Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel
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For those interested in keeping up with events in Palestine/Israel, there is no better digest than VTJP.

Preeminent Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish dies at 67
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Bethlehem - Ma’an – Preeminent Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish died on Saturday after open heart surgery in the United States, medical officials confirmed. Darwish underwent a successful open heart surgery on Wednesday. The operation took place at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Huston, Texas, in the United States. Darwish’s condition then took a downturn on Saturday due to complications related to the surgery. Darwish was born in 1941 in a village called Al-Barwah, near the city of Akka, in the north of what was then Palestine. The village was destroyed by Zionist forces in 1948. After being detained several times by the Israeli army, he was forced into exile. Darwish composed the 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence which was announced by Yasser Arafat during a meeting of the Palestine National Council in Algeria.

Israeli settlers storm Ibrahimi mosque; settler aggression on the rise
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – A group of 50 armed Israeli settlers attempted to storm the Ibrahimi Mosque on Friday. The attack marks the fourth recorded settler attack in the West Bank in four days, and a general rise in aggressive tactics of settlers. The Ibrahimi mosque is believed to be the burial site of Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Leah; also known as the tomb of the patriarchs, and is located in the West Bank city of Hebron. The group of settlers attempted to enter what is now the Muslim section of the mosque, an area that represents about 81% of the structure and is under the control of the Awaqf Ministry (the traditional trust) in Palestine. All Palestinians entering the area, however, are searched by Israeli soldiers guarding the area. The remaining section is used as synagogue for Israeli settlers in and around the city of Hebron.

Settlements expand while Palestinian land is confiscated in the Jordan Valley
Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, Stop The Wall 8/9/2008
Occupation forces informed Palestinian villagers almost exactly a month ago about the imminent confiscation of 356 dunums in the northern Jordan Valley. Since then, people in the area have been faced with the likelihood of losing their land and property. Two settlements in the same region will be expanded. On 10 July 2008, soldiers issued a military order that provides for the confiscation of 356 dunums of land located in Khirbet Samra, 15 kilometers east of Tayasir military checkpoint in the northern Jordan Valley. The confiscation is to be carried out under the pretext of so-called military purposes. All of the land covered in the military order is agricultural land located in the Wadi al-Maleh area in the Tubas district. The land is owned by 32 farmers who rely on the cultivation of vegetables and crops as their main and only source of income. This area is characterized by fertility and the availability of natural water sources.

Patients in Gaza call for the re-opening of Rafah crossing
Rula Shahwan, International Middle East Media Center News 8/9/0200
As death toll in Gaza have reached 223 due to the ongoing Israeli siege on the Coastal Region, local residents are calling for an immediate international intervention to open the Rafah Border Terminal, between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Yet, Israel’s continue to close the crossing and hundreds of patients are in life-threatening conditions as they are unable to leave the Gaza Strip to seek medical treatment abroad. Nearly 2 months ago, both Israel and Palestinian Resistance factions in Gaza agreed to a truce, after long mediation efforts practiced by Egypt. The deal stipulates that Hamas will stop the firing of homemade shells into adjacent Israeli areas, and in return Israel should lift the 12-month blockade and halt its military attacks against the Coastal Region.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders meet in Gaza for unity talks
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Hoping to strengthen bilateral relations Hamas and Islamic Jihad met with de facto Interior Minister Sa’id Siyam in Gaza Friday night. Among the topics discussed were those of the past few weeks in Gaza, which saw a car bomb kill five Hamas-affiliated fighters and a young girl, the arrests of hundreds suspected of participating in the blast, and on 2 August a street battle between Hamas police and the Fatah-affiliated Hillis family. Also on the agenda, said Ash-Sheikh Nafeth Azzam a leader in the Islamic Jihad, were visions for national unity. Azzam described the meeting as positive stressing that it falls within the framework of the ongoing meetings between the leaderships of Palestinian factions in the search for national unity solutions. He added that the Islamic Jihad delegation included Dr.

Israeli forces invade Tulkarem, overrun vegatable market
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Tukarem – Ma’an – Around 12 Israeli military jeeps invaded the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem on Saturday afternoon and attack a vegetable market. The Israeli military jeeps rolled through the market, destroying vendors’ stalls and firing sonic bombs. A Palestinian security source in the city denounced the attack, which he said aimed at disturbing the security of the city and the enforcement of law and order. He said the attack would weaken the work of the Palestinian security forces. [end]

Imreiha: Occupation army targets village water infrastructure
Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, Stop The Wall 8/8/2008
A large Occupation force raided the village of Imreiha, north of Ya’bad and northwest of Jenin. Soldiers prevented the farmers from completing their work on two water reservoirs under the pretext that they were located in area C. Under Oslo, area C is under complete Occupation control and as such Palestinians wishing to build in C areas must obtain a permit. These permits are rarely issued. For the past 10 years, the village council of Imreiha has been applying for a water network as well as an electricity network, but their applications have been constantly rejected. The council is facing the fact that the Occupation does not recognize the existence of this village and the right of the Palestinians to live on their land. The 500 inhabitants of the village suffer from the lack of basic services and have met their most basic water needs through the purchase of costly water tanks.

Soldiers spray unknown substance on demonstrators in Bi’lin
International Womens’ Peace Service 8/9/2008
On Friday 8th August 2008, IWPS joined Palestinians and international and Israeli activists for the weekly demonstration against the Israeli Apartheid wall in Bi’lin. The village has lost vast amounts of land as a result of the wall’s construction. In September 2007, the Israeli High Court ruled that the Wall must be re-routed to reduce the amount of land confiscated. On 3rd August 2008, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected the proposed new route on the grounds that it did not free enough land for the villagers. The Israeli authorities will now have to submit proposals for a third route. The demonstration began at approximately 1. 30pm. Around 100 demonstrators marched to the Wall, carrying posters of the two children killed by Israeli forces in the village of Nil’in last week. When they reached the wall there were a number of Israeli soldiers waiting on the other side of it.

