Tag: Ramallah

“They’ve grown to become trees plunging deep roots. . .” (Fadwa Tuqan)

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SELECTED NEWS OF THE DAY

Israeli army detains three youths from villages near Ramallah, seizes surveillance cameras

WAFA
August 24, 2019
The Israeli army detained early this morning three Palestinian youths from villages near Ramallah and seized street surveillance cameras in these villages, according to local sources. . . .
· · · · The sources said the soldiers seized tapes from the street surveillance cameras installed by shop and homeowners in these villages.
· · · · The arrests and seizure of the cameras are believed related to the Israeli army investigation into the explosion from yesterday near the village of Ein Arik that killed one Israeli settler and injured two others.   More . . . .   

Israeli settlers attack Palestinian citizens in West Bank cities

Groups of Israeli settlers on Friday rioted and attacked Palestinian citizens in al-Khalil and Nablus districts in the West Bank.
· · · Local sources reported that hordes of Israeli settlers gathered near Road 60 east of al-Khalil City and hurled rocks at Palestinian vehicles. More . . . .

In one East Jerusalem neighborhood, summer vacation has become a war zone

For children in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya, summer vacation means dodging rubber bullets and watching their fathers and brothers arrested and humiliated every day.
+972 Magazine
August 22, 2019
At the entrance to Issawiya in East Jerusalem, eight children are laughing as they chase one another in circles. I take out a camera and a few of them begin to gather around me. The oldest of the group is 13 years old, and tells me that they are playing “Jews and Arabs.” Do you know it? She asks. There are two teams: the Jews shoot at the Arabs and the Arabs throw rocks. The game ends when one of the teams wins.
I look on as they play but cannot really seem to make out the rules. It’s a bit like tag, only that instead of tagging one another, they pretend chase, detain, and shoot each other. The children’s home is just across the road. . . .   More . . . .

OPINION and BACKGROUND

The Future of the Two-State Solution and the Alternatives — A View from Gaza

Palestine-Israel Journal
Vol. 24 No. 1, 2019
By Husam Dajni
. . . . This article will address the following questions: What are the indicators of the erosion of the two-state solution? What are the chances the Palestinian leadership and the international community can keep this solution viable? What are possible alternatives to the two-state solution? And what is Hamas’s vision for the two-state solution and its alternatives, given the new reality?  More . . . .
(The Palestine-Israel Journal is a non-profit organization, founded in 1994 by Ziad AbuZayyad and Victor Cygielman, two prominent Palestinian and Israeli journalists, and was established concurrently with the first phases of the Oslo peace process to encourage dialogue between civil societies on both sides and broaden the base of support for the peace process.)

The East Jerusalem Municipality (Amanat al-Quds): History and Horizons

This Week In Palestine
Issue: 256, Aug 2019
By Walid Salem
The Jerusalem municipality was established by the Ottomans in 1863. At that time, it was composed of five members: three Muslims, one Christian, and one Jew. The British Mandatory Period began in 1917. . . . The Israeli occupying authorities dissolved this council on June 21, 1967, and began to enforce Israeli law in East Jerusalem whilst extending the responsibilities of the Israeli municipality to include East Jerusalem. Nevertheless, the 1963 elected city council continued operating and still represents East Jerusalem in Arab, Islamic, and international federations of capitals and cities today. . . .
· · · During President Mahmoud Abbas’s term, an amended Law No. 10 of 2005 was passed regarding the election of local authorities. Article 69 of the law stipulates that “members of the Municipal Council shall be selected in accordance with the Law of the Municipality of the Capital (Amanat al-Quds Law).”
· · · In January 2012, President Mahmoud Abbas issued a second decree appointing a new municipality for Jerusalem.    More . . . .
(In December 1998, Turbo Design put out the first issue of an English-language magazine called This Week in Palestine (TWiP). Twenty-one years later, the magazine is now considered to be a major Palestinian success story and, unfortunately, remains the only English-language magazine in Palestine. TWiP essentially promotes and documents Palestine. . . .)

POEM OF THE DAY

“SONG  OF  BECOMING,”  BY  FADWA  TUQAN

They’re only boys
who used to frolic and play
launching rainbowed kites
on the western wind,
their blue-and-green kites
whistling, leaping,
trading easy laughter and jokes
dueling with branches, pretending to be
great heroes in history.

Suddenly now they’ve grown,
grown more than the years of a normal life,
merged with secret and passionate words,
carried love’s messages like the Bible or the Quran,
to be read in whispers.
They’ve grown to become trees
plunging deep roots into the earth,
stretching high towards the sun.
Now their voices are ones that reject,
that knock down and build anew.
Anger smouldering on the fringes of a blocked horizon,
invading classrooms, streets, city quarters,
centering on squares,
facing sullen tanks with streams of stones.

Now they shake the gallows of dawn
assailing the night and its flood.
They’ve grown more than the years of a life
to become the worshipped and the worshippers.

When their torn limbs merged with the stuff of our earth
they became legends,
they grew into vaulting bridges,
they grew and grew, becoming
larger than all poetry.
――Translated by Naomi Shihab Nye

From ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN PALESTINIAN LITERATURE. Ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Available from Columbia University Press.

 

“Here we shall stay, sing our songs. . . .” (Tawfiq Zayyad)

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Selected News of the Day

Israeli forces seal off main roads west of Ramallah following suspected attack

WAFA
August 23, 2019
Israeli forces today sealed off main roads leading to the western Ramallah district in the West Bank following a suspected attack that resulted in the killing of a settler, confirmed local sources.
· · · · Forces deployed heavily and blocked major roads leading to a cluster of Palestinian villages west of Ramallah, particularly the Wadi al-Dilb Road and Ein Ayyoub junction. They also blocked the roads leading to Kafr Ni’ma and Ras Karkar villages, where they ransacked several homes and stores.
· · · · Soldiers set up roadblocks at the northern entrance to Ramallah city and at Ein Siniya junction, north of Ramallah, inspecting Palestinian vehicles and inspecting the IDs of passengers. They also raided Beituniya and Ein Arik towns, west of Ramallah.
· · · · The closure is conducted as part of a manhunt for a Palestinian suspected of killing an Israeli settler and wounding two others in an attack at Ein Bunin natural spring near the illegal Israeli settlement of Dolev, near Ras Karkar village.  More . . . .

