RAMALLAH, December 27, 2017 (WAFA) – Raids by Israeli police and staff from the West Jerusalem Israeli municipality in Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, as well as demolition of structures in the area occupied the main front page story in the three Palestinian Arabic dailies on Wednesday.

Al-Quds described the campaign against Silwan as “the largest in years.” It said 100 Palestinian residents of  Silwan are going to Israeli courts to prevent their eviction from their homes for the benefit of extremist Jewish settlers.

Al-Ayyam said occupation authorities demolished two structures in Silwan, detained people, raided shops and notified of home demolitions.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida had a similar headline to al-Ayyam but expanded its story to include army crackdown on protests in Hebron in the southern West Bank where four people were injured by live bullets and on the northern entrance to Ramallah.

The papers also said President Mahmoud Abbas called the father of Ahed Tamimi, the 16-year-old girls from Nabi Saleh village near Ramallah who was imprisoned for standing up to Israeli soldiers in her village. Abbas inquired about Tamimi and expressed support for her.

Al-Ayyam quoted PLO Executive Committee member Ahmad Majdalani saying that attempts to overthrow the Palestinian leadership are bound to fail just as previous attempts have failed.

Majdalani said the ultimate deal the US administration has been talking about for a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has to do with a regional peace deal with Israel, in which the Palestinians would get an entity less than a state and more than autonomy with security remaining in Israeli hands.

Al-Ayyam also quoted Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh warning of consequences due to the slow movement of the intra-Palestinian reconciliation and the movement’s Gaza leader Yehya Sinwar also stressing that Hamas has no intention to go back on reconciliation or to see it fail.

Al-Quds, also reporting on Haniyeh and Sinwar, said they talked about plots to liquidate the Palestinian cause.

On settlement activities, al-Quds quoted the settlements expert Khalil Toufaqji saying that Israel is considering building an airport and an industrial area near Jericho.

It also said in a different story that settlement expansion is going to take away more of the Palestinian land in the Nablus area village of Jaloud.

M.K.