RAMALLAH, May 12, 2018 (WAFA) – One Palestinian was killed, hundreds were injured in another day of Return March protests at the Gaza border with Israel, reported the three Palestinian Arabic dailies on the front page of their Saturday edition.
One paper, however, al-Hayat al-Jadida, said two Palestinians have died in reference to the one in killed in Gaza and a second one who was hit by an Israeli settlers’ bus near Hebron few days ago and died at hospital on Friday.
While al-Ayyam said 973 were injured on the Gaza border on Friday, al-Quds put the number at more than 700 in both Gaza and the West Bank. The paper was referring to the protests that also raged in several West Bank areas, mainly Ramallah, Jericho and Hebron that were severely quelled by the Israeli army.
Al-Ayyam said the Israeli army is bracing itself for the protests expected on May 14, the day the US plans to open its embassy in Jerusalem, and May 15, the Nakba (catastrophe) anniversary.
Al-Quds quoted Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh telling the crowds at the border protest that “we are waiting for the great march the day after tomorrow.”
It also said the political forces in Jerusalem have called for a strike on the day the US opens the embassy and to raise black flags in mourning. It said a protest is planned in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Baher, the closest Palestinian community to the embassy location.
Al-Ayyam said in a report by its correspondent in Jerusalem and quoting “a European source” that the European countries are not going to attend the US embassy opening ceremonies.
It said thousands of Jordanians took part in protest marches in support of Jerusalem and the Palestinian people.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida quoted Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee member Ahmad Majdalani saying that the leadership is going to take decisions on Monday in response to the US and Israeli measures.
Al-Quds also said Israeli police used force to push Palestinians who gathered at Bab al-Rahmeh Muslim cemetery, adjacent to the wall of Jerusalem’s Old City, out of the cemetery. The Palestinians gathered there to protest an Israeli takeover of parts of the cemetery and its consequence removal of graves.
Al-Ayyam said police detained four people and injured others/
In other news, the three papers reported on the torching of a house for the Dawabsheh family in the northern West Bank village of Duma. They said Israeli settlers threw flammable material inside the house setting it on fire before residents were able to extinguish it. No one was hurt but people remembered the burning alive of three people – an infant and his parents - from the same clan and same village three years ago when settlers set their home on fire.
Al-Quds said that activists confronted a march by Palestinians and Israelis near Bethlehem because they deemed it a “normalization” activity.
The papers also reported on the opening of Rafah crossing with Egypt for four days, starting Saturday.
M.K.
