Newspapers review: Demolition of Palestinian homes in Jerusalem focus of dailies

The demolition of a number of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem dominated the front page headlines in Palestinian dailies on Wednesday.

The dailies said that Israeli occupation authorities demolished a Palestinian house in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina. Al-Quds explained that two apartments were demolished there.

According to al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida, Israeli occupation authorities also demolished a commercial facility in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.

Basema Rajabi with her oxygen tube and her husband Mohammad are seen in a photo printed in al-Quds and al-Ayyam at their building’s wreckage following the demolition.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida added that Israeli authorities halted the restoration work of the playground and club of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Issawiya.

Additionally, al-Ayyam said that Israeli occupation authorities rejected an appeal against the punitive demolition of the family house of Ashraf Na'alwa in the northern West Bank village of Shweika in Tulkarem district.

Na'alwa, 23, is the main suspect of two Israeli settlers at their workplace in the illegal settlement of Barkan on October 7.

Furthermore, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah announcing that the cabinet has decided to allocate $12.5 million as a grant to Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem ]to compensate for the funds the US has cancelled[.

According to al-Quds and al-Ayyam, Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian girl after she allegedly attempted to stab a soldier near Khan al-Ahmar village, which faces the impending threat of forced demolition, east of Jerusalem.

Moreover, al-Hayat al-Jadida said that President Mahmoud Abbas received Russian Minister of Labor and Social Security Maxim Topilin at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah and stressed to his guest the importance of strengthening Palestinian-Russian economic and trade relations.

According to al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida, the Palestinian cabinet has set a timetable for commencing the implementation of the controversial Social Security Law.

Highlighting the situation in flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, al-Quds reported that 211 Israeli Jewish settlers, students and police officers forced their way into the al-Qibli Mosque, the main mosque where Muslims perform prayers.

Al-Quds printed an analysis addressing Israel’s threat to deduct and transfer part of the tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority to the Gaza Strip comes within the framework of regional arrangements to establish a separate entity in Gaza as part of US President Donald Trump’s Mideast plan, subbed Deal of the Century.  

Member of PLO Executive Committee Azzam al-Ahmad was reported in al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida denying media reports that the Palestinian leadership has agreed to the truce between Hamas and Israel in return for the entry of funds in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Al-Ayyam said that the Egyptian delegation relayed to Hamas Israeli promises to introduce facilities at border crossings, allow the entry of medicines and cash into the besieged coastal enclave.

Regionally, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida spotlighted Jordan’s monarch Abdullah II’s meeting with Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah in Amman.

They said that Jordan and Oman underscore the need to restart Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations based on the two-state solution.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad announcing that Syrian has officially decided to allow Palestinian refugees to return to the Yarmuk camp in southern Damascus.

Finally, al-Hayat al-Jadida reported Speaker of the Italian Parliament Roberto Fico stressing his country’s position in support of the two-state solution and commitment to support the Palestinian people.