RAMALLAH, July 4, 2017 (WAFA) – Two of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies published on Tuesday, al-Quds and al-Ayyam, highlighted Israeli plans to build housing units in illegal settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and in the West Bank.
The third paper, al-Hayat al-Jadida, highlighted the speech of President Mahmoud Abbas at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa focusing on him saying that solving the Palestinian issue is the key to peace and that he was waiting for Israel to respond to the peace initiative presented by US President Donald Trump.
The other two papers also reported on this speech with al-Quds highlighting what came in al-Hayat al-Jadida’s headline while al-Ayyam giving prominence to Abbas calling on the African countries to link progress in their relations with Israel on the latter’s commitment to ending its occupation of the Palestinian lands.
In other front pages news, the papers said Abbas starts Tuesday a three day visit to France where he is expected to meet President Emmanuel Macron for the first time since his election to office.
Also, the papers said Israel has barred a UNESCO fact finding team looking into the situation of the Ibrahimi mosque, also known as Cave of the Patriarchs, from reaching the Israeli-occupied part of Hebron where the mosque is located. UNESCO is expected to vote on a resolution declaring the mosque a Palestinian world heritage.
Al-Quds said a presidential committee was looking into reports that the Greek Orthodox Patriarch in Jerusalem, Theophilos III, had sold or leased church property to Israelis.
The paper also said in a different story that Nickolay Mladenov, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, is in Gaza once again to hear Hamas response to questions he had raised with it.
Al-Ayyam said Mladenov’s talks in Gaza did not make any progress on ending the Palestinian division that would eventually put an end to the Strip’s humanitarian problems.
It also said that Indian Prime Minister Modi, who is expected to start on Tuesday a three-day visit to Israel, is not going to meet with Palestinian officials as it has been the custom for foreign leaders visiting the area. President Abbas, who will be in France during Modi’s visit, met the Indian premier in New Delhi in May.
The paper also said the BDS movement got a big boost from the British justice system when a court ruled that contrary to British government decisions, boycott of Israel is not illegal.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said President Abbas, the government and the parliament have mourned the passing of Palestinian Legislative Council member Rawya Shawwa, who died in Gaza at age 73. Shawwa will be buried in Gaza on Tuesday.
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