RAMALLAH, June 22, 2015 (WAFA) – Palestinian and Israeli officials’ reaction to French Foreign Minister Lauren Fabius’ initiative to revive the Middle East peace talks together with the shooting of a Palestinian teenager for purportedly stabbing an Israeli officer in Jerusalem hit the front page headlines in the three Palestinian dailies.

Covering Palestinian and Israeli officials’ reaction to Fabius’ proposal to promote a United Nations Security Council resolution attempting to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that President Mahmoud Abbas has welcomed the French ‘thoughts’ ]aimed at rebooting the peace talks].

It also reported that  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the French proposal, saying that the initiative was ‘international dictates’ [that would hurt Israel's security].

Both newspapers quoted Fabius as warning about a regional ‘volatile situation’ and an ‘outbreak of violence’ and affirming the need for a UN Security Council resolution.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely was reported in al-Ayyam as slamming the French initiative as ‘counterproductive’.

The dailies also covered the shooting of a Palestinian teenager after he purportedly stabbed an Israeli officer outside East Jerusalem’s Old City.

The dailies reported that an Israeli occupation border police officer was stabbed and seriously wounded outside Bab al-‘Amud (Damascus Gate). Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that the Palestinian teenager was critically injured after being shot by Israeli border police.

While affirming that an Israeli border police officer was stabbed, al-Quds reported that the fate of the ‘assailant’ is shrouded in mystery, referring to conflicting reports about his situation.

Although initial media reports indicated that the 18-year-old was shot dead, Israeli medical sources indicated that he is in a critical condition in Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.

The three newspapers reported that as a ‘reprisal’ for the ‘attack’, Netanyahu decided to revoke entry permits initially granted to the Palestinian residents of the Hebron town of Sa‘ir, the assailant’s hometown, as well as other travel permits initially granted for 500 Palestinians from the West Bank allowing them to travel via Ben-Gurion Airport.  

While al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted the reaction of Palestinian and Israeli officials to the French proposal and the shooting of a Palestinian teenager as their main front page news articles, al-Quds opted to give prominence to Israel’s plan to build a settlement near al-Arroub refugee camp.

It reported that Israeli ‘Defense’ Minister Moshe Ya’alon has approved the renovation of Beit al-Baraka church compound, opposite to the Hebron refugee camp of al-Arrub, in preparation for the construction and annexation of a new strategic settlement to the settlement bloc of ‘Gush Etzion’. The same issue was covered by the two other newspapers.

In the wake of the burning of the historical church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, also known as the Tabgha church, on the shores of the Lake of Galilee (Tabaraiya Lake), al-Ayyam reported that thousands of Israeli Arabs protested against the attack.

Al-Quds reported that extremist Jews sprayed anti-Arab graffiti near the Tabgha Church in Tabariya.

Al-Ayyam reported on the Israeli human rights organization of Yesh Din as revealing that Israeli occupation forces shirk their obligation to protect Palestinians against settlers’ attacks.

Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that Israeli warplanes targeted an Israeli drone that crashed in eastern Lebanon.

K.F./T.R/M.H