.  .  .  .  .  ―  (ᴀ)  ABBAS  SIGNS  22  INT’L  TREATIES  TO  BOOST  LEGAL  STATUS  OF  PALESTINE 
The Palestinian Information Center
Dec. 18, 2017 ― President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday signed 22 agreements and international treaties that are believed to strengthen the legal status of the State of Palestine on a global scale.
___These important agreements would make the State of Palestine a key partner in discussing and addressing the fundamental issues facing the whole world, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.   MORE . . .
❷  NABLUS:  QUSRA  VILLAGE  SEES  NO  END  TO  SETTLER  VIOLENCE   
Al Jazeera English 
by Farah Najjar & Shatha Hammad
Dec. 19, 2017 ― The killing of a Palestinian farmer by Israeli settlers in a northern West Bank village last month has left his family in mourning, while fighting an ongoing legal battle to save their home, which is slated for demolition.
___Mahmoud al-Zaal’s eight-member family live in Qusra, a village encircled by illegal settlements and outposts south of the city of Nablus.
___An Israeli settler from a nearby outpost shot Zaal, 48, while he was ploughing his farmland. “He saw them approaching and when they began to pester him, he called out for me,” Awad, Zaal’s son, told Al Jazeera.  MORE . . . 
.  .  .  .  . ❷ ―  (ᴀ)  ISRAEL  SETTLER  WHO  KILLED  PALESTINIAN  FARMER  ACTED  IN  ‘SELF-DEFENSE’    
The Middle East Monitor – MEMO
Dec. 19, 2017 ― Israeli military prosecution yesterday charged Palestinian Mohamed Wadi with attempted murder after he threw stones at settlers, while Israel Police are expected to accept a settler’s claims that he killed a Palestinian in “self-defence”, Arab48 reported.
___Requesting an extension to his detention, the prosecution said Wadi had entered a cave where settlers were hiding and threw stones at them at close range.
___The Palestinian from Nablus in the occupied West Bank had allegedly thrown a stone at one of the settler’s heads injuring him.
___This came after a group of illegal settlers raided Palestinian farms in the village of Qusra, near Nablus, and shot 48-year-old farmer Mahmoud Ahmad Zaal Odeh while he was working on his land.      MORE . . . 
.  .  .  .  .  ❷ ―  (ᴃ)  ISRAEL  ARMY  EXONERATES  ITSELF  OVER  KILLING  OF  PALESTINIAN  WHEELCHAIR-USER
The Middle East Monitor – MEMO
Dec. 19, 2017 ― The Israeli military announced yesterday evening that an internal investigation into the killing of Ibrahim Abu-Thurayya in protests on Friday found no wrongdoing by occupation forces.
___Wheelchair-user Abu-Thurayya, 29, was shot in the head during anti-occupation demonstrations by the Gaza Strip perimeter fence, one of four Palestinian fatalities the same day.
___“The initial investigation indicates that no moral or professional failures were identified,” said the Israeli army statement.   MORE . . . 

AbuZayyad, Ziad Khalil.
“FREEDOM  OF  EXPRESSION  AND  SOCIAL  MEDIA  IN  PALESTINE.”
PALESTINE-ISRAEL  JOURNAL  OF  POLITICS,  ECONOMICS  &  CULTURE, vol. 21, no. 2, Nov. 2015, pp. 40-42.
[. . . .] According to Saed Karzoun, a well-known Palestinian activist and digital media expert, 67.5% of Palestinians use computers, while about 24.3% of them use the Internet on a daily basis. There are more than 1,039,700 Facebook users in Palestine. . . . It is accurate to say that social media is seen more as a tool to address non-Palestinians than as an effective tool for any kind of dialogue within Palestinian civil society. Nonetheless, Palestinians have witnessed great success on several occasions when social media was used to organize political or social events.
[. . . .] The greatest challenge that Palestinians face while trying to use social media as a tool for freedom of expression is the change in Israeli policy toward those who dare to express themselves on Facebook or Twitter. Recently Facebook posts have been used as grounds for possible imprisonment when used to express political opinions. Israel has sent dozens of Palestinians to jail for several months, asserting that they expressed extreme points of view on Facebook. Internationally, the discourse has always been that freedom of expression should be maintained on the Internet and that regulations should not allow digital expression to be used as a pretext to hunt down political activists. At the same time, many countries, including Israel, justify their control of the flow of Internet content by stating that this is done for national security and high-priority national interests.
___Palestinian activists clearly need to be given support and training that will help them face the political challenges presented by the censure of digital expression.   FULL ARTICLE . . . 