IOF troops use chemical mix against weekly Bil’in peaceful march
Palestinian Information Center 8/9/2008
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The IOF troops on Friday attacked the weekly Bil’in peaceful march, which is organized against Israel’s apartheid wall and its theft of Palestinian land, and used crowd dispersal means including waste water mixed with an unknown chemical substance against the participants. The non-violent protestors marched through the streets of the Bil’in village, located near Ramallah, before heading towards the separation wall built and expanded on Palestinian farmland as they were carrying pictures of Yousuf Amera, 17, and Ahmed Moussa, 10, who were shot dead by IOF troops weeks ago. The protestors also carried Palestinian flags and banners condemning the expansion of the apartheid wall and settlement outposts on confiscated Palestinian lands. While arguing with IOF troops about the freedom to demonstrate and the excessive force used by them against the weekly march, the. . .

Israeli court turns down request for release of paralyzed Palestinian prisoner
Palestinian Information Center 8/9/2008
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- An Israeli court on Friday turned down an appeal for the release of the Palestinian prisoner Rabee Harb who suffers from paraplegia and his condition is daily deteriorating. The court ruling disappointed the family of Harb, who expected his release in order to treat him abroad in view of the seriousness of his condition. The family said that Harb, who was hit with several bullets in his spine and in one of his kidneys at the hands of Israeli occupation forces on his arrest, was using a wheelchair and could not live a normal life. A medical report on his condition said that the bullet fragments shattered his spine and also penetrated his kidney and shattered his bowels. They asked legal and international organizations and the Red Cross to pressure the Israeli occupation authority to release Harb and allow his treatment abroad before it is too late.

Renowned Palestinian Poet, Mahmoud Darwish, dies in Houston
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 8/10/0200
Mahmoud Darwish, a renowned Palestinian poet, one of the intellectual figures known as the voice of the Palestinians in Diaspora and under occupation, died on Saturday evening at age 67 at the Memorial Hermann hospital in Houston -- Texas in the United States. He underwent an open heart surgery and Thursday and remained in a critical condition until he died on Saturday. Darwish is a Palestinian cultural icon well respected among the Palestinian and Arab people and well-known among international supporters of the Palestinian cause. His poetry is considered the voice of all Palestinians, the voice of resistance against the occupation and the voice that rejects infighting. His works were translated into more than twenty languages and he also won several international prizes. The IMEMC expresses its deep sadness and sorrow over the departure of the great poet, the man, and the intellectual figure.

Israeli settlers assault Palestinian women in Hebron
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Hebron – Ma’an – A Palestinian woman, a resident of the southern West Bank city of Hebron was hospitalized on Sunday after she was attacked by Israeli settlers. Israeli settlers occupying the Ar- Rajabi building in Hebron assaulted a passing group of Palestinian women, severely beating 25-five-year-old Nahida Jameel Al-Ja’bari, local sources said. Witnesses said Al-Ja’bari sustained bruises all over her body. Al-Ja’bari was taken to the government hospital in Hebron. [end]

British Diplomats Attacked By Hebron Settler
James Hider, MIFTAH 8/9/2008
A car full of senior British diplomats was attacked yesterday by a Jewish settler in the volatile West Bank city of Hebron. The diplomats were visiting from London and Brussels to assess the situation in the ancient city, where around 700 Jewish settlers live under massive Israeli army and police protection amid some 180,000 Palestinians. The city has been a major friction point, with Palestinians and Israeli human rights groups accusing the hardline religious settlers of attacking the Palestinian population with impunity. The attack came as British officials were being given a tour by Breaking theSilence, a British-funded organisation led by former Israeli soldiers who have served in the city – home to the tombs of several Biblical patriarchs – and who have become angered by the violence of the settlers. The diplomats, who were traveling in an armoured car, were trying to leave

Al Qassam Brigades: ''Prisoner swap will only be conducted by our terms''
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 8/10/0200
The Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, stated on Saturday that its demands for a prisoner swap deal are nonnegotiable, and added that no matter what Israel tries, the captured soldier, Gilad Shalit, will never be freed without the implementations of its demands. Abu Obaida, media spokesperson of the Al Qassam brigades, stated in an interview with the Quds Press that if Israel continues to delay its responses, then the file of Shalit will be closed and he will never be released. Shalit was captured two years ago by the Al Qassam Brigades, the Salah Ed Deen Brigades, and the Arm of Islam. Two Israeli soldiers and two resistance fighters were killed in the cross-border attack carried by the fighters in an Israeli military base. The Al Qassam Brigades said that Israel should release 10000 Palestinian detainees, and that more than half of the released detainees should be detainees. . .

1000 Palestinian exiles to be given reunion papers and allowed home
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an - One thousand exiled Palestinians will be allowed to reunite with their families in the West Bank and Gaza after Israel agrees to issue permits. Hussein Ash-Sheikh Chairman of the Public Authority for Civil Affairs told Ma’an on Saturday that he calls on the families granted permits to go to the Civil Affairs office immediately so that the visas can be issued and loved ones can return to their homeland and be issued a national identification number. The reunification requests were issued to a thousand Palestinians living without permits in Palestinian areas, as well as Palestinians living in exile abroad. Israel agreed to issue the permits during the last meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Olmert on Wednesday.

150 Palestinian prisoners in Israel to be released before September
Rula Shahwan, International Middle East Media Center News 8/9/0200
150 Palestinian prisoners are to be released from Israeli prisons at the expected date of 25 August, though names have not yet been released. Local sources reported. Minister of Prisoner Issues Ashraf Al-Ajrami reported on Saturday that the efforts to have the names released are till ongoing. Al-Ajrami also reported that the agreement between the Palestinian Authority headed by President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert assured the release of the prisoners. Moreover He confirmed that the men will be released regardless of their political affiliation. The release of the charismatic Fatah leader Marwan Al-Barghouthi, said Al-Ajrami, is still being negotiated.

