RAMALLAH, May 4, 2015 (WAFA) – The Israeli government’s plan to advance the construction of 1,500 new settler units in the East Jerusalem settlement of ‘Ramat Shlomo’ coupled with Israeli forces’ wide-scale military drills in Nablus village of Khirbet al-Tawil hit the front page headlines in Palestinian dailies.

The three Arabic dailies reported that Israel has decided to advance the construction of 1,500 new settler units in ‘Ramat Shlomo’ settlement, [which was built on West Bank territory illegally seized by Israel in the 1967 war and annexed to Jerusalem.] 

Al-Ayyam quoted Palestinian cartographer Khalil al-Tafakji as warning that Israel intends to construct 58,000 new settler units by 2020.

Also with relation to settlement construction, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported the Israeli settler organization of Regavim as saying that Israel has constructed 2,026 settler units on privately-owned Palestinian lands in the West Bank.

Covering the Israeli military drills, al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported that Israeli forces conducted military drills in Khirbet al-Tawil, sabotaging hundreds of dunums of agricultural land to the east of Nablus.

Al-Ayyam printed a photo featuring a Palestinian young man watching an Israeli tank taking part in the drills amidst wheat crops.

Al-Quds reported that Israeli settlers has forced their way into the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in East Jerusalem.

It also reported that Israeli naval boats opened gunfire at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of al-Sudaniya in the Gaza Strip.

Al-Ayyam reported that Israeli forces raided several currency exchange shops in Hebron purportedly for being involved in transferring funds to Hamas.

It further reported that Hamas-run security services conducted an arrest operation against members of a salafist group in Gaza.

Finally, the three dailies covered recent clashes between Israeli police and thousands of Ethiopian Israeli Jews in Tel Aviv, resulting in several injuries.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida added that Ethiopian Jews protested against Israeli police’ brutality and racism.

K.F./T.R.