❸ VIDEO:  ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  17-YEAR-OLD  PALESTINIAN  GIRL  IN  OVERNIGHT  RAID       
Ma’an News Agency   
Dec. 19, 2017 ― Israeli forces detained a 17-year-old Palestinian girl from the Nabi Saleh village in northwestern Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank on Tuesday morning before dawn.
___Israeli forces raided the home of the al-Tamimi family, well-known internationally for their activism against the Israeli occupation, and detained Ahed al-Tamimi, 17.
___Israeli forces also confiscated computers, mobile phones and cameras from the house during the raid. According to locals, Ahed was arrested over a video went viral on social media of her slapping an armed Israeli officer during a raid on Nabi Saleh.     MORE . . . 
.  .  .  .  .  ―  (ᴀ)  ISRAELI  FORCES  ARREST  PALESTINIAN  MOTHER  HOURS  AFTER  DETAINING  HER  TEENAGE  DAUGHTER   
Ma’an News Agency 
Dec. 19, 2017 ― The mother of a Palestinian teenage girl, who was detained from her home by Israeli forces before dawn on Tuesday, was reportedly detained at an Israeli police station when seeking information about her daughter’s whereabouts.
___Official Palestinian Authority (PA)-owned Wafa news agency reported that Nariman al-Tamimi was detained by Israeli officers on Tuesday morning at the Benyamin police station, north of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank.  MORE . . .

“BEYOND  GALILEE,”  BY  JABRA  IBRAHIM  JABRA
When I lived with Christ,
died with him and was resurrected
my voice was still shouting in the wilderness,
a voice unlike my own
burning with an unfamiliar fire.

Whose fire?
Give me shade and cold water,
and I will hang my memories on
a wall in some deserted room.
The crowd has scattered and the guests are gone;
the voice shouts in vain
like the voice of all that came before
death and Galilee.
On my lips are traces of honey
and hemlock.
Have I come after death to hear my voice
pulling me toward a long-deserted void?
Give me shade! And you, woman,
put a chunk of ice in your water.
The sun is burning. Life after death
is tiresome. And still my voice is drawn by the fire.
For whom? For whom
have I closed my eyes, while on my lips were
those traces of honey and hemlock?

From WHEN  THE  WORDS  BURN:  AN  ANTHOLOGY  OF  MODERN  ARABIC  POETRY:  1945-1987.  Translated and edited by John Mikhail Asfour. Dunvegan, Ontario, Canada. Cormorant Books, 1988.
About Jabra Ibrahim Jabra.

“. . . Next to the great room we call our country . . .” (Mourid Barghouti)

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❶ Palestinians across the West Bank, Jerusalem protest Trump’s decision
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) Over 50 injured, 9 with live ammunition, in clashes across Palestinian territory
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) Israeli arrest campaign waged in anticipation of ‘day of rage’
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴄ) Israeli Soldiers Isolate Kufur Qaddoum
❷ Israel to construct 14,000 settlement units in Jerusalem

  • Background: “Divided We Rise: Politics, Architecture and Vertical Cityscapes at Opposite Ends of Jerusalem.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers.

