Tag: Salfit District

“. . . The branches of this land foster me . . .” (Fouzi El Azmar)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
[Note from the blogger:  this blog will be published every second day beginning today.]

Selected News of the Day 

EU Slams Israel’s Settlements As “Serious Breach Of International Law”

Days of Palestine
September 18, 2019
Shortly after the Israeli government approved the establishment of a new settlement on the outskirts of Jericho city, the European Union slammed all settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, as a serious breach of international law.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙“The European Union reiterates that all settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, are illegal under international law,” said the EU spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Maja Kocijancic in a press release.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙The EU called on Israel to “end all settlement activity and to dismantle the outposts erected since March 2001 in line with prior obligations”, the statement said.   More . . . .

Israeli Forces Destroy Over 100 Olive Trees In Northern West Bank Village

Days of Palestine
September 18, 2019
Israeli soldiers chopped  down on Wednesday scores of Palestinian-owned olive trees in Burqin village, west of the occupied West Bank district of Salfit, according to  Marwan Abdul Rahman, head of Burqin village council.
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙He said soldiers chopped more than 100 olive trees in Khirbet Qarqash area located in the northeastern part of the village.  More . . . .

  • Israeli army cuts water supply to Jordan Valley village
    WAFA
    September 19, 2019
    The Israeli army today cut water supply to the village of Bardalla in the northern Jordan Valley after shutting down the water taps supplying the village with its daily water needs, according to member of Bardalla village council Darrar Daraghmeh.
    ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙He said soldiers raided the village and proceeded to shut the pipes supplying the village’s around 2000 population with their daily water needs without giving reason for this action.  More . . . .
  • Israeli Soldiers Bulldoze Palestinian Agricultural Lands Near Qalqilia And Salfit
    IMEMC-International Middle East Media Center
    September 18, 2019
    Israeli soldiers bulldozed and uprooted, Wednesday, large areas of Palestinian agricultural lands in Hijja village, east of the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, and near Salfit in central West Bank.
    ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙Mohammad Abu Sheikh, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors Israel’s illegal colonialist activities in Qalqilia governorate, said several army bulldozers started uprooted approximately 145 Dunams of farmlands.
    ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙He added that the Israeli violation comes as part of the efforts to expand the Industrial Zone of the illegal Karnei Shomron colony, which was built on privately-owned Palestinian lands.    More . . . .
  • In a large-scale search-and-arrest campaign, Israeli forces round up 22 Palestinians in West Bank
    WAFA
    September 19, 2019  In a large-scale search-and-arrest campaign, Israeli forces detained early this morning 22 Palestinians in various areas of the occupied West Bank, including three 14-year-old minors, according to the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS).
    ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙It said soldiers raided the town of Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, and detained three 14-year-old minors after raiding their family homes.       More . . . .

Commentary

Israelis have made their verdict clear: Benjamin Netanyahu’s time is up

The National
Jonathan Cook
September 18, 2019
For most Israelis, the general election on Tuesday was about one thing and one thing only. Not the economy, nor the occupation, nor even corruption scandals. It was about Benjamin Netanyahu. Should he head yet another far-right government, or should his 10-year divisive rule come to an end?
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙Barring a last-minute upset as the final ballot papers are counted, it is clear that Mr Netanyahu does not command a majority and could well be on his way out. . . . The difficulty is that such a coalition would depend on the support of the 13 Joint List legislators representing Israel’s large Palestinian minority. . . .   More . . . .

Poem of the Day

“I  AM  THE  SON  OF  THE  LAND,”  BY  FOUZI  EL ASMAR

You may take my hands
and lock them in your chains
You may also blindfold me.

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

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

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

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

Support ‘Palestine Writes’, the first Palestinian Literature festival in North America
Mondoweiss
Nada Elia, September 18, 2019  More . . . .

“. . . But what territory, exactly, is the ethnocratic state occupying . . .” (Blake Alcott)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
World_Israel_Mar_Saba_Monas
Great Lavra of St. Sabas, Bethlehem. (Photo: St. Peter and Paul Serbian Orthodox Church of Atlanta, 2018)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY     
| ARMED  ISRAELI  SETTLERS  RAID  SAINT  SABA  MONASTERY  NEAR  BETHLEHEM    Hundreds of armed Israeli settlers raided Saint Saba Monastery (Mar Saba) area, near the al-Ubeidiya village east of the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem, on predawn Tuesday.    ___Security sources told the Palestinian Authority (PA)-owned Wafa News Agency that hundreds of armed Israeli settlers raided the Greek Orthodox monastery area and performed religious rituals, under armed security by Israeli soldiers.    More . . .
~~ SCORES  OF  JEWISH  SETTLERS  DEFILE  AQSA  MOSQUE
About 71 Jewish settlers, including soldiers, desecrated the Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday morning under security guard by police forces.    ___According to Quds Press, 71 settlers escorted by police officers entered the Mosque through al-Maghariba Gate and toured its courtyards.    ___Three of those settlers were identified as police officers wearing civilian clothing.    ___According to the Islamic Awqaf Authority in Occupied Jerusalem, the Israeli police, as always, closed al-Maghariba Gate. . .  More . . .
~~ ISRAELI  SETTLER  VANDALISM  OF  PALESTINIAN  PROPERTY,  WRITING  HATE  SLOGANS  CONTINUE  UNABATED
Vandalism by Israeli settlers of Palestinian property in the occupied West Bank continued unabated on Tuesday when settlers sneaked into the village of Yasouf, east of the city of Salfit in the north of the occupied West Bank, slashed tires of several vehicles and spray-painted racist graffiti in the village, witnesses said.    ___They said the settlers wrote graffiti in Hebrew on the wall of the village’s mosque such “I will not sleep when blood is shed here,” and “Jews wake up.”    ___Settlers’ raids into Palestinian villages and terrorizing the local population as well as attacks on West Bank roads has become almost a daily occurrence in light of the Israeli government and military’s sanctioning of these attacks and their failure to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators.    More . . .
| PALESTINIAN  HOME  IN  OCCUPIED  JERUSALEM  DEMOLISHED  FOR  LACK  OF  BUILDING  PERMIT 
Bulldozers of the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem Tuesday demolished a Palestinian-owned house in the neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukkaber, southeast of the occupied city of Jerusalem, under the pretext of lacking a building permit, according to witnesses.    ___Israeli police cordoned off the area before the bulldozers proceeded to demolish the house owned by Moath Aqil, which was in its last stage of construction.  More . . .
~~ ISRAEL  PLANS  TO  DEMOLISH  ANOTHER  PALESTINIAN  HOUSE  PART  OF  ITS  COLLECTIVE  PUNISHMENT  POLICY
As part of its collective punishment policy against the Palestinian people, the Israeli military government informed the family of Khalil Jabarin on Tuesday that it intends to demolish its house in the town of Yatta, in the south of the occupied West Bank.    ___The military said Jabarin, 16, stabbed and killed an Israeli settler in the south of the West Bank in September before he was shot and killed by an Israeli passerby.    ___Local and Palestinian security sources told WAFA that the army informed the Jabarin family of its plan to demolish its home as a punishment for the act of its son.     More . . .
|  ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  24  PALESTINIANS,  INCLUDING  WOMAN,  FROM  WEST  BANK
Israeli forces detained 24 Palestinians from across districts of the occupied West Bank, including the wife of a former prisoner, on predawn Tuesday.    ___The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said that Israeli forces detained one Palestinian from the southern West Bank district of Hebron; he was identified as Mutaz Abu Sil, 19, from the al-Arroub refugee camp.    ___In the southern West Bank district of Bethlehem, Israeli forces detained two Palestinians; PPS identified them as Muhammad Nassim Sbeih and Hadi Azab Salah. . . .    More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION
|  WHAT  DOES  ISRAEL  ‘OCCUPY’?  
By  BLAKE  ALCOTT 
In what is written and said about Israel and Palestine the word ‘occupation’ is ubiquitous. But what territory, exactly, is the ethnocratic state occupying? Is it just the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, or all of Palestine?    ___Everybody agrees that the territories Israel took over in 1967 are occupied. However, both pro-Palestinians and liberal Zionists routinely write of ‘the Occupation’ or ‘occupied Palestine’ to refer to these territories only. The demeaning acronym ‘OPT’ means only the West Bank and Gaza Strip only. But if those territories are ‘occupied’, then by the same token so is the 80% of historic Palestine called ‘Israel’. All of Palestine has been taken over.    ___When we demand freedom ‘from the river to the sea’ what are we demanding other than an end to rule, control, and occupation by a non-indigenous Power? When Palestinians use the term ihtilal they always distinguish between the ‘1948 occupation’ and the ‘1967 occupation’. Why, then, does the international discourse in Western languages ignore the 1948 occupation, in denial of the fact that Israel in 1948 merely took over from the British-Mandate occupation of 1917-1948?    More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY

