RAMALLAH, Thursday, March 05, 2020 (WAFA) – International and regional concerns of the break of coronavirus (COVID-19) dominated the front page headlines in today’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.
Al-Quds reported that coronavirus is subsiding in China, while it is spreading in the five continents.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Saudi Arabia has already suspended Umra pilgrimage to Makkah for Saudi citizens and foreigners residing in the Gulf kingdom.
Al-Ayyam reported that coronavirus is causing panic in the world, and weighs heavily on global economy.
It added that the Palestinian government has taken a series of decisions and recommendations on coronavirus.
The latest round of home demolitions and land grab in the occupied Palestinian territories also dominated the front page headlines.
The dailies said that Israeli occupation forces demolished part of a Palestinian house in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabbir.
They added that Israeli bulldozers razed Palestinian-owned land in Beit Jala city, west of Bethlehem, and the Jordan Valley.
They printed photos showing a Palestinian landowner inspecting the destruction of her property by Israel in Wadi al-Makhrour, west of Bethlehem city.
The Palestinian Presidential Committee for Church Affairs was reported in al-Quds slamming the land razing in Wadi al-Makhrour as a plan to colonize it and settle Jewish settlers there.
Wadi al-Makhrour is a popular hiking spot for Palestinians, located west of largely Christian city of Beit Jala.
According to al-Quds, Israeli settlers fenced off a plot of Palestinian land in Beit Ummar town, north of the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Israeli forces stole a large amount of cash from Palestinians during home raids in al-Zawiya village, west of Salfit city.
Al-Ayyam said that settlers barged their way into Sebastia archeological site in the northern west Bank district of Nablus.
According to al-Quds and al-Ayyam, the Palestinian Medical Union announced a suspension of all protests following an agreement with the government on their due benefits.
Member of Fatah Central Committee, Azzam al-Ahmad, was reported in al-Quds and al-Ayyam welcoming any efforts aimed to end the intra-Palestinian division, and announcing the PLO delegation’s willingness to immediately go to Gaza.
Furthermore, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that the PLO Executive Committee has decided to follow-up on the recently-revealed United Nations Human Rights Council’s database of businesses profiting from Israeli colonial settlements.
It was also reported in al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida announcing that it was still taking preparations to fast-track mechanisms to prosecute Israeli war criminals before the International Criminal Court.
The dailies highlighted Amazon’s decision to reverse its shipping policy and start offering free shipping in the occupied West Bank following mounting Palestinian pressures.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was reported in al-Quds stating that unity is most critical in this particular stage, and that the results of Israeli elections were not reliable.
The 153th session of the Arab League Council in Cairo also featured as a news item in al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida.
Al-Quds said that Arab foreign ministers reiterated their rejection to the US “peace plan”, which they slammed as a license for accelerating Israeli colonial settlement construction, land grab and eradication of the two-state solution.
According to al-Quds, the employees’ of the United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, announcing a labor dispute with the agency’s administration.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Palestinian police and preventive security service uncovered the circumstances surrounding an assault against a Polish tourist and a Palestinian in Beit Jala.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported the Chinese ambassador to Palestine Guo Wei reiterating his country’s support for the Palestinian position on all levels.
K.F./M.K.
