RAMALLAH, November 16, 2011 (WAFA) – Wednesday’s issues of the three Palestinian Arabic newspapers focused on the Israeli government’s decision to build more than 800 new housing units in East Jerusalem, as well as Palestinian activists boarding an Israeli bus near a settlement in the West Bank.

Al-Quds reported on its front page on the Israeli decision to build 814 housing units in East Jerusalem on Tuesday, following the Quartet meetings with the Palestinian and Israeli sides on Monday in an attempt to resume negotiations.

The subtitle quoted an Israeli official saying that the decision came as a punitive response to the recent Palestinian membership in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Reports on six Palestinian activists who boarded an Israeli bus near a West Bank settlement heading to Jerusalem made it to al-Ayyam’s front page.

The group of activists, called Freedom Riders, in reference to black Americans fighting white discrimination against them in the 1960s, said their move aimed to expose Israel’s apartheid system of segregation between Palestinians and Israelis.

Al-Quds printed pictures of the activists holding the Palestinian flag on the bus, and a picture of an international activist holding a banner saying “End Colonization” outside a bus, next to an Israeli soldier.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida chose to highlight the PLO Executive Committee meeting on Monday, led by President Mahmoud Abbas. The committee called for implementing the reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah and preparing for presidential, legislative and local council elections.

The three papers reported on Israeli threats of a major military offensive against the Gaza Strip if rockets continue being fired into Israel, according to Israeli Chief of Staff, Benny Gantz.

Al-Quds editorial described Israel’s decision to continue withholding the Palestinian tax money it collects and to build new housing units in Jerusalem as “punishments” for the Palestinian membership in UNESCO.

The daily condemned the international peace sponsors and the Quartet’s silence, describing it as a “collusion” with Israeli practices, and called on all parties to fulfill their responsibilities towards the peace process.

R.Q./F.J.