RAMALLAH, March 21, 2012 (WAFA) – The highlight of Wednesday’s issue of al-Quds newspaper was an Israeli plan to seize 1,235 dunums of Palestinian-owned land in al-Walaja, a village that is part of Bethlehem but Israel plans to annex to Jerusalem.

The daily said the Planning and Building Committee of the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem announced its plan to seize the land to build a park for the settlements in the area. The paper printed a picture of the confiscated land.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida’s prime headline quoted President Mahmoud Abbas talking about Palestinian efforts with international human rights groups to release Hana Shalabi, the Palestinian prisoner who has been on an open-ended hunger strike for 35 days protesting her arrest without charge or trial. Abbas made these comments during his meeting with Shalabi's parents.

The main article in al-Quds newspaper focused on US military officials expecting a regional war resulting from an Israeli military strike against Iran, which would drag ther US into it and cause large loss of human life.

The dailies featured the funeral of Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria on Tuesday in the Monastery of Wadi Natrun in Egypt. Al-Hayat al-Jadida and al-Quds dailies printed pictures of Egyptian mourners attending the service.

Al-Quds daily tackled Israeli official criticism of a statement by European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton about the killing of Jewish and Palestinian children.

The newspaper slammed the Israeli inhumane killing of Palestinian children and questioned the Israeli pressure on European leaders to prevent them from acknowledging part of the truth of the Israeli crimes.

R.Q./M.S.