RAMALLAH, February 18, 2012 (WAFA) – The three Palestinian Arabic dailies continued to focus in their Saturday issue on the health condition of Khader Adnan, the prisoner who has been on hunger strike for 64 days in a row.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida’s prime headline highlighted Adnan’s condition and said the prisoner intends to continue with the strike until he wins his freedom.
While Adnan’s condition and the protests in his support were also front page news in al-Ayyam and al-Quds, al-Ayyam, however, highlighted across its front page the aftermath of the Thursday tragic bus incident near Ramallah that left five schoolchildren and their teacher dead, saying the dead children, whose bodies were burnt beyond recognition when the bus caught on fire, were only identified through D.N.A. tests.
Al-Quds, on the other hand, decided to highlight differences within Hamas over the Doha Declaration between President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal.
It said Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar told the London-based al-Hayat newspaper that contrary to claims by some Hamas officials that differences within the Islamic movement over the Doha Declaration have been resolved, they were not. He said Hamas leaders will discuss this matter when they meet in Cairo next week.
The paper also quoted Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayeh, in Gaza, who said that Hamas would not turn its back to an agreement signed by its chief.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported on the Fatah Revolutionary Council meeting, which unanimously decided to name Abbas as the sole Fatah candidate in the next presidential election. It also called for speeding up steps to implement the reconciliation agreement.
Reports on dozens of injuries among protesters in the weekly demonstrations against settlements and the Apartheid Wall across the West Bank made it to the front page of the three dailies. They also printed pictures of protests in the Ramallah-area village of Bilin, which marked on Friday the seventh anniversary for the launching of the popular non-violent protest movement.
R.Q./M.S.
