RAMALLAH, Tuesday, October 20, 2020 (WAFA) – The health conditions of PLO official who contracted COVID-19 last week besides to planned house demolitions in Jerusalem dominated the front page headlines in Tuesday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.

The Erekat family was reported in al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida announcing that Secretary-General of PLO Executive Committee Saeb Erekat remains in critical condition as his condition is supervised by an international medical team.

The dailies added that the Palestinian Presidency and government were closely monitoring Erekat’s health condition.

Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital was reported in al-Ayyam announcing that Erekat’s health condition became more serious, but stable.

The new spate of planned house demolitions in Jerusalem also hit the front page headlines in the dailies.

The dailies said that Israeli occupation authorities issued demolition orders against 13 inhabited Palestinian houses in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam added that the occupation authorities approved a tender for the construction of a settler-only road, south of Nablus.

According to al-Ayyam, the occupation authorities tore down a residential tent in Khirbet al-Farisiya in the Jordan Valley.

The dailies also covered ongoing settler attacks against Palestinians, particularly during the olive harvesting season.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that Israeli settlers set up two new colonial settlement outposts in Jalud and Beita tows, south of Nablus city.

Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that settlers flooded olive groves with sewage wastewater in Deir al-Hatab, east of Nablus.

The dailies highlighted the health condition of Maher al-Akhras, a 49-year-old father of six children who has been on hunger strike for close to 90 days in protest of his administrative detention without charge or trial.

The Detainees & Ex-detainees Commission was reported in the dailies announcing that al-Akhras has foiled the Israeli occupation authorities’ attempt to circumvent his battle of ending his administrative detention.

It was also reported in al-Quds saying that al-Akhras rejected the Israeli Prison Service’s (IPS) offer to transfer him to al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem as he pledged to proceed with his strike until he gains his freedom.

According to al-Quds, heads of EU missions visited the Palestinian communities of Umm al-Kheir and Khirbet al-Majaz, threatened with demolition, in the southern Hebron hills.

Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh was reported in al-Quds and al-Ayyam condemning the visit of Arab delegations to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under Israeli protection.

He was also reported in al-Ayyam welcoming EU member states rejection of Israeli colonial settlement expansion and urging them to recognize the State of Palestine.

The dailies said that the Palestinian cabinet issued a new call for international tenders worth USD$ 160 million to generate electricity from Zahrat al-Finjan solid waste landfill.

They said that 543 Palestinians tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida confirmed six new coronavirus fatalities in the occupied territories, while al-Ayyam reported seven new fatalities.

Al-Ayyam reported the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry announcing that 60 Palestinians contracted the virus in the diaspora.

Al-Quds said that Secretary-General of Fatah Central Committee Jibril Rajoub and Hamas senior official Saleh Arouri confirmed ongoing dialogue to reach a national agreement on ending the division.

Rajoub was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida saying that building a national strategy was an inescapable choice.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was reported in al-Quds promising Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody to reach another prisoner deal.

According to al-Hayat al-Jadida, Japan contributed $4.3 million for food assistance to Palestinian refugees.

K.F.