RAMALLAH, August 1, 2018 (WAFA) – The massive protests that rocked the besieged Gaza Strip over UNRWA’s decision to terminate and downgrade the contracts of hundreds of employees dominated the front page headlines in the dailies on Wednesday.
Al-Quds reported that thousands of Palestinians demonstrated against the service and contract cuts by the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported UNRWA Director of Operations in Gaza Matthias Schmale stating that terminating the contracts of 145 employees at this critical time is devastating.
Al-Ayyam said in this regard that the UNRWA holds donors responsible for reducing the number of its employees, and UNRWA staff called on the UN aid agency to rescind its decision and consider proposed alternatives.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam printed a photo for UNRWA employees and their relatives demonstrating in front of UNRWA main headquarter in Gaza city and carrying banners reading: “We will never surrender to the conspiracy and never kneel” and “Do not leave us hungry”.
Furthermore, the dailies said that Fatah delegation submitted the Palestinian leadership’s stance on the Egyptian initiative to achieve reconciliation to chief of Egyptian Intelligence Abbas Kamel.
Additionally, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that the Israeli Supreme Court is set to pass a ruling on the appeal to reject the demolition and displacement of Khan al-Ahmar, a Palestinian Bedouin community that has been under the threat of demolition by Israeli forces.
Al-Ayyam added that a state of alert was announced in the community until further notice a day before the Israeli Supreme Court’s ruling on the appeal.
The European Union (EU) was reported in the dailies condemning the dismantling by Israeli forces of a donor-funded women’s center and kindergarten in Jabal al-Baba, a Palestinian Bedouin community on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Moreover, al-Quds reported that Israeli forces delivered notices to demolish six Palestinian homes in al-Walaja village in the southern West Bank district of Bethlehem. According to al-Ayyam, the homes slated for demolition totaled seven.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam also reported that Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian youth with live fire east of Gaza city.
They highlighted confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinians in Sebastia village, north of Nablus, and at the junction of Tammoun, south of Tubas.
Yet, al-Quds said that Israel started to deport the international solidarity activists who were aboard the Norwegian-flagged Al-Awda Ship when it was attacked by Israeli forces in international waters.
Al-Ayyam added that Norway has demanded Israel to provide explanation for seizure of the Gaza-bound ship.
According to the dailies, the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, is scheduled to hold an extraordinary session to discuss the Jewish Nation-State Basic Law on August 8.
They added that the High Follow-up Committee for Palestinian Citizens of Israel has called for a general strike in Arab towns and the diaspora in protest of the law.
Additionally, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that the Council of Ministers decided to organize elections in 19 local councils and commissions who had lost their quorum across the West Bank.
It spotlighted Doctors Without Borders’ seminar titled Gaza: Where the Bones Turn into Dust in Beirut to discuss the medical and humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Al-Ayyam said that incendiary kites flown by Gaza protestors set 15 fires in Israeli towns in Gaza periphery.
It added the Israeli Magistrate Court of Nazareth sentenced Palestinian poet Darin Tatour from al-Reineh village in northern Israel to five months of prison.
K.F./M.K.
