RAMALLAH, July 5, 2011 (WAFA) – Israel’s decision to build 900 new settlement units in East Jerusalem and to release the remains of 84 Palestinians were the focus of Tuesday’s Arabic dailies.
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida’s main front page story featured Jerusalem municipality’s decision to build new 900 housing units in Gilo illegal settlement in East Jerusalem. The story featured President Mahmoud Abbas’ condemnation of the decision, with Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the presidential spokesman, saying “this is Netanyahu’s response to US president Obama’s speech and the Quartet meeting next week.”
Gilo settlement is built on land occupied in 1967 and subsequently annexed to the Israeli Jerusalem municipality, and is considered illegal by the United Nations and the European Union.
Al-Quds’ prime story reported on the Palestinian Chairman of the General Authority for Civil Affairs, Hussein al-Sheikh’s announcement that Israel will release the remains of 84 Palestinians which have been held by the Israeli government since 1967 and buried in unknown cemeteries in Israel; these cemeteries are referred to as “numbered graves.”
Israeli Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak Tuesday morning issued an order to stop the release of the bodies to study the effects of the release on the issue of Israeli captive soldier, Gilad Shalit.
The newspaper printed a picture of Palestinian parents holding the picture of their son, Mohammad Sider, who was killed in 2003 and whose remains have been held by the Israeli authorities ever since.
News on Freedom Flotilla II made it to the dailies’ front pages. The papers reported that the Greek coastguard intercepted a Canadian ship which set sail to Gaza on Monday. The stories also featured Greece’s offer to deliver the medical supplies and aid to the Strip through official channels.
Al-Quds featured that more than 88,000 students have finished the Tawjihi exams, the final general secondary examination, on Monday. The story said that for the first time, Palestinians were able to take the exams outside the Palestinian Territory in Qatar and Bulgaria.
An Al-Quds editorial headline read: “From remains of the dead…to prisoners.” The editorial tackled the issue of Israeli measures against the remains of dead Palestinians and against Palestinias in Israeli prisons. The paper called on Israel to release remains of all Palestinians and apply international laws in its treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
R.Q./F.J.