Qassam: Our demands regarding the swap deal with Israel are nonnegotiable
Palestinian Information Center 8/9/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, highlighted Friday that its demands regarding the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit are nonnegotiable, calling on Israeli officials not to waste time and money if they think talks in this regard can make change.   Commenting on the visit of Israeli war ministry official Amos Gilad to Cairo on Thursday in an attempt to negotiate the release of Shalit, Abu Obeida, the spokesman for the Brigades, said that the Brigades would never change its demands, even if Gilad traveled the world, adding that he has to spare money spent on travel tickets. Abu Obeida stressed that the armed wing has clear conditions, warning that the file of the Israeli soldier would be closed if Israel persisted in its intransigence. The spokesman underlined that the Brigades has learnt lessons from the previous swap deals conducted with the Israeli occupation.

Azzam to PNN: Fateh and Hamas exhibit readiness to release all internal political detainees
PNN, Palestine News Network 8/9/2008
Gaza -- The leaderships of Islamic Jihad and Hamas held a lengthy meeting last night in which they discussed the latest developments and changes in the Palestinian arena. One of the main points was the release of all of those arrested by Hamas and Fateh due to their internal conflict. Solving problems on the ground was official title of this meeting that lasted for hours on Friday night. The leader in Islamic Jihad, Nafaz Azzam, said in this context that the meeting between the delegations of Islamic Jihad and Hamas was positive and in-depth. They were discussing the Palestinian situation and the need for purification of internal relations and strengthening bilateral relations. Azzam expressed his hope that efforts continue to minimize the effects created by the internal conflict. Azzam is one of the great leaders of Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, who told PNN on Saturday. . .

Fayyad meets Yemeni president, calls for transitional government
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
San’aa – Ma’an – Palestinian caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad met on Saturday with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in what he said was an effort to speed the formation of a transitional Palestinian government in accordance with a proposal put forward months ago by the Yemeni government. Fayyad said that the formation of a transitional government, with Arab states helping to provide security, is a key step toward implementing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ initiative for national unity. During the meeting in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, Fayyad said that "all sides" accept the Yemeni initiative. The Yemeni-brokered unity plan was signed in March by mid-level representatives of Fatah and Hamas. Senior Fatah leaders then distanced themselves from the document, only to embrace it again in June, following Abbas’ call for talks with Hamas.

Hamas: No tears on departure of Fayyad and his government
Palestinian Information Center 8/9/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement said that no tears would be shed if the illegitimate premier Salam Fayyad decided to step down and end a dictatorial period in which he ruled the West Bank with an iron-first policy. Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said in a press release on Saturday that Fayyad and his government have imposed themselves on the Palestinian people in the West Bank by force on the "ruins of law and constitution". He said that there could be no national concord as long as Fayyad and his government continued to serve as part of the Zio-American project in the region that includes wiping out the Palestinian people’s right of resisting occupation. The spokesman said that Fayyad had played his role in implementing all American and Israeli demands and destroyed the Palestinian people’s ambitions. Fayyad had declared his readiness to pave the way before formation of. . .

Hamas: PA repressive acts are aimed to make Palestinians accept meager solutions
Palestinian Information Center 8/9/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement strongly denounced Saturday the ongoing closure and arrest campaigns carried out by the PA security apparatuses in the West Bank, saying that the PA aims through such repressive acts to repress and starve the Palestinian people until they accept meager solutions imposed by the American administration and the Israeli occupation. In an exclusive statement to the PIC, Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said that PA chief Mahmoud Abbas and his premier Salam Fayyad want to fulfill the minimum of their promises to US president George Bush about eradicating Hamas before the coming visit of US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to the region who will evaluate the PA achievements in this regard. Barhoum pointed out that the closure of charitable and humanitarian institutions, which support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and sponsor poor West Bank. . .

Hamas: The political arrests proves Abbas’s lack of seriousness about dialog
Palestinian Information Center 8/9/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement stated that the ongoing political arrests against its cadres in the occupied West Bank, which are carried out within the PA-Israeli security coordination, reflect that PA chief Mahmoud Abbas is not serious at all about national dialog. In a press release received by the PIC, Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said that despite the release of suspects in the Gaza beach crime after police investigations proved their innocence, the PA security apparatuses in the West Bank are still persistent in kidnapping Palestinian citizens without any reason except for their political affiliations. Dr. Abu Zuhri underlined that the issue of inter-Palestinian dialog is at a standstill, adding that there is no serious Arab move in this regard. In a new serious development, Abbas’s security apparatuses closed four charitable societies and two printeries in Al-Khalil. . .

Islamic Jihad: Hamas-Fatah talks should include all Palestinian factions
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – A prominent leader of Islamic Jihad, Dr Anwar Abu Taha, urged Hamas and Fatah not to hold bilateral talks that exclude the other Palestinian factions, at the risk of repeating the mistakes of the 2007 Mecca unity agreement. In an interview with the weekly Islamic Jihad-affiliated Istiqlal newspaper, Abu Taha said that only a true dialogue that restored power to the community, not political factions, will resolve the current political crisis. He demanded a "comprehensive dialogue" that includes all the Palestinian factions, "a dialogue that would reach the structure of the Palestinian political organizations, reformulating a unified document that express the ambitions and hopes of the Palestinians, including freedom, independence and agreement on the program of resistance. " Abu Taha said that that the recent flare-up of Hamas-Fatah violence in Gaza means that the conflict "has reached its peak.

