RAMALLAH, Friday, May 10, 2019 (WAFA) – The participation of thousands of Palestinians in the annual March of Return to the site of a village that was depopulated by Jewish militias in 1948 dominated the front page headlines of Friday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.
Al-Quds reported a wide-scale participation of Palestinians in the 22nd March of Return to the depopulated village of Khubbeyzeh.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that thousands of Palestinians marked the Nakba Day by participating in the 22nd March of Return to the depopulated and demolished village of Khubbeyzeh.
The march marks the forced displacement of over 750,000 Palestinians from their homes, towns and villages to make way for the creation of Israel in 1948.
It is held annually on Israel’s Independence Day although the official Nakba Day is marked on May 15 with each time at a different Palestinian village depopulated and demolished in 1948.
Additionally, al-Quds reported that Israeli occupation authorities decided to expand the permitted fishing zone off Gaza’s coast ]to 12 nautical miles[.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that an Egyptian security delegation arrived to the besieged Gaza Strip to consolidate or strengthen calm with Israel.
According to al-Quds, the Higher Committee for Great March of Return protests in Gaza has announced a general strike on the Day of the Nakba, which falls on May 15th.
Al-Ayyam said that the committee called on Gazans to participate in today’s protests along Gaza’s eastern frontier with Israel. Today’s protests are held under the slogan “United against the Deal ]of the Century[”.
US envoy Jason Greenblatt was reported in al-Quds saying that the the so-called deal of the century, which is much touted by US President Donald Trump as a solution to the Palestinian question, excludes giving part of Sinai to Gaza.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Israeli settlers stormed Solomon’s Pools archeological site, located to the south of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that Israeli forces sealed off a major road connecting the northwestern villages of the central West Bank city of Ramallah and Birzeit town.
The road was closed to allow settlers to hold celebrations near the Israeli settlement of Halamish, built on Palestinian land, marking the 71st anniversary of the establishment of Israel, which is known to Palestinians as the Nakba (Catastrophe) Day.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Israeli forces rounded up nine Palestinians from various parts of the West Bank.
They added that Israeli occupation authorities tightened ‘security measures’ in Jerusalem in anticipation of the first Friday of Ramadan.
Al-Quds elaborated that 1,000 Israeli police officers were deployed around and inside the Old City of Jerusalem.
It reported Director of Islamic Waqf Department Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib expecting that 200,000 Muslim worshippers would attend prayers on the first Friday of Ramadan in Jerusalem.
According to al-Ayyam, Israeli police attacked worshippers leaving Al-Aqsa Mosque compound last night, injuring six.
Moreover, Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh was reported in the dailies urging the Europeans to play an instrumental role in holding Israel accountable for violations against the Palestinian people.
He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida urging the World Bank to monitor Israel’s cutback in the payment of the Palestinian tax revenues.
Al-Ayyam reported the Islamic Jihad movement announcing that it launched Badr 3 Rocket onto southern Israel in the latest Israeli onslaught.
It also reported Lebanese President Michel Aoun stating that his country would not survive if Palestinian and Syrian refugees remained in the country.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported head of the Palestinian Football Association Jibril Rajoub urging the Spanish team Atlético Madrid to cancel its game with the Israeli team Beitar Jerusalem in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
It also reported the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry slamming the US-touted deal of the century plan as signaling the US recognition of the apartheid regime in occupied Palestine.
It also reported member of the PLO Executive Committee Ahmad Majdalani welcoming that the withdrawal of three international firms from a tender for the expansion of the railway line linking West Bank Israeli settlements with Jerusalem as an expression of the firms’ rejection of Israeli settler-colonialist construction.
K.F.
