RAMALLAH, Saturday, April 4, 2020 (WAFA) – The speech by President Mahmoud Abbas in which he declared extension of the state of emergency in Palestine by 30 days, the speech by Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh in which he set the guidelines for enforcing the state of emergency and the new 33 cases of coronavirus confirmed in one day yesterday in the West Bank were highlighted on the front page of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida and al-Quds made the president’s speech as their main front-page story, while al-Ayyam made the new corona cases its main front-page story.

Coronavirus pandemic at home, in the region and around the world occupied most of the front page stories of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.

Al-Quds said the Israeli police detained for several hours yesterday the Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, Fadi Hidmi. It said Hidmi was taken at night from his East Jerusalem home, which was ransacked in the process, and he was beaten while being taken away.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said the European Union’s representative in Jerusalem has condemned the arrest of Hidmi.

It also said Norway has called on donor countries to help Palestine fight the coronavirus outbreak.

Al-Ayyam said several West Bank villages where corona cases were found have been isolated.

It said Palestinians clashed yesterday with Israeli soldiers in the village of Kufr Qaddoum in the north of the West Bank, an Israeli settler ran over a herd of sheep in Masafer Yatta in the south of the West Bank and a Palestinian was forced by the Israeli army to demolish a storage room in a village in the Bethlehem area under the pretext it was built without a permit.

Al-Quds said Bank of Palestine, the Arab Islamic Bank, Palpay and expatriates have together contributed around $2 million to Palestinian government-efforts to fight coronavirus.

It said Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem remained closed for prayer for the second consecutive Friday as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

M.K.