RAMALLAH, June 9, 2017 (WAFA) – The Israeli government’s plans for the construction of a total of 3,178 new settler units during the previous week hit the front page headlines in local Palestinian dailies.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported Israeli human rights watchdog Peace Now announcing during the previous week Israel has advanced plans for the construction of a total of 3,178 new settler units across the West Bank.
Al-Ayyam explained the new settler units would be constructed in the West Bank districts of Jerusalem, Nablus, Hebron and Qalqiliya.
On the other hand, al-Hayat al-Jadida reported Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee Saeb Erekat stating if Israeli Prime Minister wants peace, he has to recognize the State of Palestine along the 4 June 1967 borders.
Erekat was also reported in al-Quds denying Israeli media reports that a three-way meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump would take place within a month.
The dailies also spotlighted statements of Palestinian Presidential Advisor Mohammed Mustafa on Israeli settlement construction.
Mustafa was reported in al-Quds and al-Ayyam stating: “the Palestinian position on ]Israeli[ settlements is firm.”
He was also reported in al-Quds stressing the importance of working to remedy the economic crisis, regardless of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, because it is an integral part of the Palestinian rights.
He was also reported in al-Ayyam stating: “We ]the Palestinian people[ will not be fooled by small and meaningless steps.”
He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida stating: “Stopping and freezing ]Israeli settlements[ is a necessity and a prelude to their dismantling and removing them from the territory of the State of Palestine in any final agreement."
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said several Palestinians were shot and injured and scores of others suffocated during clashes with Israeli forces on the borders east of Jabalia in the besieged Gaza Strip, the Jerusalem town of Abu Dis and the Bethlehem district town of Beit Fajjar.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida added Israeli forces detained 12 Palestinians and seized metalwork equipment during multiple raids across the West Bank.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said Palestinian citizens of Israel rallied in all Palestinian-majority towns in Israel in protest of the killing of a Palestinian by Israeli police in Kafr Qasim town in central Israel on Monday night.
Al-Quds added in this regard the High Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel called for the widest participation in a protest in Kafr Qasim town on Saturday.
It said a delegation of Hamas officials, including deputy chief of Hamas’ politburo Mousa Abu Marzouk, continued meetings with Egyptian officials in Cairo.
It also reported Abu Marzouk warning against the consequences of US blackmailing of regional states.
It reported member of PLO Executive Committee Hanan Ashrawi stating Israel is making a mockery of the international community and global justice system with its recent settlement construction announcements in the occupied West Bank.
Al-Ayyam said Israeli bulldozers leveled lands belonging to the Palestinian village of Arraba near the Israeli settlement of Mevo Dotan in the northern West Bank district of Jenin.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said scores of Israeli Jewish settlers forced their way into East Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compund as another settler threatened to blow it up.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported Palestinian ambassador to Egypt and the Arab League Jamal al-Shubaki announcing the Arab League was scheduled to convene to discuss the means to counter Israel’s penetration into Africa on June 12.
K.F.
