RAMALLAH, Friday, April 05, 2019 (WAFA) – Palestinian presidency’s condemnation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks on the besieged Gaza Strip dominated the front page headlines in Friday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported Netanyahu stating that he has spoken with many Arab leaders about the possibility of handing the responsibility for the besieged coastal enclave to them, but they have refused.

The three dailies reported presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh stating that Netanyahu’s remarks reveal the magnitude of the deal of the century conspiracy –in reference to Mideast plan formulated by the US administration- against Palestine and Arab countries.  

He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida urging the Hamas movement to fully comprehend what is being planned for it ]to be part of the so-called deal of the century[.

Also regarding Gaza, al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Israeli naval forces attacked Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of the northwestern besieged coastal enclave.

Al-Quds opted to highlight the ongoing crisis over Bab al-Rahma prayer area inside East Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in its main news item.

It reported that several Palestinian families from Jerusalem are taking turns opening the Bab al-Rahma prayer area.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam added in this regard that Jordan has rejected a US proposal to mediate between Jordan and Israel to resolve the crisis over Bab al-Rahma prayer area.

Al-Ayyam said that 179 Israeli settlers forced their way into the holy site.

Moreover, the dailies reported that Israeli settlers seized and razed Palestinian lands in Burin village in the northern West Bank district of Nablus.

They added that an Israeli settler embarked on uprooting olive trees to open an access road to the mobile home he has set up on a plot of Palestinian land belonging to Yabad town, south of Jenin.

Al-Quds reported Palestinian fishermen refuting Israel’s claims that it has expanded the fishing zone off the coast of Gaza.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Israeli forces detained 11 Palestinians and seized cash in multiple overnight raids across the West Bank.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam spotlighted AFP’s report titled With Netanyahu’s help, far-right party member could become MK.

It said that the United Nations – specifically the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People- convened a forum titled The threat of de facto annexation – What next for Palestine?

According to al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida, President Mahmoud Abbas received a letter from his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

Al-Ayyam reported chairman of Israeli party Kahol Lavan Benny Gantz affirming that Israel would not go back to 1967 borders and Jerusalem “will forever stay united as our capital”.

Besides, al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Fatah-affiliated student bloc won over student vote at Hebron University, winning 30 seats, while the Hamas-affiliated bloc won 11 seats.

It said that Israeli suppression forces raided section 1 of the Naqab prison, also known as Ktzi‘ot Prison, in southern Israel as six Palestinian detainees continue their hunger strike.

It reported that Palestinian Detainees Committee revealing that Israeli forces have killed 11 Palestinian children since the beginning of 2019 and that Israel is holding captive 250 others.

It also reported the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics revealing that the percentage of children who were living in poverty rose from 27% in 2011 to 31% in 2017, which is 645,000 children (14% in the West Bank, and 53% in Gaza Strip). 

Regionally, al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported Russian President Vladimir Putin announcing that the Russian military found the remains of Zachary Baumel, a US-born Israeli soldier who went missing in Lebanon in 1982.

K.F.