RAMALLAH, Tuesday, 19 November 2019 (WAFA) – The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement on Israeli settlements in the West Bank dominated the front page headlines in Tuesday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.
Pompeo was reported in al-Quds and al-Ayyam announcing that Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are not inconsistent with international law.
Al-Quds slammed the US move as a “dangerous shift in the US policy that violates international legitimacy.”
The dailies highlighted immediate condemnations of the US move that throws out a 1978 State Department legal opinion that stated that Israeli settlements violate international law.
Spokesman of the Palestinian Presidency was reported in the dailies condemning the move as “void, rejected and condemned.”
He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida clarifying that the US administration “is not entitled or authorized to revoke the resolutions of the international legitimacy,” and that it “has lost its credibility to play any future role in the peace process.”
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi was reported in al-Quds and al-Ayyam condemning the move and warning against the consequences posed by the shift in the US policy on settlements.
He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida stressing that Israeli settlements represent a breach of international law and legitimacy resolutions, and a unilateral measures that kills the two-state solution.
The European Union was reported in al-Ayyam reiterating that all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories is illegal.
The local and global solidarity campaign with Moath Amarneh, a Palestinian photojournalist who was blinded in one eye by Israeli military gunfire, also hit the front page headlines in the dailies.
Al-Quds printed Palestinian government spokesperson Ibrahim Melhem’s opinion piece titled Moath’s Eye: The Image and the Icon with a photo showing Melhem covering his left eye in solidarity.
Premier Mohammad Shtayyeh was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida stating that Israel targets journalists to silence the voice of truth.
Shtayyeh was also reported in the dailies stressing the importance of holding elections as the main entry point for ending the division and confronting the Israeli aggression.
According to the dailies, Israeli forces razed earth road near Jabal al-Baba Bedouin community, located near al-Eizariyah town, to the northeast of Jerusalem, as a prelude to displace the community.
Al-Quds reported Palestinian cartographer Khalil Tafakji slamming Israeli measures in Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley as ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
The dailies said that Israeli soldiers shot and injured a Palestinian youth close to the village of Dhaher al ‘Abed, southwest of the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
According to al-Quds, Israeli forces assaulted Palestinian schoolchildren who protested in solidarity with Amarneh at the northern entrance of Bethlehem.
It said that 61 Israeli settlers forced their way to Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
It also reported that US President Donald Trump’s administration has lost hope to roll out the US-touted Mideast plan, dubbed deal of the century, in the foreseeable future.
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem was reported in the dailies slamming the Israeli policy of withholding the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces as despicable policy of blackmail.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Sami Abu Dayak, a Palestinian cancer patient held in Israeli imprisonment, was rushed to the hospital, prompting Health Minister Mai Kaileh to urge the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene to secure his release.
K.F.
