RAMALLAH, May 8, 2018 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas’ visit to the Southern American country of Venezuela and meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro gripped the front page headlines in Palestinian Arabic dailies on Tuesday.
Abbas was reported in the dailies renewing his willingness to resume peace talks with Israel on the basis of United Nations (UN) resolutions.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Abbas held talks with Maduro in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, and thanked him for his support to the Palestinian question.
Abbas was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida stating that Palestine maintains a relation of friendship and cooperation with Venezuela in various fields.
On his part, Maduro reportedly reiterated his country’s rejection of the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem.
He was reported in the dailies stating: “Jerusalem is Palestinian for thousands of years and will remain for thousands of years the capital of the State of Palestine.”
He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida expressing his country’s rejection of “America’s hostile decisions that want to rob Jerusalem of history.”
He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida telling Abbas “sovereign and free Venezuela resolutely, firmly and efficiently supports a free and independent Palestine.”
On the other hand, al-Quds reported that US President Donald Trump would announce his decision on Iran nuclear deal today.
Still, al-Ayyam opted to report that Israeli snipers shot and injured at least five Palestinians in the Great March of Return encampments to the east of Khan Younes and east of Gaza City.
It added that kites flown by protestors set new fires to fields in the southern Israeli settlements in Gaza periphery.
The dailies reported that Israeli occupation authorities put up road signs for the US embassy, which will be opened in Jerusalem on May 14, which marks the 70th anniversary of the Nakba (catastrophe).
Highlighting Palestinian official condemnations of the embassy opening, al-Quds reported member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee Adnan Husseini, who also serves as Jerusalem governor, slamming putting up the road signs as a “provocation of Jerusalemites’ feelings”.
Secretary-General of the PLO Executive Committee Saeb Erekat was reported in the dailies urging all diplomatic corps, civil society organizations and religious authorities to boycott the inauguration ceremonies of the US embassy in Jerusalem.
According to al-Quds and al-Ayyam, Trump would not attend the inauguration ceremony in Jerusalem.
Al-Quds said that Israeli forces have been placed on alert ahead of Palestinian protests marking the 70th anniversary of the Nakba (catastrophe) on May 15.
The dailies said that several Palestinian families were forced to demolish parts of their own homes in Qalandiya refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, after receiving Israeli orders.
Al-Ayyam added that Israeli forces seized a Palestinian-owned truck and a concrete mixer from al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that Israeli forces conducted multiple raids across the West Bank, detaining 17 Palestinians.
Furthermore, the dailies reported Health Ministry dispatched 20 truckloads of medical supplies to Gaza following Abbas’ instructions.
The dailies highlighted media reports that Nasser al-Qudwa, Fatah Central Committee member and nephew of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, has resigned against some results of the Palestinian National Council’s (PNC) meeting.
They reported Secretary-General of Fatah Central Committee Jibril Rajoub and Deputy Chairman of Fatah Mahmoud al-Aloul affirming that Qudwa’s resignation would not be accepted.
According to the dailies, the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, approved a bill in first reading to deduct the allowances of the families of prisoners in Israeli jails and those killed or injured by Israeli forces from the tax revenues collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.
Al-Quds reported member of PLO Executive Committee Hanan Ashrawi slamming the bill as “nothing short of outright theft” and “economic appropriation and robbery” of the Palestinian people’s rights.
It reported the National Society of Democracy and Law, a Palestinian human rights organization, warning against the use of lethal force by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians along Gaza border.
Moreover, al-Hayat al-Jadida reported member of PLO Executive Committee Wassel Abu Yousef slamming the Paraguay government’s decision to relocate its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem as a support for the entrenchment of occupation.
K.F./M.K.
