Newspapers Review: The PLO meeting and killing of Israelis focus of dailies

The meeting of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) chaired by President Mahmoud Abbas and the killing of two Israelis in an attack in the illegal settlement of Burkan, in the north of the West Bank were the focus of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies on Monday.

Al-Quds, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said the PLO decided to convene a meeting for the Central Council on the 26th of this month to discuss the steps for redefining relationship with Israel and the United States in light of the recent political developments.

The papers also reported on the killing of the Israelis in Burkan and said the Israeli army is conducting a manhunt for the attacker, who is known to the army and who comes for the Tulkarm area town of Shweikeh. The army also arrested immediate relatives of the attacker.

They also said Israeli settlers chopped down olive trees in the Ramallah-area town of Turmous Ayya.

The papers reported as well on their front page on the night protests on the Gaza border with Israel and said three Palestinians were shot and injured by the Israeli army stationed at the border fence.

Al-Ayyam said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has decided to increase the number of students in the classrooms in its Gaza schools and dismiss 200 teachers in its efforts to overcome a critical budget deficit in light of the US decision to defund the UN agency.

It said Israel issued 650 demolition orders against Palestinian structures in the northern Jordan Valley in the last three years.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida quoted Fatah official, Majed Fityani, secretary of the Revolutionary Council, denouncing Hamas movement and saying that it has become part of the siege on Gaza.

It also said that Mahmoud Jabarin, from Umm al-Fahm, an Arab town inside Israel, was released from Israeli jails after serving 30 years for resisting the Israeli occupation.

The papers also reported on the disappearance of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi and the trial of Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.