RAMALLAH, April 22, 2018 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas’ statements during his phone call with his French counterpart hit the front pages of the three Arabic Palestinian dailies on Sunday.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida, al-Ayyam and al-Quds highlighted that Abbas said during a phone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron that Palestinians are ready to establish an independent state, and the only problem is with the Israeli occupation.
Abbas also said that Palestinians will not allow US President Donald Trump or anyone else to say that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital, and will not allow any country to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem.
Macron told Abbas that he will tell Trump about the Palestinian stance in order to discuss the peace process during a meeting that will take place in the US in two days.
A statement by the Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Saeb Erekat, was reported in the three dailies. He said that the US has already started executing the “deal of the century” by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Erekat said that Abbas has demanded the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) representative at UN to request international protection for the Palestinian people following the recent events in the Gaza Strip.
The dailies said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement that the PLO is the main title of the history of the recent Palestinian struggle, as it is the identity of the Palestinians and the road to Jerusalem.
The three papers also reported that the US State Department has dropped from its annual human rights report released on Friday the term “Occupied Territories” when making reference to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that Palestinian lecturer Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh, 35, was shot dead near his house in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His family accused the Israeli Mossad of being behind what it said was an assassination.
Al-Ayyam said that Israeli forces Saturday raided the village of Kafr Qaddum, to the west of the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, while Israeli settlers attacked with stones two homes belonging to Jaber and Qfesheh families in the Old City neighborhood in Hebron, in southern West Bank.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida and al-Quds said a Fatah delegation met with the Egyptian Intelligence Chief Abbas Kamel in Cairo, where they discussed the latest developments in Palestine amidst the Israeli attacks against peaceful popular resistance.
Al-Ayyam said that Oscar-winning American Jewish actress Natalie Portman said on Friday that she has decided not to attend an award ceremony in Israel and accept a $1 million award due to her objections to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies.
K.T/M.N
