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

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

SELECTED   NEWS   OF   THE   DAY. . .

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

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

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

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .

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

NOTICES  FROM  ORGANIZATIONS. . . .  

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

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“I  HAVE  NO  HOME,”  BY  YOUSEF  EL  QEDRA

I saw clouds running away from the hurt.
I have no language.
Its weight is lighter than a feather.
The quill does not write.
The ink of the spirit burns on the shore of meaning.
The clouds are tears, filled with escape and lacking definition.
A cloud realizes the beauty she forms—
beauty which contains all good things,
for whom trees, gardens, and tired young women wait.

I have no home.
I have a night overripe with sweats caused by numbness all over.
Time has grown up on its own without me.
In my dream, I asked him what he looks like.
My small defeats answered me.
So I asked him again, What did he mean?
Then I found myself suspended in nothingness,
Stretched like a string that doesn’t belong to an instrument.
The wind played me. So did irresistible gravity.
I was a run of lost notes that have a sad, strong desire to live.
――Translated by Yasmin Snounu and Edward Morin

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