RAMALLAH, July 18, 2018 (WAFA) – The Israeli measures which have further tightened the siege on the Gaza Strip dominated the front page headlines in Palestinian dailies on Wednesday.
Al-Quds reported that Israel has tightened the siege on Gaza, imposing more punitive measures.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that the Israeli military has received the green light to carry out a large-scale operation in Gaza should Palestinian protesters not stop flying incendiary kites and balloons into Israel.
Furthermore, al-Quds reported the Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory Jamie McGoldrick warning of the deterioration of the crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip and calling for the immediate opening of Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) commercial border crossing.
Additionally, the dailies reported that a young Palestinian man succumbed to his wounds he had sustained during the Great March of Return protests on May 14.
Sari Daoud al-Shweiki, 20, was shot and seriously injured by Israeli gunfire as he partook in a protest along Gaza’s eastern border, causing him paralysis and prompting his transfer to a hospital in Jerusalem.
According to al-Quds and al-Ayyam, Israeli drone targeted a group of Palestinians, east of Jabaliya and Gaza, injuring four.
Al-Quds added that Palestinian patients in Gaza held a sit-in in front of Beit Hanoun crossing, also known as Erez, to express their rejection of the Israeli siege on Gaza.
The dailies said that thousands of Palestinians participated in a rally in the northern West Bank city of Nablus to voice their rejection of US President Donlad Trump’s Mideast plan, dubbed deal of the century, and support for President Mahmoud Abbas.
According to al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida, Israeli settlers attacked several Palestinian homes and set fire to a scores of dunums of farmlands in Assira al-Qibliya village, south of Nablus.
Furthermore, the dailies said that the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, has approved a legislation that would Palestinian access to the Israeli Supreme Court.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida added the Knesset also approved “Breaking the Silence” law.
The law, dubbed Breaking the Silence, a reference to the Israeli group of that name which collects and publishes testimonies from Israeli soldiers about the military’s treatment of Palestinians, would bar human rights organizations that criticize the Israeli occupation and the military’s practices from visiting schools and speaking to students.
Yet, al-Quds spotlighted Qatari ambassador Mohammad al-Emadi’s remarks revealing that Israel and Hamas have reached an implicit understanding that they are not interested in escalation.
Al-Ayyam and al-Quds reported well-informed Palestinian sources revealing that Hamas has accepted Egypt’s proposals to restore intra-Palestinian reconciliation.
Member of Fatah Central Committee Azzam al-Ahmad was reported in al-Ayyam stating that extensive contacts would be made during the coming few days which could culminate in reconciliation.
Moreover, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted a Ramallah-based rally and a national campaign to express rejection of the withholding of the stipends paid to the families of prisoners and Palestinian killed and injured by Israeli forces.
They reported the cabinet denouncing organized Israeli aggression against Palestinian Bedouin communities, most notably Khal al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem, as intended to change facts on the ground.
Additionally, al-Quds reported cartographer Khalil Tafakji casting doubt about the real intents behind the land registration conducted by Israel in Jerusalem.
Finally, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported the European Union’s (EU) foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini slamming Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan’s statements that the EU was supporting incitement or terror as misleading.
K.F.
