RAMALLAH, Tuesday, April 30, 2019 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas’ remarks on the incomplete payment of the tax revenues collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority dominated the front page headlines in today’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.

Abbas was reported in the dailies stressing that the Palestinian Authority will not accept the clearance revenues from Israel if they are incomplete.

He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida stating: “Israel is trying to legitimize the deductions from the tax revenues by all means, but we will not concede.”

According to al-Quds, the Palestinian cabinet announced that it is going to raise the partial payment of the public servants’ salaries for April to 60 percent.

The spate of Palestinian home demolitions in Jerusalem also hit the front page headlines in the dailies.

Al-Ayyam said that the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem carried out a large-scale demolition and leveling campaign across Jerusalem, while al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Israeli occupation authorities demolished 25 Palestinian structures in Jerusalem.

The dailies also reported that Israeli occupation authorities razed a plot of land and uprooted dozens of olive trees in Beit Jala, west of Bethlehem.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh was reported in al-Quds and al-Ayyam saying that the Palestinian Authority plans to gradually disengage from Israel.

According to al-Hayat al-Jadida, Shtayyeh was mandated by Abbas to attend the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee meeting in Brussels.

Moreover, al-Quds said that the European Coalition for Palestinian Prisoners’ Rights has launched an international campaign in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Al-Ayyam reported Turkish authorities announcing that one of two Palestinians held on suspicion of spying for the United Arab Emirates has committed suicide in prison.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida added in this regard that the Palestinian embassy in Ankara was following up on the case.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam highlighted the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) session on the situation in the Middle East and the question of Palestine.

Al-Ayyam reported Palestinian envoy to the United Nations Riyad Mansour warning that the situation was going from bad to worse.

Moreover, al-Quds spotlighted a report by Israeli human rights group B‘Tselem revealing that there has been a significant increase (rise) in the demolition of Palestinian houses in Jerusalem.

The report is titled “Self-destruction”: Palestinians in East Jerusalem forced to demolish own homes.

It also highlighted a report in the Israeli daily, Haaretz, titled Israel lets settlers spend Passover at evacuated outpost but forbids entry to Palestinian land owners.

According to al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida, Finance Minister Shukri Bishara briefed donor countries about the financial situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israeli violations as he attended the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee in Brussels.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Israeli forces rounded up 21 Palestinians during multiple overnight raids across the West Bank.

It also reported Tourism and Antiques Minister Rula Maaya‘a saying that 816,000 tourists visited Palestine during the first quarter of 2019.

K.F./M.K.