❸ REACTIONS TO TRUMP’S DECISION
❹ POETRY by Mourid Barghouti
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ PALESTINIANS  ACROSS  THE  WEST  BANK,  JERUSALEM  PROTEST  TRUMP’S  DECISION  
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA 
Dec. 8, 2017 ― Thousands of Palestinians across the West Bank and East Jerusalem marched in protest of US President Donald Trump’s recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and plans to move the US embassy.
___The protestors headed to Israeli checkpoints in several districts to express condemnation and rejection of the illegal move. In Ramallah district, hundreds gathered after the Friday prayer and marched to al-Bireh’s northern entrance, where clashes erupted with Israeli soldiers.   MORE . . .
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ)  OVER  50  INJURED,  9  WITH  LIVE  AMMUNITION,  IN  CLASHES  ACROSS  PALESTINIAN  TERRITORY   
Ma’an News Agency
Dec. 7, 2017 ― The number of injured Palestinians continues to climb on Thursday as clashes with Israeli forces continue to escalate across the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
___Palestinian and world leaders warned Trump against making the announcement, for fear of instability and violence across the region that is now expected to continue in the days to come.
___9 injured with live ammunition [. . . .]   MORE . . .
. . . . . ❶―  (ᴃ)  ISRAELI  ARREST  CAMPAIGN  WAGED  IN  ANTICIPATION  OF  ‘DAY  OF  RAGE’   
The Palestinian Information Center
Dec. 8, 2017 ― The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) launched at dawn Friday a large-scale raid and arrest campaign in West Bank and Jerusalem as Palestinians declare a day of rage over US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
___Local sources affirmed that at least 16 Palestinian were detained in occupied Jerusalem, while ten others were arrested in Issawiya town after being brutally attacked.   MORE . . .
. . . . . ❶― (ᴄ) ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  ISOLATE  KUFUR  QADDOUM 
International Middle East Media Center – IMEMC  
Dec. 8, 2017 ― Earlier Friday, dozens of Israeli soldiers surrounded and isolated Kufur Qaddoum town, east of the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, ahead of the weekly protest against the Annexation Wall and colonies.
___The army stopped and searched dozens of cars, and interrogated many Palestinians, while inspecting their ID cards.
___Morad Eshteiwi, the coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Annexation Wall and Colonies in Kufur Qaddoum, said the army is trying to prevent the Palestinians, along with Israeli and international peace activists, from marching.   MORE . . .
❷ ISRAEL  TO  CONSTRUCT  14,000  SETTLEMENT  UNITS  IN  JERUSALEM
The Palestinian Information Center 
Dec. 8, 2017 ― Emboldened by US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the Israeli government is considering pushing ahead with plans to build around new 14,000 settler units in the city.
___Under the plan, pursued by Israeli housing minister Yoav Galant, 5,000 units would be built in the northern parts of the city and just outside Ramallah, Israeli media reported Thursday night.
___There would be 1,000 units built in East Jerusalem, while the remaining 8,000 units were to be built in the city’s western neighborhoods.   MORE . . .

Rosen, Gillad and Igal Charney.
“DIVIDED  WE  RISE:  POLITICS,  ARCHITECTURE  AND  VERTICAL  CITYSCAPES  AT  OPPOSITE  ENDS  OF  JERUSALEM.”
TRANSACTIONS OF THE INSTITUTE OF BRITISH GEOGRAPHERS, vol. 41, no. 2, Apr. 2016, pp. 163-174.
[. . . .] Since 1967 Palestinian East Jerusalem is to a large extent a construct of Israeli power and political domination. To strengthen control over annexed lands in East Jerusalem, Israel has been manipulating planning policies and procedures. . .  decisions are highly political and reflect the state’s power to . . .  determine what is acceptable and what is not, and direct which forms of informality will thrive and which will disappear.
___For almost 50 years, Israel has enforced a discriminatory planning regime that has systematically delegitimised Palestinian development rights, restricting the growth of Palestinian communities. Planning policies and practices in these areas have been largely subordinated to the ethno-national aspirations and geopolitical territorial claims of Israel, which have intentionally ignored the development needs of Palestinians. A Palestinian planning rights advocate explained this reality: ‘Palestinians do not exist for the Israeli planning system in Jerusalem . . . they are neither partners nor participants in planning agendas and procedures’, thus making them practically invisible to the Israeli planning authorities.
___Permissive approaches to tall-building development in West Jerusalem and in Jewish neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem make discrimination against Palestinians even blunter. It is nothing but preposterous to apply the anachronistic limit of four to six storeys to most Palestinian areas of East Jerusalem. . . .  As a planner from a human right advocacy group explained, this situation is actually ‘another tool of Israeli occupation which exploits and marginalises the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem’.   [. . . .]  SOURCE . . .    ..

❸ REACTIONS  TO  TRUMP’S  DECISION
Arab League says Trump’s decision on Jerusalem inflames tension   MORE . . .    ..
Ambassador: EU will not transfer embassy to Jerusalem   MORE . . .    ..
Pakistan condemns US move, calls it violation of Security Council’s resolutions MORE . . .
South Africa: US Unilateral Decision Undermines Middle East Peace Process    MORE . . .
Norway warns of increased instability following Trump’s decision     MORE . . .
Abbas meets King Abdullah II to discuss Jerusalem developments     MORE . . .
‘If these decisions go into effect my life here will become like a prison’: Palestinians in Jerusalem respond to Trump    MORE . . .

“IN THE NEIGHBORING ROOM,” BY MOURID BARGHOUTI
Next to
our nation’s bedroom,
Next to
the 5 a.m. orchestra, when
upright and in a hurry
the farm-worker goes out
and the 5 p.m. flute, when

bent and dumb
he comes back

Next to
the room of hope and despair,
the family prayers,
the silence of nurses
and the dry branch,
motionless on clean sheets

Next to
the poet’s room
where words are dogs
or birds:
with his stick
he drives the assaulting dogs away,
his hand opens
to throw barley to the birds
and he waits

Next to
the interrogation room
packed with the stupidity of screams
and the cunning
of the iron chains

Next to
the grandmother
squatting near the clay oven
watching the interaction between
a loaf of bread
and the flames

Next to
the maternity ward

He sits
with strong muscles
and tools and weapons
ready to help:
he thinks of us a lot
he looks after us
like an indispensable
head of the family

Next to
the great room we call our country

Death
stays up, active
for our sake.

