RAMALLAH, Thursday, September 26, 2019 (WAFA) – The latest spate of detention raids and home demolitions carried out by the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank hit the front page headlines in Thursday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.
Al-Quds said that Israeli forces raided Ramallah city and Birzeit town, north of Ramallah, detaining a number of Palestinians and injuring others during ensuing confrontations.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that the Israeli occupation authorities continue to escalate the situation, conducting detention raids, injuring Palestinians and demolishing Palestinian structures.
The dailies printed photos for Israeli forces providing protection to a bulldozer as the heavy machinery demolishes a Palestinian building in Dura, south of the West Bank.
On the other hand, al-Hayat al-Jadida opted to highlight the meetings held by President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
It elaborated that Abbas held meetings with a host of officials, including Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel and Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn.
He was reported stressing the importance of coordinating Arab positions in support of the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights.
Al-Quds said that Abbas is expected today to deliver a speech before the UN General Assembly.
Revealing some details about Abbas’ UNGA speech, member of the PLO Executive Committee Ahmad Majdalani was reported in al-Ayyam stating that Abbas will announce his plan to call for legislative elections.
The dailies said that Israel has imposed a closure on the occupied Palestinian territories (West Bank and Gaza) starting from next Sunday, citing upcoming Jewish holidays as a pretext.
According to al-Quds, Israeli occupation authorities denied Palestinian Social Affairs Minister Ahmad Majdalani entry to Jerusalem, and threatened to detain him.
The dailies said that Israeli president Reuven Rivlin has tasked Benjamin Netanyahu with forming the new government.
Al-Quds said that 132 Israeli settlers forced, led by Knesset member Avi Dichter, forced their way into Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
It added that Israeli police restricted the access of Muslim worshippers and Waqf-appointed guards to the holy site.
It also printed an opinion article detailing how Israeli has been using the Jewish holidays card as part of efforts to divide the holy site.
The dailies said that Israeli police released Jerusalem Affairs Minister Fadi al-Hadmi and Jerusalem Governor Adnan Gheith after holding them for several hours.
Al-Hadmi was reported in al-Ayyam saying that he and Gheith were detained in order to prevent any official Palestinian activity in Jerusalem.
The dailies reported the Prisoners Affairs Commission saying that the Israeli Prison Service has acquiesced to the demands of Palestinian prisoners, and will start implementation today.
The dailies spotlighted B‘Tselem’s new report Playing the Security Card: Israeli Policy in Hebron as a Means to Effect Forcible Transfer of Local Palestinians.
Al-Quds quoted the report: “Here, the separation regime is pursued so openly, so brazenly, in public space, that it exhibits aspects of ‘petty apartheid’ as well, in the form of policed, formal, public segregation of human beings based on ethnicity – Jewish or Palestinian – exercised through separate streets, checkpoints and physical obstructions.”
According to al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida, Israeli military bulldozers demolished three Palestinian-owned houses in the Palestinian town of Shefa-‘Amr in northern Israel.
Al-Ayyam elaborated that Israeli police detained 10 Palestinian citizens of Israel and injured other during the course of the demolition.
It reported Palestinian factions denying they have given consent to the construction of a US-sponsored hospital in the northern besieged Gaza Strip.
The factions explained that the construction of the hospital is the “outcome of US-Israeli-Qatari security cooperation that we have nothing to do with it.”
K.F.
