RAMALLAH, August 10, 2017 (WAFA) – Israeli military raids across the West Bank and airstrikes in the besieged Gaza Strip hit the front page headlines in Palestinian Arabic dailies on Thursday.
Al-Quds said Israeli warplanes pounded a number of sites in the besieged Gaza Strip, injuring five Palestinians.
Al-Ayyam reported in this regard at least three Palestinians were injured, including one critically, by a series of Israeli airstrikes on several areas in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Quds also reported Israeli forces conducted an overnight raid in Bethlehem-district Dheisheh refugee camp.
Al-Ayyam said Israeli forces conducted large-scale detention raids across the West Bank, detaining 35 Palestinians, including two young men who were injured and detained.
It added Israeli forces raided Kobar village, northeast of Ramallah, and Dheisheh refugee camp, injuring a number of Palestinians with live and rubber-coated steel bullets and causing others to suffocate from tear gas.
The dailies also reported Israeli Jewish settlers set fire to two Palestinian-owned vehicles in the village of Umm Safa, northwest of Ramallah.
Al-Ayyam added settlers also spray-painted racist slogans on the walls of homes vowing revenge against village residents following the killing of three settlers in the nearby illegal settlement of Halamish.
All three papers printed pictures of the torched cars.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam also reported Israeli forces seized five solar panels from Abu Nuwwar Bedouin community, east of Izzariyeh in the Jerusalem district.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said Egyptian authorities decided to open Rafah border crossing with the besieged Gaza Strip for four consecutive days starting Monday to allow the passage of Palestinian Muslim pilgrims travelling to Saudi Arabia for Hajj.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said President Mahmoud Abbas chaired a meeting for Fatah Central Committee, while al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida added Abbas met with Switzerland’s special envoy to the Middle East peace process in Ramallah.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida added the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee is scheduled to convene on Saturday to set a date for convening a new session for the Palestinian National Council.
The dailies also highlighted the findings of a report by the specialized technical committee appointed by the Islamic Waqf (endowment) in order to determine whether Israeli troops and settlers tampered with the manuscripts and title deeds in Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
The dailies reported the Waqf Department announcing that despite Israeli tampering in the mosque compound, none of the documents and manuscripts of high historical value was reported missing.
Al-Quds said US senators from the Democratic party came out against Senate’s Anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) bill.
It added the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and human rights groups called for the immediate release of five Palestinian journalists who were detained by Palestinian security in the West Bank and another journalist held by Hamas security in Gaza.
It also reported dozens of Palestinian civil servants rallied in Gaza City in protest against the Palestinian cabinet’s decision to send over 6,000 Gaza-based civil servants into early retirement.
It said Palestine topped a United Nations World Tourism Organization’s list of fastest-growing tourist destinations for 2017.
Al-Ayyam spotlighted a report issued by the Legal Center for Freedom of Movement (Gisha) presenting testimonies that Palestinian residents of Gaza travelling abroad through Erez (Beit Hanoun) crossing with Israel were forced to sign a waiver, committing not to return to Gaza for at least a year.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said Palestinians in East Jerusalem were urged to perform Friday prayer in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood as an expression of solidarity with the Shamasnah family.
The Shamasnah family has petitioned the court against an order to evict them from their home where they have lived since 1964 after Israeli courts ruled that the home was a Jewish property. Their home would be handed over to Jewish Israeli settlers as part of a wider Israeli plan to boost Jewish settlements in the predominantly Palestinian neighborhood.
It added Brazil has extradited an Israeli Jewish settler after fleeing from 20 year sentence for killing a Palestinian.
K.F./M.K.
