RAMALLAH, Thursday, February 13, 2020 (WAFA) – The UN Human Rights Council’s long-anticipated list of companies complicit in violating Palestinian human rights by operating in the Israeli colonial settlements in the occupied West Bank hit the front page headlines in the dailies.

Al-Quds reported that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a list of the companies operating in Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said in this regard that the United Nations released the “blacklist” of 112 companies operating in Israeli settlements.

The dailies said that the Palestinian leadership welcomed the release of the list, and described it as a “victory for the Palestinian right and international law,” and al-Hayat al-Jadida noted that the Arab League welcomed the release of the list.

Highlighting Israel’s reaction to the release of the list, al-Ayyam said that Israel has suspended its relations with OHCHR.  

Human Rights Watch (HRW) was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida applauding the release of the list.

HRW’s Deputy Executive Director for Advocacy Bruno Stagno was reported stating: “The long-awaited release of the UN settlement business database should put all companies on notice: to do business with illegal settlements is to aid in the commission of war crimes.”

Daily Israeli detention raids and land grab schemes in the occupied territories also hit the front page headlines in the dailies.

The dailies said that Israeli occupation authorities issued orders to seize dozens of dunams of Palestinian agricultural land to the west of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Al-Ayyam said that scores of Palestinians were injured with Israeli military gunfire in confrontations in the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia.

Among the injuries, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida elaborated, were two youths who were shot with bullets.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that Israeli occupation authorities delivered demolition orders to four Palestinian houses to the east of Yatta in the southern West Bank district of Hebron.

According to al-Quds, Israeli forces sealed off the entrances to a cluster of villages to the northwest of Ramallah.

The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell was reported in al-Quds warning of the eruption of a new round of violence if Israel annexes the Jordan Valley.

The Staff Union of the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) held a sit-in in front of the UN agency’s regional office in Gaza, demanding that the agency’s administration implement all signed agreements.

Hamas senior official Mousa Abu Marzook was reported in al-Quds urging his movement to evolve rapproachement with the Arab countries, but not with Iran.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that Israel approved a plan to expand the electricity grid to colonial settlements in the West Bank.

According to al-Quds, Israeli police and intelligence officers prevented Palestinians from holding an event in solidarity with those banned entry into Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and in condemnation of the US ‘peace plan’ in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Shufat.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported the head of the Quartet Mission in Palestine John Clarke affirming that the Quartet would take action on Israel’s decision to ban Palestinian exports to Jordan.

It said that Japan has provided a new assistance of some USD $33 million to Palestine.

Al-Quds printed a feature story detailing how Israel exploits the designation of Palestinian land as nature reserves to advance the displacement of the Palestinian landowners.

Fatah Deputy Chairman Mahmoud al-Aloul was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida saying that Israeli envoy to the UN Danny Danon’s reaction to President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech was a proof that Abbas was on the rights political track.

The Palestinian Health Ministry was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida announcing that there were no cases suspected of contracting Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Palestinian territories.

K.F.