RAMALLAH, September 5, 2011 (WAFA) – The three Arabic Palestinian newspapers Monday focused on President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech at the Fatah Revolutionary Council meeting on Sunday.
The headlines of al-Quds, al-Hayat al-Jadida and al-Ayyam’s front pages quoted Abbas saying that the Palestinian decision to go to the United Nations does not aim to isolate or delegitimize Israel, but to delegitimize the occupation, which must end. Abbas reiterated the Palestinian intention to return to negotiations on clear and definite bases after gaining full UN membership of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders this September.
Al-Ayyam daily featured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s repeated refusal to apologize to Turkey for the death of 9 Turks on the Freedom Flotilla I in 2010 by the Israeli navy. Meanwhile, he reiterated his wish to avoid further deterioration of Turkish-Israeli relations.
A front page story in al-Hayat al-Jadida reported on a New York Times newspaper report on alleged US initiatives to the Palestinian Authority to refrain from heading to the UN and resume negotiations with Israel, according to several US administration officials. An al-Hayat al-Jadida news piece highlighted PLO Executive Committee Member, Saeb Erekat’s denial of having received any such US plans.
On half of its front page, al-Quds newspaper printed a picture of Israeli bulldozers working in the construction site of a new settlement housing project on the ruins of Shepherd Hotel, a historical site that also contained the residence of late Mufti Haj Amin Al-Husseini, in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem.
The caption explained that Israeli authorities took over the Arab historical site under the pretext of the Israeli Absentee Property Law, which allowed Israel to confiscate tens of Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem.
Al-Ayyam al-Jadida highlighted news from Libya on the failure of talks between the rebels and the troops in the city of Bani Waleed, which remained loyal to former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi.
R.Q./F.J.
