RAMALLAH, January 4, 2017 (WAFA) – The demolition of Palestinian structures in Khirbet Tana in the northeastern Jordan Valley hit the front page headlines in Palestinian local dailies on Wednesday.

Al-Quds said Israeli forces demolished 17 structures in Khirbet Tana, while al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said 15 structures were demolished.

Highlighting stop-construction notices in their main front page news items, al-Quds and al-Ayyam said Israeli forces ordered Palestinians to stop building wells in al-Khader, west of Bethlehem.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida added stop-construction orders were also delivered to Palestinian homes and structures in Salfit.

Highlighting detention raids, al-Ayyam said Israeli forces detained a total of 37 Palestinians in West Bank raids. Al-Hayat al-Jadida said a total of 34 Palestinians were detained.

Highlighting illegal settlement construction, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported Israeli settlers built a new settlement outpost in the northern Jordan Valley.

While al-Quds and al-Ayyam covered demolition and detention raids and settlement construction in their main items, al-Hayat al-Jadida opted to give prominence to President Mahmoud Abbas’ statements on peace-making.

It reported him as stating Palestine is committed to securing peace based on relevant United Nations resolutions.

Spotlighting efforts to confront dispossession of Palestinians from Jerusalem, al-Quds reported Palestinian attorney Muhannad Jbara has successfully reclaimed a significant portion of a Palestinian building in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah from the so-called Israeli Custodian of Absentee Property.

Furthermore, the dailies spotlighted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s concerns over the multilateral Middle East peace conference scheduled to convene in Paris on January 15.

Al-Quds reported Netanyahu as denouncing the conference as “futile”, while al-Ayyam reported him as stating: “There are signs that there will be attempts to use decisions that are taken to vote on a new UN resolution against Israel.”

Responding to Netanyahu’s comments, Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh was reported in al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida as stating that the conference would offer the opportunity for securing a just peace.

Moreover, al-Ayyam highlighted a report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) outlining instances when senior Israeli officials openly encouraged soldiers and police to kill Palestinians suspected of attacking Israelis even when they were no longer a threat.

HRW was quoted as stating: “]it’s not just about potentially rogue soldiers, but also about[ senior Israeli officials who publicly tell security forces to unlawfully shoot to kill.”

Al-Ayyam covered a Yesh Din report slamming the exceptionally low prosecution rate by Israeli military in the killings of Palestinians.

It reported Yesh Din as stating the military opened 186 criminal investigations into suspected offenses against Palestinians in 2015 but just four of those investigations yielded indictments.

Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted Palestinian cabinet’s statement on deep cuts to be made in 2017 budget as a result of a sharp drop in financial support to the Palestinian Authority.

The cabinet was reported in both dailies as announcing that they are compelled to adopt an austerity policy as a result of this decline.

It was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida that a budget deficit in 2017 is expected to exceed $1 billion and forecasted the total shortfall in foreign funding to be $765 million.

K.F./M.K.