RAMALLAH, April 13, 2017 (WAFA) – The Palestinian Arabic daily, al-Quds, said in its main front page story from Washington on Thursday that US President Donald Trump has set up a team headed by his chief negotiator Jason Greenblatt to propose ideas for a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to President Mahmoud Abbas during his upcoming visit to the White House.

It said a high level Palestinian delegation composed of chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and chief of intelligence Majed Faraj are expected in Washington this week to prepare for Abbas’ visit that may take place in early May.

The two other dailies, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted Abbas’ statements in Bahrain in which he said he was going to take decisive steps to end the internal Palestinian division.

The papers said Hamas held talks with political factions in Gaza to discuss steps to end the division and has said that it welcomes a visit to Gaza by a Fatah delegation planned for later this month.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida quoted Finance Minister Shukri Bishara as saying that he intends to cut the salaries bill by 17 per cent.

It said that Bishara told a meeting with representatives of the IMF and the World Bank prior to the meeting of the donors’ Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) planned to be held in Brussels on May 3 that the government was able to bring down the deficit in GDP from 16.5 per cent in 2013 to 5.6 per cent in 2016, and is expected to reach only 4 per cent this year.

He also said the government has reached the ceiling in generating revenues, which increased by 66 per cent in the last three years and therefore growth in the coming years will not be the same, which means there will be cuts in expenditure including slashing 17 per cent from the salaries bill.

In other front page news, al-Ayyam said hundreds of fanatic Jews carried out provocative visits to Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as the Israeli police had banned hundreds of Muslims from entering it.

M.K.