RAMALLAH, Monday, February 25, 2019 (WAFA) – The speech of President Mahmoud Abbas at the first League of Arab States-European Union summit in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh dominated the front page headlines in Monday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported that the first LAS-EU Summit started in Sham el-Sheikh with the purpose of promoting LAS-EU cooperation.
Abbas was reported in the dailies stating that any plans that are not based on the resolutions of international legitimacy will not succeed as long as they do not result in an independent and sovereign Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida stating that the Israeli government’s attempts to normalize relations with Arab and Islamic countries will not bring peace and security to Israel.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida also reported him expressing hope that the EU would help organize and monitor the parliamentary elections being prepared in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
He was also reported urging EU countries to activate Article 2 of the European-Israeli Association Agreement of 1995, and arbitrate the issue of Israel‘s deduction of Palestinian tax revenues as well as issues related to human rights violations.
Additionally, al-Quds reported that the Palestinian Religious Endowments (Waqf) Authorities appoints an imam for Bab a-Rahma building, which has been recently opened for worshippers the first time since Israel shuttered it in 2003.
The dailies also reported that Israeli occupation authorities release head of the Waqf Sheikh Abdel-Azeem Salhab and his deputy Sheikh Najeh Bkeirat, two of Jerusalem’s leading Muslim religious figures, and decide to ban them entry to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for eight days.
Al-Ayyam added that Israeli occupation authorities have also decided to ban 10 other Palestinians entry into the holy site.
Moreover, the dailies reported that thousands of Palestinians took to the streets throughout various Palestinian districts in support of President Abbas.
Al-Ayyam added that Hamas security forces carried out a wave of arrests against Fatah members following the rallies in support of Abbas in Gaza.
According to al-Quds, Israeli settlers seized hundreds of Palestinian dunums of land in the Jordan Valley.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported member of Fatah Central Committee Azzam al-Ahmad, who also serves as a member of the PLO’s Executive Committee, urging all Palestinian factions to take decisive positions against attempts to liquidate the Palestinian question.
According to al-Quds, the Palestinian people commemorates today the 25th anniversary of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre.
On February 25 1994, a US-born Israeli military physician walked into the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron armed with an assault rifle. Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 worshipers, and more than a hundred had been injured.
Al-Ayyam said that Israeli forces fired dozens of stun grenades, targeting nighttime protests, east of al-Bureij refugee camp in the central besieged Gaza Strip.
K.F.
