RAMALLAH, June 15, 2013 (WAFA) – The three Palestinian Arabic dailies highlighted on Saturday the Israeli “price tag” vandalism of Palestinian property in Jerusalem as well as the Israeli army crackdown on the weekly anti-settlements, anti-wall protests in the West Bank.
The main headline in al-Quds said: “Settlers write racist slogans and burn two cars in Sheikh Jarrah.” The paper printed a picture of the damaged cars.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said: “Dozens of injuries in the West Bank protests and settlers burn two cars in Jerusalem.” A picture on the front page showed a scene from the protests as Palestinians block roads with rocks and tires in Kufr Qaddoum near Qalqilya to prevent army jeeps from pursuing them, and an embedded picture of the two damaged cars in Jerusalem.
Al-Ayyam said in a headline printed on a picture of heavy smoke coming out from a large number of burning tires also in Kufr Qaddoum: Dozens of injuries following occupation forces’ crackdown on the weekly protests in the West Bank. The paper also printed a story on the Israeli vandalism of the cars in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem.
The top story in al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida, however, focused on statements by Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon announcing that efforts by United States Secretary of State John Kerry to revive the peace process have failed “due to Palestinian inflexibility,” as came in al-Ayyam headline.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said in its headline: “Yaalon announces death of Kerry’s efforts: He failed.”
The three dailies printed a story by the French news agency, AFP, quoting analysts saying that Kerry’s efforts to resume negotiations are beginning to lose steam.
Al-Quds said in a story from Stockholm that Sweden was considering cutting down on aid to the Palestinians because of the failure of the peace process.
The same paper quoted Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh denying from Gaza any differences within his movement and stressing that there are no Hamas fighters in Syria.
Haniyeh arrived in Cairo on Friday for talks with Egyptian officials and he was later followed by Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal who headed an 11-member delegation, said the paper.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that as Hamas delegations from Gaza and Doha arrive in Egypt, the Islamist movement admits existence of “limited” corruption within its organization.
The three papers reported on an attempt by a Palestinian from Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, to set himself on fire to protest a Hamas decision to remove his shop in order to build a mosque in its place. Hamas claims the plot the shop was built on was state property and it wants it back to build the mosque. They said the shop owner was seriously injured and his brother moderately hurt when he tried to put the fire out.
The papers also said that Palestinian poet Ghassan Zaqtan won the prestigious Griffin prize for poetry in Toronto in the foreign poems category.
M.S.
