RAMALLAH, March 21, 2018 (WAFA) – Israeli measures against the Palestinian people and the pledging conference in support of improving Gaza’s drinking water hit the front page headlines in Palestinian dailies.
Al-Quds reported that Israeli forces injured a number of Palestinians with live rounds and rubber-coated steel bullets and caused others to suffocate during raids into Nablus-district villages of As-Sawiya and al-Lubban al-Sharqiya.
Elaborating on the raid into al-Lubban al-Sharqiya, al-Ayyam said that Israeli forces attacked Palestinian students on their way to school, causing suffocation cases.
It added that Israeli forces injured several Palestinians and detained another during a raid into Jenin-district town of Burqin.
Al-Quds also reported that Israeli military conducted drills with live ammunition in the Jordan Valley.
It also reported that Israeli bulldozers backed by tanks infiltrated Gaza borders in the northern and southern besieged coastal enclave.
Al-Ayyam also reported that Israeli settlers chopped down olive trees, southwest of Bethlehem.
The pledging conference in support of Gaza’s desalination facility that convened in Brussels also dominated the headlines.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported in this regard that the donor conference in Brussels announced a landmark project to provide the besieged Gaza Strip with drinking water.
Al-Quds reported Finance Minister Shukri Bishara stating that the Palestinian people’s financial situation would remain as it is as a result of being deprived from controlling their borders and natural resources.
Bishara made his statement during the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee’s (AHLC) conference in Brussels.
Al-Ayyam reported European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini stated that “the Palestinian economic outlook will most likely remain bleak without a clear progress towards reunification of the West Bank and Gaza.”
Highlighting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington, al-Quds said they discussed regional conflicts and Palestinian-Israeli peace efforts.
Furthermore, al-Quds said Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza rejected President Mahmoud Abbas’ accusations blaming Hamas for the roadside bomb attack last week that targeted the convoy of Premier Rami Hamdallah and intelligence chief Majid Faraj in Gaza.
The dailies reported the cabinet calling on Hamas to hand over the Gaza Strip once and for all, so that the government would fully assume its responsibilities in the besieged enclave.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian Territories Michael Lynk reiterating that Israel was in contempt of its international health obligations towards the Palestinians.
The dailies also spotlighted Israeli human rights group B’Tselem’s report titled Minors in Jeopardy: Violation of the Rights of Palestinian Minors by Israel’s Military Courts.
Al-Quds quoted the report showing that Palestinian minors’ rights were still being systematically violated.
Al-Quds spotlighted an opinion poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research showing that an overwhelming majority of Palestinians rejects the US role in the peace process and rejects ideas attributed to the so-called “deal of the century”.
In addition, al-Ayyam said that Israeli occupation authorities plan to deploy convoys of tanks along Gaza borders in anticipation of upcoming demonstrations.
It is worth recalling that Palestinian factions have already announced that the Great March of Return would be organized along Gaza’s border with Israel starting on March 30.
Senior Islamic Jihad official Nafez Azzam was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida expressing support for Abbas’ rejection of the so-called “deal of the century”.
K.F./M.K.