Army kidnaps a civilian from Bethlehem
Rula Shahwan, International Middle East Media Center News 8/9/0200
Local sources reported on Saturday that the Israeli army erected a military roadblock in Jinata village, east of the West Bank city of Bethlehem and kidnapped a civilian from the village of Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem. Eyewitnesses reported that the army invaded Jinata village with a number of military vehicles, and erected a military checkpoint at the entrance of the village entrance hindering the movement of cars going in or out of the village. Moreover, troops checked the ID cards of dozens of civilians and harassed them. In addition, Israeli troops kidnapped Imad Taqatqa and took him to an unknown destination. [end]

Hoss: Egypt’s continued closure of Rafah crossing incomprehensible
Palestinian Information Center 8/9/2008
BEIRUT, (PIC)-- Dr. Salim Al-Hoss, the former Lebanese premier and head of the Arab committee to open the Rafah crossing, has expressed surprise at Egypt’s stand in refusing to open the border terminal. He told a solidarity meeting organized by the committee in Beirut on Friday that it was understandable that Israel decided to impose a tight siege on the Gaza Strip but it was incomprehensible that Egypt would share in that siege. "We appeal to Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to open the Rafah border crossing," he said. Hoss expressed understanding of the fact that Cairo was under huge American-Israeli pressure to retain the terminal closed but it was not normal that Cairo would surrender to such pressures. The former premier criticized the western officials for boasting about human rights but leaving the Gaza people deprived of their simplest human rights of medication, education, nutrition and movement.

Families of Gaza patients criticize Egypt for continuing to close Rafah crossing
Palestinian Information Center 8/9/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The families of Gaza patients committee strongly denounced Saturday the Egyptian government for continuing to close the Rafah border crossing, accusing it of helping the Israeli occupation in "strangling patients and increasing their suffering". "As we bid farewell to our patients, we congratulate Egypt for the culmination of its silence with the rise of the number of siege victims to more than 233", the committee said in a press statement received by the PIC. The committee also criticized Egypt for closing its ears to the repeated appeals for opening the Rafah crossing before Gaza patients while listening to the orders of the Israeli occupation which call for keeping the crossing closed. Ashraf Abu Daiya, the spokesman for Hamas popular action, announced that the Movement will organize Sunday a massive peaceful protest at the main gate of the Rafah crossing to urge. . .

Hamas plans demonstration urging Egypt to open Rafah crossing
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Hamas will stage a demonstration at the Rafah border crossing on Sunday to urge Egypt to reopen the border. The spokesperson of the popular action branch of Hamas, Ashraf Abu Dayeh said the demonstration will send the message to Egypt and the broader Arab and Muslim world, there is no excuse for keeping the border closed at the expense of the 1. 5 million residents of the Gaza Strip who have been trapped inside for over a year. More than 230 Palestinians have died since the beginning of the closure as a result of being denied permission to leave Gaza for medical treatment, Abu Dayeh said. The rally will begin at 10am on Sunday. Hamas will provide transportation to the demonstrators. The Rafah border has been closed since June 2007, when Israel began a blockade of the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ takeover of the territory.

Free Gaza Movement: SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty arrive in Chania, Crete, Saturday 9th August at 21:00 p.m
International Solidarity Movement 8/9/2008
International Actions - Gaza Region - Nicosia/Lefkosia, Cyprus, August 9. The Free Gaza Movement announced yesterday that their boats, the SS FREE GAZA and the SS LIBERTY, destined to break the Israeli siege of Gaza, will arrive in Chania, Crete, today, Saturday, August 9, at 9 p. m. where a press conference will be held to welcome them, near Crete’s Souda Bay US Sixth Fleet and NATO base. Human rights activists Lauren Booth (sister-in-law of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair), Huwaida Arraf (a Palestinian-American residing in Ramallah, Palestine), and Jeff Halper (an Israeli Jew nominated for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for opposing demolitions of Palestinian homes) will be available at the press conference for interviews. -- See also: Free Gaza Movement website

Palestinian committees prepare welcome for siege-breaking ''Free Gaza'' ship
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Gaza - Ma’an – The Palestinian Popular Committee Against the Siege and the Palestinian-International Campaign for Breaking the Siege of the Gaza Strip announced the beginning of welcome celebrations for the siege-defying "Free Gaza" ship on Sunday. The celebrations will include a press conference and other activities with Palestinian and other officials. A crowd of Palestinians will welcome the ship at the Gaza shore. Setting sail from Cyprus, the ship was organized by European activists, will attempt to make land in Gaza in the coming days loaded with aid for children. Israel has laid siege to the Gaza Strip for over a year, trapping 1. 5 million Palestinians inside the tiny coastal enclave.

IOA arrests Jerusalemite for refusing to hand over his home to Israeli society
Palestinian Information Center 8/9/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority arrested a Palestinian Jerusalemite for refusing to deliver keys of his home to an Israeli society or to an Israeli court. Maher Hanun is one of many Palestinians who would be asked to evacuate their homes to deliver them to an Israeli society despite having documents proving their ownership of those houses. Lawyer of the Palestinian families said that the documents provided by the Israeli society to prove their right to those houses were "forged". Meanwhile, a monthly report published by the public coalition for the defense of Palestinian rights in Jerusalem in cooperation with the lands research center and the Quds center for democracy and human rights said that the IOA committed "serious violations" in the holy city in the past month of July. The report said that among the prominent violations were the announcement. . .

Palestinians block an Israeli attempt to occupy a house near east Jerusalem
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Jerusalem – Ma’an – Palestinians successfully blocked an attempt by Israeli settlers to take over a house in the Palestinian town of Beit Safafa, in East Jerusalem on Saturday. The house is owned by Baha Ad-Din Darwish. The house borders the illegal Israeli settlement of Gilo, and is built on a 12 dunam plot of land owned by Darwish. A group residents headed by Hatem Abed-Al Qader an advisor on Jerusalem affairs to the caretaker Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, broke into the house and cleared the house of the furniture placed there by the settlers. Abed Al Qader said the house will be closed, in preparation for a Palestinian family to live in it. [end]

Awkaf: Israeli violations in occupied Jerusalem American backed
Palestinian Information Center 8/9/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Quds committee in the PA caretaker government’s ministry of Awkaf and religious affairs has charged that the Israeli systematic settlement policy in occupied Jerusalem was American backed. The committee in a statement on Friday said that the occupied municipality in Jerusalem announced a new housing project last march, and noted that the occupation government endorsed the construction of 400 of those housing units in Neve Yaacov settlement suburb in occupied eastern Jerusalem. It warned of the dangers threatening the identity and the Islamic and Christian landmarks of Jerusalem, and described the settlement plan as a "grave danger on Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque". The committee said that the housing plan falls in line with the Israeli systematic settlement policy that aims at eliminating all Palestinian landmarks in the holy city.