  • Al-Shoroq: The activist farmers resisting Israeli annexation in Beit Ummar. IMEMC News & Agencies. August 21, 2019. More . . . .
  • Jewish Settlers Rule the Roost in Israel, but at What Cost? The Palestine Chronicle. August 22, 2019. More . . . .   

Displacement In Gaza And Israel’s Demographic Obsession

Days of Palestine
August 22, 2019
The statements made by a senior Israeli political source, which is likely to be Prime Minister Netanyahu himself, published in Israeli media, including Haaretz on 20 August regarding Israel taking practical steps to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, reminds us of what Israel calls the demographic threat. This involves ensuring a Jewish majority in the country, which has been a concern since the establishment of the Zionist colonial settlement project. Why displace Gazans? Why now? Is there a real possibility for its implementation?
· · · · Israel has used all forms of displacement, including ethnic cleansing, in order to reduce the number of Palestinians in Palestine as much as possible and achieve Zionism’s top goal, i.e. imposing a Jewish majority in Palestine, where its indigenous people have been living for many many years. This method on its own did not achieve the desired results, so Israel attracted tens of thousands of Arab and non-Arab Jews in order to successfully establish the state of Israel on the ruins of the Palestinian people in 1948. However, the demographic danger continued to pose a threat to Israel after occupying and controlling the Palestinians in 1967.   More . . . .   

  • Living in fear of the bulldozers. Electronic Intifada, August 22, 2019. More . . . .

Israeli Police Kidnaps Seven Jerusalemites From Bab Al-Rahma

Two young girls and three children among the detainees
Days of Palestine
Aug 22 2019
The Israeli occupation police on Thursday afternoon kidnaped seven Palestinian citizens, including two young girls and three children, from the Bab al-Rahma prayer area of the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
· · · According to eyewitnesses, police forces stormed the Bab al-Rahma area and rounded up Aqsa guard Bader al-Rajbi along with three children, two girls and one young man. More . . . .

Anti-Semitism’ vs. ‘Islamophobia’: How language creates hierarchies of discrimination and whitewashes bigotry

Mondoweiss
Timo Al-Farooq
August 22, 2019
From the ivory towers of academic knowledge production to the lowlands of cracker-barrel Stammtisch-culture, tactical language is omnipresent in everyday political discourse. . . . language manipulation is a key modus operandi for the powers that be in stifling critical thought and thus consolidating their grip on potentially subversive populaces.
· · · One such example of strategic linguistic flexibility, taken straight from our fiction-turned-fact and prophesy-fulfilled Orwellian times: someone who hates Jews is known as an “anti-Semite”, but someone who hates Muslims is merely an “Islamophobe”, a person afraid of Islam? . . . .
· · · · So my question is: why is an anti-Semite not called a “Semitophobe?” And an Islamophobe not an “anti-Muslim?” And what is that even supposed to mean, “afraid of Islam?” As if the heterogeneous beliefs of 1.8 billion people were a Freddy Krueger-like serial killer coming to murder you in your sleep. More . . . .

 Poem of the Day

“HERE WE SHALL STAY” by Tafiq Zayyad

In Lidda, in Ramla, in the Galilee,
we shall remain
like a wall upon your chest,
and in your throat
like a shard of glass,
a cactus thorn,
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.

From BEFORE THERE IS NOWHERE TO STAND. ED. Joan Dobbie & Grace Beeler. Lost Horse Press. 2002.

“. . . and wish for you another day another sun . . .” (Ramzy Baroud)

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IMG_1399-1
Sarah Algherbawi with her husband and son, Khalil. (Photo: Mondoweiss, Dec. 14, 2018, courtesy of the family)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .     
|  ISRAELI  ARMY  SHATTERS  THE  ILLUSION  OF  NORMALCY  IN  RAMALLAH
Living in Ramallah is thought of as trendy these days, and to a certain extent, represents a relatively luxurious life. Restaurants and cafes are packed, there are clubs and parties on weekends, there are sports and cultural activities, art galleries, and concerts.   ___Yet that assumption, that life is good as long as you are inside Ramallah, is not always reflective of reality. Israeli forces raid the city of regularly, entering a neighborhood in the dead of night, taking over an entire home or building, and leaving at dawn with whomever they came to capture.    ___This week, with Christmas approaching, Israel didn’t just invade one neighborhood, it put the entire city under military closure . . . .     More . . .
|  GAZA  TEACHER  AMONG  50  FINALISTS  FOR  ‘WORLD’S  BEST  TEACHER’  PRIZE
The Palestinian Ministry of Education announced on Friday that a teacher from Gaza has been nominated as one of 50 finalists for the “world’s best teacher prize”.    ___Maths teacher Rana Ziadeh is to compete for the prize as part of a competition organized by global education charity The Varkey Foundation, Safa news agency reported.    More . . .    
~~ TWO  SCHOOLS  EVACUATED  AS  SETTLER  OPENS  GUNFIRE  OUTSIDE
An Israeli settler opened gunfire on Sunday outside two schools on the entrance to the village of al-Lubban al-Sharqiya, to the south of Nablus in the West Bank, as other settlers rampaged through the street under the protection of Israeli forces, local sources said.   ___The shooting terrified the students and teachers of the two schools, and were forced to leave the schools to a safe haven.    More . . .
~~ STUDENTS  SUFFOCATE  FROM  TEARGAS  FIRED  BY  ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  IN  HEBRON
Dozens of students suffocated on Sunday from teargas inhalation after Israeli soldiers fired teargas canisters at them in a school in Hebron City, southern West Bank, a local source told WAFA.     More . . .
|   ISRAEL  DELIVERS  DEMOLITION  NOTICE  TO  FAMILY  OF  PALESTINIAN  PRISONER
Israeli forces delivered a demolition notice to the family of 16-year-old Khalil Jabbarin, in Yatta City in the southern West Bank district of Hebron, on Sunday.    ___Jabbarin, was shot, injured and imprisoned by Israeli forces, in September, after he had carried out a stabbing attack reportedly killing an Israeli settler.    ___The Israeli commander of the Israeli military central command approved an order for the demolition of the Jabbarin family’s apartment . . .  [. . . .] Israel demolishes family homes of Palestinians, who were involved in attacking Israelis as part of its collective punishment policy against the Palestinian people.     More . . .
~~ SETTLERS  START  EXPANSION  OF  SETTLEMENT  NEAR  HEBRON
Israeli Jewish settlers on Sunday proceeded to expand the illegal Israeli settlement of Mitzpe Yair, to the south of Hebron city in the southern West Bank.    ___Rateb Jabour, coordinator of the National and Popular Committee in Hebron, told WAFA that Israeli settlers started razing lands and installing caravans in the settlement in order to expand it.    More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|  ISRAEL’S  ASSASSINATION  OF  PALESTINIAN  CHILDHOOD
Israeli soldiers continue to practice terrorism and murder against Palestinians; the latest of which was with the shooting of four-year-old child Ahmed Yassen Abu Abed, when an Israeli sniper fired an internationally forbidden bullet at his head.    ___The child Ahmed Yasser Abu Abed died of wounds sustained a week ago east of Khan Younis.    [. . . .] Defense for Children International, Palestine said the Israeli occupation forces killed 52 children in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, since the beginning of this year, 46 of them were in the Gaza Strip.    More . . .
~~ HOW  IT  FEELS  TO  HAVE  A  CHILD  IN  AN  UNINHABITABLE  PLACE
Sarah Algherbawi
I just had my first baby, a boy named Khalil, last month. From the first moment I held my child in my arms, I was flushed with emotions. I was extremely happy and blessed, but also worried and confused.    [. . . .] When I thought of the coming year, I could not help but think of the UN report that warns my home in the Gaza Strip will be “uninhabitable” by 2020.    [. . . .] It’s not only the fear of war that dominates every parent in Gaza. We also lack stability. When I lost my job on July because of the punitive measures the Trump administration took against Palestinians I became like one-third of Gaza: unemployed.    More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .
|  DEFENCE  FOR  CHILDREN  INTERNATIONAL  (DCI)  is a worldwide movement for children’s rights with more than 37 national sections and associated members across the globe. DCI-PALESTINE WAS CREATED IN PALESTINE in order to promote and defend children’s rights. Therefore, several actions are undertaken in the following priority issues . . .     Donate . . .    ..

