RAMALLAH, June 24, 2013 (WAFA) – The main front page story of the Monday issue in two of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies highlighted the most recent government crisis.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida led with the headline that said President Mahmoud Abbas accepted on Sunday the resignation of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, submitted on Thursday, and that he asked him to stay on as caretaker until a new prime minister is appointed.
The third daily, al-Quds, highlighted this story lower on its front page and led with the same headline as the others.
The main front page story in al-Quds focused on Israeli seizure of Palestinian land in Sur Baher, in Jerusalem, as well as in Awarta and Roujeeb, in the north of the West Bank.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported on Israeli measures in the occupied territories and said the Israeli government is drawing plans to evict Bedouin families living in and around East Jerusalem from their land and to concentrate them in one place in Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, which is under Palestinian administration.
Al-Ayyam had a story in which it said Israeli settlers and reporters “raided al-Aqsa Mosque and desecrated it.” It reported on the campaign by fanatic Jewish groups to use the Israeli media to promote their claim to the Muslim holy place, which they want to turn into a Jewish site.
The papers reported on the conflict in Gaza between Hamas and the Islamic Jihad following the killing of a member of the Islamic Jihad. They said the Islamic Jihad has cut all contacts with Hamas in Gaza.
Al-Quds reported on the financial crisis facing a hospital in Nablus and quoted its director saying: “We face a critical financial crisis and we may close our hospital.”
It said in a story from Reuters that the United Nations has warned of a rise in the number of people in Palestine who are not getting the proper nourishment and food and therefore may suffer from either malnutrition or famine.
The papers continued to report on the winner of the talent show, Arab Idol, and said Muhammad Assaf, from Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, is going to return to Gaza on Tuesday and will later start his singing tour in the West Bank.
Al-Quds said the British Consul General in Jerusalem and his wife voted for Assaf.
Al-Ayyam said on this subject in a headline: “The time of Muhammad Assaf: Palestine finally has its own singer.”
The situation in Egypt and a court charges against Hamas and Hezbollah of involvement in a raid on a jail and release of prisoners during the early days of the revolution were also highlighted on the front page of the dailies.
M.S.
