RAMALLAH, Tuesday, November 17, 2020 (WAFA) – The disruption of European diplomats’ visit to the site of planned settlement construction at the colonial settlement of Givat Hamatos, built on the land of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa, dominated the front page headlines in the dailies.

Al-Quds said that Israeli settlers expelled the EU representatives from the site of the colonial settlement neighborhood.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that the settlers attacked the EU mission as it was monitoring colonial settlement expansion in Jerusalem.

Al-Ayyam said in this regard that settlers attempted to prevent the EU representatives from protesting settlement construction in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa.

Al-Quds also reported the United Nations (UN) Mideast envoy Nickolay Mladenov stating the Israeli occupation authorities’ decision to open up tenders for the construction of 1,257 colonial settler units, south of Jerusalem, “would significantly damage the prospects for a future contiguous Palestinian State.”

It also reported Palestinian-Israeli lawmaker Ahmad Tibi saying that Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu is exploiting the remainder of US President Donald Trump’s term to accelerate colonial settlement construction in violation of international law.

Premier Mohamad Shtayyeh’s comments slamming Israeli colonial settlement construction also hit the front page headlines in the dailies.

Shtayyeh was reported in al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida pledging to take legal action against any company dealing with Israel’s colonial settlements.

He was also reported in al-Ayyam stating that

The Israeli occupation authorities were “racing against time to create fait accompli before US President Donald Trump leaves office,” referring to the colonial settlement activities.

Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida added that the cabinet agreed to allocate several plots of land in various governorates for public interest.

The latest wave of property demolitions as part of Israel’s larger policy of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people also hit the front page in the dailies.

Al-Quds said that the Israeli military demolished 10 Palestinian-owned structures and seized a bulldozer across various parts of the West Bank.

Al-Ayyam elaborated that Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian-owned house and three other structures and leveled a plot of land across several governorates.

Al-Quds said that Israeli forces rounded up 18 Palestinians in multiple raids across the West Bank. According to al-Hayat al-Jadida, detainees totaled 16.

Spotlighting latest coronavirus statistics, the dailies said that 836 Palestinians contracted Covid-19 and seven others died of it in the occupied territories (the West Bank and the Gaza Strip).

Al-Quds added that 607 Covid-19 patients recovered in the occupied territories.

According to al-Quds and al-Ayyam, 90 Palestinians tested positive for the virus and another died of it in just two days in East Jerusalem city.

The Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ministry was reported in al-Quds and al-Ayyam recording 13 Covid-19 cases and three fatalities among Palestinians in the diaspora.

Moreover, al-Quds said that Moayyad Khatib, a prisoner, tested positive for the virus in the Israeli notorious detention facility of Ofer, west of Ramallah.

Moayyad’s brother, Daoud, died of a heart attack due to what human rights activists described as deliberate medical negligence at the same detention facility in early September.

The Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ministry was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida affirming Palestine’s position not to intervene in the international affairs of brotherly Arab countries.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that President Mahmoud Abbas extended his condolences to his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad on the death of longtime Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem.

It highlighted Foreign Minister Riyad Malki’s meeting with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi in Amman.

It reported Malki and Safadi stating that a just, comprehensive and lasting peace is a strategic option that should be realized through the two-state solution.

It also reported that the Arab League, Egypt and Turkey condemned Israel’s decision to open up tenders for the construction of 1,257 colonial settler units, south of Jerusalem.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini was reported in al-Ayyam warning of a disaster in Gaza and Lebanon due to the lack of financial support.

K.F.