RAMALLAH, December 1, 2016 (WAFA) – The speech delivered by President Mahmoud Abbas that addressed a scope of issues on the second day of Fatah’s seventh congress in Ramallah hit the front page headlines in the Thursday Palestinian Arabic dailies.
Abbas was reported in al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida as stating that Fatah is adhering to the fundamental national principles that were approved by the Palestinian National Council in 1988.
Addressing the ongoing internal Palestinian division, Abbas was also reported as describing achieving Palestinian unity as a “safety valve.”
He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida as calling on Hamas to bring the division to an end through democratic elections.
Addressing the issue of long-overdue Palestinian statehood, Abbas was reported as pledging not to accept any interim solution to the Palestinian conflict.
He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida as pledging to confront Israeli settlement construction and holding on to East Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the future Palestinian state.
Addressing the issue of lawlessness, Abbas was reported in al-Ayyam as pledging not to allow lawlessness to prevail and to “cut off the hands of whoever attempts to undermine public safety.”
He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida as stating the Fatah seventh congress would reinforce Fatah, stressing that Fatah would not give up on its principles, identity and independent decision.
Furthermore, al-Quds said scores of Palestinians were injured as Israeli forces raided the Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem.
Al-Ayyam explained a total of 50 Palestinians were injured from rubber-coated steel bullets and suffocated from tar gas inhalation during the raid.
Al-Quds published a translation for former US President Jimmy Carter’s article in New York Times in which he urged outgoing US President Barack Obama to recognize Palestine as a state. It also reported US State Department would unlikely heed Carter’s advice.
Al-Quds and Al-Ayyam said the Israeli government has postponed a legislative vote on the so-called “Formalization Bill” and the bill that would ban the Muslim call of prayer, adhan, from playing over loudspeakers.
Referring to a report issued by Israeli settlements-watch and human rights group, Peace Now, al-Quds said the passage of the so-called “Formalization Bill” would lead to the retroactive legalization of 4,000 settlement housing units and confiscation of 8,183 dunums from occupied West Bank.
It is worth recalling in this regard that all Israel settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law.
Highlighting a report submitted by the head of Assaf Harofeh medical center to Israel’s Supreme Court, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported him as warning that imprisoned Palestinian hunger strikers Anas Shadid and Ahmad Abu Farah, both being treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit, face the very risk of sudden death.
Al-Ayyam said the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem has approved a plan to construct a cable car leading to the Buraq Square, known to Jews as Western Wall Plaza.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said Palestinian landowners from Beit Jala in the southern West Bank district of Bethlehem filed lawsuits in a Santiago-based court against three Israeli Supreme Court justices for approving the construction of Israel’s segregation wall.
K.F./M.A.
