RAMALLAH, Wednesday, April 21, 2021 (WAFA) – Israeli occupation authorities’ plan to seize large tracts of land besides to orders to demolish houses in the northern West Bank hit the front page headlines in the dailies.  

Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that the Israeli occupation authorities have advanced a plan to seize 1,243 donums of Palestinian land, east of Tulkarm city.

Al-Quds added in this regard that the land is seized to make room for the expansion of the Israeli colonial settlement of Einav.

The dailies also reported that the occupation authorities issued demolition and stop-construction orders against 13 Palestinian houses in Qabalan village, south of Nablus.

Al-Quds said that Israeli forces seized two caravans in Susya village in the Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron city.

According to al-Ayyam, Israeli military bulldozers razed a large tract of land in al-Walaja village, west of Bethlehem.

In contrast, al-Hayat al-Jadida opted to spotlight escalating tensions surrounding the holy month of Ramadan in Jerusalem.

It said that Jerusalemite Palestinians continued to confront the Israeli police’s assault on the city and its holy sites for the eighth consecutive day.

It added that a Palestinian was forced to demolish his own house in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabbir.

The fact that hundreds of Palestinians are on the verge of being forcefully displaced from their houses in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah also featured as a main story.

Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Jordan condemns Israel’s illegitimate attempts to drive Jerusalemite Palestinians from their houses and land.

The dailies added that the Jordanian Foreign Affairs Ministry provided the Palestinian embassy to Jordan with copies of the title deeds proving that the Palestinians at the risk of displacement hold the legal right to their property.

Highlighting the latest statistics on the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, the dailies said that 2,025 Palestinians contracted the virus and 31 other died of it in the occupied territories (the West Bank and Gaza).

Al-Quds added in this regard that 46 Covid-19 patients are connected to respirators in the West Bank and Gaza.

Moreover, Health Minister Mai Al-Kaileh was reported in al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida announcing that Palestine has bought 4.5 million doses of the Pfizer and Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines, and that the vaccines were expected to arrive soon.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was reported in al-Quds expressing concern over the alarming increase in reported COVID-19 cases in Gaza.

On the issue of general elections, al-Quds reported presidential advisor Nabil Shaath stating that it is likely to postpone the elections if international pressure on Israel fails to allow elections be held in Jerusalem.

Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister Riyad al-Malki was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida stating that the Palestinian leadership was determined to hold the elections as scheduled throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.

According to al-Quds, the Israeli occupation authorities are banning Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher Sheikh Ekrima Sabri from travel.

The dailies said that Britain reaffirms its absolute respect of the independence of the International Criminal Court (ICC), pointing that Palestine has welcomed this clarification.

They said that two US senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren call for restricting US aid to Israel.

According to al-Hayat al-Jadida, Israeli special units of the Israeli Prison Service stormed the notorious detention and interrogation facility of Ofer, west of Ramallah, where they carried out drills inside one of the detention facility sections.

National Economy Minister Khaled al-Osaily was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida voicing his expectations that the Palestinian economy will grow by 6 percent in 2021.

Finally, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) was reported in al-Ayyam saying that over two-thirds of the West Bank and Gaza business establishments were temporarily closed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

K.F.