RAMALLAH, Saturday, February 20, 2021 (WAFA) – The three Palestinian Arabic dailies published today highlighted the Israeli army crackdown on the peaceful weekly Palestinian anti-occupation, anti-settlements protests in the occupied territories, and the several dozen injuries caused as a result.
In addition to the crackdown, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida dailies said Israel flooded Gaza border farmlands with rainwater after opening gates in the levees and dumped the extra water on the Gaza side of the border causing serious damage to Palestinian crops and the farms.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted the Israeli release of the body of a 45-year-old Palestinian man who died in prison of a heart attack four months before his scheduled release date after serving 19 years for his resistance of the occupation. The man, Daoud Khatib, from Bethlehem, died while in prison in September and even though he was supposed to be released in December, Israel kept his body until it freed it to his family last night.
The third daily, al-Ayyam, said Israeli settlers broke into a Palestinian archeological site in the north of the West Bank in their efforts to take it over.
It said in another story, based on a report by the Israeli Peace Now, that Israel intends to open a tunnel under Qalandia area in the north of occupied Jerusalem to link settlements in the area with the north of the West Bank, as well as opening an alternative road for Palestinians only east of Jerusalem so that they will not use the main road used by Israeli settlers commuting between Jerusalem and their illegal Maale Adumim and area settlements.
In addition, said the paper, a bypass road will be built for settlers south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus to avoid going through Palestinian neighborhoods.
Al-Quds daily said in a report that the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, started yesterday internal elections to choose its leadership for the next four years and that its current chief, Ismail Haniyeh, former chief, Khaled Mishaal, and Hamas second-in-command, Saleh Arouri, are competing for the top post in the movement. Hamas will hold elections in Gaza, the West Bank, and in the diaspora as it gets ready to participate in the May and July Palestinian legislative and presidential elections, respectively.
The three dailies also highlighted the latest with the corona pandemic in Palestine, the region, and the world, and said Israel has agreed to inoculate 100,000 Palestinians who work inside Israel with the corona vaccine.
Al-Quds said in a report that a study by a Palestinian think tank concluded that the next Israeli government is going to be more aggressive and that the Palestinian Authority should focus on organizing the Palestinian home.
Al-Ayyam said in a story that the Medical Association is going on strike beginning Monday to protest government failure to keep its part of an agreement reached between them last year.
The daily, and al-Hayat al-Jadida, had a story about the situation of Palestinians displaced by Israel in Humsa al-Bqaia in the northern Jordan Valley after their homes were demolished.
Al-Quds also highlighted a story about US-Saudi relations.
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