RAMALLAH, Wednesday, September 2, 2020 (WAFA) – Holding a Palestinian elderly protestor in chokehold similar to the one that killed George Floyd in an anti-settlement rally in Tulkarem district dominated the front page headlines in Wednesday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.
Al-Quds printed a feature story for 65-year-old Khairi Hannoun recounting how Israeli forces beaten and put him in chokeholds as he participated in the anti-settlement and land grab rally in Shufa village, south of Tulkarem.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida printed in white bold: Floyd, the American, and Hannoun, the Palestinian, are two victims, one crime.
Al-Ayyam said in this regard that dozens of Palestinians were injured as Israeli occupation forces cracked on an anti-settlement peaceful rally in several villages in Tulkarem district.
The dailies printed a photo showing an Israeli soldier wrestling Hannoun to the ground and kneeling on his neck while detaining him during the rally.
Hannoun was among dozens of protestors who rallied against Israel’s plan to seize some 800 dunams (800,000 square meters) of land for colonial settlement construction.
According to the dailies, President Mahmoud Abbas issued two laws by decree amending the Firearms Law and the Cybercrimes Law.
Statistics about the coronavirus pandemic outbreak in the occupied Palestinian territories also hit the front page headlines in the dailies.
The dailies said that 552 Palestinians contracted the virus and seven others died of it in the occupied territories (the West Bank and Gaza) in the last 24 hours.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam added in this regard that 249 Palestinians tested positive for the virus in East Jerusalem in the last two days.
Al-Ayyam added that new epicenters of the pandemic appeared amid fears about the aggravation of the pandemic.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that a state of anxiety prevails in Beit Ur al-Tahta, west of Ramallah, as one fatality and over 44 confirmed coronavirus cases, including the cases of 17 teachers, were recorded in the village.
According to al-Quds, Israeli occupation authorities handed stop-construction orders for 11 Palestinian houses and structures in the Salfit-district village of Kufr al-Dik and the Bethlehem-district town of Tuqu.
It added that the occupation authorities prevented the construction of an agricultural road in Jalud village, south of Nablus, and cracked down on an anti-settlement protest in Shufa village.
It said that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh arrived to Lebanon to participate in the meeting of the secretary-generals of all Palestinian factions, scheduled on Thursday.
Secretary-General of Fatah Central Committee Jibril Rajoub was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida announcing that building a real partnership among Palestinian factions and attaining a unified political stance are placed at the top of the agenda of the meeting.
The dailies said that three children died in a fire accident at their family house in Nusseirat refugee camp in the central besieged Gaza Strip.
Regionally, al-Quds said that the signing ceremony of the UAE-Israeli normalization agreement is scheduled on September 13.
Elaborating on the agreement, al-Ayyam printed a news analysis saying that Hamas has run the Qatari-mediated clam dialogues with Israel without consulting the other Palestinian factions.
Chairman of the Qatari Committee for Gaza Reconstruction Mohammad al-Emadi was reported in al-Quds saying that Qatar has doubled the cash aid to Gaza and pledged to continue to support the Palestinian people.
Member of Hamas political bureau Khalil al-Hayya was reported in al-Quds disclosing the details of the Qatari-mediated Hamas-Israel deal to deescalate the situation in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Al-Quds highlighted a call to form a technical committee to be in charge of inspecting Israeli violations and excavations in the vicinity of Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
It noted that 107 Israeli settlers barged their way under police escort to the mosque compound.
K.F.
