RAMALLAH, Saturday, July 18, 2020 (WAFA) – Palestinians in the occupied West Bank protesting Israeli seizure of their land for illegal settlement expansion and the latest toll of the coronavirus disease in Palestine and the world were the focus of today's Palestinian Arabic dailies.
The three papers said Palestinians performed the Friday prayer on their seized land in Halhoul in the south of the West Bank, while residents of Assira in the north of the West Bank clashed with soldiers during a protest against seizure of their land.
Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers were also reported in other parts of the West Bank, said the dailies, leaving some light injuries.
Al-Quds said the Greek Orthodox Church was able to retake its property Israel had seized after the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Al-Ayyam quoted the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territories saying that Israel demolished or seized 31 Palestinian-owned structures in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the past two weeks.
It also quoted Michael Lynk, United Nations Special Rapporteur, saying Israel's use of collective punishment against the Palestinians as an "affront to justice.”
The papers also said two Palestinians have died of coronavirus in the West Bank and 439 others have tested positive for the disease in the past 24 hours.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted the closure of the West Bank in an effort by the Palestinian government to stop the rapid spread of the disease.
Al-Ayyam had a report about concern of the disease reaching the crowded Palestinian refugee camps.
It quoted a senior US official saying that the US called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep open chances of establishing a Palestinian state in light of the latter's decision to annex a large part of the occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank.
Al-Quds said the program of the American Democratic Party does not call for an end to the Israeli occupation and keeps US military aid to Israel at the same level.
M.K.
