Tag: Tony Klug

“. . . I recognized my treacherous guests . . .” (Samih Al-Qasim)

Harold KnightLeave a comment

❶ Israel to evacuate 200 Palestinians in Jordan Valley for settlement expansion

  • Background: “A Palestinian State Now or Equal Rights Until There Is a Solution: We Can Accept Either but We Accept Neither.” Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture

❷ Israel declares Gaza border closed military zone: Is there new offensive on Gaza?
❸ Israel steals artifacts from Roman palace in Hebron
❹ Al-Quds University, Heinrich Heine celebrate Eighth Commencement of Joint Masters of European Studies
❺ POETRY by Samih Al-Qasim
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❶ ISRAEL  TO  EVACUATE  200  PALESTINIANS  IN  JORDAN  VALLEY  FOR  SETTLEMENT  EXPANSION
Ma’an News Agency 
Nov. 10, 2017 ― Israeli authorities are reportedly planning to evacuate some 200 Palestinians from their homes and agricultural lands in the Jordan Valley are of the northern occupied West Bank, according to local sources.
___Member of the Jordan Valley municipal council Mahdi Daraghmeh told Ma’an on Friday that Israeli forces delivered demolition and evacuation notices to 30 Palestinian families in the Ein al-Hilweh and Umm al-Jamal villages in the northern Jordan Valley on Thursday, Nov. 9th.
___The notices, which Daraghmeh said were dated Nov. 1st, gave the residents eight days — until Nov. 9th — to evacuate some 60 homes and structures voluntarily.   MORE . . .

Klug, Tony. “A  PALESTINIAN  STATE  NOW  OR  EQUAL  RIGHTS  UNTIL  THERE  IS  A  SOLUTION:  WE  CAN  ACCEPT  EITHER  BUT  WE  ACCEPT  NEITHER.”
 Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture, vol. 22, no. 2/3, July 2017, pp. 53-58.
Israel’s Never-Ending Occupation Seriously Endangers Israel     [. . . .] Israel’s never-ending occupation of the land and lives of another people is not just seriously endangering Israel — not to mention deepening the despair of the Palestinians — but it is also making the situation of Jews around the world increasingly precarious. That makes it personal.
___But there is an even more profound personal dimension, one that goes to the very heart of what it means to be Jewish. I was asked recently what originally attracted me to the fields of human rights and peace. Almost without thinking, and to the visible surprise of the questioner, I answered, “the rabbis of the Orthodox Jewish school I attended.”
The Essence of Judaism: “Seek Peace and Pursue It”     . . . I was very taken by some of the passages that we were taught from the Hebrew Bible, the Torah; passages like: “Justice, justice, shalt thou pursue” (Deuteronomy 16:20). Why, the sages asked, repeat “justice”? Was it a typo? Did the scribe have a stutter? Came the answer: “Justice must be pursued with justice”. It is not enough for justice to be the goal; it must be the means, too. Astonishing for now, let alone for then!
[. . . .] These time-honored Jewish ideals — justice, freedom, equality, peace, mutual respect — have made an extraordinary contribution to human civilization. They lie at the very core of Jewish identity and are the glue that binds together Jews of many different persuasions in many different countries. Jews have proudly espoused these values historically for themselves and for others which, at least in part, explains why Jews have disproportionally been active in civil rights causes.
[. . . .] We now face the naked reality of a state that declares itself, loudly and often, to be Jewish, and demands of others that it be recognized as Jewish, gearing itself up to withholding fundamental human rights from millions of people indefinitely — a standpoint that is in total defiance of quintessential Jewish principles. Indeed, one may ask, would such a blatantly inequitable policy be condoned by the self-appointed custodians of Jewish values if enacted by any other country?       FULL ARTICLE.
RELATED . . .

