RAMALLAH, March 23, 2018 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas’ meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev in Ramallah hit the front page headlines in Palestinian dailies.

The dailies reported Abbas urging Hamas to hand over the power to the national reconciliation government or take the blame for failing the Egypt-sponsored reconciliation efforts.

He reportedly stated: “If Hamas does not hand over everything to the national unity government, it will bear the consequences for failing the Egyptian efforts to achieve reconciliation.”

He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida reiterating his call for holding an international peace conference for peace ]through a multilateral mechanism[ and stressing that any solution should be based on the United Nations resolutions.

On his turn, Radev was reported in al-Quds stating that he attached great importance to Bulgarian-Palestinian relations.

He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida expressing his country’s support for the general European Union’s position that calls for a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on two states.

The killing of the suspected perpetrator of the roadside bomb that targeted the convoy of Premier Rami Hamdallah and Intelligence chief Majid Faraj in Gaza on March 13 also hit the front page headlines.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported the Hamas-run Ministry of Interior announcing that security services killed Anas Abu Khoussa, the suspected perpetrator of the recent attack, along with one of his aides.

Al-Quds also reported Hamas-run Ministry of Interior also announcing that another aide was detained and two security officers were killed during the gun battle.

Dismissing Hamas claims that they killed the suspected perpetrator, the government was reported in al-Ayyam accusing Hamas of “spreading rumors” and “creating a flimsy account”.

It was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida accusing Hamas of “drawing a distorted scenario” on the attempted assassination ]to divert attention from its responsibility for the attack[.

Moreover, al-Quds reported that the US President Donald Trump’s administration has postponed the announcement of the so-called “Deal of the Century” following its inability to secure Arab support as a result of the Palestinians’ rejection of the deal.

Highlighting Israeli forces and settlers’ attacks, al-Quds said that Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinian farmers to the east of Khan Younes in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The dailies reported that Israeli forces detained 33 Palestinians during multiple overnight raids across the West Bank, including 19 Palestinians from the East Jerusalem refugee camp of Shufat.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida added that Israeli bulldozers razed Palestinian farmlands in la-Khader town, south of Bethlehem.

They added forces opened fire at Palestinians in Sebastia village, northwest of Nablus, causing fire to break out in crops.

They also reported that forces sealed the entrance to the cluster of Bani Zeid villages, northwest of Ramallah.

Al-Quds highlighted Egyptian efforts to prevent Abbas from announcing the Gaza Strip as an insurgent province.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported the Islamic Religious Endowments (Waqf) Council in Jerusalem warning against Israeli plans to hold the festival of Passover Offerings in the Umayyad palaces area, adjacent to the walls of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Al-Ayyam reported that the US Congress was set to approve a motion that would cut funding to the Palestinian Authority (PA) over allowances to the families of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and settlers.