Israel’s crackdown on the weekly Palestinian protests in the West Bank focus of the dailies

Israel’s army crackdown on the weekly anti-occupation, anti-settlement protests in different parts of the occupied West Bank was the focus of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies published today.

The three papers, al-Quds, al-Ayyam, and al-Hayat al-Jadida, said dozens of Palestinians were injured from either rubber-coated metal bullets or tear gas fired by the Israeli soldiers in Beit Dajan, Kufr Qaddoum, Hebron, and Beita in the West Bank.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said protests were held outside Magiddo prison in the north of Israel and at the Moroccan city of Wajda in support of Nasser Abu Hmeid, a critically ill Palestinian prisoner incarcerated in Israel for his resistance of the occupation, and demanding his release.

Al-Quds said Abu Hmeid is still fighting for his life after he was diagnosed with cancer and lung failure.

Al-Ayyam said Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett continues to oppose a Palestinian state and Hussein al-Sheikh, head of the Civil Affairs Authority in the Palestinian Authority responded by saying the Palestinian state does not wait for Bennett’s approval.

The paper also said that the United States is demanding once again that Israel explain the causes for the death of Omar Asaad, an 80-year-old Palestinian American man who died of a heart attack after being held and mistreated by Israeli soldiers in a village near Ramallah two weeks ago.

Al-Quds said 30,000 Muslims attended the Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem despite the severe weather conditions, snow, and cold front that hit Palestine, which, according to al-Ayyam, has started to fade away.

Al-Quds said a Palestinian from the Galilee was able to raise almost $1 million in contributions to support Palestinian refugees in Syria suffering from the cold weather conditions.

It quoted a French historian saying in a new book that Israel wanted to destroy the Moroccan neighborhood in the Old City of Jerusalem following its occupation of the city in June 1967.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida and al-Ayyam also reported on this story.

They also said that Russia has released Palestinians who entered it illegally or have overstayed their visa and have been arrested by the Russian authorities following intervention by the Palestine embassy in Moscow.

The three papers said five people died of coronavirus in Palestine in the last 24 hours and 5380 new cases were recorded.

Source: Palestinian News & Information Agency