RAMALLAH, July 19, 2012 (WAFA) – The events in Syria, particularly the explosion that killed Syria’s defense minister and other senior officials, dominated the Thursday issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.

While the main headline in al-Quds only mentioned the explosion and who was killed by it, the headline in al-Ayyam that went across the front page read: “The Assad regime is falling apart.” Similarly, the eight column headline in al-Hayat al-Jadida said: “The Syrian regime loses its striking heads.”

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida printed pictures of the three top Syrian officials killed in the explosion.

They, along with al-Quds, also printed a picture on their front page of President Mahmoud Abbas conferring with his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Morsi in Cairo.

Abbas met Morsi during an official visit to Egypt and the two leaders discussed several issues related to the Palestinian question and Middle East conflict, including developments in the political process, internal Palestinian reconciliation efforts, the Israeli blockade on Gaza and the Palestinian Authority’s financial crisis, according to the dailies.

The papers also highlighted items from the press conference Abbas gave in Cairo following his meeting with Morsi. He stressed that elections are an important goal to reconcile differences with Hamas, which he said he has no problem with the Islamic movement.

Al-Quds said that a Hamas delegation headed by Khaled Meshaal, head of the movement, is going to meet with Morsi on Thursday. It quoted Hamas leader and Meshaal’s deputy, Mousa Abu Marzouk, of not ruling out the possibility of a meeting between Abbas and Meshaal in Cairo.

The explosion on the bus in Bulgaria that targeted Israeli tourists was featured on the front page of the three dailies. The papers reported on the incident and reaction by top Israeli officials, who accused Iran and Hezbollah of being responsible for the attack.

Other stories printed on the front page of the dailies touched on a decision by the ministry of finance to pay on Thursday the remaining 40% of the June salary for the public employees.

The Israeli demolition of a 100-year-old building in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan was also featured on the front page of the dailies.

The editorial in al-Quds called on the Syrian regime to learn from the lessons of history and avoid Syria further bloodshed.

“We see in the big strategic explosion yesterday an opportunity to look for a political solution as soon as possible for the Syrian dilemma,” said the paper. “Yesterday’s strike has shaken the regime and strengthened the opposition and therefore it narrowed the gap between them and made it possible to reach a more realistic peaceful solution.”

M.S.