RAMALLAH, December 3, 2011 (WAFA) – The three Palestinian Arabic dailies Saturday focused on the new Israeli settlement activities in East Jerusalem as well as on Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s announcement that he will not head the future national unity government.
Al-Quds newspaper reported on its front page that the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee of the Israeli Interior Ministry approved the construction of 650 new housing units in the settlement of Pisgat Zeev in occupied East Jerusalem. This is the third expansion plan of the settlement since the beginning of 2011.
Al-Ayyam highlighted the construction of a new road that connects three Israeli settlements north of East Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. The headline reported that the construction of the road will take over vast areas of land from the village of Beit Hanina, east of Jerusalem.
The daily also featured Palestinian condemnation of the Israeli decision to build the road, named route 20, and considered it another proof of the Israeli government’s defiance of international resolutions and its persistence to destroy the peace process.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida’s main front page headline quoted Fayyad saying, “I will not run for president; I will not head unity government.”
The newspaper featured an interview with Fayyad in an Israeli daily, where he stressed that he will not be an obstacle to Palestinian unity. He expressed hope that the talks between Hamas and Fatah will reach a positive conclusion.
The three dailies focused on the Israeli attacks on the weekly non-violent demonstrations against settlements and the Apartheid Wall across the West Bank. The headline in al-Quds newspaper reported eight protesters injured, as well as two journalists and five international activists arrested.
Al-Ayyam newspaper printed a picture of Israeli soldiers firing tear gas at the protest in the village of Kafr Qaddoum in the northern West Bank, whereas al-Quds printed a picture of a Palestinian protester climbing the Apartheid Wall in Nilin, a village northwest of Ramallah.
News that 62% of eligible voters turned out to vote in the first parliamentary elections in Egypt since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak made it to the front page of all three dailies.
R.Q./M.S.
