RAMALLAH, November 8, 2016 (WAFA) – Palestinian leadership’s support to the French bid to convene an international peace conference before the end of this year hit the front page headlines in Palestinian dailies on Tuesday.
The three dailies highlighted President Mahmoud Abbas’ meeting with France’s special envoy Pierre Vimont in Ramallah.
Abbas was reported in al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida as reiterating the Palestinian Authority’s support to the French efforts to convene the conference. The papers said Israel has officially said it was opposed to the conference.
Secretary-General of PLO’s Executive Committee Saeb Erekat was reported in al-Quds describing Israel’s call for bilateral talks as a “broken record.”
Vimont was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida as expressing France’s determination to convene the conference in Paris and commitment to the two-state solution.
Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida as reiterating Palestinian support to the French bid regardless of whether Israel supports or rejects it.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida also said in their main front page news item that the Jerusalem District Court sentenced 14-year-old Ahmad Manasra to 12 years in prison and Israa Jaabis, 32, to 11 years in prison.
Israeli forces demolition raids and attacks against Palestinian farmers across the West Bank also hit the front page headlines in the dailies.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said Israeli forces knocked down five tents belonging to Palestinian Bedouin communities in the northern Jordan Valley.
Al-Ayyam added the demolition took place while Israeli settlers were allowed to proceed with the construction of a news settlement outpost in the same area.
Al-Quds said settlers from Shavi Shamron settlement stole the harvest of 400 olive trees of Palestinian farmers in the Nablus district village of Deir Sharaf.
It added Israeli troops shut down an events hall in the Jerusalem district village of al-Eizariya.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted Palestinian landowners‘ submission of an appeal to the Israeli High Court rejecting calls to postpone the evacuation of the settlement outpost of Amona.
Mayor of Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem Nir Barakat was reported in both dailies threatening to demolish thousands of Palestinian homes in Jerusalem in response to the prospective demolition of the outpost.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Adnan Husseini and Israeli lawmaker Jamal Zahalqa as demanding that Israel return Palestinian property it has seized in West Jerusalem.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said several Israeli ministers and Knesset speaker demanded that Israel change the status quo in Jerusalem through allowing Jews to pray inside Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
The dailies said a European Union committee has recommended that member states ask Israel to pay compensation for the demolition of donor-funded buildings in West Bank Area C.
K.F./M.A.