From Barghouti, Mourid. MIDNIGHT AND OTHER POEMS. Trans. Radwa Ashour. Todmorden, UK: Arc Publications, 2008. Available from Barnes and Noble.  A biographical essay about Mourid Barghouti.

“. . . a drop of blood…resisting the conquerors! . . .” (Majid Abu Ghoush)

Harold KnightLeave a comment

❶ West Bank village punished for exposing Israel’s brutality
❷ Palestinian home targeted in suspected revenge attack by settlers
❸ WATCH: Israelis say ‘enough’ to violence and occupation
❹ Dual-citizen suspects in the Duma killings: Four suspects maintain citizenship with Anglo-Saxon countries [Related: suspects released]
❺ Opinion/Analysis: DELINKING  THE  PALESTINIANS
❻ Poetry by Majid Abu Ghoush
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
WEST  BANK  VILLAGE  PUNISHED  FOR  EXPOSING  ISRAEL’S  BRUTALITY
Nancy Murray
Dec. 21, 2015
The small West Bank village of Nabi Saleh is paying a steep price for a VIDEO OF ISRAELI BRUTALITY.
___Widely circulated in recent months, the video shows the mother and sister of 12-year-old Muhammad Tamimi wresting him away from a masked and armed Israeli soldier. The boy was throttled and jammed into boulders on 28 August, despite having a cast on his arm. . . .
___Miri Regev, Israel’s culture minister, said that the soldier should have shot the boy’s unarmed rescuers.
___Since the incident, the Israeli army has detained scores of young men from the village and subjected them to lengthy periods of interrogation, during which abusive treatment occurred.   More . . .

❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PALESTINIAN  HOME  TARGETED  IN  SUSPECTED  REVENGE  ATTACK  BY  SETTLERS
Dec. 22, 2015
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Suspected Israeli settlers early Tuesday attacked a Palestinian home in a Ramallah-area village in the occupied West Bank in what appeared to be a revenge attack for the arrest of Jewish extremists who carried out a deadly attack last summer.
___Hussein al-Najjar, 30, told Ma’an that settlers arrived to his home in the village of Beitillu around 1:30 a.m. and vandalized the exterior walls of the house before smashing in a window and throwing three tear gas bombs inside.
___Al-Najjar said that he and his wife as well as their 9-month-old son Karam suffered from severe tear gas inhalation.   More . . .
❸ +972 MAGAZINE
WATCH:  ISRAELIS  SAY  ‘ENOUGH’  TO  VIOLENCE  AND  OCCUPATION
December 21, 2015
Since the beginning of October, more than 120 people — Palestinians and Israelis — have lost their lives, while hundreds of others have been wounded in the latest round of violence. Lives on both sides are cut short, entire families are torn apart, and fear and hatred reign in the streets. Dozens of Israeli activists heeded the call of their Palestinian counterparts and protested in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv last week to call for an end to the violence.   More . . .
❹ ALTERNATIVE INFORMATION CENTER (AIC)
DUAL-CITIZEN  SUSPECTS  IN  THE  DUMA  KILLINGS:  FOUR   SUSPECTS  MAINTAIN  CITIZENSHIP  WITH  ANGLO-SAXON  COUNTRIES.
Sergio Yahni
Dec. 21, 2015
In July 2015, two parents and their 18-month-old son were burned to death when a commando threw firebombs at the Dawabshe family’s home in the village of Duma. A four-year-old child survived the attack, but sustained severe injuries.
___At least six Israelis were arrested for the attack . . . .
___Meyer is a U.S. citizen. Shin Bet claims that Mordechai committed arson at Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem.
___Ettinger – a U.S. citizen and the grandson of militant Jewish nationalist Rabbi Meir Kahane . . . .   More . . .
Related . . . SETTLER  IMPUNITY:  ISRAELI  DEFENSE  MINISTER  SAYS  THERE  IS  NOT  ENOUGH  EVIDENCE  TO  DETAIN  OR  PROSECUTE  DAWABSHE  KILLERS
❺ Opinion/Analysis
THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
DELINKING  THE  PALESTINIANS
Joseph Massad
Dec. 22, 2015
Since the more recent third Palestinian uprising started in early October, there has been a rush by different Arab countries and intellectuals to legitimize their good relations with, and their love for, Israel.
___With the Palestinian uprising refusing to abate in November, panic set in among the Arab anti-Palestinian camp, which has gained considerable ground across the Arab world since the 1978 Egypt-Israel Camp David accords . . . .
___On 1 November, the Egyptian government, in addition to being one of the two jailers of 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza, voted openly and for the first time ever in favor of Israel at the United Nations.   More . . .