“FROM  THE  DOORSTEP  TO  HEAVEN,”  BY  MUHAMMAD  AL-MAGHUT **

Now,
With the sad rain
Drenching my sad face,
I dream of a ladder of dust,
Collected from hunched backs
And hands clinging onto knees,
To mount to highest heave
And discover
What becomes of our prayers and sighs.

O my beloved,
All the prayers and sighs,
All the laments and cries for help,
Springing from
Millions of lips and hearts,
Through thousands of years and centuries,
Must be gathered somewhere in heaven,
Like clouds.
And maybe
These words of mine
Are now close to those of Jesus.
So let us await the tears of heaven,
O beloved.

(**Sources disagree about Maghut’s birthplace. Some say he was Syrian. This poem, however, is appropriate regardless.)

–From AN  ANTHOLOGY  OF  MODERN  ARABIC  POETRY. Translated by Mounah A. Khouri and Hamid Algar. University of California Press, 1974. Available from Barnes and Noble.

“. . . a saddening symptom of the demise of Al-Quds [Jerusalem] . . .” (Ali Qleibo)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
image00006-e1543739918460 - Copy
Bethlehem Christmas Tree lighting (Photo: Ma’an News Agency, Dec. 2, 2018)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .
| JERUSALEM  ANNOUNCED  PERMANENT  CAPITAL  OF  ISLAMIC  CULTURE
The Islamic Conference of Culture Ministers, at the conclusion of its emergency session in the Bahraini capital, Manama, on Thursday, announced Jerusalem a permanent capital of the Islamic culture.    ___The conference adopted a document on a draft program of action on enhancing Islamic and international support for the preservation of the cultural heritage of Jerusalem.    More . . .
. . . . Related  Hordes of Israeli settlers break into al-Aqsa Mosque
. . . . Related  Father Hanna warns of conspiracy targeting J’lem real estate
. . . . Related  New cameras set up by Israeli occupation around Aqsa Mosque
. . . . Related  Israel prevented Muslim call for prayer [Hebron] 47 times in November
|  THOUSANDS  CELEBRATE  CHRISTMAS  TREE  LIGHTING  IN  BETHLEHEM
Only meters away from where baby Jesus is said to be born, thousands of people made their way to Manger Square and gathered around the gigantic Christmas tree, to welcome in the holiest month of the Christian year – December.   ___Locals and foreigners, wrapped up in their coats and beanies, listened to speeches from the likes of the Mayor of Bethlehem, and the Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah, with others including top officials from the Catholic church, such as Father Francesco Patton.    More . . .
|  NEW  SETTLEMENTS  PLANNED  IN  THE  HEART  OF  THE  WEST  BANK
The Israeli government on Sunday approved a map of “national priority” areas, including a number of settlements in the heart of the occupied West Bank.    ___The map aims to promote Israeli migration to the towns on the map, as well as to grant larger budgets for building. The National Law will increase budgets to “strengthen the Jewish character of Israel.”    ___The settlements referred to are: Magron, Shvut Rahal and Kerem Re’em, usually referred to as “isolated settlements” because they are built outside major settlement blocs in the West Bank.  More . . .
. . . . Related  IOA resumes settlement expansion activities west of Salfit
. . . . Related  Israeli settlers spray paint ‘Death to Arabs’ in Palestinian village

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|  JERUSALEM,  TWENTY  YEARS  LATER
By Ali Qleibo
More than twenty years after the Oslo Agreement, it has become evident that the slogan “Gaza and Jericho First” was a euphemism, preparing the ground for the Israeli takeover of our city. The Israeli Judaization of Jerusalem has escalated to an unprecedented level. In the systematic takeover of Jerusalem, most institutional Palestinian offices in Jerusalem have been driven out. The checkpoints and the arbitrary inclusion, or exclusion, of major Arab “suburbs” have created a great demographic change, leading to the total isolation of Jerusalem and of Jerusalemites. Through Israeli-manipulated bureaucratic procedures and unsurpassable barriers, families are broken apart. And as one walks the streets of the Old City, the blatant scarcity of rural peddlers in their colorful embroidered garments and of people in general is a saddening symptom of the demise of Al-Quds.    More . . .
. . . .  Related  Al-Quds: The Indigenous Jerusalem: Palestinian Tourism Organizations during the Past 20 Years, By Raed Saadeh
.  .  .  .  .  Also by Raed Saadeh
|  INTERNATIONAL  MEDIA  WATCH  FROM  ALRAY  PALESTINIAN  MEDIA  AGENCY (Dec. 2, 2018)

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“WE  TRAVEL  LIKE  OTHER  PEOPLE,”  BY  MAHMOUD  DARWISH

We travel like other people, but we return to nowhere. As if travelling
Is the way of the clouds. We have buried our loved ones in the
darkness of the clouds, between the roots of the trees.
And we said to our wives: go on giving birth to people like us
for hundreds of years so we can complete this journey
To the hour of a country, to a metre of the impossible.
We travel in the carriages of the psalms, sleep in the tent of the
prophets and come out of the speech of the gypsies.
We measure space with a hoopee’s beak or sing to while away the
distance and cleanse the light of the moon.
Your path is long so dream of seven women to bear this long path
On your shoulders. Shake for them palm trees so as to know their
names and who’ll be the mother of the boy of Galilee.
We have a country of words. Speak speak so I can put my road on the
stone of a stone.
We have a country of words. Speak speak so we may know the end of
this travel.

