RAMALLAH, April 27, 2017 (WAFA) – With the hunger strike of the Palestinian prisoners entering its eleventh day, the three Palestinian Arabic dailies published in East Jerusalem and Ramallah continued to highlight in their Thursday issue all matters and developments related to the strike.
The papers reported on the activities in support of the strike as well as the situation of prisoners, some of whom apparently were taken to prison clinics due to deterioration in their health.
They said Israeli forces cracked down on Palestinians demonstrating in the West Bank in support of the prisoners.
In other news, Al-Quds, which publishes in East Jerusalem, said Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal is expected to announce on Monday the new political program of his movement. The announcement will be made from Doha, the Qatari capital.
It also said the World Bank called on member parties to prevent a total collapse of the Palestinian economy.
It said the Palestinian delegation visiting Washington to prepare for the visit of President Mahmoud Abbas and his meeting with US President Donald Trump on May 3 has concluded its meetings and has returned to Ramallah to brief Abbas on the talks ahead of his meeting with Trump.
The paper also said Rima Khalaf, former head of ESCWA, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia, who resigned her post after UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has pulled out her report because it was critical of Israel, has called for forming an international coalition to adopt the ESCWA report and recommendations.
Al-Ayyam, based in Ramallah, reported on Israeli settlement plans in East Jerusalem and the West Bank describing the Jerusalem project as the largest since the start of the occupation in 1967.
It included a report on stop signs put up in Ramallah which say in Arabic “Stand (but also means stop in Arabic) and with our prisoners.”
It also published a report about the dismal conditions at Qalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah and the suffering of the Palestinian commuters due to congestion on the road leading to the checkpoint.
It said, quoting Local Government Minister Hussein Araj saying that the local elections will be held as scheduled on May 13.
The paper also talked about the crisis between Israel and Germany after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called off a meeting with visiting German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel due to the latter’s meeting with Israeli human rights groups against Netanyahu’s wishes.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida, the Palestinian Authority’s newspaper also based in Ramallah, dedicated most of its front page to the prisoners’ strike but also reported on the student elections at the Polytechnic University in Hebron, where the Fatah students won the majority of the student council seats with Hamas supporters coming second.
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