RAMALLAH, Tuesday, September 01, 2020 (WAFA) – The first direct flight between Israel and the United Arab Emirates following the US-sponsored normalization agreement besides to the Qatari-mediated deal to deescalate the situation in Gaza hit the front page headlines in the dailies.

Al-Quds said that the Israeli-US delegation, which arrived to Abu Dhabi, was discussing the signing of cooperation agreements with the UAE in line with the normalization agreement, while al-Ayyam said that Abu Dhabi received Israel’s El Al normalization flight.

Al-Ayyam printed an analysis of the implications of the El Al’s flight name Kiryat Gat.

“Kiryat Gat” is the name of an Israeli colonial settlement that was built on the remains of two ethnically cleansed Palestinian villages, Iraq al-Manshiyya and al-Faluja in 1948.

Premier Mohammad Shtayyeh was reported condemning the first direct flight between Israel and UAE.

He was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida slamming the flight as “a blatant violation” of the Arab position on the Arab-Israeli conflict”.

He was also reported in al-Ayyam stating that Israel was still attempting to extort the Palestinians using the withheld clearance tax funds.

Shtayyeh made his comments during the cabinet’s weekly session.

The cabinet, the dailies said, decided to start the school year and open schools on Sunday September 6 on a gradual basis, and approved the appointment of 1,900 new teachers.

UAE Foreign Minister Mohammad bin Zayed al-Nahyan was reported in al-Quds and al-Ayyam claiming that his country was still committed to the establishment of the Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The Qatari-mediated deal to deescalate the situation in the besieged Gaza Strip and southern Israel also dominated the front page headlines in the dailies.

Al-Quds said that a Qatari-mediated calm agreement was reached between Hamas and Israel following a phone call between Qatari foreign minister Mohammed Abdel Rahman al-Thani and Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.

Under the agreement, which al-Ayyam described as  new understandings, Israel will ease the restrictions imposed on the strip and install a fuel pipeline to Gaza in return for halting the launch of incendiary balloons.

Statistics about the pandemic outbreak in the occupied Palestinian territories also hit the front page headlines in the dailies.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that 875 Palestinians tested positive for the virus and seven others died of it in the last 24 hours, marking the highest daily increase of COVID-19 cases.

According to al-Quds, confirmed cases and fatalities were 525 and three in the last 24 hours.

Among the cases, al-Ayyam added, 350 cases were recorded in Jerusalem, 249 others in Hebron and 99 others in Gaza.

The Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ministry was reported in al-Ayyam announcing 39 confirmed cases and a fatality among Palestinians in the diaspora in the last 24 hours.

Regarding home demolitions, Israeli occupation authorities forced two Palestinian brothers to self-demolish their own houses in Beit Hania, north of Jerusalem.

The dailies said that Israeli settlers grabbed more Palestinian land as they continue to expand an illegal colonial settlement outpost in the northern Jordan Valley.

Al-Quds added that settlers carried out attacks against Palestinians and their property in Hebron and Bethlehem districts.

Member of Hamas political bureau Husam Badran was reported in al-Quds announcing that there was progress in Hamas-Fatah dialogues, and describing the upcoming meeting, scheduled on Thursday September 3, as a long-anticipated step.

Chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Palestine Manu Pineda was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida describing Israel as an apartheid state, and calling for imposing sanctions on Israel and recognizing the State of Palestine.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida printed a feature story titled The homes and structures of Hebron’s Old City lie at the heart of Israeli occupation authorities and settlers’ ambitions.

It said that Arab-American institutions condemn normalization with the Israeli occupation as an act of treachery and betrayal to the Palestinians.

K.F.