RAMALLAH, December 10, 2016 (WAFA) – Israeli military crackdown on protests marking the 29th anniversary of the first Palestinian Intifada against the Israeli occupation hit the front page headlines in the local Palestinian dailies on Saturday.
Al-Quds reported clashes erupted as Israeli forces forcefully dispersed Palestinian marches that commemorated the Intifada (uprising) anniversary.
Al-Ayyam said scores of Palestinians suffered from suffocation as Israeli occupation forces fired tear gas canisters to quell peaceful weekly marches across the West Bank.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said a number of protestors suffocated as Israeli forces forcefully dispersed with tear gas canisters marches marking the second anniversary for the death of Palestinian minister Ziad Abu Ein in the Ramallah district towns of Turmusayya, where Abu Ein died of heart attack following altercation with Israeli soldiers, and in Bilin and in the Qalqiliya area town of Kufr Qaddum.
Highlighting home demolitions, the three dailies said Israeli forces delivered demolition notices for Palestinian homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.
Al-Ayyam explained Israel plans to demolish 13 homes in the neighborhood, displacing over 100 Palestinians.
Al-Quds added demolition notices were delivered for Palestinian residential structures in Masafer Yatta locality in the southern Hebron district.
Furthermore, the dailies reported the Israeli government announced it would release the bodies of seven out of 10 slain Palestinians for burial.
Al-Quds said Israel plans to seize a Christian archeological site belonging to the Armenian Church near the al-Walaja village, northwest of Bethlehem, to turn it into a “national park.”
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said Hamas movement marked the 29th anniversary of its founding. Events were held in Gaza.
Al-Ayyam added Hamas called upon the Fatah movement to abolish the 1993 Oslo accords signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Al-Quds published an interview with a Columbian Supreme Constitutional Court’s delegation who is visiting the occupied Palestinian Territories.
It reported president of the Columbian Supreme Constitutional Court, Maria Victoria Calle Correa, as slamming the Israeli occupation and racism against Palestinians as a “shame on humanity.”
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam highlighted the visit of an official Palestinian delegation to Washington.
Al-Quds said the delegation, headed by secretary-general of the PLO’s executive committee Saeb Erekat, would meet outgoing US Secretary of State John Kerry and might also meet with members of the new administration.
Al-Ayyam said the delegation’s visit would mark the first Palestinian-US strategic dialogue.
Spotlighting the so-called “Regularization Bill,” al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Naftali Bennett decided to push off the bill until US President-elect Donald Trump assumes office in January 20.
K.F./M.K.
