RAMALLAH, October 16, 2017 (WAFA) – Israeli plans to construct thousands of new settler units in the West Bank and Palestinian steps to implement reconciliation agreement hit the front page headlines in Palestinian Arabic dailies on Monday.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said Israel has initiated the construction of 2,600 new settler units to the south of East Jerusalem.
Al-Ayyam added in this regard Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to fund the construction of settler-only bypass roads in the West Bank.
Regarding the reconciliation agreement, al-Quds reported senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouq stating Hamas was open to full reconciliation.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam added a delegation from the Palestinian government was set to arrive to the besieged Gaza Strip on Monday in order to initiate the procedures of assuming control over border crossings.
President Mahmoud Abbas was reported in the dailies stressing the importance of reconciliation as a national necessity for ending the Israeli occupation, Palestinian statehood and achieving the Palestinian people’s aspirations.
Israeli forces and settlers’ attacks against Palestinians also dominated the front page headlines in the dailies.
Al-Quds said Israeli forces injured a number of Palestinians with rubber-coated steel bullets and caused dozens others to suffocate during separate raids into Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem and Jenin-district town of Rummaneh.
Al-Ayyam reported Israeli forces detained three Palestinians from the vicinity of East Jerusalem’s Herod’s Gate.
It added Israeli forces seized banners and Palestinian flags during a raid into East Jerusalem’s neighborhood of Issawiya.
According to al-Hayat al-Jadida, Israeli troops detained 21 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza.
Al-Ayyam explained Israeli forces detained 16 Palestinians in multiple predawn raids across the West Bank raids, while Israeli navy detained four fishermen after opening fire at their boats offshore al-Sudaniya area, northwest of Gaza city.
It added an Israeli Jewish settler physically assaulted two Palestinian children while they were in their way to school in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
It also reported Palestinians managed to fend off a settlers’ attack against olive harvesters in Qaryout village, south of Nablus.
It also reported Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinian farmlands and a location, located to the east of Khan Younis and east of al-Maghazi camp respectively, in Gaza.
The dailies said Egypt decided to postpone the opening of Rafah border crossing with Gaza until further notice following a deadly assault that left six Egyptian soldiers dead in Sinai.
Al-Quds reported former British Prime Minister Tony Blair stating the international community was wrong to boycott Hamas following 2006 elections.
Covering economic news, al-Ayyam said al-Quds Bank has earned a net profit of $9.4 million during the third quarter of 2017.
K.F./M.K.
