RAMALLAH, December 10, 2011 (WAFA) – Saturday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies focused on the death of a Palestinian and his son in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military escalation against the Strip dominated al-Hayat al-Jadida daily, which reported in black bold on its front page on the death a Palestinian man and his 10-year-old son when the family’s house collapsed following Israeli airstrikes that targeted an alleged nearby Hamas training base in northern Gaza.
The daily said that 12 Palestinians, including women and children, were injured on Saturday and posted a picture of a wounded child receiving treatment in a local hospital in Gaza.
Al-Ayyam newspaper featured the Israeli assaults at the weekly non-violent demonstrations against settlements and the Apartheid Wall across the West Bank.
The daily reported that Mustafa Tamimi, a Palestinian protester in the peaceful weekly demonstration in Nabi Saleh, north of Ramallah, was shot in the face at close range by a tear gas canister fired by an Israeli soldier and posted a picture of him the moment he was hit.
Al-Quds was the only daily to highlight Israeli media reports on preparations to build Israeli military colleges at the foot of Mount Scopus in East Jerusalem.
The news article reported that the Israeli authorities announced they will confiscate 32 dunums of Mount Scopus land in East Jerusalem to construct a military college as well as a “national park.”
The newspaper also reported that the Building and Planning Committee in Jerusalem approved the building of 17 housing units in the former Israeli police station in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras al-Amoud.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that President Mahmoud Abbas participated in the opening of the Arab Games 2011 in the Qatari capital Doha on Friday and met with the Emir of Qatar, Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani.
Al-Quds daily said that the Jordanian government is closely following the issue of Bab El-Magharbeh passage in Jerusalem’s Old City, which the Israeli authorities threaten to demolish under the pretext that it is in danger of collapse. The government also stressed UNESCO’s objection to any unilateral action that threatens holy places in Jerusalem.
The three dailies briefly reported that US special envoy for Middle East peace, David Hale, will visit the region this week in an attempt to resume the stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations.
R.Q./M.S.
