RAMALLAH, April 25, 2017 (WAFA) – Day eight of the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike was the front page highlight of the Tuesday issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.
The papers said the health of strike leader Marwan Barghouti, who has some health complications, has deteriorated after eight days of fast.
The dailies also reported on the protest in solidarity with the hunger strikers near the central West Bank city of al-Bireh and the Israeli army crackdown on the demonstration and left nine Palestinians injured from live and rubber-coated steel bullets.
They also said Israeli forces detained a Palestinian woman after she allegedly stabbed a female Israeli soldier at the Qalandiya checkpoint, north of Jerusalem.
The dailies said President Mahmoud Abbas concluded a two-day official visit to Kuwait that focused on strengthening bilateral relations.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported the secretary general of the president’s office, Tayyib Abdul Rahim, describing Abbas’ meeting with US President Donald Trump, scheduled for May 3, as a “unique opportunity” and “the start of a new relationship.”
Al-Quds added in this regard a Palestinian delegation has held a series of meetings with US officials in preparation for the Abbas-Trump meeting.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported member of Fatah Central Committee Hussein al-Sheikh pledging that the Palestinian leadership would bring the intra-Palestinian division to an end at all cost.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said Israeli settlers set up a new settlement outpost on seized Palestinian land in the northern Jordan Valley.
They added settlers razed Palestinian-owned farmlands in the Wadi al-Ghawit area, south of Bethlehem, in the southern West Bank.
Highlighting German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel’s visit to Israel, al-Quds reported him warning of the fresh eruption of violence in the Middle East if the Palestinian-Israeli peace process is not resumed.
Al-Ayyam reported Israeli premier, Benjamin Netanyahu, threatening to cancel a meeting with Gabriel if the latter meets with the Israeli leftist organizations Breaking the Silence and B’Tselem as planned.
K.F./M.K.