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.

 

“. . . Our land, my friend, is no barren land. . .” (Mahmoud Darwish)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
-1683871648 - Copy
Israeli bulldozers from Leshem settlement razing Palestinian agricultural and grazing lands in Deir Ballut town. (Photo: The Palestinian Information Center, May 11, 2017)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .
|    ISRAELI  BULLDOZERS  RAZE  PALESTINIAN  LANDS  IN  TULKAREM
Israeli bulldozers razed lands and uprooted olive trees in Palestinian lands adjacent to the Israeli illegal settlement of Avnei Hefetz in the northern occupied West Bank district of Tulkarem, on Thursday morning.    ___The Avnei Hefetz settlement was built on Palestinian-owned lands of the villages and towns of Shufa, Kafr al-Labad and Kafa.    More . . .
. . . . Related  IOF  DEMOLISH  TWO  RESIDENTIAL  ROOMS  NEAR  HEBRON
. . . . Related  ISRAEL  CONFISCATES  PALESTINIAN-OWNED  TRACTORS  IN  JORDAN  VALLEY
. . . . Related  ISRAELI  ARMY  ORDERS  TO  STOP  CONSTRUCTION  ON  HOUSE,  THREE  BARRACKS NEAR  SALFIT
. . . . Related  ISRAELI  FORCES  WREAK  HAVOC  ON  PALESTINIAN  [vendor]  STALLS  IN  AL-KHALI
. . . . Related  IOF  KIDNAPS  SEVERAL  PALESTINIANS  FROM  W.  BANK  HOMES
|   WEEKLY  REPORT  ON  ISRAELI  HUMAN  RIGHTS  VIOLATIONS  IN  THE  OCCUPIED  PALESTINIAN  TERRITORY  (25  –  31  OCTOBER  2018)
The  Palestinian  Centre  for  Human  Rights  (PCHR) 

  • Israeli forces continued to use excessive force against unarmed civilians and peaceful protestors in the Gaza Strip
  • Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of airstrikes against targets in the Gaza Strip and launched 77 missiles.
  • Israeli forces killed a Palestinian civilian and wounded 16 others, including a child, journalist, and 2 paramedics in the West Bank.    More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|   ISRAEL  EVADES  DEMANDS  TO  END  THE  GAZA  PROTESTS  AND  REACH  A  TRUCE
Israeli occupation is only buying time through its talks with the mediators who want to sort out the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel needs only to go ahead in its colonial projects.    More . . .
. . . . Background  ISRAEL  DECIDES  AGAINST  TOPPLING  HAMAS  IN  GAZA,  SEEKS  TO  WEAKEN  IT
. . . . Background  ABBAS  TO  MEET  WITH  EGYPTIAN  PRESIDENT  IN  SHARM  EL-SHEIKH
|    ISRAELI  OCCUPATION  MARRING  THE  JOY  OF  THE  OLIVE  SEASON
Abu Basem stands hopelessly rubbing his hands, as he touches the rest of his olive trees in a valley north of Salfit, looking right and left, and recalling memories when joy was all over his house with the start of the olive harvest, which now turned into tears and pain.   ___This is the story of farmer Ahmad Eshtayeh, 80 years old from the city of Salfit, who inspects the rest of his olive field north of Salfit behind the apartheid wall, which swallowed 90% of Salfit’s land, leaving too little for him to cultivate.    More . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . .

“CONCERNING  HOPES,”  BY  MAHMOUD  DARWISH
Don’t tell me:
I wish I were a baker in Algeria
To sing with a fighter.
Don’t tell me:
I wish I were a shepherd in Yemen
To sing for resurrection.
Don’t tell me:
I wish I were a waiter in Havana
To sing the victories of the oppressed.
Don’t tell me:
I wish I were a young porter in Aswan
To sing for the rocks.
The Nile will never flow into the Volga,
Nor will the Congo or the Jordan flow into the Euphrates.
Each river has its own springs,
Its own course and its own life.
Our land, my friend, is no barren land.
Each land gives birth in due time,
And each fighter will see the dawn.

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 Abe Books.

“. . . an impossible burden weighs down . . .” (Majid Abu Ghoush)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
EmadShteiwi-e1537738542948
Shot with a live round in the head, east of Gaza city, Emad Daoud Eshteiwi, 21. Sept. 24, 2018. (Photo: IMEMCNews.)

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

REPORT:  SETTLEMENT  ACTIVITIES  ESCALATED,  PARTICULARLY  IN  JERUSALEM  AND  JORDAN  VALLEY 
In his weekly report on Israel’s settlement activities in the West Bank, the National Office for the Defending Land and Resisting Settlements (NBPRS) reported, that  Israel’s settlement activities cover all the West Bank governorates encouraged by the US, and the absence of the international accountability. The Netanyahu government continues its grave violations of international law that amount to war crimes through demolishing and displacing the Palestinians, and at the same time legitimizing settlement outposts and confiscating Palestinian land the last of which a plan no 3/515, which aims to expand the settlement of Tina by building 135 new settlement units on 260 dunums of the lands of the Dahiriya town.    More . . .

ISRAEL  IMPOSES  8  DAY  CLOSURE  ON  WEST  BANK,  GAZA
The Israeli authorities declared an 8-day closure on the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip starting late Sunday until next Monday, the first of October, for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.    ___The Israeli army spokesperson confirmed that the closure will be lifted off the West Bank on Monday, September 24th night but would be imposed again on Thursday night until October 1st.    ___Crossings with the Gaza Strip would remain closed until October 1st.    ___This is the third closure imposed on the West Bank and Gaza in the month of September. . .     More . . .

ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  KILL  A  PALESTINIAN  IN  GAZA
The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported that Israeli soldiers killed, on Sunday evening, a young Palestinian man, and injured at least 20 others, including one medic, along the eastern part of the besieged Gaza Strip.    ___Dr. Ashraf al-Qedra, the spokesperson of the Health Ministry in Gaza, said the soldiers shot Emad Daoud Eshteiwi, 21, with a live round in the head, east of Gaza city, and moderately injured a medic in the leg.    ___He added that the soldiers also shot twenty Palestinians with live rounds . . .    More . . .

