The ongoing Israeli escalation and violations in occupied East Jerusalem, particularly in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, and the fast-moving developments in Ukraine were highlighted on the front page of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies published today.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida, al-Ayyam, and al-Quds said that the far-right and fascist Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben Gvir returned to the flashpoint neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, inciting against and provoking the local Palestinian residents after re-setting up his makeshift office in the yard of the Saou family.
They said that instead of removing the trespassing Israeli extremists, the Israeli police assaulted the residents of the neighborhood who stood up to the fascists in an attempt to get them out of their neighborhood.
Al-Quds said the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem is pushing forward a project to expand a so-called ‘national park’ at the expense of lands belonging to churches in Jerusalem.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida and al-Quds said that Palestinians organized a sit-in in front of the Israeli municipality in West Jerusalem, protesting Israel’s demolition policies against Palestinian-owned homes and structures in the occupied city.
Al-Ayyam highlighted the Ukraine conflict and said in its main front-page story that the parties are intensifying last-minute efforts to defuse the conflict as Washington keeps repeating that Russia is about to launch the attack.
The dailies also reported on vandalism by Israeli settlers who uprooted or chopped off nearly 15 olive saplings and harassed Palestinian herders in the occupied West Bank province of Salfit.
Al-Quds quoted a rights organization saying that the Israeli army’s so-called Civil Administration has not returned 53 million Israeli shekels ($16.5 million) to Palestinians who paid them as either bail to release prisoners or required down payment to ensure showing up for interrogation with the Israeli security.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida and al-Ayyam reported on their front page about the upcoming local elections and said that the Palestinian Central Elections Commission has published the initial list of candidates that included 81 political party lists and 178 independent.
The papers also said that 1,928 new cases of COVID-19, 15 deaths, and 5,850 recoveries were registered in Palestine during the last 24 hours.
Al-Ayyam quoted the health ministry saying that the coronavirus death cases continue to rise and that 80 percent of them were for people who were not vaccinated.
it also said the government has canceled the PCR test for arrivals at Allenby/Al-Karama bridge crossing with Jordan on the condition that arrivals should have done the test two days before arriving.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)