RAMALLAH, April 14, 2012 (WAFA) – The front page of the Saturday issue of the Palestinian dailies al-Ayyam and al-Quds highlighted statements by President Mahmoud Abbas in Tokyo stressing that he will wait two weeks for an answer from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his letter.
He said the letter, which he will send soon, will elaborate on the situation between Palestinians and Israelis, accusing Israel of stripping the Palestinian Authority of its powers.
Abbas said the Americans will intervene if Israel would not give a positive response to the letter, but if they do not succeed in their efforts, then the Palestinian leadership will take the appropriate decision, according to the papers.
The main front page story in all three papers had to do with the weekly protests in the West Bank against Israel’s apartheid wall and settlements.
The papers reported on the Israeli army crackdown on the protests in several West Bank villages, most prominently in Bilin where the 7th annual conference on popular struggle ended its four-day sessions.
Dozens of Palestinian and international supporters were hurt in the crackdown from the heavy use of tear gas by Israeli soldiers.
Both al-Hayat al-Jadida and al-Quds printed pictures of an Israeli soldier arguing with a Palestinian kid raising a banner during the march in al-Ma'sara, a village south of Bethlehem.
Al-Quds newspaper reported that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has approved a $147 million economic support package to the Palestinian people, overriding a fund freeze by the US House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The paper also printed a column by former US President Jimmy Carter urging people not to give up on peace in the Middle East.
Al-Ayyam reported on its front page that an Israeli organization has blacklisted dozens of Israeli university lecturers due to their support of Palestinian rights and were described as “extremists” and “anti-Zionists,” according to Israeli media reports.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida chose to highlight reports by the German airline Lufthansa cancelling tickets for alleged pro-Palestinian travelers to Israel on the Welcome to Palestine fly-in campaign that is supposed to kick off this week.
Reports on the demonstrations in Egypt by Islamists against nomination of former spy chief Omar Suleiman for the post of president dominated the papers, as well as reports on the situation in Syria following the UN-brokered ceasefire.
R.Q./M.S.