“RESISTANCE,”  MAJID  ABU  GHOUSH

I plant my poetry
in the streets,
in every quarter
and every alley,
a poem…resisting the conquerors!
I plant my fingers
in the streets,
in every hole,
in every flower pot:
a finger…resisting the conquerors!
I plant my blood
in the streets,
on every sidewalk,
on every roadsign:
a drop of blood…resisting the conquerors!
I plant my dreams
in the streets,
in the heads of passers-by:
an infant dream…resisting the conquerors!
I plant the names of my loved ones
in the streets,
on every tree, on every wall:
the name of a martyr resisting the conquerors!
I plant the colors of the flag
in the streets,
on every house,
and every window and door:
a color…resisting the conquerors!
I plant my children’s luggage
in the streets
at every roadblock,
at every checkpoint:
a suitcase…resisting the conquerors!
I plant my hands
in the streets,
on every corner:
a firm hand resisting the conquerors!

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. Abu Ghoush reading one of his own poems.  See also. 
From: University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Middle East Affairs
Special Programs, Commemorating the Intifada’s Tenth Year, April 10, 1998
Prof. Naseer Aruri

 

“. . . Who has spoken out against death at every corner. . .” (Fouzi El-Asmar)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
Shepherd in Salem village near Nablus, occupied West Bank, 10 October 2014. Photo: Ahmad Al-Bazz ActiveStills
Shepherd in Salem village near Nablus, occupied West Bank, 10 October 2014. Photo: Ahmad Al-Bazz ActiveStills

❺ Opinion/Analysis
+972 MAGAZINE
IN  NABI  SALEH,  AN  OCCUPIER’S  SENSE  OF  ENTITLEMENT
September 2, 2015
Reactions in Israel to the attempted arrest of a minor in Nabi Saleh have been fierce yet predictable. Wrapped up in outraged reactions to the treatment of the soldier himself, however, is Israel’s bruised sense of entitlement.
An Israeli soldier’s attempted arrest of a Palestinian minor in Nabi Saleh last Friday, and its prevention by the child’s family, have generated heated reactions in Israel. Responses have ranged from outrage at the soldier’s treatment to calls for increased and harsher powers for Israeli security forces . . . Only in a few isolated corners did the question arise of whether it is reasonable or decent for an armed soldier to chase and pin down an injured child. . . .
____ . . . Much was made of the fact that this was not the first time the Tamimi family has been in the news . . . . There seems to have been little consideration of the fact that what is caught on camera simply gives the barest hint as to what goes on behind closed doors, or that the video camera might be a legitimate non-violent weapon in the struggle against military occupation.
More. . .
Related. . . 

❶ ALTERNATIVE INFORMATION CENTER (AIC)
ISRAEL  UPS  JERUSALEM  REPRESSION
September 2, 2015
Israel has created the new position of “security coordinator” for Jerusalem’s Old City area, increasing repression of Palestinian residents in occupied East Jerusalem.
____The Jerusalem municipality established the new position of security coordinator for the occupied East Jerusalem Old City area, which includes the Old City itself and the surrounding Israeli settlements. Creation of this position is the initiative of municipal council member Arieh King, a right-wing activist for the Judaisation of Jerusalem and himself a settler residing in East Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives.
____King, who holds the emergency and security file for Jerusalem’s municipal council, told the settler-affiliated news portal Arutz 7 that “the ultimate goal is to transform the Old City and its surroundings into a safer area.”
More. . .
Related. . .
Related. . .

Increasing repression of Palestinian resistance in Jerusalem's Old City area. Photo Sergio Yahini, AIC
Increasing repression of Palestinian resistance in Jerusalem’s Old City area. Photo Sergio Yahini, AIC

❷ INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
WOMAN  INJURED,  EIGHT  SHEPHERDS  KIDNAPPED  NEAR  NABLUS
September 02, 2015
Shepherd Injured, Eight Sheep Killed After Being Rammed With a Settler’s Car Near Hebron
____Israeli soldiers attacked and injured, Wednesday, an elderly Palestinian woman, and kidnapped eight shepherds and farmers, in Salem village, east of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
____Medical sources in Nablus said an elderly woman, identified as Mahfoutha Eshteyya, 75 years of age, attempted to defend her son as Israeli soldiers were trying to kidnap him, when they violently assaulted her. . . The woman . . . was moved to a local hospital in Nablus.
____The soldiers also attacked and kidnapped eight Palestinian shepherds in the area, and took them to a number of detention and interrogation centers
More. . .