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

ABBAS  ARRIVES  IN  NEW  YORK  FOR  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY  MEETING
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived Sunday to New York, in the United States, to participate in the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly, amidst calls from pro-Israel lobbying organizations that the U.S. should deny Abbas entry into the US.    ___President Abbas will be delivering a speech this coming Thursday, and also intends to hold many meetings with world leaders and international delegations participating in the General Assembly sessions.    ___He is accompanied by the Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Dr. Saeb Erekat, Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Ziad Abu Amro, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki . . .    More . . .
Related . . .    Premier  to  tell  AHLC  meeting  ending  Israeli  occupation  answer  to  economic  growth
Related . . .    Italian  motorcycle  rally  in  solidarity  with  Palestinians
Related . . .    Japan  funds  project  for  additional  classrooms  in  Salfit  village
Related . . .    Jordan  takes  steps  to  support  Jerusalem’s  Palestinians

EXPLOITING  GAZA  TOPS  THE  UN’S  HUMANITARIAN  AGENDA 
What would prompt the UN to assert, without reservations or calculated statements, that Gaza has collapsed in terms of humanitarian necessities? So far, the international organization has relied on projecting extended time frames; the result being that Gaza was forced into a currently irreversible situation while the UN saves face, or believes it does, by stepping in at its designated intervals.    ___On Monday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory announced through a press release that it was releasing $1 million “to prevent the collapse of life-saving services in the Gaza Strip”.    [. . . .] The funding crisis exacerbates the humanitarian situation because the political intent is to maintain the continuation of violating human rights. In its previous warning of the impending collapse in services, there is no mention of Israel.    More . . .
Related . . .   LACK  OF  MEDICATIONS  THREATENS  LIVES  OF  425  KIDNEY  PATIENTS  [GAZA]

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS . . . 

THE  PALESTINIAN  ASSOCIATION  FOR  EMPOWERMENT  AND  LOCAL  DEVELOPMENT-REFORM     REFORM strives for a society where everyone has the capacity to participate effectively, individual and collective rights are respected, and pluralism is ensured in an independent Palestinian state.   Donate . . .

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

OCCUPATION,”  BY  MAJID  ABU  GHOUSH
Occupied Ramallah 17/11/06

Strange days cast dour shadows
Dusk. The fragrance of death
on a windowsill.
In the lingering heat
an impossible burden weighs
down on eyelids and chest;
the throat aches, the spine throbs.

Rose petals all tarnished with foul dust
from the poisoned world.
Black limousines sail past, flying
the skull and crossbones.
The grave yawns open early,
nightmares never leave.
Death squads. Detention camps.

Somewhere, an oud
pronounces its sad chords.
The invaders smile; tap their feet.
―Translated by John Glenday

Majid Abu Ghoush is prolific poet and novelist, a member of the secretariat of the General Union of Palestinian Writers, and a founding member of Poets Without Borders, Palestine.
From A BIRD IS NOT A STONE: AN  ANTHOLOGY  OF  CONTEMPORARY  PALESTINIAN  POETRY.  Ed. by Henry Bell and Sarah Irving. (Glasgow: Freight Books, 2014).

“. . . what is the name of the soil? . . .” (Zuhair Abu Shaib)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
IMG_3404
Settler Bypass Road near Beit Jala (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 8, 2015)

❶ Agricultural group urges support for farmers in Sakout area in Jordan Valley
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) Israeli settlers attack Palestinian olive pickers in Hawa

  • Background: “Not Just a Picnic: Settler Colonialism, Mobility, and Identity among Palestinians in Israel.” Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly.

. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) Mar’ee: Israel seized my olive grove in Salfit and built factories
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴄ) US project aims to improve water access for Palestinian farmers
❷ Netanyahu to build bypass roads for 200 million NIS to protect illegal West Bank settlers
❸ POETRY by Zuhair Abu Shaib
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ AGRICULTURAL  GROUP  URGES  SUPPORT  FOR  FARMERS  IN  SAKOUT  AREA  IN  JORDAN  VALLEY
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
Nov. 7, 2017 ― The Union of Agricultural Work Committee (UAWC) called on Tuesday to support Palestinian farmers in Sakout village in the northern Jordan Valley after settlers had forced a farmer to leave his land and sabotaged a water pipe built to irrigate crops.
___They said in a statement that Israeli settlers protected by the army attacked Zamel Daraghmeh and his family while they were working on their land planting it with vegetables and forced them to leave it.
___The settlers also sabotaged a water pipe they had built to help the area farmers reclaim their land and irrigate their crops.
___UAWC said the Palestinian farmers in Sakout, whom the army had not allowed to reach their land since 1967, were able to win a court order allowing them to work on their land after they proved ownership. The order affected 3500 dunums of land out of a total of 5600 dunums.    MORE . . .
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) ISRAELI  SETTLERS  ATTACK  PALESTINIAN  OLIVE  PICKERS  IN  HAWARA  
The Palestinian Information Center
Nov. 7, 2017 ― Extremist Israeli settlers have stepped up assaults against Palestinian farmers across Hawara’s olive groves, south of the occupied West Bank province of Nablus.
___Head of the West Bank department at Rabbis for Human Rights, Zakaria Sadah, said dozens of Israeli settlers violently attacked Palestinian farmers on Monday evening while they were picking olives in their groves northwest of Hawara town.
___The Israeli army forced the Palestinians out of their farmlands after they ruled that all olive-picking activities in the area be immediately halted.   MORE . . .

Shihade, Magid.
“NOT JUST A PICNIC: SETTLER COLONIALISM, MOBILITY, AND IDENTITY AMONG PALESTINIANS IN ISRAEL.”
Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, vol. 37, no. 2, Spring2014, pp. 451-473.
[. . . .] Compounding this situation of estrangement, for the rest of the Arab world leadership, it was as if the Palestinians never existed. Political leadership in the Arab world spoke about Palestine and about liberating Palestine, but never about the Palestinians who remained on the land. In the eyes of the Israeli state they were and remain “present-absent”: physically there, yet legally, and as a national indigenous group, without existence . . . . for the Arab leaders, too, the Palestinians who remained within the Israeli settler colonial state in 1948 did not exist . . . Arab Palestinians behind enemy lines, facing forgetfulness by Arab leadership and a war on existence and memory by the Israeli settler colonial state.
[. . . .] Another shift evident in the village is the contraction of land and resources . . .  space is shrinking due to state policies of land confiscation and encroachment on Arab villages and towns. The past, where homes were more humble but surrounded by large gardens with fruit trees, is almost extinct . . . .  After destroying the Palestinian urban space that existed before 1948, Israel built hundreds of Jewish settlements on land confiscated from Arab villages, limiting further the space for those villages that remained intact after the creation of the state. These villages’ natural space and fields shrank, and the villages became more crowded . . . .
___While resembling ghettos in many western cities, here the village as a whole is constituted as a ghetto, a shanty town to the Jewish cities nearby, which have much more space, superior public services, cleaner streets, gardens, libraries, cinemas, and more state funding. This inverted ghetto, which exists not inside but rather on the outskirts of Jewish towns and cities, divides Palestinian Arab citizens from Jewish Israelis, who come to the village only for cheap labor, cheap products, cheap food, and possibly to feel good that they have some contact with the Palestinian Arabs . . .  FULL ARTICLE . . .

. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴃ) MAR’EE:  ISRAEL  SEIZED  MY  OLIVE  GROVE  IN  SALFIT  AND  BUILT  FACTORIES
The Palestinian Information Center  
Nov. 1, 2017 ― With a sigh of sadness, Palestinian farmer Abdullah Mar’ee looked at his annexed plot of land in Farkha village, west of Salfit, which was once an olive grove before Israel took it over along with other vast tracts of Palestinian land and built large factories in their place.
___“We planted olive saplings on 25 dunums of land in Karm Ashour area, west of Salfit, and we were happy with them, especially when we saw them starting to yield olive fruits of the Nabali type, but all of a sudden, the settlement of Ariel encroached on our land,” Abu Mar’ee said.
___“They built a factory for cosmetics, another for sweets and a huge iron plant, and their bulldozers are still embarking on razing more lands belonging to us and others,” he added.   MORE . . .    ..
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴄ) US PROJECT  AIMS  TO  IMPROVE  WATER  ACCESS  FOR  PALESTINIAN  FARMERS 
Al-Monitor (Palestine Pulse)  
By Ahmad Melhem
Oct. 31, 2017 ― The US Consulate in Jerusalem launched a $10 million project on Oct. 15 to support the water sector in the West Bank governorate of Jericho. In attendance during the announcement of the launch was Jason Greenblatt, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
___The project . . .  (network expansion), which should be ready by early 2018, will connect 70% of the residents of Jericho to the water treatment plant, which, in turn, was funded by the Japanese government in the city and launched by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in June 2014.
___The project will be of great help to the farmers in the city of Jericho and the Jordan Valley, especially palm farmers, as it will increase their irrigation resources, which is the biggest problem plaguing this sector.   MORE . . .
❷ NETANYAHU  TO  BUILD  BYPASS  ROADS  FOR  200  MILLION  NIS  TO  PROTECT  ILLEGAL  WEST  BANK  SETTLERS 
Palestine News Network – PNN
Nov. 7, 2017 ― Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledges to support a plan to build new bypass roads and deploy new measures to “strengthen protection” for the Israeli settlers in the West Bank for 200 million NIS.
___This came after arguments in the Knesset’s Finance Committee meeting in the presence of Netanyahu, who was strongly criticized from families whose sons were killed in the streets of the West Bank.
___They demanded “strengthening their protection by creating bypass roads” away from the centers of Palestinian towns.   MORE . . .

“NAME OF THE SOIL,” BY ZUHAIR ABU SHAIB
what is its name?
what is the name of the soil
that falls from my withered body?
what is its name as it drifts and gathers
under my clothes
while, slowly, I build wall after wall?

I picture a sky full of clouds
I see it as I wish it to be

when night falls, I gulp my fill of springs
in darkness I lift my latch
to wise men

I ask my guests
who imprisoned the soul in rock?
who left prophets spread-eagled on doorsteps?

who risks everything to capture the earth?
a man who does not know his own shadow

what can I call this rug of soil?
is it my country or the source of my exile?
is it my miracle or my cross?

what is its name?
――Translated by Tom Pow

Zuhair Abu Shaib was born in Deir al-Ghusun, a town near the city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank and studied at Yarmouk University. He was a teacher and journalist in Yemen, and a book designer. He was also editor of the journal Awraq.
From A BIRD IS NOT A STONE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY PALESTINIAN POETRY (Glasgow: Freight Books, 2014) –available from Barnes & Noble.

“. . . My voice echoes a rocket rage . . .” (Mahmoud Darwish)

Harold KnightLeave a comment

❶ Palestinian ‘extrajudicially executed’ by Israelis laid to rest

  • Background: “Lack of Security for Palestinians.” Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture.

. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) Bodies of 5 Palestinian fighters found in Gaza tunnel, bringing death toll to 12
❷ Army Attacks the Weekly Protest in Nil’in
❸ Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (26 October – 01November 2017)
❹ Mahmoud Darwish to have a statue in Bucharest
❺ POETRY by Mahmoud Darwish
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ PALESTINIAN ‘EXTRAJUDICIALLY EXECUTED’ BY ISRAELIS LAID TO REST   
Ma’an News Agency
Nov. 4, 2017 ― Palestinians on Friday evening laid to rest 26-year-old Muhammad Moussa in his home town of Deir Ballout, near Salfit in the central occupied West Bank, shortly after receiving his body from Israeli authorities on Friday afternoon.
___Moussa was shot and killed on Tuesday morning near the illegal Halamish settlement north of Ramallah, after Israeli forces opened fire on his vehicle as he was passing a flying checkpoint set up in the area.
[. . . .] Israeli forces routinely shoot Palestinians, oftentimes killing them, during these alleged attacks on Israelis, even if the Palestinian could be detained through nonlethal means. This Israeli practice has prompted rights groups to accuse Israel of carrying out extrajudicial executions on Palestinians.   MORE . . .

Elrahim, Amira Abd. “Lack of Security for Palestinians.”
Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture, vol. 21, no. 2, Nov. 2015, pp. 28-35.
[. . . .] Israel is trying to exterminate Palestinians from their homeland. They are attempting to Judaize Palestine by erasing its Palestinian and Muslim identity entirely under claims of historical belonging and their search for evidence that was never found. They are only trying to find justifications for all their cruel acts. Even Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is trying to rewrite history by saying that the Holocaust wasn’t Hitler’s idea and pointing his finger at a Palestinian leader. Maybe this is why it didn’t surprise us when we watched videos of Israelis and Israeli soldiers placing weapons next to dead Palestinians to justify their murder.
___Palestinians who were accused of attacking Israelis were shot directly, either by Israeli military forces or by settlers who may have just felt insecure or threatened with or without reason. Most of the martyrs would not be liable for a death sentence in a state of law. The homes of these Palestinian martyrs are being demolished in violation of international law, and their families are threatened with loss of residency. While raids on Palestinian homes and schools continue, the theft of Palestinian land and spree of barbaric extrajudicial killings are all being buoyed by the cheers of the masses, media incitement and the encouragement of the Israeli government and the Zionist far-right extremists.
___Israelis have a government and weapons. They are protected by an army that stands behind them. Recently the Israeli government set up metal detectors at the entrances of the Old City of Jerusalem so that Palestinians aren’t allowed to go through with any metal objects, while Israeli settlers pass through with their guns!! The Israelis are asked to keep their weapons with them at all times!!! Could you think for yourself what do Palestinians have, who is there to protect them or care about their lost livelihoods. They are paralyzed and fed up with injustice, racism, the denial of rights practiced by the Israeli government and the ignorance of the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinians are the only people on this earth who are asked to guarantee the security of their occupier, while Israel is the only country that calls for defense from its victims.   FULL ARTICLE . . .

. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) BODIES OF 5 PALESTINIAN FIGHTERS FOUND IN GAZA TUNNEL, BRINGING DEATH TOLL TO 12
Ma’an News Agency 
Nov. 3, 2017 ― The al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, released a statement on Friday declaring that five missing fighters belonging to the group in Gaza were dead.
___The five fighters had gone missing inside tunnels between southern Gaza and Israeli territory, after Israeli forces conducted explosions on the tunnels.   MORE . . .
❷ ARMY ATTACKS THE WEEKLY PROTEST IN NIL’IN 
International Middle East Media Center – IMEMC    
Nov. 4, 2017 ― Israeli soldiers attacked, Friday, many Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists, holding the weekly nonviolent procession against the Annexation Wall and Colonies, in Ni’lin village, west of Ramallah, in central West Bank.
___The procession started in the afternoon hours, when many locals, and the peace activists, marched towards the Annexation Wall and the isolated Palestinian lands, especially olive orchards, before the soldiers attacked them.
___ Mohammad Amira, a member of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Colonies, said the soldiers resorted to excessive force against the nonviolent protesters, and fired many gas bombs and concussion grenades.   MORE . . .
❸ WEEKLY REPORT ON ISRAELI HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY (26 OCTOBER – 01 NOVEMBER 2017)  
Palestine Center for Human Rights
Nov. 2, 2017 ― A Palestinian civilian shot dead and his sister was wounded by Israeli settlers, northwest of Ramallah.     12 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children, were wounded in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.       Israeli forces conducted 52 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and a limited one into the southern Gaza Strip.      70 civilians, including 9 children and 3 women; one of whom a journalist, were arrested in the West Bank.     12 of them, including 2 women, were arrested in Jerusalem and its suburbs.      An old and abandoned house was demolished in ‘Erq al-Ras area, southeast of Nablus.       350-gram jewellery was stolen from a house belonging to the family of Malek Hajeh in Kenar neighbourhood in Dura.   MORE . . .
❹ MAHMOUD DARWISH TO HAVE A STATUE IN BUCHAREST  
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA    
Nov. 4, 2017 ― The Romanian capital Bucharest will soon have a statute of the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, the Palestinian embassy announced on Saturday.
___Palestine’s ambassador to Romania Fouad Kokaly held a meeting with the Daniel Tudorache, the mayor of District One in Bucharest, where the Palestinian ambassador asked the mayor to approve the building of a statue for Darwish in his town.
___Tudorache welcomed the ambassador’s request and added that he will be proud to have the statute of the late Palestinian poet.
___Mahmoud Darwish was a Palestinian poet and author regarded as the Palestinian national poet. He won numerous awards for his works.     SOURCE . . .

“A  DIALOGUE  WITH  A  MAN  WHO  HATES  ME,”  BY  MAHMOUD  DARWISH
Rome was burnt, O crazy man
Rome is more durable than Nero
Rome will not grasp your poems
She can recite them by heart
Rome will slice your strings
My tunes arise from my heart
Your voice echoes a miserable past
My voice echoes a rocket rage
Your path is long
I shall not tire
Yehuda** sold you
I shall not be crucified
My ancestors were cremated in Auschwitz
My heart is with them
Pull out the wires from my skin
And the wounds of yesterday?
A shameful scar―in the face of the executioner over there
What do you carry in your head
A little wheat
What’s in your chest?
A picture of a wound
Your face reflects a rancor color
My face reflects the color of the earth
Then convert your sword into plowshare
You did not leave me land to plow
You criminal!
I did not steal―did not kill―didn’t oppress
You Arab! You are a dog!
O man, may God cure your soul
Why don’t you try the taste of love
Why don’t you make way for the sun!!

** The Israeli town of Or Yehuda was established in 1950 on the lands of the depopulated Palestinian villages of Saqiya and Kfar ‘Ana. Jews from Iraq and North Africa settled there.

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.
Mahmoud Darwish Obituary

“. . . the workman aspiring with great longing for/ His land . . .” (Fouzi El-Asmar)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
IMG_2983
Lifta, depopulated Palestinian village on the outskirts of Jerusalem. (Photo: Harold Knight, Nov. 5, 2015)

Note: the format today is a departure from our norm ― a number of news items touching on the topic “the Nakba is a continuum of injustice, denial and colonization” from the first item.

