RAMALLAH, July 4, 2018 (WAFA) – Palestinian presidency’s statement responding to the recently-passed Israeli law penalizing the Palestinian Authority over stipends paid to detainees in Israeli jails and families of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces dominated the front page headlines in Palestinian dailies on Wednesday.

The dailies reported Presidential spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, decrying as a “declaration of war” the Israeli law withholding tens of millions of dollars from Palestinian tax revenues over welfare payments allocated to detainees and families of other Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.

Al-Quds added that the Israeli law would exacerbate the deficit of the Palestinian Authority’s budget, while al-Ayyam noted that it would increase the total amount withheld from Palestinian tax revenues to approximately $60 million a month.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida also reported Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee Saeb Erekat decrying the law as “tantamount to cancellation of the Palestinian Authority.”

On the other hand, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that Israel is advancing the implementation of six plans to construct over 1,000 new settler unit in Jerusalem.

The plans reportedly include the construction of over 1,000 new settler units with the aim of extending Pisgat Zeev settlement, east of Jerusalem.

Al-Quds added that Israel is also advancing a plan to construct a new industrial zone in the central West Bank and plans to legalize a settlement outpost that has been constructed 20 years ago.

Additionally, the dailies reported that Israeli forces shot and injured three Palestinian women by live rounds during a protest along Gaza’s eastern border.

Thousands of Palestinian women reportedly demonstrated along Gaza’s heavily-fortified fence with Israel in what organizers called the “Palestinian Women for the Return and Breaking the Siege” protest.

The Israeli military preparations to demolish the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem, also hit the front page headlines in the dailies.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported that Israeli forces sealed roads within the community. They also reported the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Liz Throssell, calling on Israel not to proceed with the demolition of the community.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam covered Israeli media reports claiming that Hamas Cyber-warfare Unit managed to spy on Israeli soldiers ]using malicious World Cup score-tracking applications and two bogus dating applications[.

The dailies said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has allowed his lawmakers to go into East Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Moreover, al-Quds said that Egypt has resumed its efforts to achieve Palestinian Fatah-Hamas reconciliation.

It reported that the Palestinian cabinet rejects economic proposals to solve the Palestinian question.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that Israeli occupation authorities revoked the residency status from a Palestinian family in Jerusalem under the pretext that it relocated from one East Jerusalem neighborhood to another.

Yet, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that a group of Israeli settlers carried out excavations in the Ibrahimi Mosque compound in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

They added Israeli occupation authorities demolished a house in Battir, a village on UNESCO list, located to the west of Bethlehem.

Additionally, former Moroccan Premier Abdelilah Benkirane was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida stating: “The Palestinian cause is a matter of land and not of an economic issue.”

He was also reported stating that President Mahmoud Abbas’ resilience in the face of US President Donald Trump’s decision to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem “will give impetus to the Palestinian cause.”

Besides, Foreign and Expatriates Minister Riyad al-Malki was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida slamming Australia’s decision to stop sending $7.5 million in direct funds to the Palestinian Authority as “being in the service of the agenda of extremism in Israel.”

Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that General Supervisor of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation Ahmad Assaf sent letters to Arab and European parties, warning them against holding Eurovision contest 2019 in Jerusalem.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Russia has provided assistance to Palestinian refugees, south of Damascus.

K.F./M.K.