RAMALLAH, Tuesday, February 12, 2019 (WAFA) – The Demolition of a Palestinian house to the north of the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem dominated the front page headlines in Palestinian Arabic dailies.
The dailies reported that Israeli occupation authorities demolished a Palestinian house in al-Walaja village, north of Bethlehem.
The dailies also reported that Israeli occupation authorities ordered a Palestinian family to evict their house, located in the Old City of Jerusalem, to be handed over to Israeli settlers.
While al-Ayyam said that the Abu Assab family were ordered to evict their house within 24 hours, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that they were allowed until the end of February to do so.
Israeli settlers claimed ownership of the house, located near Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a claim that the Abu Assab family has refuted.
According to al-Ayyam, scores of Israeli settlers, escorted by heavily armed military police officers, forced their way into the mosque compound.
On the other hand, al-Quds opted to highlight Israel’s plan to retroactively legalize structures built “in part” on private Palestinian in the illegal settlement of Alei Zahav, located close to Route 5, which links Ariel and Tel Aviv.
It said that Israel has devised new “legal” regulations that would legalize the seizure of Palestinian private lands by settlers.
Alei Zahav was completely built on Palestinian lands, which Israel has seized from the Palestinian villages of Deir Ballut and Kafr al-Dik in the northern West Bank district of Salfit.
Yet, al-Hayat al-Jadida opted to spotlight President Mahmoud Abbas’ visit to Riyadh in its main news article, a theme that was also covered in the other two dailies.
It said that Abbas arrived in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on an official two-day visit during which he is scheduled to meet King Salman bin Abdul Aziz.
Additionally, al-Quds reported that Israeli bulldozers destroyed a road near Masafer Yatta area, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that Israeli forces detained 22 Palestinians in multiple overnight raids across the West Bank.
Al-Quds reported Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov expressing his shock over Israel’s killing of two children in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Israeli snipers stationed east of the besieged Gaza Strip opened fire at Palestinians taking part in the Great March of Return protests, killing 14-year-old Hassan Shalaby and the 17-year-old Hamza Ishtiwi on Friday February 8.
Also regarding Gaza, al-Ayyam said that Palestinians expanded nighttime protests along Gaza’s eastern border.
It added that Palestinian protestors launched incendiary balloons from the eastern strip to southern Israel.
It also reported that Palestinian rescue teams pulled the bodies of two Palestinians who suffocated to death inside a tunnel underneath the southern border of Gaza.
It explained that the bodies of Abed al-Hamid al-Aker, 39, and Subhi Saqer Abu Qirshein, 28, were pulled several hours after they suffocated to death during their mission of rescuing nine workers.
Al-Aker and Abu Qirshein suffocated to death inside the tunnel as a result of inhaling unknown poisonous gases.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam spotlighted staged a sit-in in front of the headquarters of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) slamming Israel’s recent decision to expel TIPH monitors from Hebron.
Moreover, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported a number of Palestinian politicians slamming the upcoming conference in Warsaw as part of the US President Donald Trump Mideast plan, dubbed deal of the century, which aims to liquidate the Palestinian question.
Al-Quds also reported US envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt denying media reports that the US administration has finalized the so-called deal of the century.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida added in this regard that the Ireland is spearheading European efforts to confront the so-called deal of the century.
Regionally, the dailies reported that Israeli shelling targeted the southern Syrian province of Quneitra.
Internationally, al-Quds said that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its supporters are inciting against congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar over comments critical of Israel.
Al-Ayyam said that congresswoman Ilhan Omar was accused of anti-Semitism over tweets critical of Israel.
K.F.
