RAMALLAH, November 17, 2016 (WAFA) – The Palestinian Arabic dailies focused in their Thursday issue on the preliminary approval by the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, of a bill to retroactively legalize settlement outposts in the West Bank.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said a bill to retroactively legalize illegal settlements passed its preliminary reading on Wednesday afternoon with the support of Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu party.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said while Spain and the United Kingdom warned against the bill, the United States expressed its concern. Al-Quds said Spain was extremely concerned about the bill.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida and al-Al-Ayyam said the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem asked the Israeli High Court to also approve the demolition of 14 Palestinian homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina in response to its decision to evacuate the settlement outpost, Amona, northeast of Ramallah.
Al-Quds said the Jewish organization Ateret Cohanim has petitioned the High Court for the eviction of nine Palestinian families from their homes in Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said a woman was killed and three security personnel injured in an exchange of gunfire between Palestinian security forces and “outlaws” in Nablus, north of the West Bank, on Wednesday.
Al-Ayyam said Foreign Minister Riyad Malki met with the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Fatou Bensouda in The Hague.
It also had a story about Israeli military exercises in the Jordan Valley, which lead to the eviction of entire Palestinian families out of their homes for hours or days.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported on the visit of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to Morocco and his attendance of the climate conference during which he blasted Israeli violation of Palestinian environment.
It also said Canada has resumed financial aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
It said 50 individuals in Gaza have filed a complaint with the prosecutor against Baha Yasin, said to be a pro-Hamas cartoonist, for insulting the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in his cartoons.
The paper also quoted Amin Maqboul, secretary general of Fatah Revolutionary Council, as saying in the headline: “The seventh congress is a new launch for Fatah with a new political vision.”
Al-Quds had an interview with Muhammad Baraka, head of the Arab Follow up Committee in Israel, saying Fatah and Hamas have agreed on 90 percent of the disputed issues and there is no need to continue with the split after the seventh Fatah congress.
It quoted Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouk saying that Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, is going to return to the Gaza Strip next month. Haniyeh is in Qatar and is expected to lead the movement after its elections planned for December.
The paper also quoted the head of the Egyptian intelligence as telling an Islamic Jihad delegation visiting Cairo that his country is ready to host inter-Palestinian dialogue meetings.
M.N./M.A.