❸ INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
DETAINEE  DEVELOPS  PSYCHOLOGICAL,  NEUROLOGICAL  ISSUES  DUE  TO  8  YEARS  IN  SOLITARY  CONFINEMENT
September 2, 2015
The Palestinian Detainees Committee has reported, Wednesday, that political prisoner Mohammad Jobran Khalil, 33, is suffering various psychological and neurological issues, resulting from being held in solitary confinement for the eight consecutive year.
____The Committee said that Jubran, from the central West Bank city of Ramallah, has also been denied family visits for the ninth consecutive month.
More. . .

❹ PALESTINE CHRONICLE
UN:  GAZA  COULD  BE  ‘UNINHABITABLE’  BY  2020
September 1, 2015
The Gaza Strip, ravaged by wars and nearly a decade of a grueling Israeli blockade, could become uninhabitable for residents within just five years, the United Nations development agency said Tuesday.
____“The social, health and security-related ramifications of the high population density and overcrowding are among the factors that may render Gaza unlivable by 2020,” the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) wrote in its annual report.
____Gaza, a tiny enclave of just 362 square kilometers (about 225 square miles) squeezed between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea that is home to some 1.8 million Palestinians, counts one of the highest population densities in the world.
More. . .

“BECAUSE  I  AM  AN  ARAB,”  BY  FOUZI  EL-ASMAR
I sit in preventive detention.
The reason, see, is that I am an Arab.
An Arab who has refused to sell his soul
who has always striven, sir, for freedom.
An Arab who has protested at the suffering
of his people
Who has carried with him the hope
of a just peace
Who has spoken out against death
at every corner
Who has called for and has lived
a life of brotherhood.
That is why I sit in preventive detention
Because I carried on the struggle
And because I am an Arab.

El-Asmar, Fouzi. THE  WIND-DRIVEN  REED  AND  OTHER  POEMS. Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press, 1979.
Available from Amazon.
About Fouzi El-Asmar

Palestinian Manal Keferna, 30, cries as she holds dead chicks upon her return to the family house destroyed by Israeli strikes in Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip, Saturday, July 26, 2014. AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Palestinian Manal Keferna, 30, cries as she holds dead chicks upon her return to the family house destroyed by Israeli strikes in Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip, Saturday, July 26, 2014. AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis.

“. . . Who are these songs when they . . . hide them from the eyes of soldiers . . .” (Ibrahim Nasrallah)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
One of a series of photos taken in Nabi Saleh on Friday, Aug. 28 that has subsequently gone viral.
One of a series of photos taken in Nabi Saleh on Friday, Aug. 28 that has subsequently gone viral.

❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PHOTOS  OF  FAMILY  FORCING  SOLDIER  TO  RELEASE  12-YEAR-OLD  BOY  GO  VIRAL
August 29, 2015
BETHLEHEM―Images of two Palestinian women and a young girl scuffling with an Israeli soldier after he tackled a Palestinian boy with a broken arm went viral Friday evening, as the images became widely circulated on social media networks and mainstream media outlets.
____The incident took place in the central occupied West Bank village of Nabi Saleh near Ramallah, where local, international and Israeli activists gather for weekly Friday rallies in protest against Israel’s separation wall, a well as settlement expansion and illegal policies.
More. . . 

❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
NEW  SCHOOL  YEAR  IN  DOUBT  AT  PALESTINIAN  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS  IN  ISRAEL
August 29, 2015
JERUSALEM ―Israel’s academic year starts Tuesday, but if tough financing talks with the government bear no fruit, the doors of the country’s 47 Christian schools will remain closed, a church official said.
____Some 33,000 children, mostly Muslim Palestinians, attend the schools, which have a history predating Israel’s foundation in 1948 and are run primarily by the Roman Catholic church.
____Traditionally, the schools received 65 percent of their budgets from the state, with parents paying the balance. But that figure was cut to 34 percent two years ago, doubling the amount parents had to come up with.
More. . .

❸ +972 MAGAZINE
PHOTOS: THE GAZA FAMILIES OBLITERATED IN JUST 51 DAYS
Photography: Anne Paq / Activestills.org
August 26, 2015
Out of the 2,200 Palestinians killed in last summer’s assault on the Gaza Strip, over 80 percent were civilians. Nearly 150 families lost three or more relatives, with some families disappearing entirely. Activestills’ Anne Paq returns to Gaza to tell the story behind the numbers.
More. . .

