Newspapers review: Statements on Palestine at the United Nations focus of dailies

World leaders’ statements on the Palestinian question and taking swipe at their US counterpart Donald Trump’s policy on the issue dominated front page headlines in Palestinian Arabic dailies on Wednesday.

Trump’s speech before the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) made the front page headlines in al-Quds and al-Ayyam.

Al-Quds reported Trump accusing the International Criminal Court (ICC) of lacking any legitimacy and vowing to provide no funds to any states except to friends.

Al-Ayyam said that Trump defended his decision to relocate the US embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and assailed both the ICC and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Statements of world leaders taking swipe at Trump’s policy on the Palestinian question also hit the front page headlines in the dailies.

Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported UN Secretary-General António Guterres warning that the two-state solution has become “more and more distant”.

Guterres was also reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida warning that “among countries cooperation is less certain and more difficult”.

French President Emmanuel Macron was reported in al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida affirming that neither pushing unilateral initiatives nor trampling on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people can resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was reported vowing that his country would continue to defend the legal and historical status of Jerusalem.

Echoing Macron’s comments, Jordan’s King Abdullah II was reported in al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida affirming: “Only a two-state solution … can meet the needs of both sides.”

“Only a two-state solution based on international law and relevant UN resolutions can meet the needs of both sides: an end to conflict, a viable, independent, sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital, and a secure Israel, fully part of its own region, recognised by Arab and Muslim states around the world,” Abdullah reportedly said.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida stating that the failure to establish the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital “stands as a perfect example of the failure of the international system.”

The newspaper also highlighted the statements of Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Furthermore, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida spotlighted Secretary-General of the PLO Executive Committee Saeb Erekat’s comments in response to Trump’s speech.

Erekat was reported stating: “President Trump has confirmed that his administration has closed the doors to peace” and  "Rather, what his administration did, and continues to do, is to reward and incentivize violations of international law, colonization, war crimes, and apartheid”.

Presidential Spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh also slammed Trump’s speech saying that it “deepens differences and puts back the chances of achieving peace.”

Additionally, the dailies said that President Mahmoud Abbas held a series of meetings with world leaders on the sidelines of the UNGA and is scheduled to deliver his “historic” speech before the UNGA tomorrow.

Abu Rudenieh was also reported in al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida commenting on Abbas’ upcoming speech at the UNGA.

He said that it “may be the last chance to realize peace” and “represents a crossroad and paves the way for a new stage in handling the serious challenges facing our people.”

According to al-Quds, Israel has closed the Ibrahimi Mosque in the southern West Bank city of Hebron for the second consecutive day to ease access of Jewish settlers into the site.

It added Israeli forces set up roadblocks in Zububa village, northeast of Jenin, and razed the road leading to Nabi Samuel village, northwest of Jerusalem.

According to al-Ayyam, 545 Israeli Jewish settlers provocatively forced their way into East Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, where they sung the Israeli national anthem.

Additionally, the dailies spotlighted Head of the Economic Crimes Department, a division of the Palestinian Public Prosecutor’s Office, Yasser Hammad on challenges to development of Palestinian telecommunications sector.

He reportedly said that the Palestinian telecommunication sector has lost a total of US$1.3 billion as a result to Israeli practices.

He was also reported revealing that the Palestinian public treasury has lost a total of 116 million shekels ($32,480,000) in revenues due to the illegal use of Israeli SIM cards by Palestinians.

Regarding the financial crisis gripping the UN relief agency (UNRWA), al-Quds said that the UN agency has deducted 50 percent of the salaries of its employees who went on strike to protest layoffs.

It added that 60 international human rights organizations have launched an international campaign slamming the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine and anti-Semitism.