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“LULLABY,”  BY  RAMZY  BAROUD
. . . For (Miriam), a refugee child from Palestine

I’ll etch your name
on a secret star
we’ll both go there
on frightful nights

when Mother Earth
runs out of room
for you and me

I’ll hold you tight
and sing you songs
of a distant land
beyond the stars

and watch you grow
between my heart
and the highest high

I’ll draw your face
on a single seed
and hold your palm
to face the sun

when you’re awake
and call out my name
don’t moan or cry

I’ll return
to raise your hand
at a shooting star
and with for you

another day
another sun
another world

where Palestine
is a mountain top
of soil and air
and a purple sky

From: I  REMEMBER  MY  NAME:  Poetry  by  Samah  Sabawi,  Ramzy  Baroud,  Jehan  Bseiso. Vacy Vlanzna, ed. London: Novum Publishing, 2016. Available from Barnes and Noble.

“. . . I loved life, from the bottom of my heart . . .” (Samih Al-Qasim)

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naalwa-barghouthi-mteir-e1544735249544
Israeli Field executions: Ashraf Na’alwa, Saleh Barghouthi, Majd Mteir. (Photo: Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, by Quds News, Dec. 13, 2018)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .    
|  PLO:  TIME  FOR  INTERNATIONAL  COMMUNITY  TO  PROVIDE  PROTECTION  TO  PALESTINIANS
Azzam al-Ahmad, member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee, said that the leadership has reached several regional and international stakeholders “to put an end to the escalated violence by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank,” on Thursday.     ___Al-Ahmad spoke to Voice of Palestine radio and stressed, “The time has come for the international community to shoulder its responsibility to provide protection to our people from the (Israeli) violations, which include field executions of Palestinian citizens and incitement (by Israeli settlers) to kill President Mahmoud Abbas.”    ___He added “this incitement was met with international condemnation,” noting that the Palestinian people “will not stand idly, but will confront the Israeli occupation until they fulfill their rights.”    More . . .
. . . . Related  IOF  Assassinate  Three  Palestinians  They  Claim  Were  Involved  In  Anti-Israeli  Attacks
. . . . Related  Settlers attack in Nablus and Hebron
. . . . Related  2 Palestinians injured by Israeli  Forces in al-Mughayyar
. . . . Related  Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations In The Occupied Palestinian Territory (06– 12 December 2018)
| UPDATE  |  ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  100  PALESTINIANS  IN  WEST  BANK
Israeli forces arrested more than 100 Palestinians, including lawmakers and former prisoners, during large-scale raids that targeted many areas across the occupied West Bank throughout the past two days, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).    ___Last night alone, the forces detained at least 46 Palestinians, including two lawmakers and a journalist, during a large-scale detention campaign across the West Bank.    ___Israeli forces conducted multiple overnight raids in Hebron city in addition to the nearby towns of Idhna, Beit Kahel, Yatta and Adh-Dhahiriyya, ransacking civilian houses and interrogating families.    More . . .
. . . . Related  Ramallah City Sealed Off For Second Consecutive Day
. . . . Related  Entrance to Al-Arroub Refugee Camp Sealed by Israeli Forces
. . . . Related  Israeli army raids headquarters of Palestine Olympic Committee in Al-Bireh

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
| ISRAEL’S  EXECUTIONS  CAN’T  KILL  PALESTINIAN  RESISTANCE:  REMEMBERING  ASHRAF  NA’ALWA,  SALEH  BARGHOUTHI,  MAJD  MTEIR  AND  HASAN  ARDA
On 13 December 2018, Israeli occupation forces shot down four Palestinians, including several resistance fighters who had evaded their pursuit for months.    [. . . .]  These killings were carried out in a coordinated fashion, alongside the arrest of dozens of Palestinians on the same night. Clearly, these were intended to be a deadly blow not only against these strugglers, but also the Palestinian resistance as a whole.    ___Nevertheless, ensuing events made clear that the military power of the occupation and its extrajudicial executions would only inflame Palestinian resistance further.    More . . .
|  PALESTINIAN  SOLIDARITY:  IS  SOUTH  AFRICA  IN  THE  DRIVER’S  SEAT?   Recent events in South Africa have had a profoundly positive impact on Palestine.    ___It may not be music for this country’s [UNITED STATES] pro-Israel lobby but certainly welcomed by the broad spectrum of solidarity movements active in pursuit of freedom and justice for the Palestinian cause.    ___These milestone events have provided Palestinian Resistance Movements, particularly Hamas, as well as solidarity activists, renewed hope that the pendulum is slowly but surely swinging away from the colonial settler regime Israel.    More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“HE  WHISPERED  BEFORE  HE  TOOK  HIS  FINAL  BREATHS,”
BY  SAMIH  AL-QASIM

Don’t honor me with a monument
and song!
Of all the sad songs,
I prefer my mother’s sadness.

