RAMALLAH, April 17, 2017 (WAFA) – The mass hunger strike of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails was the focus of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies in their Monday issue.
Almost half of the front page of the three dailies included reports and news items on the prisoners’ hunger strike with pictures of rallies in support of the prisoners and one, in al-Quds, of activists shaving their heads collectively in solidarity with the prisoners.
In other news, the dailies highlighted the opening of a branch of a Palestinian bank, The National Bank (TNB), in Dahiat al-Barid neighborhood north of Jerusalem, making it the first Palestinian bank to open a branch in East Jerusalem since the 1967 Israeli occupation.
While technically Dahiat al-Barid is not included within the Israeli annexed boundaries of East Jerusalem, it does however fall inside the concrete wall Israel had built since 2004 to separate East Jerusalem from its West Bank environs.
The papers also reported on the planned visit of six Fatah Central Committee members to Gaza to talk to Hamas officials on ending the 10-year long division between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
While al-Ayyam quoted Palestine Liberation Organization member Ahmad Majdalani as saying that the US-Palestinian summit is expected to be held during the first week of May, al-Quds was more specific and quoted Fatah Central Committee member Azzam al-Ahmad as stating to the Jordanian newspaper, Al-Ghad, that May 3 is the date for the Washington meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and his US counterpart Donald Trump.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said Israel has released Lina Jarbouni, 43, from Arraf al-Batouf inside Israel, after serving 15 years in jail for membership in an Islamic Jihad cell. She was considered the longest serving Palestinian female prisoner.
It also said in a headline: “Hamas stops operation of Gaza power plant,” and said in another story that a conference held in Rotterdam, Holland, has failed as only 1900 people have attended it out of 6000 invitees. It quoted Fatah officials as saying that the conference for Palestinian expatriates is convened under Hamas auspices.
Al-Quds said Christians celebrated Easter Sunday as Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah congratulated Christians for Easter and Samaritan Jews living in the Nablus area for Passover holiday.
It said Israeli police imposed restriction on young Palestinians entering Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as Jews wind down their Passover holiday. Police has also barred 13 Palestinians from entering the mosque.
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