RAMALLAH, Wednesday, February 12, 2020 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech before the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) dominated the front page headlines in Wednesday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.
Al-Quds reported that the international community, except for the US and Israel, rejects the US ‘peace proposal’, dubbed “deal of the century”, and emphasizes support to the Palestinian rights.
Abbas was reported in the dailies stating that the US plan “will not bring peace” and pledging that “We –the Palestinian people- will confront its application on the ground.”
Suggesting violent protests could break out, Abbas was reported in al-Ayyam saying: “the situation could implode at any moment.”
He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida stressing that “this plan or any part of it should not be considered as an international reference for negotiations.”
He was also reported in al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida calling for setting up an international partnership to achieve comprehensive, just and lasting peace.
He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida reiterating his rejection for bartering economic assistance for political solutions and reiterating his willingness “to start negotiations so long as there is a real partner for peace in Israel under the sponsorship of the Quartet ]and based on the internationally agreed parameters.[”
Al-Quds printed a photo showing Abbas holding a copy of the map that the US ‘peace proposal’ envisions for a two-state solution, and saying that the ‘state’ carved out for Palestinians as a fragmented “Swiss cheese”.
Furthermore, al-Quds reported the United Nations Secretary General António Guterres expressing the UN commitment to resolving the Mideast conflict on the basis of the UN resolutions.
Al-Quds said that in his speech before the UNSC, Israeli envoy to the UN Danny Danon incited against President Abbas.
Member of Fatah Central Committee Hussein al-Sheikh was reported in al-Quds holding Israel and the US fully responsible for Abbas’ life, and in al-Hayat al-Jadida slamming Danon’s speech as a direct call to target Abbas.
Fatah movement was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida stating that targeting Abbas is tantamount to targeting the Palestinian people and its national rights.
The dailies spotlighted the joint press conference between Abbas and former centrist Israeli premier Ehud Olmert.
Olmert was reported in al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida describing Abbas as “a man of peace”, while Abbas was reported in the dailies stressing that peace could not be achieved through subjugation and imposition.
According to al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Sheikh Mohammad Hussein issued a fatwa prohibiting dealing with the so-called “deal of the century” and its promoters.
The dailies highlighted the mass rallies in the occupied Palestinian territories and in the diaspora in rejection of the US ‘peace proposal’ and in support of President Abbas.
In addition, al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that ultra-nationalistic Israeli Jews vandalized 150 vehicles and spray-painted racist graffiti on the walls of a mosque in the Palestinian town of al-Jish in northern Israel.
They added that scores of Palestinians were injured by Israeli military gunfire at the northern entrance to the West Bank city of al-Bireh.
They said that Israeli occupation authorities delivered a demolition order to the family house of a Palestinian in Kobar village, north of Ramallah.
They also reported that occupation authorities delivered stop-construction orders for structures in the northern Jordan Valley.
They said that Israeli military bulldozers leveled large tracts of Palestinian land in the West Bank districts of Hebron and Salfit.
They said that Israel summoned the Belgian ambassador to Tel Aviv over inviting a pro-Palestinian activist to address the UNSC.
The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell was reported in al-Ayyam warning Israel against the implications of annexing new territories and reiterating that the EU seeks to help establish an independent Palestinian state.
K.F.
