RAMALLAH, Saturday, December 21, 2019 (WAFA) – The announcement by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on opening an investigation into Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people and reaction to it occupied most of the front page of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies today.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida, in a three-word Arabic headline in red that went across the top of the front page quoted President Mahmoud Abbas describing the ICC decision as “a historic day for Palestine.” It continued with the rest of the president’s remarks on this decision.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said in their main front page headline that the ICC aims to investigate Israeli war crimes in the occupied territories, with al-Ayyam adding that Israel’s reaction was hysterical.
The three papers also highlighted the Palestinian reaction to the ICC decision.
In other news, the papers also covered the weekly protests at the Gaza border with Israel and in the West Bank and said that dozens were injured in the Israeli army crackdown on these protests.
Al-Ayyam said Israeli settlers torched two Palestinian vehicles in the northern West Bank village of Fartaa. It said the Israeli army demolished a house and a wall north of Bethlehem.
It also said Israel is planning to bolster its control over Area C of the occupied West Bank by demolishing Palestinian structures, including those financed by European Union donors.
Al-Quds said that 135 Palestinian civil society organizations delivered a letter to the European Union rejecting the new conditions for financing projects in Palestine. Apparently the objection was over a new demand to place Palestinian factions on the terrorist list, as reported in the newspaper quoting a Palestinian civil society member who spoke at the meeting held in the middle of last week in Ramallah with EU officials.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said Switzerland resumed its financing of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
It said the head of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA), Jibril Rjoub, has called on FIFA to provide mechanism that would guarantee the right of the PFA to develop football in its territory.
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