Do not pay your last respects
with laurel and a royal display!
Of all the tender wreaths
I prefer my mother’s palm.

Don’t glorify me by giving my name
to a city square
or a street and public garden!
I’d rather a grapevine be planted
(in my name)
and grow into a vineyard and farm!

Do not preserve my memory
by giving a speech each year in my honor!
I’d rather a fine machine
pounding away in a factory
speak in my name.

Tell my mother―
tell her what you plant in my name,
tell the factory’s machine
that I loved life, from the bottom of my heart,
and therefore took my final breaths
at peace and happy.

From: Al-Qasim, Samih. SADDER  THAN  WATER.  New  and  Selected  Poems. Trans. Nazih Kasis and Adina Hoffman. Jerusalem: Ibis Editions, 2008. Available from Barnes and Noble.

 

“. . . We are here within ourselves . . .” (Mahmoud Darwish)

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altar-mt-ebal
“. . . architectural remains show that [the Mount of Ebal] was a Canaanite altar of idolatry, offering sacrifices to the Canaanite Gods.” (Photo: R. Hawkins, Biblical Archaeological Society, June 24, 2018)
SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .      
| PALESTINIAN  SHOT,  KILLED  AFTER  JERUSALEM  STABBING  ATTACK
A Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem after carrying out a stabbing attack, predawn Thursday.   ___Witnesses told a Ma’an reporter that Israeli forces opened fire at a Palestinian youth identified as Majd Jamal Mteir, 25, at around 5:00 a.m., critically injuring him, in the al-Wad Street of the Old City of Jerusalem.   [. . . .] Mteir stabbed two Israeli police officers deployed in the al-Wad Street, a female police officer whose injury was reported as moderate and a policeman whose injury was reported as light.     More . . .
. . . . Related  BREAKING:  ISRAEL  IMPOSES  FULL  MILITARY  CLOSURE  ON  RAMALLAH
. . . . Related  2 Israelis [SETTLERS]  killed, 2 critically injured in shooting attack in Ramallah
. . . . Related  2 months later: Israel executes Palestinian attack suspect
. . . . Related  Ashrawi: Israeli field executions and organized terrorism require international action
. . . . Related  Clashes erupt as Israeli forces assault family of Palestinian attacker
|  ISRAELI  MINISTER  TOURS  WEST  BANK  SETTLEMENTS:  ‘WE  ARE  HERE  TO  WIN’ 
Israeli minister Ofir Akunis toured Israeli settlements yesterday and “declared his support” for the annexation of the so-called Gush Etzion settlement “bloc” and “Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] in general”, reported right-wing news outlet Arutz Sheva.    [. . . .] Akunis described the Gush Etzion settlement bloc as, “One of the foundations of our people dating back thousands of years, and anyone who disputes this right is wrong”.  He declared:  “As we have been forced to leave here in the past, we are here to win, and here thousands of families will raise their children for generations to come.”   More . . .
. . . . Related  Fanatic Israeli settlers break into Jerusalem’s Aqsa Mosque
|  THE  EXPLOITATION  OF  MYTHS  TO  EXPAND  JEWISH  SETTLEMENTS
At a large plot of land located east of the top of the Mount of Ebal in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, stone chains that do not hold any archaeological significance exist, yet they are used by Israeli settlers as a self-claimed sacred archaeological site.    ___Israeli settlers’ attempts to seize the site they claim to be the altar of Joshua Ben Nun reveal how far settlers can go about exploiting myths and using them in their ongoing battle to control Palestinian lands.    ___ . . . the Israeli archeologist Adam Zeratal. . . confirms that the existing architectural remains show that it was a Canaanite altar of idolatry, offering sacrifices to the Canaanite Gods.    ___“. . .  assumption that the altar belongs to Joshua Ben Nun contradicts the historical and archaeological facts that prove that Joshua Ben Nun is a myth and not a historical figure,” he says.   More . . .
. . . . Related   Hamas: Sale of Jerusalem real estate to Jews “a national crime”

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
| 8  WAYS  ISRAEL  TAKES  PALESTINIAN  LAND  (VIDEO)
Institute for Middle East Understanding ( IMEU )
Settlements on stolen land. Evicting Palestinians. Military checkpoints. Free-fire zones. We break down the eight ways Israel takes over land to erase Palestinian life and solidify apartheid.    More .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .
|  PLAYGROUNDS  FOR  PALESTINE
Help Us Build Playgrounds For Palestine
We believe Palestinian children deserve to thrive. They deserve a creative outlet for their instinct to play. With your support, we can help Palestinian children thrive.  More . . .   Donate . . .         ..

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“WE  ARE  HERE  NEAR  THERE,”  BY  MAHMOUD  DARWISH

We are here near there, the tent has thirty doors.
We are here a place between the pebbles and the shadows.
. . . A place for a voice.  A place for freedom, or a place
For any place fallen off a mare, or scattered by a bell or the
. . . muezzin’s call.
We are here, and in a moment we’ll explode this siege, and in a
. . . moment we’ll free a cloud,
And travel within ourselves.  We are here near there thirty
. . . doors for the wind, thirty “was”,
Teaching you to see us, to know us, to listen to us, to feel our
. . . blood safely,
Teaching you our peace, We may love or may not love the road
. . . to Damascus, Mecca or Qairwan.
We are here within ourselves.  A sky for the month of August,
. . . a sea for the month of May and freedom for a horse.
We seek the sea only to retrieve from it the blue rings round
. . . the smoke.
We are here near there thirty shapes, thirty shadows for a
. . . star.

–From Adonis; Mahmud Darwish; and Samih al-Qasim. VICTIMS OF A MAP: A BILINGUAL ANTHOLOGY OF ARABIC POETRY.  Trans. Abdullah al-Udhari. London: Saqi Books, 2008. Available from Barnes and Noble.

