RAMALLAH, Wednesday, July 08, 2020 (WAFA) – The government decision to extend the lockdown in the West Bank by five more days as 306 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed yesterday was highlighted on the front page of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies published today.
The papers printed pictures of shops shuttered and streets empty of people as the lockdown, that has been in force for five days already, bans movement except in certain cases.
Al-Quds reported on East Jerusalem hospitals saying they are ready to confront the corona pandemic as 93 new cases of the disease were confirmed in the Israeli-occupied section of the city.
Al-Ayyam said Palestinian police are going to start today giving out fines for violators of the safety measures imposed to fight coronavirus.
In addition to focusing on the coronavirus developments, al-Hayat al-Jadida reported as well on the rise in opposition worldwide to the Israeli plans to annex a large part of the occupied West Bank.
Al-Ayyam said the Arab countries have affirmed their opposition to annexation of any part of occupied Palestine, as well as their adherence to the two-state solution and the Arab Peace Initiative.
On Israeli violations in the occupied lands, al-Ayyam said Israel and its settlements council have said they intend to expropriate 300 dunums of Palestinian land northwest of Jericho in the Jordan Valley to expand an illegal settlement.
It quoted the Israeli rights group, B’Tselem, saying that there is a sharp rise in the number of Palestinian houses demolished by Israel despite the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Al-Quds quoted B’Tselem saying that Israel has deceived the United Nations when it promised that it will not demolish Palestinian homes during the pandemic.
The paper also reported on the Israeli violations and said that as the army detained a large number of Palestinians in the West Bank yesterday, settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles on a West Bank road.
It said church leaders in Jerusalem have warned that the Israeli courts are targeting Christian and Muslim property in the city.
It said the Israeli District Court allowed the removal of the Islamic Isaaf cemetery in Jaffa despite the protests of the local Palestinian population.
M.K.
