RAMALLAH, Thursday, April 11, 2019 (WAFA) – US Secretary of State Mark Pompeo’s evasiveness to answer a question on whether the US would oppose planned Israeli annexation of all or large parts of the occupied West Bank hit the front page lines in Thursday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.

Al-Quds reported that Pompeo has dodged a question on the US administration’s position on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank settlements and the two-state solution.

During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Pompeo has refused to tell Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen whether the US would oppose Netanyahu’s proposed plan to unilaterally annex all or parts of the occupied West Bank.

On the other hand, al-Hayat al-Jadida opted to highlight the Palestinian official reaction to the outcome of Israeli parliamentary elections.

It reported the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) stating that the outcomes of the Israeli parliamentary elections have eliminated the two-state solution.

Secretary-General of the PLO Executive Committee Saeb Erekat was reported in al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida stating that President Mahmoud Abbas would convene meetings with the Palestinian leaderships during the coming few days to implement the Palestinian National Council and Palestinian Central Council’s resolutions.

Also with regards the Israeli elections, al-Quds published an Arab48 news website report spotlighting suspicions of electoral fraud.

Additionally, the dailies reported that Israeli occupation authorities delivered demolition notices for several Palestinian houses in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Issawiya.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that dozens of Israeli settlers forced their way into East Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

They added that Israeli forces detained a Palestinian woman purportedly for possessing a knife and attempting to carry out a stabbing attack at al-Zaayim checkpoint, east of Jerusalem.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Israeli police sealed off the Damascus Gate, one of the main entrances to the Old City of Jerusalem, and detained two Palestinian teenagers.

Al-Ayyam said that Israeli police detained 10 Palestinian minors from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.

According to al-Hayat al-Jadida, Israeli settlers sprayed racist graffiti on several Palestinian homes and vehicles in Ein Yabrud village, east of Ramallah city.

Moreover, al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that hundreds of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails have been going on a hunger strike for the fourth consecutive day protesting being subjected to Israeli sanctions and mistreatment.

Al-Ayyam added the Israeli Prison Service has accepted some of the prisoners’ demands it had refused.

Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Italian President Sergio Mattarella stressed the need to intensify efforts to end the “Palestinian-Israeli conflict” based on the two-state solution.

Al-Quds said that the Anti-Normalization Global Campaign was launched in Gaza.

Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement Ziad al-Nakhala was reported in al-Quds announcing that Islamic Jihad and Hamas’ armed wings, Saraya al-Quds and Izz al-Din al-Qassam, are prepared to any prospective Israeli onslaught on Gaza.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that Airbnb announced that would reverse its decision to remove listings from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that the Inter-Parliamentarian Union stresses the need to establish the State of Palestine on the 4 June 1967 borders.

K.F.