Photos (from left to right) of the killed siblings Mohammed (12), Yara (8) and Nadeen (16) Mahmoud Al Farra, held by their mother in their home in Khan Younis, February 22, 2015. 9 members of the Al Farra family were killed in the street by an Israeli missile while they were fleeing their home after it was attacked on August 1st, 2014.
Photos (from left to right) of the killed siblings Mohammed (12), Yara (8) and Nadeen (16) Mahmoud Al Farra, held by their mother in their home in Khan Younis, February 22, 2015. 9 members of the Al Farra family were killed in the street by an Israeli missile while they were fleeing their home after it was attacked on August 1st, 2014. (Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

❹ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  FORCES  INJURE  5  IN  NORTHERN  WEST  BANK  CLASHES
August 29, 2015
NABLUS ―Israeli forces shot four young Palestinian men with rubber-coated steel bullets and an elderly man suffered from tear gas inhalation during clashes early Saturday morning in the northern West Bank village of Tell, south of Nablus, Palestinian security sources told Ma’an.
____Palestinian security sources said that several Israeli military vehicles stormed the village of Tell at 1 a.m. on Saturday morning before local youths responded to their presence and clashes broke out.
____The security sources, as well as locals, said young Palestinian men threw stone and empty bottles at the intruding soldiers, who then fired stun grenades, tear-gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets at the young men.
[. . . .]
____Israeli forces have injured 1,307 Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian Territory since the start of the year. . . .
More. . .

❺ Opinion
THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEM)
NGOS  CALL  ON  ISRAEL  TO  LIFT  GAZA  BLOCKADE
August 27, 2015
Aid, faith, development and human rights organisations have launched an unprecedented joint call urging world leaders to put pressure on Israel to lift the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. The group of thirty-five NGOs blame the siege for the lack of reconstruction in the enclave a year after the 2014 Israeli offensive.
____“It’s outrageous that a year on from the last Gaza war, not one home has been totally rebuilt and the world has left families to live in rubble,” said senior Avaaz campaigner Fadi Quran. “Governments are allowing Israel to violate the most basic humanitarian laws. Since the start of the blockade there have been three wars with hundreds of children killed.”
____The campaign has attracted the support of renowned international organisations, including Oxfam, Action Against Hunger and Avaaz, to become the largest ever global public push to end the blockade of the Palestinian territory.
More. . . 
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Oxfam
Action Against Hunger | ACF International

“OUR  SONGS,”  BY  IBRAHIM  NASRALLAH
Who are these songs for?
When they break the silence of the night
spreading warmth and life over the snow,
when they fall on the amine and carry it to water,
when they pass by a dim window, secretly embracing a lover,
when the spread over the grass, wrapped in clouds?
Who are these songs for
when they free the flowers
and the hidden flame of passion in women,
when they come to you with their flowers,
when they come to me with their secrets,
when they embrace the sun or a bouquet of flowers
or anything abandoned on the road?
When they send a pulse into the ground
and the pulse blossoms into a flower
in the space between two deaths,
or in a cloud, or in fire?
Who are these songs for
when they laugh,
who are these songs for when they rise?
And who are these songs for
when they open the doors to our houses
and embrace us one by one,
returning us to our lore?
When they carry our bodies in weddings
and cushion us with a lovely homeland
and then pick the most delicious fruit
and the farthest star
and hide them from the eyes of soldiers
to carry them―like our mother―home to us?

From Nasrallah, Ibrahim. RAIN  INSIDE:  SELECTED  POEMS. Trans. Omnia Amin and Rick London. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 2009. Available from Amazon.
About Ibrahim Nazrallah.

Israeli soldiers firing rubber-coated bullets and tear gas. Ma'an Images.
Israeli soldiers firing rubber-coated bullets and tear gas. Ma’an Images.

“. . . being caught―between the ugliest and the finest. . .” (Samih Al-Qasim)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
A Palestinian Bedouin in front of the ruins of her family house demolished by Israel in the Negev on August 4, 2010. (AFP/David Buimovitch)
A Palestinian Bedouin in front of the ruins of her family house demolished by Israel in the Negev on August 4, 2010. (AFP/David Buimovitch)

❶ From MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI KNESSET TO ADDRESS SHELVED PLAN TO RELOCATE NEGEV BEDOUINS
July 11, 2015
BEERSHEBA (Ma’an) – Bedouin residents of the Negev are gearing up to take last minute measures as the Israeli Knesset is slated Sunday to discuss a plan to forcibly relocate tens-of-thousands of Bedouin Palestinians.
____The Prawer Plan was approved by the Israeli government in 2011 but shelved in 2013 amid widespread protest among Palestinians within Israel and international condemnation.
(More. . .)

