RAMALLAH, Friday, December 21, 2018 (WAFA) – The killing of a Palestinian young man by Israeli gunfire near the central West Bank city of al-Bireh made the front page headlines in the dailies.
The dailies reported that Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian young man and injured another at Beitin checkpoint, also known as the DCO checkpoint, near the northern entrance to al-Bireh city.
Ahmad Abbassi, 21, a resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras al-Amoud, was killed by Israeli forces as he was driving his private vehicle and attempting to pass the checkpoint.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam added unknown Palestinian suspects opened fire near Ofra settlement, east of Ramallah.
They explained that Israeli forces restricted access to Ramallah city, effectively shutting down all roads leading to the towns and villages in the eastern Ramallah district.
Furthermore, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted member of Fatah Central Committee Mohammad Shtayyeh’s statements during the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Negotiations Affairs Department’s (PLO-NAD) annual Christmas briefing to journalists in Beit Jala.
Shtayyeh was reported stating that the Palestinian leadership has informed Israel that it would no longer honor agreements if Israel presses with its aggression against the Palestinian people.
He was also reported reiterating that the Palestinian leadership was redefining the relationship with Israel.
According to the dailies, President Mahmoud Abbas received an Irish Parliament delegation of the Sinn Fein in Ramallah.
Additionally, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported the National Campaign for the Retrieval of the Withheld Bodies of Martyrs saying that the Israeli military was dragging feet in permitting Saleh Barghouthi’s mother to see the body of her son in the morgue in order to identify him.
Barghouthi, suspected of shooting and wounding Israeli settlers near Ramallah last week, was supposedly shot and detained in a military ambush near Ramallah on December 13. However, his family said witnesses saw him being detained by the military, which later said he was dead, prompting the family to wonder if he was dead and if he was murdered following his detention.
The two dailies added that Israeli occupation authorities rejected an appeal to release Ashraft Naalweh’s mother, Wafaa Mehdawi, and brother, Amjad, on bail.
Naalweh, 23, was killed by Israeli forces in the northern West Bank refugee camp of Askar on December 13th following a two-month manhunt for being the suspect of the killing of two Israeli settlers in the illegal Israeli settlement of Barkan in October.
Naalweh’s mother and brother were detained during the week after the shooting he had carried out in an attempt by Israel to pressure him to turn himself in.
Yet, the same dailies said that members of the Israeli Jewish terrorist group “Price Tag” slashed the tires of 40 Palestinian-owned vehicles and spray-painted anti-Palestinian graffiti in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina.
They added that settlers leveled hundreds of dunums of Palestinian-owned land belonging to Um Saffa and Battir villages, northwest and west of Ramallah and Bethlehem.
Spotlighting the situation in Jerusalem, al-Quds said that 154 Israeli settlers forced their way into flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, also known as Haram al-Sharif, under heavy police escort.
Yet, al-Quds said that Palestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara met his Israeli counterpart in Jerusalem.
According to al-Quds, the European Union (EU) has announced the allocation of €14 million to support East Jerusalem hospitals.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida noted that Italy has provided donations in support of the UNRWA’s food security and health programs in the West Bank and Gaza.
It added that Israeli forces detained 10 Palestinians in multiple overnight raids across the West Bank.
It pointed out that Palestinian Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister Riyad al-Malki is scheduled to meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.
It also highlighted a Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities’ plan to introduce an application by early 2019 to ease crowds of tourists at the Church of the Nativity.
Regionally, Jordan’s Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister Ayman Safadi was reported in al-Quds announcing that his country was developing a long-term to garner financial support for the United Nations relief agency, UNRWA.
Besides, al-Ayyam issued a translation for Reuter’s report Palestinians in Iraq fearful after loss of Saddam-era privileges.
Internationally, the dailies highlighted US President Donald Trump’s unexpected decision to start withdrawing US troops from northeastern Syria.
Trump was reported in al-Quds and al-Ayyam announcing that his country does not want to be the “policeman” of the Middle East.
Regarding efforts to criminalize the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, al-Quds said that senators Bernie Sanders and Dianne Feinstein urged the Senate not to include the Israeli Anti-Boycott Act in the spending bill.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam added that Israel is about to establish an international legal network to fight BDS.
K.F.
