RAMALLAH, May 9, 2016 (WAFA) – Israel’s new plan to seize Palestinian land to expand Ramot settlement, north of Jerusalem, hit the front page headlines in Palestinian dailies.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that Israeli occupation authorities plan to seize 419 dunums of Palestinian land in the Jerusalem towns of Lifta and Beit Iksa to expand Ramot settlement.

An upcoming international report on Israeli settlement construction and land grab also hit the front page headlines in the dailies.

Al-Quds reported that the US will endorse a tougher tone on Israeli settlement construction in a new Middle East Quartet report.  Both al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida added that Israel seeks to tone down the report.

Highlighting the Israeli practices behind heightened tensions in Jerusalem, al-Quds reported that Israel installed surveillance cameras near Bab al-Ghawanmeh minaret in the northwestern corner of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Al-Ayyam reported that dozens of Israeli Jewish settlers held a racist march in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported that Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel Sheikh Raed Salah started a nine-month prison sentence ]after being convicted of incitement and fomenting riots in the mosque compound[.

Al-Ayyam reported that Israeli forces leveled 50 dunums of Palestinian farmlands and uprooted 50 olive trees in the Qalqilia village of Kafr Qaddum.

It also reported that Israeli occupation authorities handed over the body of Muhammad Nimer after being withheld for 181 days in the Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Issawiya.

It also said that dozens of Palestinians held a mass rally in Gaza to protest the ongoing electricity crisis and demand an end for Palestinian division.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to meet his Egyptian counterpart Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo.

K.F.