RAMALLAH, Thursday, March 17, 2022 (WAFA) – The planned open-ended hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody besides to new Israeli colonial settlement construction plans hit the front page headlines in Thursday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that the Palestinian prisoners’ movement decides to start an open-ended hunger strike starting March 25.
They reported that the Palestinian government renewed its demands for the immediate release of cancer-stricken prisoner in Israeli jails, Nasser Abu Hmeid.
Al-Ayyam added that the health condition of Abu Hmeid has disastrously deteriorated, while al-Hayat al-Jadida pointed that recent tests show cancer has returned to his lungs.
Abu Hmeid, a 49-year-old resident of al-Amari refugee camp in Al-Bireh, has been detained since 2002 and sentenced to 5 life sentences and 50 years. His mother was deprived of visiting him and he lost his father during his years of detention.
New Israeli colonial settlement construction plans dominated the front page headlines in the dailies.
The dailies said that the Israeli occupation authorities leveled large tract of Palestinian land in Beit Safafa town, southeast of Jerusalem, for the construction of a new colonial settlement “neighborhood”.
Al-Ayyam added that the new settlement “neighborhood” would envisage the construction of 2,500 new settler units.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted an Israeli plan to construct 20 colonial settlement towers on lands belonging to the depopulated Palestinian village of Lifta, at the entrance of Jerusalem.
On the other hand, al-Quds opted to spotlight Russian-Ukrainian War as its main front page news item.
It said that the Russian attack on Ukraine is ongoing as Moscow insists on Ukraine’s neutral status.
Furthermore, the dailies said that Pope Francis blessed a Palestinian educational hospital development project in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
The dailies said that Palestinian citizens of Israel laid Sanad Salem al-Harbad to his rest in Rahat city.
Al-Harbad, a 27-year-old father of three children, was gunned down by an undercover Israeli police force during a detention raid in the city.
They added that preliminary autopsy results refute claims of Israeli police about al-Harbad’s killing.
Moreover, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that several Palestinians were injured by Israeli military gunfire in confrontations in Jenin.
They also reported that 312 Palestinians tested positive for Covid-19 and six others died of it in the occupied territories.
Al-Ayyam added that Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian property in the Salfit-district village of Kafe Ad-Deek and the Nablus-district village of Burqa.
The European Union was reported in al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida affirming ongoing financial support to Palestine.
Palestinian envoy to the United Nations Riyad Mansour was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida calling for international measures to held Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people.
Regionally, al-Quds said that senior Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri and senior Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhaleh discussed the developments on the Palestinian arena in a meeting in Beirut.
According to al-Ayyam, US President Joe Biden signed aid package to Palestinians.
K.F.
