RAMALLAH, May 23, 2015 (WAFA) – Remarks made by President Mahmoud
Abbas during the World Economic Forum that kicked off Friday morning in Jordan
hit the front page headlines in Palestinian dailies.
Abbas was quoted in the three daily newspapers as stating: “We reject any
transitional solutions and what is called a state with temporary borders.”
He was also reported as calling on the
international community to help introduce a deadline for ending the Israeli
occupation of Palestinian territories.
He was quoted as stating: “We call on the world to
remain committed to implementing the two-state solution through ending the
Israeli occupation within a specific timeframe.”
While Abbas’ remarks featured as a common news
item, Israeli settlers’ plan to build a new settlement between Jerusalem and
Hebron hit the main front page news item in al-Quds.
Al-Quds reported in this regard plans to build a
new Israeli settlement on 38-dunum-sized land allegedly purchased by Israeli
settlers from a Swedish church near al-‘Aroub between Jerusalem and Hebron.
It added that this settlement is intended to
expand the Israeli settlement bloc of Gush Etzion and would form a stumbling
block to the two-state solution.
On the other hand, al-Hayat al-Jadida reported the
attorney representing the owner of the building, known as ‘Beit al-Baraka’, as
denying settlers’ claims that they purchased the property.
The three dailies also reported that dozens of
Palestinians were injured with live bullets and rubber-coated steel bullets,
while others suffocated by tear gas as Israeli forces proceeded to crush peaceful
weekly marches across the West Bank.
Al-Quds also reported that Israeli naval boats
opened gunfire on Palestinian fishermen offshore Gaza.
Al-Quds together with al-Hayat al-Jadida added
that two Israeli soldiers were injured after a pipe bomb was purportedly hurled
at them near Ofra Israeli settlement built illegally between the Ramallah
villages of Yabroud and Silwad.
Middle East Quartet was reported in al-Ayyam as
saying that Area C is main key to development and that there is no tangible
political prospect on the foreseeable run a year after Israeli-Palestinian
talks collapsed.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that
Venezuela decided to raise its diplomatic representation in Palestine to full
embassy status.
US President Barack Obama was quoted in al-Hayat
al-Jadida as stating: “Palestinians have the right to be a free people in their
land.”
Al-Quds reported a top Israeli diplomat, namely
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, who was sworn in last week as a member
of the Israeli new coalition government, as saying that the entire land between
the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, including the West Bank and Gaza,
belong to the Jews.
K.F./T.R.
