RAMALLAH, Saturday, January 16, 2021 (WAFA) – The three Palestinian Arabic dailies published today highlighted on their front page the decision by President Mahmoud Abbas to hold national elections in Palestine on three consecutive days.
The papers said the decree issued by President Abbas set elections in three stages starting with legislative elections on May 22, followed by presidential elections on July 31, and ending with elections, wherever possible, for the Palestinian National Council, the Palestinian parliament in exile.
The papers printed a picture of President Abbas with the head of the Central Elections Commission, Hanna Nasser, holding the decree document after their meeting in Ramallah yesterday.
Al-Quds daily published reactions in support of the elections.
The second main story on the front page of the three dailies was the Israeli army crackdown on the weekly peaceful Palestinian protests in the occupied West Bank.
Al-Ayyam daily said dozens of people were injured, including six by live bullets, when Israeli soldiers attacked participants in the protests against the occupation and the settlements. The protests were concentrated in al-Mughayyer and Deir Jarir villages near Ramallah and in Kufr Qaddoum, near Qalqilya.
Al-Quds said that the Israeli occupation forces prevented Palestinian Muslim worshippers from reaching Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s old city to perform the Friday prayers, and issued dozens of fines to Palestinians under the pretext of violating the coronavirus lockdown.
The coronavirus and its toll at home, the region and the world were also highlighted on the front page of the three dailies today.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida daily said more Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have contracted the disease and concern rises for their life and said Israel has decided to inoculate the prisoners starting next week.
Developments in the United States in the aftermath of the attack on the Capitol also found room on the front page of the three Palestinian dailies.
M.K.
