RAMALLAH, Wednesday, December 26, 2018 (WAFA) – Daily Israeli military raids across the West Bank and the razing of large tracts of Palestinian-owned lands for settlement construction hit the front page headlines in Palestinian dailies.

Al-Quds reported that Israeli forces raided the Qalqilya-district town of Azzun, the Ramallah-district town of Ein Yabrud and the Hebron-district camp of al-Arroub, triggering confrontations with Palestinian residents.

Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that Israeli forces attacked Palestinian tents and residential structures, southeast of the Hebron-district town of Yatta.

Additionally, the dailies said that Israeli occupation authorities razed dozens of dunums of land belonging to Immatin village, west of Qalqilya.

Elaborating on this issue, al-Quds said that Israeli heavy machinery leveled 70 dunums in the village.

Moreover, the dailies said that Israeli settlers uprooted over 200 olive saplings belonging to a Palestinian farmer, east of Yatta.

Pope Francis call for the resumption of dialogue between the Palestinians and Israelis “put an end to a conflict that for over 70 years has rent the land chosen by the Lord to show his face of love” also dominated the front page headlines, particularly in al-Quds.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said in this regard that President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed Pope Francis’ call for dialogue in order to bring about peace.

They added that Israeli military police delivered demolition orders for several Palestinian-owned houses in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Issawiya.

Besides, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted Palestinian National Council’s Speaker Salim Zanoun’s statements regarding the recent Constitutional Court’s decision that dissolved the largely defunct Palestinian Legislative Council and hold new parliamentary elections within six months.

Zanoun was reported stressing: “The Constitutional Court’s decision is binding to all state authorities and opens the door for the reactivation of parliamentary life.”

The dailies added that Fatah’s parliamentary bloc has affirmed its respect and full commitment to the Constitutional Court’s decision.

Yet, al-Quds said that Palestinian police arrested two people who went on a destruction spree inside Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida printed an investigation claiming to reveal that a senior Hamas official manipulated a recent Omani grant for the reconstruction of Gaza houses.

Regionally, al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that Syrian air defences confronted “hostile missiles” launched by Israeli warplanes near Damascus.

Al-Quds published the Arabic version of AFP’s report Facing potential indictment, Netanyahu opts for snap elections.

It issued a report spotlighting the successes achieved by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and Israel’s desperate attempts to stop the movement.

K.F.