RAMALLAH, August 24, 2011 (WAFA) – The three Palestinian Arabic dailies Wednesday focused on the Libyan rebels’ takeover of Muammar Gaddafi’s Bab Azizia headquarters in the capital Tripoli on Tuesday.
Al-Ayyam newspaper’s main headline reported from Tripoli on the “easy” fall of Bab Azizia and the ongoing search for Gaddafi, according to the Libyan rebels’ spokesman Abdel Hakim Belhaj.
The daily said the Libyan opposition is willing to discuss the indictment against Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and the former head of Libyan intelligence at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, but prefers to prosecute them as “war criminals” in Libya.
Al-Ayyam printed photos of the revolution’s celebrations in Bab Azizia, while al-Quds daily printed a picture of Libyan rebels standing over a head statue of Gaddafi in his fallen headquarters.
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida featured the Arab Peace Initiative Follow-Up Committee meeting in the Qatari capital, Doha, Tuesday night, where the committee adopted the necessary procedural measures and connections to seek United Nations full membership and recognition of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders, and with East Jerusalem as its capital.
AL-Quds’ front page story reported on the 5.8-magnitude earthquake that hit the US East Coast on Tuesday.
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida said that Shaul Mofaz, Knesset member from the opposition Kadima party, accused prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of requesting a cease-fire along the borders with Gaza. The story added that Netanyahu’s office denied the allegations and said the Israeli government has not communicated with Hamas, either directly or through the Egyptians.
An op-ed in al-Ayyam by Hani Habib tackled the fall of Gaddafi, the “modern-world Nero,” as the latest success of the Arab revolutions against tyrant regimes that have ruled the region for decades.
The op-ed also discussed the Israeli stance towards the Arab revolutions in light of Israel's interest in keeping the situation in the region unchanged. Habib said Israel has lined up with Iran and Hezbollah to avoid a similar collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, which provides Israel with a hostile medium to excuse its 'official terrorism' in the region.
R.Q./F.J.
