RAMALLAH, Wednesday, July 31, 2019 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas’ remarks during a meeting with a Socialist International delegation in Ramallah dominated the front page headlines in Wednesday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.

Abbas was reported in al-Ayyam stating that his hands remain extended to peace and the two-state solution and that the United States was no longer the sole impartial peace talks broker.

He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida reiterating that the Israeli side has destroyed all chances for peace.

He was also reported slamming the US-touted Mideast plan, dubbed deal of the century, as “an attempt to liquidate the Palestinian question and terminate international agreements designed to end the conflict”.

Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida stating that Netanyahu was not a partner for peace and slamming the US administration as “stupid”.

 On the other hand, al-Quds opted to highlight Israel’s proposal to allow Palestinian construction in Area C, which accounts for 60 percent of the occupied West Bank, in exchange for the expansion of Israeli settlements.

It elaborated that the Israeli cabinet advanced two plans to construct 6,000 new settler units in Area C and 2,000 units in occupied Jerusalem.

It added the Israeli cabinet approved Premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to construct 700 Palestinian housing units in Area C.

Al-Ayyam said in this regard that Palestinians reject Netanyahu’s proposal to build in Area C in exchange for the construction of 6,000 new settler units.

According to al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida, China contributes USD $1 million to the United Nations relief agency’s food program in Gaza.

Both dailies reported that four Palestinians were injured by Israeli military gunfire as hundreds of Israeli settlers forced their way to Joseph’s Tomb in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

Al-Quds said that Israeli forces raided two offices for the Palestinian Land and Water Settlement (Zoning) Commission in the northern West Bank district of Tulkarem.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that Israeli military bulldozers razed a Palestinian structure in Nabi Samuel village, northwest of Jerusalem.

The dailies added that Israeli forces bulldozed several Palestinian tents and shacks in Ras al-Ahmar in the northern Jordan Valley.

They said that Israeli police issued a warrant for interrogation against 6-year-old Qais Feras Obeid, the second child summoned for interrogation from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiyeh in less than 24 hours.

They noted that Obeid was the second Palestinian child to be summoned for interrogation, after police summoned 4-year-old Mohammad Rabi Elayyan from the same neighborhood for interrogation.

According to al-Quds and al-Ayyam, over 20 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons started a hunger strike in solidarity with tens others who have been hunger-striking for 30 days in protest of their administrative detention and to demand better medical care.

Al-Quds printed a report titled Have Russia and Belgium attempted to hold a meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu?

The report is based on remarks of Israeli Meretz party members’ who attended the Socialist International meeting in Ramallah, during which Abbas revealed that Russia and Belgium attempted to mediate between him and Netanyahu, but the latter ignored such attempts.

Al-Ayyam printed a report unveiling details about the murdering of a Palestinian paramedic from Bani Naim town, east of Hebron, in Jordan.

It said that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Israel to conduct a “thorough and impartial” investigation into the shooting of nine-year-old Abdul Rahman Shteiwi.

Shteiwi was shot with a metal bullet in the forehead during a demonstration on July 12 in Kafr Qddum village near Nablus.

Regionally, al-Ayyam said that Lebanese protested in solidarity with Palestinian refugees against discriminatory labor law in Sidon, Lebanon.

Internationally, the dailies said that a Canadian court ruled against ‘Made in Israel’ label on settlements wines.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that that Palestinian community in Illinois pledges to provide logistical and financial support to Palestinian-American Rashad Darwish, who is running for a congressional seat in Illinois.

K.F.