RAMALLAH, Wednesday, February 26, 2020 (WAFA) – Israel’s announcement reviving the construction of colonial settler units in one of the most sensitive areas of the occupied West Bank hit the front page headlines in Wednesday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.

Al-Ayyam reported that Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu announces the start of the construction of 3,500 new colonial settler units to consolidate the isolation of Jerusalem and split the West Bank in half.

It added that the new colonial settlement construction plan would be implemented on an area of 12,000 dunams of land and would result in the displacement of 7,000 Palestinians.

Al-Quds said in this regard that Israel would split the northern West Bank from the southern West Bank through the construction of a new colonial settlement in E1 Area.

Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida warning that the new settlement construction in E1 Area transgresses the red lines.

He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida and al-Ayyam warning that the new settlement construction threatens to plunge the region into an abyss ]of tension and violence[.

Elaborating on other settlement construction plans, al-Quds said that Israel has started the construction of a new colonial settlement near Beit Safafa village, southeast of Jerusalem.

It reported that Israeli occupation authorities have advanced plans to build 46,000 new colonial settler units in the West Bank.

It added that Netanyahu issued instructions to connect 12 colonial settlement outposts with electricity grid.

Al-Ayyam reported Secretary-General of the PLO Executive Committee Saeb Erekat stating that Palestine submitted a note to the International Criminal Court over settlement construction.

Spotlighting regional and international condemnations of settlement construction, al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that Jordan condemned Israel’s announcement on the new settlement construction in E1 area.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that the UK condemns Israel’s decision to build thousands of new settler units in Jerusalem, and urges Israel to reverse the decision immediately.

Additionally, the dailies said that Israeli occupation authorities are razing Palestinian land belonging to Huwwara village, south of Nablus, in order to build a new settler-only bypass road.

According to al-Hayat al-Jadida, Israeli forces rounded up 28 Palestinians in multiple overnight raids across the West Bank.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Israeli forces quelled a peaceful rally at Tayaseer area, east of Tubas, in the northern Jordan Valley, injuring scores of protestors.

Al-Quds said that Israeli forces also quelled a tour organized by journalists and representatives of human rights organizations in the E1 area and the Jordan Valley.

European Union Representative in Jerusalem Sven Kuehn von Burgsdorff was reported in al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida slamming the dragging of the body of a dead Palestinian in Gaza by an Israeli military bulldozer as counter to all principles of human dignity.

Premier Muhammad Shtayyeh was reported in the dailies pledging to take into consideration all the recommendations to be submitted by the committee investigating the death of a Palestinian teenager during clashes with Palestinian security forces in Qabatia town, south of Jenin.

Shtayyeh was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida announcing that the government has allocated $100 million to support youth start-ups.

According to al-Quds, 67 Israeli settlers, led by extremist lawmaker Yehuda Glick, forced their way into Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

It said that the United Nations Security Council reiterates support to the two-state solution.

Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that President Mahmoud Abbas mourned the death of former Egyptian President Muhammad Husni Mubarak.

The Palestinian Health Ministry was reported in al-Quds announcing that health checks for coronavirus would be only conducted at the Ministry’s Central Lab.

It was also reported threatening to close any pharmacies over exorbitant price of coronavirus masks.

Al-Ayyam added in this regard that Health Ministry denies entry to the occupied Palestinian territories to foreign visitors from five Asian countries.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported the Palestinian cement company (Sanad) announcing that the share of Israeli cement in the Palestinian market has dropped to 50 percent.

Al-Ayyam said that Israel-Gaza ceasefire agreement takes hold on first day as Israeli military continues to shut down Gaza’s border crossings.

K.F.