RAMALLAH, May 19, 2017 (WAFA) – The fatal shooting of a Palestinian by an Israeli settler and the critical health conditions of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails hit the front page headlines in Palestinian dailies.
The dailies said an Israeli settler fatally shot a Palestinian and injured a photojournalist near Huwwara, south of Nablus.
Al-Ayyam described the killing as an “assassination” and added the settler also shot and injured two other Palestinians.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported in this regard an Israeli settler distributed candy to passing Israeli vehicles at Huwwara in celebration of the deadly shooting.
The slain Palestinian was identified as 23-year-old Mutaz Bani Shamsa from the Nablus district village of Beita. The photojournalist was identified as Majdi Eshtayya, who works for the Associated Press (AP).
Spotlighting the hunger strike, al-Quds said many more Palestinian prisoners have joined the mass indefinite hunger strike which has entered day 33.
The three dailies reported as the mass hunger strike has entered a very critical stage, many hunger strikers have stopped drinking water.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida added dozens of hunger-striking prisoners were transferred to Israeli field clinics.
Al-Quds said Israeli troops clashed with Palestinians who demonstrated in solidarity with hunger strikers near Qalandiya military checkpoint in Ramallah district, shooting and injuring several demonstrators.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported head of Prisoners’ Affairs Committee Issa Qaraqe saying Palestinian leadership was working very hard to ensure that Israel responds to the hunger strikers’ demands.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov calling on Israel to find “an immediate solution” to the matter.
President Mahmoud Abbas was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida stressing the need for urgent international action to put pressure on Israel to respond to hunger strikers’ demands.
Highlighting US President Donald Trump’s Middle East tour, al-Quds reported Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki stating the Palestinians were seriously dealing with Trump’s efforts to launch the peace process.
Al-Ayyam reported some observers saying the chances to resurrect the Middle East peace process during Trump’s tour are very little.
Al-Quds said Palestinian customs police detected two trucks transporting four containers of Israeli toxic waste to be dumped in Salfit.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said Israeli forces destroyed eight coal production facilities and two sheds outside the town of Yaabad, west of Jenin in the northern West Bank.
The dailies said the European Parliament adopted a resolution lending support to the two-state solution and calling for an immediate stop of Israeli settlement construction.
K.F.
