RAMALLAH, October 21, 2017 (WAFA) – Israeli army crackdown on the weekly Friday anti-settlements, anti-occupation protests in the West Bank and Gaza that normally leaves dozens injured was highlighted on the front page of the three Arabic dailies on Saturday.
The papers also printed photos from the protests with picture showing an Israeli soldier aiming his gun apparently at the Palestinian protesters in the West Bank village of Kufr Qaddoum.
The papers quoted President Mahmoud Abbas saying that the Palestinians are making progress in regaining their usurped rights by employing peaceful resistance methods and international law.
These statements were made on Abbas’ behalf by head of the Palestinian delegation to Washington Hosam Zomlot at a conference in Nicaragua.
Al-Ayyam said Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, has left hospital a week after undergoing lung transplant surgery at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia, and that he was in good health. Erekat will stay in the U.S. for several weeks to follow up on the surgery before returning home.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has cabled Erekat to congratulate him on the success of his surgery, wishing his speedy recovery.
The paper also said Holland condemned Israeli plans to build thousands of housing units in the illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
It quoted Fatah spokesman Usama Qawasmi saying that Britain has to apologize to the Palestinian people for the infamous Balfour Declaration rather than celebrate its centennial.
It said however that British Prime Minister Theresa May has stressed in a dinner party in London the need to find a solution to the Palestinian cause.
Al-Quds said fighting in Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria left dead and injured.
It also said the Israeli High Court rejected a petition by East Jerusalem shopkeepers against police closure of their shops following any attack against Israelis in the city, which they have described as collective punishment. They said this procedure is not applied in the Jewish section of the city but only its Arab areas.
It also said students at the elementary school in Jibb al-Deeb near Bethlehem live under the fear that their school is going to demolished by the Israeli military at any time. The school was already demolished before and rebuilt by the local residents and supporters.
The paper said in another story that Palestine and the Arab countries showed interest in the national conference of the Chinese Communist Party.
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