RAMALLAH, May 6, 2017 (WAFA) – The on-going hunger strike more than 1500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have launched on April 17 and the anti-occupation protests that raged in the West Bank is support of the prisoners on Friday were the highlight of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies on Saturday.
The main front page headline in al-Hayat al-Jadida said: “The occupation confronting the ‘empty stomach’ (hunger strike) with repressive measures.”
Al-Ayyam’s main front page headline said: “Dozens injured when the occupation forces repressed marches in solidarity with the prisoners.” It printed pictures of the protests and sit-ins.
Al-Quds said: “The occupation transfers a number of prisoners, including (Popular Front leader Ahmad) Saadat; five more join the strike on its 20th day.”
The three papers also said President Mahmoud Abbas met in Amman, where he arrived after concluding his Washington trip, with Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and al-Ayyam said he is going to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday in Sochi.
Al-Ayyam printed a story by its travelling correspondent from Washington which said Abbas told Arab ambassadors he met with in Washington before leaving it that he told US President Donald Trump in their meeting at the White House that he is ready to immediately send a Palestinian delegation to Washington to restart the peace process with Israel.
Abbas also said that he hopes when Trump comes to Bethlehem on May 23, he will have with him something new.
“My understanding is that he wants to sit with the Israeli side, then with us and then return to the Israelis so that in the end he will develop thoughts that he will present to the concerned parties,” said Abbas according to al-Ayyam report.
The three papers said UNESCO’s Executive Board has ratified the resolution passed on May 2 that considered Jerusalem as occupied land.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida quoted the Minister of Health Jawad Awwad saying that Hamas in Gaza makes $25 million dollars a year from the health sector and transfer the money to its treasury.
Al-Quds, which also mentioned this story, quoted as well Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal saying that the new Hamas political document “makes our allies happy.”
The paper said in a front page story that the British University of Creative Arts (UCA) has appointed Palestinian professor Bashir Makhoul as Vice-Chancellor, which is the first time a Palestinian academic has been appointed to the top position at a British university and it is believed to be only the second time an academic from a non-Western background has been made Vice-Chancellor in the UK. Makhoul, born in 1963 in the Galilee village of Buqeiah, had served before his appointment at UCA as Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Birmingham City University.
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