❷ ISRAEL  DECLARES  GAZA  BORDER  CLOSED  MILITARY  ZONE:  IS  THERE  NEW  OFFENSIVE  ON  GAZA?
Days of Palestine
Nov. 09, 2017 ― The Israeli occupation authorities announced on Wednesday that the area near the border of the Gaza Strip is now a “closed military zone.”
___Israeli settlers living in the periphery of the Gaza Strip are now forbidden from approaching or entering this area at all. Even military patrols were stopped.
___The decision was taken because Israel is afraid of surprise attacks by Palestinians following its bombing of a tunnel which killed 12 Palestinians on 30 October.   MORE . . .   …
❸ ISRAEL  STEALS  ARTIFACTS  FROM  ROMAN  PALACE  IN  HEBRON 
Palestine News Network – PNN
Nov. 10, 2017 ― Israeli occupation forces along with employees from the Israeli Ministry of Antiquities and Civil Administration staff raided Mowaraq Palace in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron stealing collectables, Quds Press reported yesterday.
___Palestinian sources said occupation forces stole some of the bricks and collectables in the Roman palace, which is one of the oldest heritage sites in Palestine.
___A large number of Israeli troops were deployed around the palace while the employees of the Israeli Ministry of Antiquities carried out digging and search for a period of about five hours.    MORE . . .   ..
❹ AL-QUDS  UNIVERSITY,  HEINRICH  HEINE  CELEBRATE  EIGHTH  COMMENCEMENT  OF  JOINT  MASTERS  OF  EUROPEAN  STUDIES  
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA     
Nov. 10, 2017 – Al-Quds University and Heinrich Heine Thursday celebrated the eighth commencement of the Joint Masters of European Studies, said al-Quds University in a press release.
___The partnership between Al-Quds University in Jerusalem and Heinrich Heine in Dusseldorf has achieved an additional major milestone as another class of the joint Masters of European Studies successfully completed the program this month.
___The graduate program, which was established in 2009 as a result of a bilateral partnership between the two institutions, celebrated in Dusseldorf the Eighth Commencement for the graduates of this selective masters program. Senior members of Al-Quds University’s leadership were also present.
___Students of this graduate program between Al-Quds University and Heinrich Heine University are selected jointly. The program is highly selective, and admitted students receive full scholarships that cover both tuitions and living expenses.   MORE . . .    ..

“IN  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY,”  BY  SAMIH  AL-QASIM  (1970)
For centuries
I did not hate
But now
I am forced to raise my untiring spear
In the face of the dragon,
To draw a sword of fire
In the face of Baal
To become Elijah in the twentieth century.

For centuries
I did not apostate
But now
I strike at the gods in my heart
The gods that sold my people
In the twentieth century.

For centuries
I did not turn visitors
Away from my door
Then one morning I opened my eyes
To find my food stolen
My wife strangled
And my child’s back a field of wounds.
I recognized my treacherous guests.
I planted mines and daggers at my door
And I swore by the traces of the knife
That none of these guests shall enter my house
In the twentieth century.

For centuries
I was only a poet
In the bands of the Sufis
But now
I am an erupting volcano
In the twentieth century.

From: Aruri, Naseer and Edmund Ghareeb, eds. ENEMY  OF  THE  SUN:  POETRY  OF  THE  PALESTINIAN  RESISTANCE. Washington, DC: Drum and Spear Press, 1970.
Available from Amazon.
About Samih Al-Qasim

“. . . these measures were in breach of the Fourth Convention . . .” (Tony Klug)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
detention
Administrative detention dates back to the pre-1948 British Mandate, when suspects were held without charge for up to six months. (File photo: Al Arabiya News, Jun. 06, 2012)

❶ Israeli forces detain younger brother of slain Palestinian policeman

  • Background. “A Never-Ending Occupation: The End Of Hope?” Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture.

❷ Israeli forces detain 6 fishermen off Gaza coast, confiscate 2 boats
❸ Releasing a child after detaining and assaulting him…extending the arrest of another
. . . ❸― (a) Teenager detained in Hebron for alleged knife possession
❹ Israeli forces detain 14 Palestinians in West Bank raids
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❶ ISRAELI FORCES DETAIN YOUNGER BROTHER OF SLAIN PALESTINIAN POLICEMAN 
Ma’an News Agency
Nov. 1, 2016
Israeli forces raided the Jenin-area town of Qabatiya in the northern occupied West Bank before dawn on Tuesday, where they detained the brother of the slain Palestinian police officer who committed a shooting attack that injured three Israelis on Monday.
___Ali Zakarna, spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Jenin, told Ma’an that large numbers of Israeli troops stormed Qabatiya and ransacked the home of the Turkman family.
___After inspecting the house and questioning all family members, Israeli troops detained Muhannad Turkman, 22, whose brother Muhammad, 25, injured three Israeli soldiers after he opened fire on them at the Beit El checkpoint near the entrance of Ramallah on Monday afternoon.
___Zakarna added that dozens of young Palestinian men clashed with Israeli forces during the raid, and that forces “showered the town with tear gas and stun grenades.”  More . . . 

  • Klug, Tony. “A Never-Ending Occupation: The End Of Hope?.” Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture 21.3 (2016): 88-95.   Full article.

