Attack on refugee camp in Syria focus of dailies

Shelling of Palestinian refugee camps in Syria, particularly at Yarmouk camp, was the focus of the Saturday issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies. Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted this story on their front page with all three papers quoting a statement by President Mahmoud Abbas’ office denouncing the attacks and calling for keeping the Palestinians out of the Syrian conflict. While al-Quds has also reported on the attack on the camps in Syria, its main front page story was on new Israel tenders to build 232 housing units in three Israeli settlements around Jerusalem. It said 180 units will be built in the settlement of Givat Zeev, north of Jerusalem, 27 in the Bethlehem-area settlement of Bitar and 25 in Har Homa. The other two papers also highlighted plans to expand illegal settlements in the West Bank. The papers highlighted with pictures the presence of more than 300,000 Muslim worshippers in al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City on the third Friday of the holy month of Ramadan. Statements by Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh that the United States has asked the Palestinian Authority to freeze the reconciliation and resume negotiations and Fatah’s response were also highlighted on the front page of the three dailies. Fatah denied these claims and instead accused Hamas of obstructing reconciliation. The papers also reported on the release of a senior Salafist leader who was held in Gaza reportedly following intervention from a Jordanian delegation. The Hamas authorities in Gaza released Hisham Saadinee, also known as Abu al-Walid al-Maqdisee, who has declared himself at Emir of the Islamist fundamentalist group al-Tawhid wal-Jihad. Saadinee was in jail in Gaza for two years. The Israeli army crackdown on the weekly Friday anti-settlements and anti-wall protests in various West Bank villages was also reported on the front page. The papers said dozens of people were hurt in one way or another in the crackdown. The papers said that Friday marked the 18th anniversary for the Ibrahimi mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs) massacre, which occurred on 15 Ramadan, when the Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein from the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba opened fire randomly at Muslim worshippers performing the early morning prayer at the Hebron-based mosque killing over 30 people and injuring dozens others before the crowd were able to kill him. Saturday is also the birthday of the late leader Yasser Arafat who was born on August 4, 1929 and died of yet mysterious causes on November 11, 2004 at a Paris hospital.