Recent survey shows 40% of Gazans think about leaving
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – A recent survey in Gaza found that 40% of residents are thinking about emmigration, while 63% do not have enough food, and 66% do not have access to necessary medications. The results of the survey, conducted by the Near East Consulting Company, were released on Saturday. The survey, called "Gaza Monitor," was conducted via phone interview between 29- 31 July. Surveyors called a random sample of 450 men and women in all districts of the Gaza Strip. Asked whether the economic downturn in the region began when Hamas took over in June 2007, 91% answered yes. The majority of the population also indicated that they found having goods available only in restricted quantities. Those who identified themselves as businessmen said that they found it difficult to obtain supplies in order to continue operating their companies.

New clown and puppet show gives relief to Gazan children
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Clowns and puppets are the instruments of the "Jad and Le’b" clown troupe performing for Gazan orphans in Jabalia, a Gaza City suburb. The group uses new techniques to engage children and provide a meaningful respite from what is too often daily misery. The performers present plays with elaborate puppets which interact with the children; working to bring the kids into the world of the theatre. Zouzou Sultan the group director and the maker of the puppets said that her group is specialized in providing entertainment to kids through puppet plays which deal in a meaningful way with the events of children’s lives, but at the same time are able to introduce joy and pleasure into their hearts. Sultan added that the performers made all of the puppets and props by hand, and organized all of the elements of the show for Gaza’s orphans.

Gazan doctors carry out sex change operation
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – A team of Palestinian doctors carried out a rare sex-change operation on a 16-year-old at a private hospital in Gaza City, medics announced on Saturday. The teenager, whose name was not disclosed by doctors, had been raised as a girl, and is undergoing the transformation into a male. Doctors say the child may need further surgeries to complete the change. Dr Jihad Abu Dayah, a bladder infection specialist and his colleagues carried out the procedure at the Patients’ Friends Hospital. Abu Dayah said it was the first time the difficult operation had been performed on a child over the age of 15 in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian doctors have carried out similar operations before, but usually on children under the age of two, on intersex children, or children with atypical sexual anatomy. The numerous variations of intersexuality occur frequently in children. . .

Tunnel collapses near Rafah crossing
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – A tunnel collapsed near the Rafah border crossing on Saturday, witnesses in the city of Rafah said. No one was injured. A complex system of tunnels is operated by smugglers underneath the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Under pressure from Israel, Egypt frequently uses explosives to destroy what tunnels it can find. [end]

Egypt arrests 587 migrants at Israel border this year
Reuters, YNetNews 8/9/2008
Eritreans make up largest group of those detained trying to sneak into Jewish state, at 249 since the start of 2008, security sources say; Sudanese man shot, wounded at frontier on Friday - Egyptian police have arrested 587 mostly African migrants caught trying to slip over the border into Israel since January, and shot and wounded a Sudanese man at the frontier on Friday, security sources said. The sources said Eritreans made up the largest group of those detained trying to sneak into the Jewish state, at 249 since the start of the year. Significant numbers also came from Sudan, Nigeria and Ivory Coast. "There is a clear rise in the number of Eritrean migrants trying to sneak into Israel, followed by Sudanese. . . We know that a number of others have been able to enter Israel," one of the sources said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.

Gazans smuggle lions into zoo through tunnels
Middle East Online 8/9/2008
RAFAH, Gaza Strip - The monkeys and lions were drugged, tossed into cloth sacks and dragged through smuggling tunnels under the border between Egypt and the besieged Gaza Strip before ending up in a Gaza zoo. Stocked almost entirely with smuggled animals, the "Heaven of Birds and Animals Zoo" is a sign of Gaza’s ever-expanding tunnel industry. Dozens of passages are believed to snake under the border, serving as a mainstay of the local economy. And smugglers say a new effort by Egypt to blow up the passages will have little effect on the flow of goods. Gaza’s commercial trade was literally forced underground after the democratically elected Hamas seized the coastal territory last summer, when Tel Aviv tightened its siege on the Strip which is still under Israeli occupation. The Israeli blockade had been condemned by much of the international community and dubbed by human rights groups as “collective punishment”.

Qassam rocket lands in western Negev, no injuries
Yonat Atlas, YNetNews 8/9/2008
Palestinians fire rocket from northern Gaza for first time since last Wednesday - A Qassam rocket fired from northern Gaza landed in an open area belonging to the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council early Saturday evening. No injuries were reported and no damage was caused. Another rocket landed in the same region last Wednesday, also causing no injuries. The ’Color Red’ rocket alert sirens sounded throughout Sderot and the other communities neighboring Gaza. The area has been relatively quiet since Israel signed a ceasefire agreement with Hamas and other Palestinian groups in Gaza, though intermittent rocket and mortar fire has been recorded every several days. On Wednesday the Qassam rocket landed as thousands gathered near Kibbutz Kissufim to mark the third anniversary of the disengagement from Gaza and the evacuation of Gush Katif.

Report: Homemade projectile from Gaza lands in Israel
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Bethelehem – Ma’an – A homemade projectile fired from the Gaza Strip landed in Israel in the Negev Desert on Saturday evening, Israeli media reported. No injuries or damage were reported. The shell landed in the area of the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council. It is the first reported projectile attack since last Wednesday. No Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for the attack. [end]

Israeli sources: ''Qassam shell fired from Gaza into the Western Negev''
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 8/10/0200
Israeli military sources reported on Saturday that resistance fighters fired a homemade shell into the Western Negev. The shell landed in an open area causing no damage or injuries. Israeli officials said that this incident is one of several similar attacks carried by armed groups in Gaza since the fragile ceasefire deal went into effect on June 19. The ceasefire deal was brokered under extensive Egyptian mediation efforts. According to Israeli military sources, Palestinian fighters fired last Wednesday a Qassam homemade shell at the Sha’ar Hanegev area in the Negev. The shell also caused no injuries or damage, the sources said. The sources added that the shell was fired while Israeli settlers, who were evacuated from the Gaza Strip in 2005, were marking three years since the implementation of the Disengagement Plan.

