RAMALLAH, April 5, 2017 (WAFA) – The Israeli demolition of Palestinian-owned homes and other structures in occupied East Jerusalem was highlighted on the front page of the Wednesday issue of the three Palestinian dailies.
They said the Israeli authorities demolished three buildings comprising of 13 apartments in al-Za‘ayyem, a neighborhood east of Jerusalem.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida added Israeli bulldozers also demolished four Palestinian homes and an agricultural shed in East Jerusalem.
Al-Quds reported Israeli bulldozers continued to raze farmlands in a cluster of Palestinian villages, southeast of Qalqilya in the northern West Bank, expropriating hundreds of dunums of lands and uprooting 1,135 trees.
The demolitions promoted strong criticism from the European Union (EU) who demanded that Israel halts demolitions of Palestinian homes and the forced transfer of Palestinians in West Bank Area C, according to the dailies.
The EU rebuked Israel over plans to demolish 42 homes in the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli military rule.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported the EU calling on “Israel, as the occupying power, to meet its obligations vis-à-vis the Palestinian population.”
Al-Quds said Israel plans to build a settlers-only road that would fully encircle the city of Qalqilya.
It published an article by UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl urging the international community not to ignore the suffering of Palestinian refugees.
Furthermore, al-Ayyam reported Israeli forces detained 17 Palestinians in predawn raids across a number of West Bank districts.
It added Israeli drones sprayed poisonous pesticides on tens of dunums of Palestinian croplands in eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Al-Quds said Israel is concerned the security situation would deteriorate when Palestinian detainees start a mass hunger strike on April 17.
Al-Ayyam said Gaza’s Hamas forces demolished homes that infringed upon state land in the American neighborhood in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, clashing with Palestinians.
It added the Hamas-run Ministry of Interior declared a “week of repentance” as of Tuesday for Palestinians collaborating with Israel to confess and turn themselves over to the Hamas authority.
K.F./M.K.