❶ PLO department shares video depicting ongoing elimination, dispossession of Palestinians
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) WATCH: Palestinians visit ruins of village destroyed during Nakba
❷ Israel aims new Nakba-style weapon at Arab citizens
. . . . . ❷― (ᴀ) Israel to expand Arial industrial zone at the expense of Salfit lands.
. . . . . ❷― (ᴃ) Tayseer Khaled: The new settlement plan on Qalandia airport land is being  prepared under the US administration cover
❸ Palestinians face biggest expulsion in years by settlers in Jerusalem
. . . . . ❸― (ᴀ) Palestinian Citizens in Israel: A Fast-Shrinking Civic Space
❹ Israeli settler who killed Palestinian in Nablus not being investigated as criminal suspect
. . . . . ❹ ― (ᴀ) VIDEO: Israeli settler passes out candy to celebrate killing of Palestinian in Nablus
❺ POETRY by Fouzi El-Asmar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ PLO  DEPARTMENT  SHARES  VIDEO  DEPICTING  ONGOING  ELIMINATION,  DISPOSSESSION  OF  PALESTINIANS      
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA   
May 19, 2017
Note: The video is not available from WAFA. It is included here for the statement, “. . . it is important to remember that this is not a commemoration of an event in the past; rather, the Nakba is a continuum of injustice, denial and colonization that perpetuates to this day. . .” 
The Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Department of Culture and Information Thursday shared a video depicting the ongoing elimination and dispossession of the Palestinian people since 1947.
___On behalf of PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi, the department shared a video clip, Israel: Crime and Impunity, on the occasion of the 69th anniversary of the Nakba “the catastrophe.”  MORE. . . .
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) WATCH:  PALESTINIANS  VISIT  RUINS  OF  VILLAGE  DESTROYED  DURING  NAKBA
+972 Blog   
May 18, 2017
Descendants of Palestinians who were expelled from the village of Ma’alul during the Nakba visit the site of their former home to celebrate Easter in the church there — one of the few buildings left standing after the Israeli army destroyed the locality.  MORE . . . .
❷ ISRAEL  AIMS  NEW  NAKBA-STYLE  WEAPON  AT  ARAB  CITIZENS
+972 Blog
May 15, 2017
. . . .  the Israeli campaign to control land has never stopped. As Israel celebrates the 69th anniversary of its establishment — Palestinians commemorate the Nakba annually on May 15 — it is also brandishing its latest weapon against its remaining Arab citizens, designed to corral them into an ever-shrinking living space.
___According to Israel, the new so-called Kaminitz Law, which was enacted in April 2017, is intended to consolidate and streamline state powers in enforcing planning and building regulations.       MORE . . . .
. . . . ❷― (ᴀ) ISRAEL  TO  EXPAND  ARIAL  INDUSTRIAL  ZONE  AT  THE  EXPENSE  OF  SALFIT  LANDS.  VIOLATION:  EXPANSION  WORKS  ON  AN  INDUSTRIAL  ZONE  
POICA – Monitoring Israeli Colonization Activities in the Palestinian Territories      
May 2, 2017
The Israeli occupation government work day and night to take over more Palestinian lands for the favor of colonial expansionist plans in the West Bank area. According to Land Research Center field follow-up, the ravaging works are focused in the areas known as Khallet Al-Za’faran and Al-Harayeq from Bruqin village. More than 100 dunums were totally swept until the day of preparing this report. The aim behind the ravaging works is to create open a colonial road (1km* 6m) in the periphery of the targeted area, which is being exploited for the favor of expanding Arial Industrial Zone.
___Data of Land Research Center showed that the targeted lands belong to Sabra family from Bruqin town.  MORE . . .
. . . . . ❷― (ᴃ) TAYSEER  KHALED:  THE  NEW  SETTLEMENT  PLAN  ON  QALANDIA  AIRPORT  LAND  IS  BEING  PREPARED  UNDER  THE  US  ADMINISTRATION  COVER   
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (Group 194)
May 2, 2017
Tayseer Khaled, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a member of the Political Bureau of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), blamed the US administration for the consequences of Israeli housing ministry and the Israeli occupation municipality intention in Jerusalem, to implement a large settlement plan aimed at building 15,000 settlement units on the land of Jerusalem Airport and lands of Qalandia that surround the settlement area called “Atarot” which was established by the occupation authorities on the land of the citizens in north-west Jerusalem.   MORE . . . .
❸ PALESTINIANS  FACE  BIGGEST  EXPULSION  IN  YEARS  BY  SETTLERS  IN  JERUSALEM   
The Electronic Intifada
Charlotte Silver
May 17, 2017
A private settler organization is planning “the most extensive expulsion scheme in recent years,” in the Batan al-Hawa area of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem is warning.
___The settler group, Ateret Cohanim, claims to own about an acre of land in the densely populated neighborhood near the al-Aqsa mosque.
___The group has filed eviction claims against the 81 Palestinian families who live there.
___B’Tselem says this concentration of evictions represents 45 percent of all Palestinians facing “dispossession on the basis of ethnicity” in East Jerusalem.  MORE . . .
. . . . . ❸― (ᴀ) PALESTINIAN  CITIZENS  IN  ISRAEL:  A  FAST-SHRINKING  CIVIC  SPACE   
Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network
Nadim Nashif, Raya Naamneh
January 13, 2016
Israel still portrays itself as a Jewish and democratic state. Yet in practice, as its Palestinian citizens can attest, it functions as a Jewish ethnocracy, leaving small margins of freedom for its Palestinian citizens that have been steadily shrinking in the past few years. Now the Israeli state has come under the complete control of the far right wing, which sees no need even for such limited margins of freedom. This is evident in the wave of discriminatory legislation and the use of the Emergency Regulations against established non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and movements such as the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel.        MORE . . .   

candy
Israeli settler, who appears to be protected by Israeli army forces, was distributing candy to Israeli settlers in celebration of the killing. (Photo: Ma’an News Agency, May 18, 2017)

❹ Note:  Continuing from Headline News of May 18
ISRAELI  SETTLER  WHO  KILLED  PALESTINIAN  IN  NABLUS  NOT  BEING  INVESTIGATED  AS  CRIMINAL  SUSPECT   
Ma’an News Agency 
May 18, 2017
The Israeli settler who shot and killed one Palestinian and injured another on Thursday near the Huwwara village, south of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, is not being investigated by Israeli police as a criminal suspect, according to Israeli news daily Haaretz.        MORE . . .  
. . . . . ❹ ― (ᴀ) VIDEO:  ISRAELI  SETTLER  PASSES  OUT  CANDY  TO  CELEBRATE  KILLING  OF  PALESTINIAN  IN  NABLUS    
Ma’an News Agency  
May 18, 2017
Following a deadly shooting carried out by an Israeli settler near the Huwwara village in the occupied West Bank district of Nablus, an Israeli settler distributed candy to passing Israeli vehicles south of Nablus on Thursday in celebration of the settler killing a 23-year-old Palestinian earlier in the day.      MORE . . .

“DREAMS  ON  A  MATTRESS  OF  THORNS,”  BY  FOUZI  EL-ASMAR

Oh my homeland
The whisper of the leaves I the breeze
Robs me of my sleep.
The darkness of the dawn
And the glance of my beautiful sister
Searching for our songs
Robs me of my sleep.

Lovebirds returning to their nest
At sunset
Kissing their nestlings
Rejoicing
Rob me of my sleep.

The silence of the night
Robs me of my sleep
Oh my country.

Sleep does not bless my eyelids
For there are nails in my eyes
Covered with the rust of many days
And the blast of drums in my eyes
Beaten by the arms of hatred.

And I run
I run
I run in order to wrap
The morning around my body.
I run towards my loved ones
I kiss them
I console them for the loss
Of their yesterday.

I tell them:
My loved ones
Forget the yesterday
Let us fold it
And bury it in the ground
The day is ours
The morrow is ours
They carry the sun
Of our destiny.

My loved ones
Do not fear.
Despite the delayed dawn
despite the dagger
Stabbed deep into your hip
We shall arrive.

We shall arrive
On the wind
Among the clouds
Under the zenith
Among the bleating sheep
Among the drops of sweat
Adoring the face of the workman
Aspiring with great long for
His land.

We shall come
On the sun rays we shall come
Have no fear
We shall come.

