RAMALLAH, Thursday, November 28, 2019 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas’ visit to the Qatari capital of Doha and subsequent meeting with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani dominated the front page headlines in Thursday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.

The dailies reported that President Abbas and Al Thani discussed the means to mobilize support for the Palestinian position to confront the Israeli assault on the Palestinian people’s rights.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that scores of Palestinians were injured from Israeli military gunfire as hundreds of settlers barged their way into Joseph’s Tomb in the northern West Bank city of Nablus. According to al-Quds, 26 Palestinians were injured.

According to al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida, Israeli military police removed a banner advocating Palestinian sovereignty over the occupied city of East Jerusalem that was raised by Palestinian activists on the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.

They said that Israeli settlers pelted Palestinian vehicles to the south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin with rocks.

According to al-Quds, Israeli forces conducted multiple raids across the West Bank, resulting in the detention of six Palestinians.

Al-Quds spotlighted Israeli media report titled Israel Begins Work on What Will Become Largest Settlement in East Jerusalem.

It reported the World Health Organization (WHO) revealing that the percentage of Palestinian patients from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank whose application permits for medical treatment were rejected by Israel has been the highest since April 2018.

It said that the United Nations (UN) observed the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres was reported in al-Quds slamming the construction of illegal Israeli colonial settlements, demolitions of Palestinian homes and the pervasive suffering in the besieged Gaza Strip as a “flagrant violation” of international law.

He was also reported in al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida calling on Israel to halt the construction of illegal settlements and the suffering in Gaza.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida added in this regard that the UN called Tel Aviv for opening an inquiry into settlers’ attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron.

The dailies said that the Jerusalem District Electricity Company (JEDCO) filed a petition to the Israeli High Court to get the Israeli Electricity Company to stop the planned electricity cuts to JEDCO customers.

The dailies highlighted the last ditch efforts to form the new Israeli coalition government.

Al-Quds elaborated that Likud and Blue-White teams are scheduled to meet on Sunday to discuss the possibility of forming a unity government.

Al-Ayyam added that the Blue-White party, headed by ex-military chief Benny Gantz, insists on a unity government with a rotating premier, rejects Netanyahu as premier.

The dailies covered Israeli newly-appointed ‘Defense’ Minister Naftali Bannett’s order to withhold the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and not to return them to their families for burial.

The UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territories was reported in al-Quds stressing that: “As the occupying power, Israel has the obligation to ensure the safety and well-being of the Palestinian population.”

According to al-Hayat al-Jadida, Premier Mohammad Shtayyeh urged the European Union states to put pressure on Israel to enable the Palestinian Authority to hold elections in Jerusalem.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Israeli warplanes pounded several posts in the besieged Gaza Strip purportedly in retaliation of a rocket fire from the enclave.

Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida stressing the importance of consolidating bilateral Palestinian-Russian relations.

Al-Ayyam spotlighted the Dutch government’s decision maintain support to the European Union’s policy of labeling goods produced in Israeli colonial settlements in the West Bank.

It reported that the Central Elections Commission (CEC) officially informed President Abbas that all Palestinian factions, except for the Islamic Jihad, have agreed to hold elections.

K.F.