RAMALLAH, February 1, 2017 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas’ meetings with Pakistani officials as well as Israel’s announcement of thousands of new housing units in the settlements were the focus of the three Palestinian dailies on Wednesday.
The dailies said Abbas briefed Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the latest developments in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida explained that Abbas and Pakistani officials discussed the dangers posed by the relocation of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as well as the devastating effects of settlement construction on peacemaking.
The dailies added Abbas inaugurated the Palestinian embassy in Islamabad.
On the other hand, al-Quds highlighted the Israeli announcement about the construction of 3,000 new housing units in settlements across the West Bank.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam added Israel has advanced a plan to enhance the transportation system, including the construction of new bypass access roads and tunnels, in an attempt to slash travel time between West Bank settlements and Tel Aviv, Gush Dan and occupied Jerusalem.
Al-Ayyam described this plan as tantamount to a real step towards Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.
Highlighting raids, al-Quds said Israeli forces stormed and ransacked a number of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and Hizma, northeast of Jerusalem.
It added forces notified Palestinians in Duma, south of Nablus, of plans to seize 17 dunums of their land.
It said Israeli military has ordered the evacuation of settlers from Amona settlement outpost in the central West Bank district of Ramallah within 48 hours.
It explained the military delivered a notice to settlers requiring them to remove their property from the settlement outpost by midnight Wednesday.
Al-Ayyam said Israeli parliament, the Knesset, is scheduled to pass the so-called legalization bill on Monday.
Al-Quds said a Hamas security delegation has left the besieged Gaza enclave, heading to Cairo.
The three dailies reported the Palestinian cabinet announced that local municipal elections will be held on May 13 in all of the occupied Palestinian territories.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam added that Hamas and Islamic Jihad have rejected the decision and called on the government to first end Palestinian division as a prerequisite to holding elections.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida added the cabinet ratified the 2017 budget, which reportedly was set at $4.48 billion. The sum of $4.1 billion will go for current expenditure and $350 million for development.
Furthermore, al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that Secretary-General of the PLO Executive Committee Saeb Erekat has urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to open an immediate inquiry into Israeli settlement construction.
Erekat reportedly urged Bensouda to speed up rulings on three Palestinian files, including settlement construction, in order to open a judicial inquiry into the Israeli government’s violations of international law.
K.F./M.K.