❷ From INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
INJURIES REPORTED AS SOLDIERS ATTACK NABI SALEH PROTEST
July 10, 2015
Palestinian medical sources have reported, Friday, that many residents suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation, after Israeli soldiers assaulted the weekly nonviolent protest against the Annexation Wall and settlements, in Nabi Saleh village. . .
____The Popular Resistance Committee in Nabi Saleh has reported that the protesters marched towards Palestinian orchards, illegally confiscated by the army, and isolated behind the wall. . .
____The soldiers fired rounds of live ammunition, gas bombs and rubber-coated metal bullets; scores of residents suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation.
(More. . .)

The soldiers fired rounds of live ammunition, gas bombs and rubber-coated metal bullets; scores of residents suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation. (Photo IMEMC)
The soldiers fired rounds of live ammunition, gas bombs and rubber-coated metal bullets; scores of residents suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation. (Photo IMEMC)

❸ From THE PALESTINIAN INFORMATION CENTER
WHEN THE OTHER ISN’T PERCEIVED AS HUMAN EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE
By Tamar Fleishman – Qalandiya
July 2, 2015
The ambulance was detained for about six hours and in it was a resident of Gaza, who had been discharged from a hospital in Nablus after undergoing heart surgery.
____For six hours the ambulance had waited on the Palestinian side of the checkpoint for someone to solve the bureaucratic mess. But apparently no one thought it to be an urgent matter. No one on the other side of the rifle or of the computer or of the phone thought that letting a person suffer like that for six hours was terrible.
(More. . .)

❹ From INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
ISRAEL OFFICIALLY SIGNS ORDER BARRING “PALESTINE 1948” TV
July 10, 2015
Israeli Police spokeswomen Luba Samri said, Thursday, that Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan has signed an official order shutting down the “Palestine 1948 TV,” and barring all of its activities in the country.
____Erdan said “Israel will not allow anybody to harm its sovereignty, or to grant the Palestinian Authority any foothold in the country.”
____He alleged that the TV station never obtained any proper authorization to operate in Israel, and said “Palestine 1948” began broadcasting, a month ago, from Nazareth.
(More. . .)

❺ Opinion
From +972 BLOG
IMPRISONED FOR INCITEMENT ON FACEBOOK? ONLY IF YOU’RE ARAB
July 10, 2015
John Brown* and Noam Rotem
Racist and inciting Facebook statuses by Israeli Jews have become commonplace on the Internet. Yet not a single Israeli has ever been sent to prison for publishing a status on social media.
____We do not live in a state where people are equal before the law. This is a fact that shouldn’t surprise anyone. The Internet, on the other hand, has maintained a kind of facade where freedom and equality are set in stone. But no more. This week, 23-year-old Uday Biyumi from Jerusalem was sentenced to 17 months in prison for publishing Facebook posts “systematically and widely.”
____The sentence is not something out of the ordinary. . .
(More. . .)

*John Brown is the pseudonym of an Israeli academic and blogger. Noam Rotem is an Israeli activist, high-tech executive and author of the blog o139.org, subtitled “Godwin doesn’t live here anymore.” This article was first published in Hebrew on Local Call.

palestinian poetry header

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“THE UGLIEST OF WORDS,” BY SAMIH AL-QASIM

What should I do with the narcissus?
The apricot?
The crowns of rugged trees?
What should I do with the finest
of my wildflowers? What?
What should I do with the strongest, fiercest,
and cruelest wild flowers and thorns?
What should I do with the strongest
of English words?
Foreigner?
The fiercest of French traits:
Etrangé?
The cruelest of German blows:
Ausländer?
The ugliest of Hebrew terms:
Oivim.
The most horrible sound in Arabic:
Kuffar.
What should I do with my pain
over my ignorance of Sanskrit
and Esperanza?
My fondness for wildflowers
runs deep.
What should I do
with the fence of fire
and with my being caught―
between the ugliest and the finest?
What should I do?
What?
What should I do?

From Al-Qasim, Samih. Sadder than Water: New & Selected Poems. Nazih Kassis, Trans. (Jerusalem: Ibis Editions, 2006.)
Available from Amazon
About Samih Al-Qasim

Censored, shut down
Censored, shut down