RAMALLAH, June 20, 2018 (WAFA) – The Israeli court ruling striking down most of the confessions made by the primary suspects in the 2015 murder of three members of the Dawabsheh family dominated the front page headlines in local Palestinian dailies on Wednesday.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported that an Israeli court has struck down some of the confessions made by two settlers who committed the murder by setting on fire the Dawabsheh family house in Nablus-district town of Duma in July 2015 that killed the parents and an infant.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said having taken this ruling, Israeli judiciary has torched the Dawabsheh family once gain.

Furthermore, the dailies reported that Israeli military bulldozers razed scores of dunums of Palestinian farmlands in the northern Jordan Valley.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam added that Israeli military bulldozers also razed a large tract of Palestinian farmlands, east of Yatta town, in the southern West Bank.

According to al-Ayyam, Israeli bulldozers leveled agricultural land and pastures belonging to Jayyous village to expand the nearby Israeli settlement of Tzofim, northeast of Qalqiliya.

Additionally, al-Ayyam reported the United Nations (UN) stating that Israel advanced plans to construct 3,500 new settler units in the West Bank within three months.

The statement was reportedly made by the UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov, who submitted a report to the UN Security Council detailing Israeli settlement construction activities from March 26 to June 12.

The dailies highlighted Jordanian King Abdullah II’s meeting with US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and special advisor Jared Kushner and the US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt in Amman.

Al-Quds said in this regard that Kushner and Greenblatt discussed with Abdullah the situation in the besieged Gaza Strip and efforts to revive the peace process, while al-Ayyam said that Abdullah affirmed for Trump’s envoys the two-state solution and the issue of Jerusalem.

Abdullah was quoted in al-Hayat al-Jadida stating Jerusalem is the key to achieving peace in the region.

This meeting came amid speculations that Trump could unveil his plan for Israel and the Palestinians, dubbed the “deal of the century”, within days.

With regards to the so-called “deal of the century”, President Mahmoud Abbas’ envoy for foreign affairs and international relations Nabil Shaath was reported in al-Quds stating that Arabs would not put pressures on the Palestinians and that the deal was “stillborn”.

Moreover, al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that the US had withdrawn from the UN Human Rights Council, a step that al-Quds described as showing the US blatant bias to Israel.

According to al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida, Israeli forces injured a Palestinian man during a raid that triggered clashes in al-Mazra‘a al-Gharbiyya village, north of Ramallah.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Israeli forces detained 13 Palestinians and seized tens of thousands of shekels during multiple West Bank raids.

According to al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida, Israeli Supreme Court decided to suspend the new military order that paves the way for mass demolition of Palestinian-owned structures in West Bank’s Area C.

Al-Hayat noted the court made this ruling following an appeal submitted by the Society of St. Yves and the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center.

Meanwhile, al-Quds and al-Ayyam said Israeli police detained a Palestinian businessman and his son and summoned six others over celebrating the Russia Day in an East Jerusalem hotel.

Al-Quds published an article for the British Consul-General in Jerusalem Philip Hall titled The Royal visit to the region: Why is it important?

The two-day meeting of the Advisory Commission of the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in Amman that discussed support for the agency also hit the front page headlines in the daily newspapers.

Al-Quds said UNRWA meeting discussed the implications of its critical financial state and underlined its need for $250 million in support of its programs.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said in this regard UNRWA was planning to suspend some of its programs and operations in Gaza.

In the meantime, al-Quds reported Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theofilos III stating that the procedures were still underway in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, to pass a bill that would seize church property.

It added that the Israeli Constitution, Law and Justice Committee in the Knesset has prepared a draft law to silence the Muslim call to prayer.

It also reported that the Prisoners Affairs Committee plans to hold another rally in Gaza during the next week.

The plan to hold this rally comes after members of Hamas security forces assaulted Palestinians who took part in a similar rally in Gaza City, calling for the end of the division and calling for national unity.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida warning that the besieged Gaza Strip was on the “brink of war” following the most recent escalation of violence.

K.F./M.K.