RAMALLAH, Tuesday, November 3, 2020 (WAFA) – The Israeli occupation authorities’ move to declare large swaths of land in the West Bank as state land besides to the construction of the Silicon Valley technology park in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz hit the front page headlines in the dailies.
Al-Quds said that the so-called Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) submitted a recommendation ]to the government[ on seizing more Palestinian land, classified as Area C, in the West Bank.
Al-Ayyam said in this regard that the ICA recommendation is designed to facilitate the seizure of large swaths of land in the West Bank.
The “Civil Administration” is the name Israel gives to the body administering its military occupation of the West Bank.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that the Israeli occupation authorities approved the Judaization of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz.
The occupation authorities approved the destruction of dozens of Palestinian businesses in Wadi al-Joz neighborhood as part of a plan to construct a new settlement on their ruins called ‘Silicon Valley’.
Ongoing demolitions of Palestinian homes and settlers attacks across the west Bank also hit the front page headlines.
The dailies reported that the Israeli occupation authorities demolished a Palestinian house in Rujeib village, east of Nablus city.
The authorities, according to al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida, demolished another house in Masafer Yatta, a collection of hamlets in the southern Hebron district.
Al-Ayyam added that Israeli police served stop-construction and demolition orders against several houses and structures in the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Issawiya and Silwan.
Al-Quds said that Israeli forces prevented Palestinian farmers from harvesting their olive groves in Beit Furik town, east of Nablus city.
Al-Ayyam added that Israeli settlers attacked olive harvesters in the same town.
According to al-Quds, Israeli forces rounded up a number of activists affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in multiple raids across the West Bank.
The dailies highlighted President Mahmoud Abbas’ phone call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
Abbas was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida urging everyone to respect religions and religious symbols, including Islam’s Prophet Mohammad.
Macron was reported in al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida stating that he respects Islam and the Islamic World and did not mean to offend them.
He was also reported reiterating his country’s stable position in support of the Middle East peace based on the two-state solution.
The case of Maher al-Akhras,49-year-old father of six who has been on hunger strike for 100 days in protest of his arbitrary administrative detention without charge or trial, also hit the front page headlines.
Al-Quds elaborated that al-Akhras suffers from increasing convulsions, lost consciousness and other risks affecting his vital organs.
The other two dailies spotlighted intensified efforts and calls for ending the suffering of al-Akhras and saving his life.
The dailies said that 12 Palestinian prisoners tested positive for COVID-19 in Gilboa detention facility in northern Israel, compelling other prisoners in three detention facilities to take escalatory measures.
Al-Quds reported an unnamed Hamas leader revealing that the movement has conveyed messages via intermediaries on the spread of the pandemic among prisoners in Israeli jails.
They added that 749 Palestinians contracted the highly contagious virus and four others died of it in the occupied territories (the West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip).
Al-Quds added in this regard that 438 COVID-19 patients recovered in the occupied territories.
Among the 749 new confirmed cases, 272 cases were recorded in Gaza and 158 in Nablus governorate, according to al-Ayyam.
It added that a new COVID-19 case was confirmed among Palestinians in Russia.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that Palestinians rallied across the occupied territories to mark the 103rd anniversary of the infamous Balfour Declaration, calling on Britain to apologize for the damage it has inflicted upon the Palestinian people.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida added in this regard that Palestinian refugees in Lebanon called on Britain to apologize for and rectify its historic mistake.
Chairman of the Palestinian Housing Council Ibrahim Shaaban was reported in al-Quds saying that there is a need to construct 30,000 housing units for Palestinians in East Jerusalem to solve the housing crisis, with the first 158 units approved in Beit Hanina neighborhood.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that the Palestinian cabinet approved an aid package for groups affected by the coronavirus crisis and decided to establish the Palestine Water Company.
The US Presidential elections and the heated presidential race US President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden are leading also hit the front page headlines.
K.F.