Palestinian killed in clan clash in Israeli-controlled area of Hebron
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Hebron – Ma’an – One Palestinian was shot and killed after a family feud turned violent in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday night, security and medical sources said. Mahdi Ramadan Da’na was shot twice in the chest. Two other Hebron residents were slightly injured, and released after being treated in a local hospital. The fight took place in the Jabal Johar neighborhood, which is in the fully Israeli-controlled section of Hebron. Palestinian police were unable to intervene since the area is out of their jurisdiction. Five people were killed in the same area last September when two families engaged in a violent confrontation. One person was killed by the Israeli army in that incident, in which Palestinian security forces were also barred from intervening.

Tunnels To Egypt Keep Hamas In Business
Juliane Von Mittelstaedt, MIFTAH 8/9/2008
One year after assuming total power over the Gaza Strip, Hamas is stronger then ever. Its weapons caches are overflowing and its control over daily life is secure. The Islamists can go about their business largely thanks to the supplies that get in via the tunnels connecting Gaza to Egypt. The king of the tunnel builders had given a dazzling party, with roses from Egypt and dancing into the early morning hours. Thousands of people came to the event to celebrate his wedding to his 15-year-old bride. He had chosen the girl, and her family gave her up gladly, because no one contradicts the man they call Abu Ibrahim. He is the richest man in Rafah and is believed to be worth millions. He drives a gold-colored Jeep and has built a multistory commercial building, the only structure of its kind far and wide. He already has one wife and 10 children, and now he has this second wife, for whom he had a wedding bed, a refrigerator and two television sets brought in from Egypt through the tunnels.

Hamas bans use of cars that run on cooking gas
Associated Press, YNetNews 8/9/2008
Ahead of upcoming month of Ramadan, ruling Islamist movement prohibits use of cooking gas to fuel private vehicles in Gaza - Gaza’s Hamas-run government banned the use of cooking gas to fuel cars in the territory on Saturday, citing expected shortages ahead of the Muslim month of Ramadan. Earlier this year, Israel slashed fuel shipments in response to attacks from the Gaza Strip, leading to a severe shortage. As a result, around 8,000 Gaza residents converted their vehicles to run on cooking gas, said Ahmad Ali, of the Palestinian Petroleum Commission. Four months ago, the strip’s Hamas rulers imposed a ration on the cooking gas. But Ali said Gaza residents would need more cooking gas for the upcoming Ramadan, where the devout fast from sunrise to sunset and usually indulge in big meals and snacks through the night.

Palestinian Industries Exhibit ’08 opens in Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – The second Palestinian Industries Exhibit opened on Saturday at the Nablus municipality complex. It is the largest event to be held in Nablus in over eight years. The exhibit will be attended by local government leaders as well as figures from the Arab world and international representatives from various consulates in the area. Also at the exhibit will be representatives from 72 different Palestinian companies from all over the West Bank, and will last three days. Deputy of the chamber of commerce of Nablus, Omer Hashem said that the exhibit embodies the creativity and capability of Palestinians and highlights their ability to support high levels of production. Relying on Palestinian national industries will help create job opportunities and help curb the levels of growing unemployment.

Officials: Olmert failed to dispel graft suspicions in 5th round of questioning
Jonathan Lis, Ha’aretz 8/10/2008
It seems that all sides think Friday’s police interview of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was "routine. " Friday’s questioning, the fifth such meeting with police investigators at the prime minister’s official residence, focused on the Rishon Tours affair which encompasses allegations that Olmert used funding for flights abroad to pay for personal family trips by means of a double-billing scheme. A portion of the interview, which lasted three hours, was dedicated to the Talansky affair - a case in which Olmert is suspected of receiving illegal cash donations through U. S. -based Jewish businessman Morris Talansky. Law enforcement officials said Saturday that even after the fifth interview, the prime minister had failed to dispel the suspicions against him in the Rishon Tours affair.

Kadima endorsements expected this week
Gil Hoffman, Jerusalem Post 8/10/2008
Few in the Kadima faction have endorsed a candidate in the party’s leadership race, but that is expected to change this week when most of the movement’s 29 MKs have said that they will reveal whom they support. Many lawmakers have used the nine-day mourning period at the beginning of the Jewish month of Av as an excuse to delay their endorsements. Following Sunday’s Tisha Be’av fast, several endorsements are expected. So far, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has picked up endorsements from Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On, Environmental Protection Minister Gideon Ezra, Deputy Foreign Minister Majallie Whbee and MKs Yoel Hasson, Shlomo Mula, Amira Dotan and Yitzhak Ben-Yisrael. Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz is backed by MK Ze’ev Elkin and 35 mayors. Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit has the support of many mayors, including the chairman of the Union of Local Authorities, Karmiel’s Adi Eldar.

Gov’t: Freeze arms sales to Georgia
Barak Ravid and Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 8/10/2008
The Foreign Ministry has recommended a complete halt to the sale of arms and any security-related equipment to Georgia in light of the recent fighting with Russian forces in the Caucasus. This would be a further tightening of an arms boycott on Tbilisi around a year after a decision had been made in Jerusalem to limit exports to Georgia only to defensive equipment. Israel is concerned that Russia would choose to retaliate against Jerusalem for continued military support of Georgia by lifting restrictions on its arms transfers to Iran and Arab states. "Israel needs to be very careful and sensitive these days," said a senior political source. "The Russians are selling many arms to Iran and Syria and there is no need to offer them an excuse to sell even more advanced weapons. " The source noted that Israel is particularly interested in the transfer of advanced S-300 anti-aircraft. . .