“. . . We go on dreaming oh, dream of ours . . .” (Mahmoud Darwish)

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Palestinian-children-and-UNRWA-1
United Nations Relief Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees 
(UNRWA) educates more than 500,000 Palestinian children in 711 schools.
(Photo: UNRWA website)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .
| ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  14  PALESTINIANS  FROM  WEST  BANK
Israeli forces Thursday detained 14 Palestinians during multiple overnight raids across the West Bank, said Palestine Prisoner’s Society (PPS) in a statement.    ___Israeli forces detained six people during several raids in the Ramallah-district villages of al-Mughayyir, Kafr Ni’ma and Saffa.    ___This came as Israeli military jeeps raided the An-Nahda Street in Ramallah, where soldiers ransacked a printing shop and seized its equipment and publicity materials. . .  Meanwhile, Israeli forces detained two Palestinians after breaking into their homes in Hebron city. . . Forces carried out two similar raids in Halhul town and al-Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, detaining three Palestinians. . .    More . . .
. . . . Related  Israeli  forces  set  up  iron  gate  at  entrance  of  Ramallah-district  village 
. . . . Related  Israeli  occupation  grabs  Palestinian  lands  to  expand  illegal  outpost
|  AL-MALKI  PRESENTS  COMPLAINT  TO  ICC  OVER  INVESTIGATION  IN  ISRAELI  WAR  CRIMES
Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Riyad al-Malki, presented a complaint, on Wednesday, to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, for procrastination in opening an investigation into Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people.    ___. . .  al-Malki expressed his disappointment, to Bensouda, with the initial study carried out by the prosecutor’s office on the situation in Palestine.    ___Al-Malki’s comments were made during a meeting with Bensouda on the sidelines of the 17th session of the Assembly of States Parties of the ICC. . . .    More . . .
. . . . Related  Attorney  General  elected  to  ICC  committee
. . . . Related  Jordan:  Aqsa  Mosque  cannot  be  divided  or  shared 
. . . . Related  Resheq:  Int’l  community  in  front  of  real  test  at  General  Assembly
. . . . Related  Irish  Senate  approves  bill  criminalizing  goods  made  in  settlements
|  GAZA  YOUTH  LAUNCH  CAMPAIGN  TO  HIGHLIGHT  GROWING  POLLUTION  CRISIS
Hundreds of Palestinian youth in the occupied Gaza Strip formed a human chain along the blockaded enclave’s only seaport yesterday to draw attention to the growing pollution crisis.    ___According to CGTN, the initiative – named “It will come back to you” – was “part of a campaign aimed at protecting the basin of the Gaza harbor from growing levels of pollution . . .”    [. . . . ] According to Hilles, Israel’s blockade is preventing Palestinians in Gaza from “building waste recycling plants to get rid of the accumulating waste pumped into the sea every day.”    More . . .
. . . . Related  The  Environment  and  Development  in  Palestine  Harmony  or  Discord? By Ramzi Sansur

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
| TWO  DECADES  OF  RESILIENCE,  ADDED  TO  THE  PREVIOUS  FIVE  DECADES
By: Sam Bahour
In 1976, a report on Palestine declared, “The Palestinian people today face problems of formidable proportions.” That was the understatement of the century! Here we are, about to enter 2019, facing a daunting reality and an even more daunting future. One could say, The Palestinian people face problems of formidable proportions every day.    ___In the nitty-gritty of the here and now in Palestine, one is consumed by what seems to be a never-ending series of challenges brought about by our military occupier, Israel, and to a lesser degree, our governing body, the Palestinian government.   [. . . .] All analysis aside, I can guarantee you this: Palestinians will not collectively vanish. We are here to stay, forever.    More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .
| UNRWAUSA – The United States government has said no to helping Palestine refugees. But we won’t.     .. Due to the United States government’s recent decision to cut all funding to UNRWA, the Agency faces an unprecedented funding crisis.   ___It’s going to take all of us standing together to fund UNRWA’s work so the Agency can continue serving Palestine refugees in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.    ___Our common humanity depends on it.   ..  Donate . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“WE  FEAR  FOR  A  DREAM,”  by  MAHMOUD  DARWISH

We fear for a dream: don’t believe our butterflies.
Believe our sacrifices if you like, believe the compass of a horse, our
. . . need for the north.
We have raised the beaks of our souls to you. Give us a grain of
. . . wheat, our dream. Give it, give it to us.
We have offered you the shores since our coming to the earth born of
. . . an idea or of the adultery of two waves on a rock in the sand.
Nothing. Nothing. We float on a foot of air. The air breaks up within
. . . ourselves.
We know you have abandoned us, built for us prisons and called them
. . . the paradise of oranges.
We go on dreaming. Oh, desired dream. We steal our days from those
. . . extolled by our myths.
We fear for you, we’re afraid of you. We are exposed together, you
. . . shouldn’t believe our wives’ patience.
They will weave two dresses, then sell the bones of the loved ones to
. . . buy a glass of milk for our children.
We fear for a dream, from him, from ourselves. We go on dreaming
. . . oh, dream of ours. Don’t believe our butterflies!

– – – From VICTIMS  OF  A  MAP:  A  Bilingual  Anthology  of  Arabic  Poetry.
Trans. by Abdullah al-Udhari. London: Saqi Books, 1984 & 2005.

“. . . The stranger awakens in his exile, his homeland. . .” (Mourid Barghouti)

