RAMALLAH, Saturday, October 17, 2020 (WAFA) – The European Union (EU) position on the latest Israeli plans to expand the illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories with over 5000 new housing units and the Israeli army crackdown on the peaceful Palestinian protests against the occupation and land grab were highlighted on the front page of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies published today.
The papers said the EU took a firm position against the Israeli settlement plans saying five main EU countries have condemned the settlements, stressing they will not recognize any changes to the pre-1967 borders, as reported in the main front-page story in al-Ayyam daily.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida daily highlighted the reaction of the Palestinian presidency to the EU position quoting it saying that this nullifies what Israel is doing because of its violation of international law.
Al-Quds daily reported on this as well as said in its editorial that the Palestinians expect more from the EU than just statements of condemnation.
It said Palestinian administrative detainee Maher al-Akhras is on his 83rd day of hunger strike in protest against his detention and is said to be in critical health condition.
The three papers also highlighted the Israeli crackdown on the weekly peaceful protests in the occupied territories against the Israeli occupation and its settlement plans and said dozens of people were hurt when the soldiers opened fire and shot teargas at the protesters.
They said among the injured were journalists who were covering attempts by Palestinians to harvest the olives in the Ramallah-area village of Burqa after the army, going along with the settlers, has banned the Palestinian farmers from reaching their lands for the harvest.
Coronavirus in Palestine, the region, and the world was also highlighted on the front page of the three dailies, which said one person has died of the virus in Palestine yesterday and almost 400 new cases were recorded.
Al-Quds said only 1500 Muslim worshippers were allowed by Israeli police into Al-Aqsa Mosque for the Friday prayers as the police continued, and for the fourth week, to ban non-residents of the old city of Jerusalem from reaching the holy site.
Al-Ayyam said the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem is discussing with the United Arab Emirates investing in a settlement project in Wadi al-Joz neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem.
It said also that Bahrain and Israel are going to sign a protocol agreement tomorrow for exchanging diplomatic missions between them.
It also said that a Sudanese businessman is organizing a trip for 40 nationals to Israel to boost the normalization of relations between his country and Israel.
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