Diplomats say Syria ’turned away IAEA’
Associated Press, YNetNews 8/9/2008
According to "officials" [obviously US], Damascus has blocked new visit by UN nuclear watchdog experts seeking to follow up on intelligence that country built secret atom program with North Korea’s help - Syria has blocked a new visit by International Atomic Energy Agency experts seeking to follow up on intelligence that Damascus built a secret nuclear program with the help of North Korea, diplomats told Theon Saturday. The diplomats also said Washington was circulating a note among members of the IAEA board opposing a Syrian push for a seat on the 35-nation board. The board normally works by consensus and a seat held by Damascus could thus hamper any investigation into its alleged nuclear activities. Syria fears a massive atomic agency investigation similar to the probe Iran has been subjected to more than five years.

Iran Olympics swimmer in protest against Israel
Middle East Online 8/9/2008
BEIJING - An Iranian swimmer pulled out of the Olympic Games men’s 100m breaststroke heats on Saturday, just minutes before he was due to compete against an Israeli rival. Mohammad Alirezaei’s lane one was empty when the field left the starting blocks while Israel’s Tom Beeri, starting in lane seven, finished fourth. Alirezaei had clocked 28/31 seconds in the Golden Bear 2008 which was held in Croatia last June. Israel, the Middle East region’s sole if nuclear power, often attracts Iranian criticism because of Tel Aviv’s treatment of the Palestinian people under illegal Israeli occupation for more forty 40 years. During the 2004 Athens Olympics, Iran’s judo world champion Arash Miresmaeili, one of the country’s prominent gold medal hopes, refused to compete against Ehud Vaks of Israel in the first round out of solidarity for the Palestinian cause.

Iranian official says new sanctions will only hurt Europe
Dudi Cohen, YNetNews 8/9/2008
Chairman of Tehran parliament’s national security and foreign relations committee defines decision to tighten restrictions on Islamic republic due to its nuclear program as a ’reckless and inconceivable move’ - Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign relations committee, has said the European Union’s decision to tighten the sanctions on Tehran was "a reckless move which will hurt the Europeans," the IRNA news agency reported Saturday. According to Boroujerdi, "This is a hasty and unconceivable move, which will negatively influence the positive relations created between the sides. He added that "in light of the high extent of commercial and economic relations between the EU and Iran, if the Europeans impose sanctions they will definitely be hurt. "

Jewish Agency evacuates hundreds from Georgia war zone
Yael Branovsky, YNetNews 8/9/2008
After establishing contact with Jewish community in war-torn South Ossetia, Agency coordinates evacuation to capital city of Tbilisi. As death tolls crosses 2,000, West announces delegation of EU, US, NATO officials en route to broker ceasefire - "I’m staying here till the last Jew is evacuated," a defiant Bashu Mansharov told Ynet on Saturday after the Jewish Agency evacuated hundreds of Jewish Georgians to safety as Georgian-Russian hostilities continue to rage in South Ossetia. Mansharov is one of less than 50 Jews who have chosen to remain in the village of Gori, which borders on the disputed region. A five-storey residential building was among the targets hit in the village by Russian bombers, several civilians were reported killed. At least 200 Jewish residents living near the ongoing Georgian-Russian hostilities have been evacuated by the Jewish Agency to the capital city of Tbilisi.

Georgia to pull out all troops from Iraq
Middle East Online 8/9/2008
KUT, Iraq - Georgia will withdraw its entire 2,000-strong military contingent from Iraq within the next three days to join the fighting in the breakaway province of South Ossetia, a senior Georgian military official said Saturday. "We are actually in the stage of preparing our departure," said Colonel Bondo Maisuradze, chief of Georgia’s military operations in Iraq. "We are waiting for the green light from Tbilisi to leave Iraq today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. " The US military has agreed to help with the logistics of the Georgian redeployment, Maisuradze added. The move came as Georgian and Russian forces were locked in combat over the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia. The departure of the brigade from Georgia -- the third largest contributor to coalition forces in Iraq after the United States and Britain -- will mean some slight changes, the US military said.

Foreign Ministry warns Israelis against traveling to Georgia
Roee Nahmias, YNetNews 8/9/2008
Ministry ups travel warning due to ongoing military conflict with Russia, asks Israelis already in Georgia to contact embassy in Tbilsi or ministry’s situation room in Israel -Due to the ongoing clashes in South Ossetia and the declaration of a state of emergency in Georgia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has elevated the current travel warnings pertaining to the country. According to the new recommendation, the ministry recommends Israelis refrain from entering Georgia and asks of citizens already in the country to call the Foreign Ministry’s situation room at 972-2-5303155, or the Israeli embassy in Tbilisi. The ministry has already called in reinforcements to aid the embassy, which has been operating in crisis mode these past several days and is in close contact with the main office in Jerusalem.

Israel Channel 10 to drop ''racist'' Nissan commercial
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Jerusalem – Ma’an - Israel Channel 10 announced on Saturday that it will drop a Nissan commercial that had been denounced as "racist" for its depiction of men from Saudi Arabia. Hanna Sweid, a Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, had filed a complaint with the Israel Broadcasting authority, in which he condemned the advertisement as "racist and provocative" that degrades the Arab culture and customs. The advertisement for the Nissan Tiida depicts a number of wealthy Saudi men flying into a frenzy of rage when they encounter the new fuel-efficient car. One man attacks the car with his fists, screaming, "You destroyed my home! May God destroy your home! Hawks should peck at you day and night. " "It’s clear the oil companies won’t like you," the voiceover at the end of the commercial says. Sweid said that Nissan should be able to market its automobiles without pandering. . .

