RAMALLAH, Thursday, September 12, 2019 (WAFA) – Reactions condemning Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s electoral pledge to extend Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley if he wins re-election hit the front page headlines in Thursday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.

Al-Quds reported that the Palestinian National Council (PNC) calls for the suspension of Israel’s membership in the United Nations and cessation of all agreements signed with Israel.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that President Mahmoud Abbas expresses gratitude to all states worldwide for rejecting Netanyahu’s remarks on “annexing” parts of the West Bank.

Abbas was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida expressing his “high appreciation” of Saudi Arabia’s position calling for an urgent meeting for the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida urging Israel to comply with the bilateral agreements signed with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) under international sponsorship.

The dailies also reported Middle Eastern states and others worldwide expressing alarm over Netanyahu’s pledge.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Netanyahu’s “electoral bomb” on the Jordan Valley received wide-spread condemnation all over the world.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam elaborated that Arab Foreign Ministers caution against attempts to liquidate the Palestinian question through humanitarian and economic solutions.

The dailies reported the European Union warns that Netanyahu’s remarks “undermine the prospects for a lasting peace” in the region.

Al-Quds said that Washington remains silent on Netanyahu’s remarks, while al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Russia warns that Netanyahu’s plan “risks sharp escalation of tensions in the region.”

Jordan also joined in condemning with al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reporting Speaker of Jordan’s Lower House of Parliament Atef Tarawneh warning that Netanyahu’s plan would put the peace treaty with Israel “at stake”.

Highlighting its report Data on Netanyahu’s Jordan Annexation Map, al-Quds reported Peace Now movement saying that the area of the Jordan Valley to be ‘annexed’ accounts for 22.3 percent of the West Bank.

Additionally, the dailies reported that Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded several locations in the northern and eastern besieged Gaza Strip.

They added that Israeli bulldozers demolished two buildings under construction in Eizariya town, east of Jerusalem, and structures in Masafer Yatta in the southern West Bank.

According to al-Ayyam, Israeli forces harassed Palestinians in several Bethlehem-district villages.

It said that undercover Israeli forces kidnapped a Palestinian child from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya.

The dailies said that Palestinian prisoners in Israel’s Ramon Prison have given the Israeli Prison Service 24 hours to respond to their demands.

Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh was reported in al-Ayyam stating that Israeli occupation authorities are manipulating Palestinian tax clearance funds.

He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida that the recommendations of international meetings on Palestine should be translated into reality.

According to al-Ayyam, demolition notices were handed to a number of houses as well as commercial and industrial structures belonging to Palestinian citizens of Israel in Baqa al-Gharbiyya city in Haifa district.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Palestinian ambassador to Greece Marwan Toubasi delivered two letters from President Abbas to his Greek counterpart Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

K.F.