RAMALLAH, June 22, 2018 (WAFA) – The outburst of tensions following settlers’ intrusions into Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as well as al-Ibrahimi Mosque dominated the front page headlines in Palestinian daily newspapers on Friday.

The dailies reported that scores of Israeli settlers forced their way into East Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, where they provoked and cursed Palestinian Muslim female worshippers and Waqf-appointed guards.

Al-Ayyam also reported that settlers held a provocative celebration at al-Ibrahimi Mosque, known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs, in the Old City of Hebron.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam added in this regard that President Mahmoud Abbas’ Office condemned settlers’ practices at al-Ibrahimi Mosque.

Al-Quds also reported the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry condemning the opening of an Israeli police station in Hebron’s Old City as a new disdain for United Nations resolutions.

The volatile situation in the besieged Gaza Strip also hit the front page headlines in the dailies.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan stating that there was a good chance that Israel will launch a “large-scale military operation” in the Gaza Strip during the upcoming few months.

Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that an Israeli warplane targeted a group of Palestinian young men with a missile, east of Rafah.

They added that thousands of Palestinians attended the funeral procession of Muhammad Abu Daqqa, in Khan Younes.

Abu Daqqa, 22, succumbed to his wounds he had sustained at St. Joseph Hospital in Jerusalem after being shot and injured by Israeli military gunfire on May 14 as he partook in Gaza protests.

Furthermore, al-Quds said that kites and balloons dangling burning rags launched into Israel from the besieged Gaza Strip sparked a total of 17 fires in farmlands in Gaza periphery.

Also with regards to Gaza, al-Quds published a translation for Washington Post’s news report Gazans have survived years of war. Now depression is killing them.

Al-Ayyam said that Palestinian protestors in Gaza will resume Friday the Great March of Return protests, dubbed Loyalty to the Injured.

On the other hand, al-Ayyam opted to highlight the proposals submitted by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and special advisor Jared Kushner and the US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt on Gaza in its main news article.

It reported western diplomatic sources revealing that the American ideas on Gaza were identical with proposals submitted by Israeli to donors.

Referring to a news report by the Lebanese al-Akhbar newspaper, al-Ayyam reported that Hamas was prepared to strike a package deal with Israel that would address prisoners and the establishment of a port and seaport in Gaza.

Highlighting the situation in the West Bank, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that settlers pelted Palestinian-registered vehicles with stones near the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

Al-Quds added that settlers torched olive orchards belonging to Palestinian farmers in Burqa town, north of Nablus.

According to al-Ayyam, Israeli forces injured seven Palestinians during raids that sparked confrontations in Barta‘a Ash-Sharqiyya town, southwest of Jenin, and Beit Fajjar town, south of Bethlehem.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Israeli forces conducted multiple raids across the West Bank and detained 25 Palestinians.

Yet, member of the PLO Executive Committee Azzam al-Ahmad was reported in al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida stating that the committee would convene in Ramallah on Monday to discuss the recent resolutions taken by the Palestinian National Council and the overall political developments.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that two Palestinian human rights centers, namely Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, called for opening an inquiry into the death of a Palestinian imprisoned by Hamas in Rafah.

Regionally, the dailies spotlighted King Abdullah II of Jordan’s meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Amman.

Reiterating his stance on Jerusalem, Abdullah was reported in al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida stating that there would not be peace in the Middle East region without establishing a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The dailies also covered Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s meeting with Kushner and Greenblatt in Cairo.

Al-Quds said that Kushner and Greenblatt reviewed the efforts to resume peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian people during a meeting with el-Sisi.

El-Sisi was reported in al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida stressing Egypt’s support for efforts that seek to reach a comprehensive and just settlement to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital in light of the two-state solution based on the pre-1967 borders.

K.F.