RAMALLAH, May 5, 2012 (WAFA) – News on the striking Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails continue to dominate the three Palestinian Arabic dailies as the Saturday issue of the dailies said the Israel Prison Service began to respond to some of the prisoners’ demands.
Al-Ayyam featured on its front page the growing support of the striking prisoners as several popular protests were carried out across the West Bank in solidarity with them on Friday. The newspaper focused on official diplomatic efforts by the Palestinian Authority to shed international light on the issue of the prisoners and to call for their immediate release.
Photos of protesters in East Jerusalem raising Palestinian flags and banners supporting the striking prisoners appeared on the front pages of al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida.
The dailies reported on the Israeli army assaults targeting the weekly non-violent demonstrations against settlements and the Apartheid Wall and in support of the striking prisoners. Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that dozens of protesters were suffocated by tear gas and injured by rubber-coated metal bullets fired by Israeli soldiers.
Al-Quds was the only newspaper to highlight a recent report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stating that nearly 200,000 Israeli settlers reside in settlements established in occupied East Jerusalem through enforcing the so-called Absentee Property Law and Israeli court rulings that favor claims by Israelis to take over property under the pretext their Palestinian owners are absent or that the property was owned by Jews prior to 1948.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said the Israeli minister of internal security recommended decreasing the number of Palestinian administrative detainees in Israeli jails in response to wide international pressure against it.
Al-Quds editorial tackled a recent Israeli settlements plan to build “Greater Jerusalem” and establish an Israeli airport near Jericho. It condemned the international community’s silence over the Israeli plans that are threatening all chances of peace in the region.
R.Q./M.S.
