RAMALLAH, November 3, 2016 (WAFA) – The demolition of Palestinian homes in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina hit the front page headlines in Palestinian dailies on Thursday.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said in their main front page news items Israeli bulldozers demolished a two-storey residential building in Beit Hanina. Al-Ayyam added the demolished building consisted of four apartments.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam also covered West Bank detentions in their main front page news articles.

Al-Quds said Israeli forces conducted detention raids that sparked clashes in the Bethlehem refugee camps of Duheisha and Aida as well as the northern West Bank district of Jenin.

Al-Ayyam explained Israeli forces conducted “large-scale detention campaign,” detaining 28 Palestinians from the West Bank.

Highlighting demolition notices, al-Ayyam said Israeli occupation forces delivered demolition notices to 10 Palestinian Bedouin families in al-Mu‘arajat locality, east of Ramallah.

Al-Quds said Palestinians are concerned scores of their homes would be demolished by Israeli forces in the village of Walaja, south of Jerusalem.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said Israeli forces ordered several Palestinian families in the northern Jordan Valley to leave their homes to make way for Israeli military drills.

Al-Ayyam said the forced displacement of these Palestinians in the community of Ras al-Ahmar is reminiscent of the forced displacement of Palestinians in the Nakba.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam highlighted Hamas chief Khaled Mashal’s remarks via Skype during a conference on Palestinian national security in Gaza.

Al-Quds reported Mashal as stressing the need for unified national terms of reference to be adopted under a reformed Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

He was reported in al-Ayyam as calling for a “real national partnership” and admitting that it was a mistake to establish an authority under occupation.

Highlighting statements by the secretary general of PLO’s executive committee, Saeb Erekat, during the same conference, al-Quds reported him as calling for a “complete political partnership.”

In contrast, al-Ayyam reported him as stressing that it is strictly forbidden to change the Arab Peace Initiative.

Furthermore, al-Quds said prominent Palestinian clerics and national figures decried the vandalism of the cemetery of the depopulated Palestinian village of Qalunya, west of Jerusalem. 

In contrast, al-Hayat al-Jadida spotlighted President Mahmoud Abbas’ remarks during a meeting with Fatah representatives in the southern West Bank districts in the main front page news article.

It reported him as stating Fatah is the backbone of Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom and liberation. Al-Ayyam reported him as stressing the Gaza Strip is an integral part of the future Palestinian state.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said Palestinians rallied in Gaza and Ramallah demanding Britain apology for the 1917 Balfour Declaration that pledged a homeland for Jews in Palestine.

They reported presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh describing the declaration as “the crime of the century.”

K.F./M.A.