Saturday forecast
Ma’an News Agency 8/9/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Palestinian metrological department expects Saturday’s weather to be clear with temperatures slightly above seasonal. Winds will be westerly to north westerly and moderate. The sea will be calm. Sunday’s weather is expected to be the same. Expected temperatures are as follows (°C):Jerusalem: 19 to 30 / Ramallah: 18 to 29 / Qalqilia: 19 to 30 / Salfit: 19 to 30 / Nablus: 21 to 31 / Jenin: 24 to 33 / Tubas: 23 to 32 / Hebron: 19 to 29 / Jericho: 27 to 40 / Gaza City: 26 to 31 / Khan Younis: 26 to 31 / Rafah: 25 to 32[end]

Beijing Olympics / Israel shows its mettle even without a medal
Rami Hipsh, Ha’aretz 8/10/2008
BEIJING - Israel’s athletes made a forceful debut on the opening day of the Olympic Games on Saturday, placing well in a number of events and coming close to winning a place on the winners podium. The strongest performance came from judoka Gal Yekutiel, who on the first day of the competition came inches away from bringing home a bronze. Yekutiel lost to the Netherlands’ Ruben Houkes in the 60kg bronze-medal match after posting a series of impressive victories, placing him fifth. Gal started off on Saturday with a brilliant victory against Mongolia’s Khashbaatar Tsagaanbaatar, the bronze medal winner at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The match was balanced, but Tsagaanbaatar was more aggressive than Gal, who nonetheless managed to hold on, sending the match into extra time.


Articles

Is it all lost?
Gershon Baskin, MIFTAH 8/9/2008
      A Palestinian friend who is a senior official in the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah spoke with me this morning. Usually optimistic and positive, this morning she said to me “We lost it all; it is just a matter of time before the West Bank turns into Gaza”. That is the overall mood and sense of reality held by most Palestinians today.
     Over the past month I have participated in international conferences with senior Palestinian leaders at the European Parliament, in a regional meeting in Athens, in several Israeli-Palestinian Track II meetings held in Israel – all of the Palestinian participants, officials and non-officials voiced expressions of pessimism and despair.
     The same message can be heard on the grass-roots as well throughout the West Bank and even East Jerusalem.
     There is no known progress in the peace process. Despite ongoing negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, since President Bush’s Annapolis summit in November 2007, no noticeable change can be felt or seen in Palestine. In fact, there is a growing sense that the Israeli occupation is becoming harsher and that the hopes and promises of President Bush and Tony Blair for stability, prosperity and peace have once again blown away with the shifting sands of the Middle East.

Summer heat and winter cold destroy the bodies of Palestinian political prisoners in Al Naqab
PNN, Palestine News Network 8/9/2008
      Ramallah -- Political institutions and human rights organizations gathered on Saturday to activate their role in trying to protect Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. The place in question for today is Al Naqab Prison. It is in the desert. In the summer the heat burns the bodies of those held captive in the tents and open air. In the winter, they freeze.
     The Director of Statistics in the Ministry of Political Prisoners, Awni Abdel Nasser Farwana, said that all the Palestinian institutions dealing with prisoners and human rights, and various media organizations, are on the case to activate their role and support the prisoners detained in Al Naqab Desert Prison. They are highlighting that the suffering is worsening.
     Farawana issued a detailed report on the memorial of the death of Mohammad Saleh who died due to medical neglect in Al Naqab.
     The desert climate is harsh and the lives of those trapped their behind the barbed wire and Israeli machine guns in harsh to say the least. The guards use routine beatings, the doctors and nurses are cruel and inhumane. In order to save the lives of the Palestinians inside, immediate action need to be taken.

‘Declined to Comment’
Iqbal Tamimi, Middle East Online 8/9/2008
      One of the most interesting frequently consumed terms in media is ‘declined to comment’.
     When such term is used in stories related to protecting personal privacy, one understands why that person ‘declined to comment’. I do sympathise with individuals harassed by some media colleagues who insist on squeezing the yeast out of people to ferment the gossip columns.
     But when the ‘declined to comment’ is used in political articles, and when the matter is related to policies, one can be sure that there is a fishy thing going on behind closed doors.
     Readers are often offered incomplete information, and spreading such limping news is certainly going to benefit some devious people somehow, regardless of the different possibilities emerging from such propaganda.
     The term ‘declined to comment’ is not as it sounds lik One should not be mislead to think that the person who declined to comment does not know what is going on.

Beyond Chutzpah
Khalid Amayreh, Palestinian Information Center 8/9/2008
      Israel is very much behaving like a whore who urges her town’s folks to erect a great memorial plaque to celebrate and glorify her chastity.
     This week, some Zionist pundits both in Israel and North America have urged the Israeli government to boycott the Olympic Games in China to protest that country’s dismal human rights record.
     These self-righteous Zionists claimed that a country that rose from the ashes from the holocaust shouldn’t have normal relations with a country that systematically violates human rights and civil liberties.
     There is no doubt that China is a prominent violator of human rights (Is the US any better)!!! But the more important question in this context is really whether Israel, a state that has been murdering, enslaving and tormenting another people for the past sixty years, is in a position to lecture or criticize China or any other country on the subject of human rights.
     One can argue with little exaggeration that Israel itself is a crime against humanity since its very creation in Palestine in 1948 entailed the extirpation and dispersion of 90% of Palestine’s indigenous inhabitants.

Under Siege - Poem
Mahmoud Darwish, Palestine Chronicle 8/9/2008
      Mahmoud Darwish, the world’s most recognized Palestinian poet passed away in a US hospital Saturday, August 9, 2008 after undergoing complicated heart surgery. Darwish has published more than two dozen books of poetry and prose rooted in his experience of Palestinian exile and struggle in a career spanning nearly five decades.
     Under Siege By Mahmoud Darwish (1942-2008)
     Here on the slopes of hills, facing the dusk and the cannon of time
     Close to the gardens of broken shadows,
     We do what prisoners do,
     And what the jobless do:
     We cultivate hope.
     *****
     A country preparing for dawn. We grow less intelligent
     For we closely watch the hour of victory:
     No night in our night lit up by the shelling
     Our enemies are watchful and light the light for us
     In the darkness of cellars....