Palestinian Orthodox Christians insist on the conflict
RAMALLAH, August 21, 2017 (WAFA) – The remarks made by President Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting with the Israeli left-wing Meretz party at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah dominated the front page headlines in the Palestinian Arabic dailies on Monday.
Abbas was reported in al-Ayyam stating he was still awaiting the US administration’s vision to engage in serious negotiations with Israel based on the two-state solution.
He was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida underscoring the important role of Israeli “peace-supporting forces” towards achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinian people.
On a different subject, al-Quds said the Palestinian people commemorate Monday the 48th anniversary of the 21 August 1969 burning of Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem.
It added the Palestinian government warned against ongoing Israeli attacks against the mosque compound.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said Saudi Arabia transferred $30.8 million in direct support to the Palestinian Authority’s budget.
Al-Quds said Israeli forces detained a Palestinian from Tulkarem in the northern West Bank purportedly for planning to carry out an attack in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said Israeli forces detained a total of 18 Palestinians and summoned Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher Sheikh Nour Ad-Din al-Rajabi for interrogation in multiple raids across the West Bank.
It added guards from Israeli Prison Service stormed section 6 of Ramon prison, located in the southern Naqab desert, in a crackdown against Palestinian political prisoners.
The dailies reported Israeli Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian homes in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, triggering clashes with Palestinian residents.
Al-Quds reported Palestinian and Lebanese forces agreed to a ceasefire in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in southern Lebanon following a night of clashes that left one dead and five injured.
It also reported King Abdullah II of Jordan stating he was going to discuss the resumption of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks with US President Donald Trump’s peace team.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida also reported Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee Saeb Erekat welcomed Chinese initiatives to revive the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted Palestinian Orthodox Christians’ protests against the sale of church property by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem to Israeli Jewish settler groups.
Al-Ayyam reported in this regard leading Palestinian Orthodox Christian figures and institutions pledged to continue to confront the patriarchate’s policy of selling church property to Jewish settler groups.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said in this regard Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III has sold and conceded church property to settlers.
Al-Ayyam said a Palestinian young man from Gaza was killed in his apartment in Sweden in mysterious circumstances.
It reported Education Minister Sabri Saidam announcing that approximately 1,250,000 Palestinian students in the West Bank and Gaza will start on Wednesday the new school year.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said a Palestinian student enrolled in the Open al-Quds University identified a security loophole in the Pentagon’s webpage.
K.F./M.K.