Occupations are meant to be temporary affairs, whereby the occupying power is effectively a custodian of the occupied territory until its final disposition is determined. When the occupation of the West Bank commenced in June 1967, almost no one seriously imagined it would still be extant half a century later. . . .
___With the recent breakdown of even the semblance of a peace process, the question today is whether the occupation will ever end, or if the future will be one of “permanent occupation” . . . .
[. . . .]  One of the principal provisions of the Fourth Convention, which regulates occupations, is that the penal laws of the occupied territory should remain in force. . . . However, a permitted exception to this provision on security grounds — provided the measures introduced did not abrogate the Convention’s other provisions gave rise to a parallel legal system in the West Bank.
[. . . .]    In August 1968, the Israeli military court in Nablus ruled that two legal systems operated in the territory, and that Israeli military law — concerned with defense and security — was not to be guided by Jordanian law, the jurisdiction of which was confined to civilian matters. In practice, military law was often to take precedence by designating the alleged offense a security matter.
[. . . .]    While Israel thus did not accept the applicability of the Fourth  Convention, its . . .   it has disregarded the provisions . . . that prohibit altering the legal status of an occupied territory’s inhabitants — to justify treating them differently from Israeli citizens.
[. . . .]  Israel’s immediate challenge on inheriting the West Bank was to quell any insurgency and restore order. . . .      Israeli military law took its authority from the Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1945, which did not pretend to follow the system of common law or apply the rules of natural justice. These regulations . . . .  permitted administrative detention, under which a suspect deemed to be a threat to public safety or order could, in effect, through successive extensions, be detained indefinitely following a perfunctory hearing before a military court.
___Other than preventive detention, these measures were in breach of the Fourth Convention. But Israel’s principal justification was, simply, that they were effective in quelling the mounting unrest that followed the inception of occupation.
[. . . .]  Sooner or later, Israel will have to face its moment of truth: Is it or is it not an occupation? If it maintains that its rule in the West Bank is not an occupation, Israel denies itself the only solid defense it has against the intensifying charge of apartheid. If it accepts it is an occupation, then it is way beyond time to bring it to an end. [. . . .] 

❷ ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  6  FISHERMEN  OFF  GAZA  COAST,  CONFISCATE  2  BOATS 
Ma’an News Agency
Nov. 1, 2016
Israeli naval forces detained six Palestinian fishermen off the coast of the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning, according to locals.
___Nizar Ayyash, head of the Palestinian Fishermen Union in Gaza told Ma’an that Israeli naval forces stopped two fishing boats off the coast near the northern town of Beit Lahiya, confiscated the boats, and detained the crews that were onboard.
[. . . . ]  It remained unclear for exactly what reason the boats were confiscated, and why the fishermen were detained.
___Most recently, Israeli authorities postponed on Monday a decision to expand the fishing zone off the northern Gaza coast from the current six nautical mile limit, to nine nautical miles for the duration of the month of November.        More . . . 

child-arrest
Israeli undercover police arrest a 10-year old Palestinian child on October 24, 2014. (Photo: Salih Zeki Fazlıoğlu/Anadolu Agency)

❸ RELEASING A CHILD AFTER DETAINING AND ASSAULTING HIM…EXTENDING THE ARREST OF ANOTHER      
Wadi Hilweh Information Center – Silwan
Oct. 30, 2016
The occupation police released on Sunday night 10-year old Adnan Jamal Amro and extended the arrest of 13-year old Mustafa Firas Abbasi until Monday on charges of throwing stones. Clashes also broke out in the village of Esawyeh after occupation forces raided the village and were deployed in its streets.    ___Wadi Hilweh Information Center was informed that the forces arrested Adnan Amro and Mustafa Abbasi from Silwan on suspicious of throwing stones.       More . . .
. . . ❸― (A)  TEENAGER  DETAINED  IN  HEBRON  FOR  ALLEGED  KNIFE  POSSESSION    Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
Nov. 1, 2016
Israeli forces Tuesday detained a Palestinian teenager at a checkpoint near Hebron’s Ibrahimi mosque for alleged knife possession, according to witnesses.
___They said soldiers manning a checkpoint outside the mosque stopped the teenager, identified as Badwan Abu Mayyala, 17, and arrested after they allegedly found a knife in her possession.
___The army claimed Abu Mayyala was planning to attack soldiers.      More . . .    

❹ ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  14  PALESTINIANS  IN  WEST  BANK  RAIDS 
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA  
Nov. 1, 2016
Israeli forces Tuesday detained 14 Palestinians, including a minor and an elderly, during overnight raids across the West Bank, said Palestine Prisoner’s society.      ___Israeli forces detained five Palestinians after storming and ransacking their homes across the southern West Bank district of Hebron.
___Among the detainees were a 14-year-old minor, handcuffed after being summoned to Etzion detention and interrogation center, and a 70-year-old elderly, who reportedly suffers from diabetes and heart problems.        More . . .