RAMALLAH, October 24, 2016 (WAFA) – The construction of new Israeli settlement outposts in the Jordan Valley district of Tubas and the southern West Bank district of Hebron hit the front page headlines in Palestinian dailies on Monday.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said Israeli occupation authorities were proceeding with the construction and expansion of a new settlement outpost in the northern West Bank.

Al-Quds explained the new outpost was established with the knowledge of the Israeli authorities and that a total of 33 dunums were recently seized for the construction of the outpost of Givat Salit.

While al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted the construction of the Jordan Valley district outpost in their main front page news articles, al-Quds opted to report that Israeli settlers were building wooden homes or structures to the east of Hebron in the southern West Bank.

Highlighting tensions at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, al-Ayyam said a total of 346 settlers stormed the compound on the final day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Al-Quds said they totaled several hundreds.

The three dailies also reported Israeli troops stormed the Bab al-Rahmeh cemetery, adjacent to the mosque compound, smashing several tombstones.

Furthermore, al-Quds spotlighted Palestinian reactions to the initiative by the head of the Islamic Jihad, Ramadan Shalah, for ending Palestinian division including urging President Mahmoud Abbas to cancel the Oslo accords and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to backtrack its recognition of Israel.

Al-Quds said Palestinian political factions welcomed Shalah’s initiative as a way out of the current crisis in the Palestinian political scene.

The paper also printed excerpts from a long and exclusive interview with Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman in which he said Israel does not intend to re-occupy the Gaza Strip and that Abbas thinks as a fighter and that he is not ready to sign a final status agreement. The full text of the interview was published on page 7 of the newspaper. 

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) upcoming vote on a resolution on Jerusalem also hit the front page headlines in the dailies.

Al-Quds said UNESCO is slated to vote on another resolution on Jerusalem, while al-Ayyam said Israel was exerting diplomatic pressure in an attempt to foil UNESCO’s adoption of this resolution.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said the Israeli government would compel every young Israeli before the beginning of military service to participate in archeological digs below the mosque compound.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida added Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would himself participate in the digs.

Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said the Palestinian Health Ministry has announced a series of personnel transfers in Beit Jala hospital and Bethlehem health directorate.

It is worth noting this series of personnel transfers came on the heels of the death of two patients and accusations of medical malpractice at Beit Jala hospital over the past weeks.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Turkey for an official visit.

K.F./M.A.