RAMALLAH, February 14, 2018 (WAFA) – News about clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces in the West Bank, as well as news about Jewish settlers’ attacks hit the front pages of the three Arabic Palestinian dailies on Wednesday.
Al-Quds, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that a number of Palestinians were injured during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the village of Salem, near the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
They also said Israeli settlers physically assaulted a Palestinian young man while he was present with his family in Umm al-Firan area in the Jordan Valley.
The dailies said that bulldozers of the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem Tuesday demolished a shop in al-Issawiya, an East Jerusalem neighborhood.
President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday met during his official visit to Russia with ambassadors of Arab countries accredited to the Russian Federation, according to the three newspapers.
The president briefed the Arab ambassadors on the latest political developments, particularly the issue of Jerusalem following US declaration of the city as capital of Israel.
The Palestine News and Information Agency and General Authority for Palestinian Radio and Television Tuesday signed two cooperation agreements with RT TV network (formerly Russia Today) and Russia’s Sputnik news agency, according to al-Hayat al-Jadida.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Italy’s leader of the ruling Democratic Party (PD), Matteo Renzi, Tuesday said during a press conference in the headquarters of the journalists’ syndicate in Rome, that US President Donald Trump’s declaration on Jerusalem as capital of Israel lays obstacles before peace.
Al-Ayyam quoted a “senior US official” saying that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson heard from a major country in the region that they want the United States to remain involved in the peace process and its main player.
Trial of Palestinian imprisoned teen Ahed Tamimi, who was detained by Israeli forces after a video of her slapping an Israeli soldier went viral, was also reported. Al-Ayyam said the Israeli court delayed the trial and set March 11 as a new date.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that the Palestinian government stated that 20,000 employees from the Gaza Strip will be included on the Palestinian Authority’s personnel list if the conciliation government is enabled in the Strip.
Reporting on another subject, the three newspapers said that Israeli police recommended charging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with bribery in two cases.
Extremist Jewish “Temple Mount” organizations called for the monthly march near the gates of al-Aqsa mosque on Wednesday, according to al-Quds and al-Ayyam.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Palestinian administrative detainees in Israeli jails, who are usually detained without charge or trial, announced on Tuesday that they have decided to boycott all Israeli courts.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that a number of high-profile entertainers, scholars, and civil rights icons, including Danny Glover, Rosario Dawson, Jesse Williams, LisaGay Hamilton, Vic Mensa, Talib Kweli, Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello, Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, Angela Davis, Michelle Alexander, Alice Walker and others signed a letter in support of Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi and other Palestinian children imprisoned by Israel.
Al-Quds said Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III has rejected an invitation by the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem to attend an event on Thursday, indicating rise in tension between them over several issues, most recent municipality decision to tax church property.
It said the employees at Birzeit University is planning escalation steps against the administration.
K.T./M.K.
