RAMALLAH, April 2, 2012 (WAFA) – The three Palestinian Arabic dailies Monday highlighted the release of former striking prisoner Hana Shalabi to the Gaza Strip.

Shalabi, from the northern West Bank city of Jenin, went on a 44-day hunger strike protesting her arrest without charge or trial. She agreed to end her hunger strike in exchange of her release to the Gaza Strip for three years.

Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida dailies printed pictures of Shalabi arriving in Gaza on a stretcher and reported that she was immediately transferred to a hospital to receive treatment.

The prime focus of al-Ayyam was the 'Friends of Syria' meeting in the city of Istanbul in Turkey during which the 83 nation “friends” recognized the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) as a legitimate representative of all Syrians and called on UN-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan to set a timeline for his six-point proposal to end the violence in the country.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported on its front page that Israeli soldiers used force to disperse a demonstration of Palestinian and international activists in a building, which settlers forcibly took over in the Old City of Hebron. The daily said soldiers arrested three activists.

The newspaper printed a picture of a young man raising a Palestinian flag on an Israeli military observation point. A smaller picture showed Israeli soldiers attacking an international activist at the entrance of the building.

The three dailies featured the death of three siblings due to a fire caused by a candle in the southern Gaza Strip city of Deir al-Balah on Monday night.

Al-Quds editorial condemned the Israeli expulsion of Shalabi, which violates international law and especially the Geneva Conventions. The daily slammed the Israeli pressure practiced against Shalabi on top of her health deterioration to reach what is described as “so-called agreement.”

R.Q./M.S.