RAMALLAH, Monday, March 25, 2019 (WAFA) – The death of a Palestinian protestor from injuries sustained from Israeli gunfire during protests in the besieged Gaza Strip dominated the front page headlines in Monday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.
The dailies reported that 24-year-old Habib al-Masri succumbed to his injuries he sustained from Israeli gunfire during Saturday’s nighttime protests in the northern Gaza Strip.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam highlighted mounting tensions in Gaza just a few days before the first anniversary of the Great March of Return protests demanding an end to the Israeli blockade imposed on Gaza since 2007.
They reported that Palestinians stepped up the “Nighttime Confusion” protests along Gaza’s eastern border and that Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded several sites along Gaza’s border.
Al-Quds added in this regard that Israel is making preparations to launch an possible large-scale aggression against Gaza.
On the other hand, al-Hayat al-Jadida opted to cover heightened tensions between Palestinian detainees and Israeli wardens in an Israeli prison in southern Israel; a theme that was also covered in the other two dailies.
It reported that Israeli special forces stormed several sections of al-Naqab Prison, also known as Ktzi‘ot Prison, in southern Israel.
The dailies explained in this regard that two Israeli wardens were stabbed by Palestinian prisoners in the prison, with al-Ayyam noting that 25 Palestinian prisoners were injured during ensuing clashes.
Moreover, al-Quds covered Israeli human rights Group B‘Tselem‘s report titled Interval between time Palestinian car hit Israeli troops near village of Kafr Ni‘ma and the fatal shooting of two of the car’s passengers raises grave concerns.
Al-Ayyam said that Israeli settlers pelted Palestinian vehicles travelling along roads near Jat village, west of Nablus, with rocks.
Regarding the situation in Jerusalem, the dailies said that Israeli Jewish settlers forced their way into flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, with al-Quds noting 86 settlers stormed the site.
Al-Ayyam and al-Quds added that renewed settlers’ intrusions into the site came as Israeli police detained a woman upon exiting the holy site.
Additionally, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that dozens of Palestinian students and teachers suffocated from tear gas fired by Israeli forces at a school in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
According to al-Quds and al-Ayyam, Israeli occupation authorities have decided to seize 500 dunum of Palestinian land to expand the industrial zone of Mishor Adumim, east of Jerusalem.
The dailies said that Prime Minister-Designate Mohammad Shtayeh finalized his consultations with the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) factions on the formation of the new Palestinian unity government.
They said that Romania and Honduras announced before the annual AIPAC conference in Washington plans to relocate their embassies to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Elaborating on this issue, al-Hayat al-Jadida reported Secretary-General of the PLO’s Executive Committee Saeb Erekat slamming Romania and Honduras’ plan as an “additional step towards establishing the jungle language.”
It also reported Romanian President Klaus Johannis rebuking his prime minister Viorica Dancila for stating that the Romanian embassy in Israel will be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
It reported him saying that such statements by Dancila shows "total ignorance in foreign policy and in terms of making important decisions of the Romanian state."
Furthermore, the dailies reported Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz stating that US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Monday recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over Syria’s Golan Heights.
They also reported that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi affirmed their support for the Palestinian people’s quest to attain all their legitimate rights.
K.F.
