RAMALLAH, Saturday, April 06, 2019 (WAFA) – The weekly Friday protests on the Gaza border with Israel and in the West Bank against the on-going Israeli occupation and its settlements policy were highlighted on the front page of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies today.
The papers said 83 Palestinians, including women and children, as reported in the headline of al-Ayyam daily, were injured on the Gaza border from Israeli army gunfire, rubber bullets
It said lower on the front page that Israel used new kind of gas against the protesters that leads to suffocation and feeling of laziness.
In the West Bank, dozens were also injured, as reported in the main headline of al-Quds daily, which also reported on Israeli settlers breaking into several West Bank areas while al-Ayyam said that the settlers blocked the Nablus-Jenin road in the north of the West Bank for Palestinian commuters.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida, which also reported on the protests but on the lower half of the front page, opted to lead with statements by the presidency which said that “Jerusalem, its holy places and unity of the Palestinian land is the only way to achieve peace.”
It followed this story with another that said President Mahmoud Abbas arrived yesterday on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea to participate in the World Economic Forum meetings.
The paper said in another story that 7-month old Joan became an orphan and no longer able to play with her father, 23-year-old Mohammad Abdul Fattah, who was shot dead by an Israeli settler last week south of Nablus. The paper printed a picture of Abdul Fattah holding up and playing with Joan.
It also said South Africa has downgraded its embassy in Israel to a liaison office.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want to see the Palestinian Authority back in Gaza and that he was comfortable with the intra-Palestinian division.
Al-Ayyam quoted Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh criticizing the government of prime minister-designate Mohammad Shtayeh as going against the national consensus while al-Quds said he revealed three tracks for Hamas to deal with the situation in Gaza.
Al-Ayyam also quoted Jerusalem Waqf officials saying that Israel went after more than 50 of its guards and employees under the pretext of opening the gate to Bab al-Rahma prayer area, while al-Quds quoted the Imam warning during the Friday sermon at Al-Aqsa Mosque of Arab normalization of relations with Israel and against some Arabs shedding doubt on the status and importance of al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Al-Quds said in a report from its Washington correspondent that US President Donald Trump intends to reveal his so-called deal of the century plan on the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) day on May 15.
It said Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem located just outside the city’s Old City wall, and experts are calling on Israel to cancel its cable car plan that will run over the Old City of Jerusalem.
It also quoted the Prisoner Society saying Israel detained 6000 Palestinian children since 2015.
M.K.