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SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .
|  GERMANY  ALLOCATES  €55  MILLION  TO  PALESTINIAN  DEVELOPMENT  PROJECTS
Germany allocated 55 million Euros to be dispersed to Palestinian development projects in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip in 2019.    ___Klaus Kramer, the Head of Division in the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, told reporters in Ramallah that it was agreed, in coordination with various ministries in the Palestinian government, that the money will go to mainly three sectors: sustainable economic development, infrastructure such as water projects and local governance, including projects with municipalities.    ___While the funds in form of grants will go mainly to these three areas, which are government-run projects, other development projects in other fields will also get part of the money, such as projects carried out by civil society organizations.     More . . .    ..
. . . . Related  PEA rejects Israeli threats against renewable energy projects
. . . . Related  Israel plans to turn settlements in Salfit into one large city
. . . . Related  Israel demolishes Palestinian school in southern Hebron
. . . . Related  US envoy Greenblatt: ‘We stand with Israel’
. . . . Related  Is the Israeli military operation along the border with Lebanon for real?
|  ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  23  PALESTINIANS  FROM  WEST  BANK         
Israeli forces Wednesday detained 23 Palestinians, including three former prisoners and a 14-year-old minor, during multiple overnight raids across the West Bank, said Palestine Prisoner’s Society (PPS).    ___Israeli military jeeps raided Salfit city, where they detained two Palestinians. . .   ___Israeli forces also detained two other Palestinians in separate two raids into Iskaka and Qarawat Bani Hassan, east and west of Salfit city.    ___In Ramallah district, military jeeps raided Deir Nitham village, northwest of Ramallah, where soldiers detained three Palestinians. . . .   More . . .    ..
. . . .  Related  Over 2,000 Israelis break into 3rd holiest site in Islam in November
|  ISRAELI  COURT  RULES  AGAINST  GAZA  FATHER  WHO  LOST  3  DAUGHTERS  IN  2008  WAR
An Israeli court yesterday ruled against a Palestinian from Gaza whose three daughters were killed by the Israeli army during its 2008 war on the Strip, denying Israel’s responsibility for their deaths.    ___Izzeldin Abuelaish, a 63-year-old doctor from Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip, lost three daughters and a niece during Israel’s 2008-2009 war on the besieged enclave. His story was made famous after he discovered his children had been killed while speaking to an Israeli TV channel, with his suffering broadcast live across the country and later shared widely around the world.    More . . .
. . . . Related  MOFA demands ICC to try Israeli killers of Tulkarem martyr
. . . . Related  ‘Gender violence pushed Jewish, Palestinian women into a corner — together’

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|  PROFESSIONAL  SOLIDARITY  WITH  PALESTINE:  A  MENTAL  HEALTH  IMPERATIVE
By Dr. Samah Jabr
In the field of medicine, we often speak of the social determinants of health. In Palestine, not only social, but political determinants of health have a grave impact on the well-being and mental health of our community. I am not just talking about the political blackmail through recent blatant cuts of the US administration of millions of US dollars from East Jerusalem hospitals and defunding UNRWA educational and health services, but also through the daily realities of dismal work opportunities, a vacuum of leadership, the threat of political detention haunting our youth, and the pervasive experiences of loss and grief. Centuries of political oppression has created a cascade of damage to collective identity and individuals’ personalities.    ___The ongoing siege of Gaza is only a single dramatization of how the political realities of occupation deliberately destroy the quality of life for Palestinians.    More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“HOW  ARE  YOU?”  BY  MOURID  BARGHOUTI
Waiting for the school bus,
watching his breath turn into mist near his nose
in the icy morning,
the schoolboy’s fingers are frozen,
too stiff to make a fist.

On the pillow of regret,
the defeated soldier
lazily tries to get up,
raising his broken toothbrush
to his teeth.

Early or late,
The stranger awakens in his exile, his homeland.
Their clothes, their car number pates, their trees,
their quarrels, their love, their land, their sea
belong to them.
His memories are like rats gathering on his doormat,
new and warm
in front of his closed door.

On a lonely pillow,
the mother throws a quick glance
at the bed of her elder son,
made for the final time
and empty, forever.

A voice from the neighbouring window is heard:
“Hello, good morning, how are you?”
“Hello, good morning, we’re fine,
we’re fine!”

From: Barghouti, Mourid. Midnight and other Poems. Trans. By Radwa Ashour. Todmorden, Lancashire, UK: Arc Books, 2008. Available from B&N.

“. . . the stones of your streets grow sad, the towers of mosques downcast . . .” (Nizar Qabbani)

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جواد-2
Previous arrest of Jawad Siam, Wadi Hilweh Information Center, Jerusalem, October 31, 2015 (Photo: silwanic.net)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .
|  DIRECTOR  OF  WADI  HILWEH  INFORMATION  CENTER  RELEASED  ON  CONDITIONS
Israeli forces released Jawad Siam, director of Wadi Hilweh Information Center, on Sunday, after several hours in detention on charges of “organizing a protest in SALAH AL-DIN STREET” in occupied East Jerusalem.    ___The Wadi Hilweh Information Center said that Israeli forces banned Siam from entry to Salah al-Din Street, al-Sultan Suleiman Street, and the Damascus Gate, in addition to a ban on participating in protests in the city . . .     [. . . .] ___Siam organized a protest, during which he was detained, against the extended detention of Palestinian Governor of Jerusalem, Adnan Ghaith.    More . . .
. . . . Related  Soldiers storm W. Bank village, clash with local youths [DEIR ABU MASH’AL]
. . . . Related  Including A Woman And A Journalist, Army Abducts Five Palestinians in RAMALLAH
. . . . Related  Army Abducts Eight Palestinians, Including Two Children, In HEBRON
. . . . Related  Israeli Soldiers Abduct 32 Palestinians In JERUSALEM
|  PCHR  CONDEMNS  EXPLOITATION  OF  ISRAELI  SUPREME  COURT  IN  SERVICE  OF  SETTLEMENT  PROJECTS
The Palestinian Center for Human rights (PCHR) condemns the ongoing exploitation of the Israeli Supreme Court in the service of settlement projects in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) in general and in occupied East Jerusalem in particular and the Court’s issuance of decisions that violate the rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.    ___The latest of these decisions was rejecting the petition filed by dozens of Palestinian civilians living in “Batn al-Hawa” neighborhood in Silwan village, south of the occupied Jerusalem.  Their petition was to request overturning the decision by the Custodian of Absentee Property that orders the resident to evacuate their houses and hand them to “Ateret Cohanim” Settlement Association.    More . . .
. . . . Related  Israel seizes land for expansion near Salfit   ..
.  .  .  .  .  Update   Palestinian land bulldozed to expand Israeli occupation watchtower
. . . . Related  Israeli settlements devouring Qaryut, encroaching on Area B
|  STATE  OF  THE  GAZA  STRIP  BORDER  CROSSINGS  (01  –  31  OCTOBER  2018)  [Palestinian Centre for Human Rights] 
The Israeli closure imposed on the Gaza Strip continues for the 12th consecutive year.  During the reporting period (August), the Israeli authorities intensified the restrictions on the commericial crossings as they . . .  banned the entry of all goods and commodities into the Gaza Strip, except for the humanitarian supplies (including food and medicine).  Moroever, the Israeli authorities decided to totally ban the exportation of all goods from the Gaza Strip. As for the Crossings for the movement of persons, the Israeli authorities continue to impose tightened restrictions on the movement of the Gaza Strip residents through Beit Hanoun “Erez” Crossing, narrowly allowing the travel of limited categories . . .    More . . .
. . . . Related  Only handful of Gaza families allowed to visit jailed relatives

