RAMALLAH, March 3, 2018 (WAFA) – The three Palestinian Arabic dailies highlighted on their Saturday front page the weekly anti-occupation protests in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and Israeli crackdown that normally leaves dozens injured.
The papers highlighted mainly the protests in Bilin near Ramallah where the protesters marked 13 years for the start of the weekly Friday protests against the Israeli occupation and its land grab for settlement construction and to build the apartheid wall on private Palestinian agricultural land.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said its photojournalist Issam Rimawi was among those injured by the Israeli army.
Al-Quds said Israeli media revealed plans to build 7000 housing units in a new settlement near Qalandia, north of Jerusalem, which is expected to further narrow the space left for Palestinian construction.
It said the Israeli authorities informed two Palestinian families living in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem to evacuate their life-long homes for Jewish settlers who claim ownership of the homes since before 1948. Palestinians who own homes inside Israel since before 1948 and have papers proving ownership are not allowed to reclaim their homes already occupied by Israelis.
The paper quoted the UN organization, OCHA, saying that Jewish settlers’ violence against Palestinians and their property has multiplied this year.
On the US role in the Middle, al-Quds quoted Palestinian-Israeli lawmaker Ahmad Tibi saying US President Donald Trump has ended the US role in the peace process, calling for a bigger role for the European Union.
Al-Ayyam quoted Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, saying that no Palestinian leadership can ever accept the Israeli conditions for peace. He also said the new US phase is one of dictated decisions.
The papers said Fatah’s Revolutionary Council continued on Friday its meetings in Ramallah. The three-day meeting chaired by President Abbas started on Thursday.
Al-Quds said the Egyptian intelligence told the Hamas leadership during its stay in Cairo that solutions for Gaza will come through Egypt. It said Hamas links the future of the Israelis it is holding to reconciliation with the Palestinian Authority.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said President Mahmoud Abbas received in his office Anaam Attar, 12, and her family. Anaam came from Gaza last week for a kidney transplant but Israel would not let her mother accompany her, which caused a big uproar forcing Israel to change its decision two days later and allow the mother to be with her daughter during surgery.
Al-Quds printed an opinion piece by the Turkish foreign minister explaining Turkey’s position on the situation in Syria.
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