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

Special to Americans on INDEPENDENCE DAY “. . . common values of democracy, equality, tolerance. . .” (DNC Platform)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
brokhin settlres
Israeli colonialist settlers on Sunday leveled Palestinian lands to expand Brokhin settlement. (Photo: group194.net, July 4, 2016)

❶ Muslim optometrist shot on way to pray at TEXAS MOSQUE, reports say
. . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) Israeli forces demolish 2 Palestinian homes in Qalandiya, injure 4 with live fire
❷ Israeli government approves 800 new colonial settlement housing units
. . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) Settlers of Brokhin settlement level Palestinians’ lands in Salfit

  • Background from Sociology

❸ Opinion/Analysis:  (VIDEO) CORNEL WEST VS. ROBERT WEXLER ON ISRAEL AND PALESTINE
. . . ❸ ― (ᴀ) As occupation enters its 50th year, draft Democratic platform won’t say the word
❺ POETRY by Mahmoud Darwish
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ MUSLIM  OPTOMETRIST  SHOT  ON  WAY  TO  PRAY  AT  TEXAS  MOSQUE,  REPORTS  SAY
Middle East Eye
July 3, 2016
A Muslim optometrist on his way to pray at a Houston, Texas, mosque was ambushed by three people and shot twice outside a nearby apartment complex, reports said.
___Mohammed Imaduddin, a spokesman for the nearby Madrasah Islamiah mosque, said Dr Arslan Tajammul was on his way to 5:30am morning prayers when he was approached by three people on foot, according to KTRK, an ABC television affiliate. . . .
___One of the suspects pulled a gun and shot Tajammul, who made it to the front entrance of the mosque, where he collapsed. . .    MORE . . .
. . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) ISRAELI  FORCES  DEMOLISH  2  PALESTINIAN  HOMES  IN  QALANDIYA,  INJURE  4  WITH  LIVE  FIRE
Ma’an News Agency
July 4, 2016
Israeli forces demolished two Palestinian homes overnight Sunday in the Qalandiya refugee camp, displacing at least six Palestinian refugees and sparking clashes in the densely populated West Bank camp which left four Palestinians injured by Israeli fire.
___The punitive demolition was carried out against the Assaf and Abu Habsa families as punishment for stab attacks carried out by two young members of the families last year.    MORE . . .  

❷ ISRAELI  GOVERNMENT  APPROVES  800  NEW  COLONIAL  SETTLEMENT  HOUSING  UNITS
July 4, 2016
On Sunday the Israeli Cabinet approved the expansion of several Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, adding an additional 800 new units to the existing thousands of units constructed in Jewish-only settlements in direct contravention of international law.
___Israeli officials say that the approval of 800 new housing units is meant to somehow ‘balance’ the implementation of a court ruling that 600 construction permits be approved for Palestinian families in Beit Safafa.     MORE . . .  

la-fg-israel-palestinians-raid-home-demolished-002
November 16, 2015. The demolished home of Mohammed Abu Shaheen, in the Qalandia refugee camp near Ramallah. (Photo: Alaa Badarneh / European Pressphoto Agency)

. . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) SETTLERS  OF  BROKHIN  SETTLEMENT  LEVEL  PALESTINIANS’  LANDS  IN  SALFIT
The Palestinian Information Center
Settlers on Sunday leveled Palestinian lands to expand Brokhin settlement which is established by force over lands of the Palestinian towns of Broqin, Bediya and Sarta west of Salfit. Researcher Khaled Maali told the PIC reporter that the expansion works have been going on in 24 settlements established over 18 locations in Salfit governorate.  MORE . . 

From Sociology
The proliferation of such [settler] violence over the past decade – especially given the decline in Israeli military violence in the West Bank – raises intriguing questions: What are the social and political forces that determine these violent assaults, which contradict official Israeli policy? Given their illegality and their challenge to Israel’s formal authority in the OPT, what can explain the lack of response of Israeli officials, who neither forbid nor prevent most of the attacks?
___These questions have theoretical implications beyond this case study. Situations of vigilantism and state collusion, in which state forces collaborate with paramilitaries and violent civilian forces, are not restricted to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Despite public and official concern about the increase of incidents of civilian violence and vigilantism worldwide, few attempts have been made to conceptualize and theorize this phenome- non from a social-political perspective. Studies on vigilantism approach the subject almost exclusively from a criminological perspective, ignoring the actual social and structural forces that shape this phenomenon, and neglect its political significance.

  • Gazit, Nir. “State-Sponsored Vigilantism: Jewish Settlers’ Violence In The Occupied Palestinian Territories.” Sociology 49.3 (2015): 438-454.  SOURCE.

❸ Opinion/Analysis:  (VIDEO)  CORNEL  WEST  VS.  ROBERT  WEXLER  ON  ISRAEL  AND  PALESTINE
International Middle East Media Center – IMEMC
June 30, 2016
[Note: Debate before the Platform Committee of the U.S. Democratic National Party]   MORE . . . 
. . . ❸ ― (ᴀ) As  occupation  enters  its  50th   year,  draft  Democratic  platform  won’t  say  the  word
Mondoweiss
Philip Weiss and Adam Horowitz
July 2, 2016
[. . . .]
How much do Democratic progressives care about Palestine? is the question. The party leaders want to say that Palestinian solidarity is a marginal fringe, and hint-hint, it’s anti-Semitic. And meantime, Israel and the U.S. share “common values of democracy, equality, tolerance, and pluralism.” That is simply a lie.      MORE . . .

“IDENTITY CARD,” BY MAHMOUD DARWISH (1964)
Write down!
I am an Arab
And my identity card number is fifty thousand
I have eight children
And the ninth will come after a summer
Will you be angry?

Write down!
I am an Arab
Employed with fellow workers at a quarry
I have eight children
I get them bread
Garments and books
from the rocks.
I do not supplicate charity at your doors
Nor do I belittle myself at the footsteps of your chamber
So will you be angry?

Write down!
I am an Arab
I have a name without a title
Patient in a country
Where people are enraged
My roots
Were entrenched before the birth of time
And before the opening of the eras
Before the pines, and the olive trees
And before the grass grew

My father descends from the family of the plow
Not from a privileged class
And my grandfather was a farmer
Neither well-bred, nor well-born!
Teaches me the pride of the sun
Before teaching me how to read
And my house is like a watchman’s hut
Made of branches and cane
Are you satisfied with my status?
I have a name without a title!

Write down!
I am an Arab
You have stolen the orchards of my ancestors
And the land which I cultivated
Along with my children
And you left nothing for us
Except for these rocks…
So will the State take them
As it has been said?!

Therefore!
Write down on the top of the first page:
I do not hate people
Nor do I encroach
But if I become hungry
The usurper’s flesh will be my food
Beware…
Beware…
Of my hunger
And my anger!

From: “Remembering Mahmoud Darwish”