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|  ISRAEL  DOESN’T  SURVIVE  BECAUSE  IT’S  STRONG;  IT  SUCCEEDS  BY  WEAKENING  ITS  ENEMIES
By Mohammad Makram Balawi
The result of the latest round of fighting in the besieged Gaza Strip . . .   proved that Palestinian can damage Israel, as never before. Israeli media provided some statistics in this regard that were unprecedented and, from an Israeli point of view, appalling.    [. . . .] Israel and its backers, principally the US government, have always sought to ensure that it maintains its military hegemony in the Middle East, enabling its troops to inflict death and destruction on others while being safe from serious opposition.    [. . . .]  Israel’s policies have gone more or less to plan for the past 20 years or so. All the major Arab armies have either been neutralised by peace treaties, such as the Egyptians and Jordanians; destroyed like the Iraqi army; or completely bogged down in civil wars, like the armed forces in Syria and Yemen. The rest are either intimidated or sidelined by ongoing normalisation with Arab countries, especially in the Gulf. . . . The simple conclusion to draw from all of this is that Israel does not survive because it is strong; it is where it is because it succeeds in weakening its enemies, no matter the cost.   More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“JERUSALEM,”  BY  NIZAR  QABBANI
Oh Jerusalem, luminous city of prophets
The shortest path between heaven and earth!

Jerusalem, you of the myriad minarets,
become a beautiful little girl with burned fingers.
City of the Virgin, your eyes are sad.
Shady oasis where the Prophet passed,
the stones of your streets grow sad,
the towers of mosques downcast.
City swathed in black, who’ll ring the bells
at the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday mornings?
Who will carry toys to children on Christmas Eve?
City of sorrows, a huge tear
trembling on your eyelid,
who’ll save the Bible?
Who’ll save the Qur’an?
Who will save Christ?
Who will save man?

Jerusalem, beloved city of mine,
tomorrow your lemon trees will bloom,
your green stalks and branches rise up joyful,
and your eyes will laugh. Migrant pigeons
will return to your holy roofs
and children will go back to playing.
Parents and children will meet
on your shining streets,
my city, city of olives and peace.
—Translated by Sharif Elmusa and Naomi Shihab Nye

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

“. . . For injustice is blind And the judges are wreathed in. . . darkness . . .” (Dareen Tatour)

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Capture111-660x330Palestinian Red Crescent Society paramedic evacuating an injured
child from field in Gaza. (Photo PRCS, from Palestine News Network, Nov. 5, 2018)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .
|    ISRAELI  FORCES  RAID  [Hebron Hills] ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL,  KICK  STUDENTS,  TEACHERS  OUT,  ORDER  DEMOLITION
Israeli forces Monday raided an elementary school in Masafer Yatta, in the south Hebron hills, kicked its students and teachers out and informed the administration of the intention to demolish it under the pretext it was built without permit, said a local activist.    ___Coordinator of the Anti-Wall and Anti-Settlements Committee, Rateb Jabour, said that Israeli forces stormed Khalat al-Dabe school, built of caravans to accommodate area youngsters, and forced its 12 students and staff to leave it. He said the military also handed the staff a  notice for demolition of the school.    ___Soldiers also raided Khirbet al-Mufaqara, another Masafer Yatta village, and handed demolition orders for three residential structures.     More . . .
. . . . Related  ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  PREVENT  STUDENTS  FROM  REACHING  THEIR  SCHOOL  IN  WEST  BANK  VILLAGE (Video)
|    IOF  SEIZE  155  DUNUMS  OF  LAND  NEAR  RAMALLAH      Israeli occupation forces on Monday seized 155 dunums of land from areas in Al-Lubban village near Ramallah, northern West Bank.    ___The head of the village council, Aisha Samhan told the WAFA news agency that the Israeli occupation authorities distributed a decision to seize two dunums from Khallet al-Shamiya, 141 dunums of Khallat al-Asfoura and 12 dunums of al-Musawadiya area, in order to create a bypass  road  to  the  SETTLEMENT  of  Beit  Aryeh.    More . . .
. . . . Related  REPORT:  ISRAELI  GOV’T  PROVIDES  FINANCIAL  SAFETY  NET  FOR  INVESTMENTS  IN  SETTLEMENTS
|    WHO  REPORT:  NINE  KILLED  AND  1000  INJURED  IN  GAZA  WITHIN  TWO  WEEKS
Nine Palestinians were killed and 1,306 were injured by the Israeli forces during the reporting period from the 7th to the 20th October, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH).    ___Eight Palestinians, including one child, were killed during the demonstrations, while the ninth was killed due to an Israeli attack, which took place on the 17th October.    ___Out of the total 1,306 injured, 62% (815 people) transferred to MoH hospitals or NGO health facilities, including 168 children and 35 females. The remaining 38% (491) were treated and discharged directly from the trauma stabilization points (TSPs).     More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|    WOMEN  IMPRISONED  IN  ISRAEL:  LIFE  BETWEEN  PRESSURE,  SUFFERING  AND  SUDDEN  TRANSFER 
Dareen Tatour
One month after my release from detention, house arrest and prison that went on, including all of its phases, for three years, during which I have lived through the suffering of imprisonment and detention that is different than any other type of suffering that I have personally experienced. Yet, despite the cruelty of this experience that is full of events, especially those related to female prisoners, and as I write these words, I have left 51 female prisoners behind the bars, each of whom holds a story, a novel per se, that must be talked about, we must dig out the painful reality that each one of them lives through, at both the HaSharon and Damon prison, and the reasons that brought them to prison and detention.    ___I was detained and released from prison, and prison has become past today. It is true that my body was freed and released and is no longer imprisoned, but my thoughts are still tied to everything I lived through there with the female prisoners and I cannot be released of until my last breath, as they live with me through all of my moments even the ones (moments) away from life in detention.    More . . .
|    CATHOLIC  ORDINARIES:  ARABS  IN  ISRAEL  NO  LESS  CITIZENS  OF  THIS  COUNTRY  THAN  JEWS
The Arabs in Israel are no less citizens of this county than the Jews, the Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land  said  last  week  on the new Israeli Nation State Law, passed by the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, on July 19.    ___“According to this law, the State of Israel has legislated that the people whose ‘welfare and safety’ it is most concerned to promote and protect are ed to the Jewish citizens of the State of Israel,” the ordinaries said in a statement. “We must draw the attention of the authorities to a simple fact: our faithful, the  Christians,  our  fellow  citizens,  Muslim,  Druze  and  Baha’i,  all  of  us  who  are  Arabs, are no less citizens of this country than our Jewish brothers and sisters.”    More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“BEWARE,”  BY  DAREEN  TATOUR
Beware—
Write, in injustice, what you want
As you want it—
For injustice is blind
And the judges are wreathed in the color of darkness
You are not justice
You are the oppressor
The wretched perversion of the thing
The symbol of hypocrisy

Beware—
Beware—
The essence of a ruling
In the highest court in the land
Poetry is terrorism, something shameful
You criminal!
And so with your million sighs
Write your decision on what you will
As you will—
They won’t bother to read you
As you are, by this verdict, condemned

Beware—
Beware—
The people around me are a state of their own
A source of other rulings
They won’t read you
Instead, they read poetry
Manuscripts of endurance

Am I, with my craft, to be rejected?
Your face is the darkened one, scoured by the ordeal
And your features point to the roots of your weakness
Your voice cracks
Before the revelations of art
While the tune of my poetry is singing

Call out your verdict until you are hoarse
And write, in your decision, what you wish
As you wish—
They won’t read you
For the writer of the new justice
Has been welcomed by the beats of my poems
Light from a new sun
So write in your judgment what you wish
As you wish
You won’t stop my poetry from beating on
For in my heart is the sky

— Translated from the Arabic by Andrew Leber

“An initial collection of [Tatour’s] poems,  THE  LAST  INVASION, was published locally in 2010. A further collection of poems and a novel are completed but are currently on a laptop confiscated by Israeli authorities. Several of her poems were included in the recent bilingual anthology A  BLADE  OF  GRASS:  NEW  PALESTINIAN  POETRY. . .”    Available from Barnes and Noble.

“. . . the shedding of blood cleanses nothing . . .” (Aftab Yusuf Shaikh)

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PCF-WAFA
Palestine Circus Festival, Ramallah. (Photo courtesy Circus School)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

PALESTINE  CIRCUS  FESTIVAL’S  ‘UNITED  FOR  FREEDOM’  OPENS  IN  RAMALLAH
The second edition of the PALESTINE CIRCUS FESTIVAL, entitled “United for Freedom,” opened over the weekend in the central West Bank district of Ramallah, with the participation of about 200 local and international artists.    ___Palestinian officials, a representative of the European Union, representatives of international and local cultural and artistic organizations . . .   watched the opening ceremony, the Carnival and XY company show, held at the Istiklal Park.    ___The European Union Head of Cooperation, Alessandra Viezzer, said “Circus has long been a strong tool for self-expression, entertainment and storytelling around the world. It brings all people together, whether young or old. In Palestine, the EU is proud of being one of the main supporters of the Palestine Circus: the first to exploit the great potential of Palestinian youngsters in artistic productions.”   More . . .
PALESTINE:  1ST  ARAB  COUNTRY  TO  JOIN  INTERNATIONAL  CITY  ASSOCIATION
The Association of Palestinian Local Authorities (APLA) signed a partnership and cooperation agreement, on Saturday, with the International City Management Association (ICMA) to be the first Arab association to join the organization.    ___According to a press statement, Abdullah Anati of APLA and Mark Otte of ICMA, signed the partnership and cooperation agreement on the sidelines of the annual ICMA conference held in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States.    ___The agreement stated that the two associations will be committed to strengthening the relationship and partnership between them through specific activities, such as participating in the annual conferences of each association, hosting representatives and speakers from each association during the annual conferences . . .   More . . .
PERCENTAGE  OF  ELDERLY  IS  LOW  IN  PALESTINE,  SAYS  STATISTICS  BUREAU  The Palestinian society is considered a young society where the percentage of young  people is high and the percentage of the elderly is relatively low, said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) on Sunday on the occasion of the World Elderly Day.    ___In 2017, the number of the elderly aged 60 and above reached 233,269 persons (5.0%), (152,443 persons  (5.4%) in the West Bank and 80,826 persons (4.3%) in Gaza Strip).     __PCBS said even though, the percentage of the elderly will be increasing during the coming years in Palestine, but their percentage will stay relatively low . . .     ___Palestine witnessed improvement in life expectancy . . .  Life expectancy has increased about 6-8 years during the last two decades.    More . . .

circus_081211-269_0
Palestinian Circus School. (Photo: MIDDLE EAST REVISED, 2014)

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

WHAT  VOX  GETS  WRONG  WITH  ITS  “11  BIGGEST  MYTHS  ABOUT  ISRAEL-PALESTINE”
Jeremy R. Hammond
I’ve written an article titled “Top Ten Myths about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” . . .  so when I learned that Vox has a feature called “The 11 biggest myths about Israel-Palestine”, I naturally took an interest. Unfortunately, while Vox gets some things right, what it gets wrong it gets badly wrong.  So, to set the record straight, here’s a quick examination of each of Vox’s eleven supposed myths and corrective for its egregious misinformation.   ___“Myth #1: The conflict is too complex to possibly understand”   Although I don’t include it on my own list of myths, I agree this is indeed false. In fact, I’ve written an article titled “The Simplicity of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” that starts with, “There is a general perception that the reason the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has continued for so long is because it is extremely complex. Nothing could be further from the truth.     More . . .

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .

BRIGHT  STARS  OF  BETHLEHEM:  “Room  for  Hope,”  (Dallas,  Austin,  Houston,  Texas,  USA),  Oct.  5-7,  2018.    It’s finally here! Bright Stars is coming to Texas for a multi-city festival of Palestinian culture.  After postponing last year’s festival due to Hurricane Harvey, we are thrilled to be in Texas this fall.   Information . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . .

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

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

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

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

From BEFORE  THERE  IS  NOWHERE  TO  STAND:  PALESTINE  ISRAEL  POETS  RESPOND  TO  THE  STRUGGLE. Ed. By Joan Dobbie and Grace Beeler. Sandpoint ID: Lost Horse Press, 2012.