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President Mahmoud Abbas’ message on the occasion of Christmas hit the front page headlines in Tuesday’s issue of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies.
Abbas was quoted in al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida sharing his hopes “that 2020 will be the year of ending the occupation and achieving the independence of the State of Palestine.”
He was also quoted in the dailies stating: “We will continue our peaceful struggle for justice, dignity, freedom and statehood for our people to live in peace on their land, and the land of their ancestors.”
He was also quoted in al-Hayat al-Jadida stressing: “Despite the suffering, injustice and oppression due to the bitter Israeli military occupation of our land and our Christian and Islamic sanctities, we are determined to celebrate the glorious Christmas and New Year, with a message of joy and peace to the rest of the world.”
Abbas’ comments on the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) inquiry into Israeli war crimes were spotlighted in al-Hayat al-Jadida.
He was reported stressing that he would prosecute Israeli officials who perpetrated war crimes against the Palestinian people in international tribunals.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam elaborated that Abbas made his comments on the ICC during a meeting with relatives of Aisha al-Rabi.
Al-Rabi, a 47-year-old Palestinian mother of seven children, from Bidya village near Salfit, was killed and her husband injured after Israeli settlers threw rocks at their vehicle near Zaatara checkpoint in the northern West Bank on October 13, 2018.
Also with connection to the ICC, al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Abbas granted legal teams the full powers to prepare for the prosecution of Israel.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said the Palestinian cabinet welcomed the ICC’s announcement to launch a full investigation into Israeli crimes.
Al-Quds highlighted the Palestinian human rights group Addameer’s report Addameer Collects Hard Evidence on Torture and Ill-Treatment Committed against Palestinian Detainees at Israeli Interrogation Centers.
It spotlighted Palestinian officials’ warnings against the calls made by Israeli settlers groups for en mass intrusions into the flashpoint sites of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and Ibrahimi Mosque.
According to al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida, Abbas phoned Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Sebastia Theodosius (Atallah) Hanna to check on his health condition.
Hanna, an outspoken Palestinian Christian cleric and a staunch critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, was recently hospitalized in Jordan after being poisoned.
Furthermore, the dailies said that Israeli Electricity Company (IEC) backed on a decision to disconnect electricity from the Jerusalem District Electricity Company’s franchise areas, originally scheduled today.
The dailies said that Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian woman and her daughter in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Israeli police indiscriminately fired tear gas canisters at Palestinian houses in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya.
The dailies also reported that Israeli forces seized several tents and uprooted trees in the area of Khirbet Tana, located to the east of Nablus city.
They also reported that Israeli forces dismantled Palestinian residential and livestock structures in the Ras al-Ahmar area, located to the south of Tubas, in the northern Jordan Valley.
According to al-Quds, Israeli soldiers shot and detained a Palestinian young man purportedly after he attempted to cross the border fence in the southern besieged Gaza Strip.
Al-Ayyam said that a disabled Palestinian was detained by Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee secured an Israeli court order upholding the eviction of settlers from a Palestinian house in the Hebron city neighborhood of Tal Rumeida.
It should be stated however that Israeli courts, seen as the last judicial recourse against demolitions, in fact are complicit in perpetuating the Israeli policies of forcible transfer against Palestinians.
Regionally, the dailies reported Jordan’s King Abdullah II reaffirming Jordan’s duty to safeguard the rights of Muslims and Christians in Jerusalem.
Finally, al-Hayat al-Jadida said that the Palestinians and Americans for Peace organization slammed the US right for attacking its president John Dabeet.
(WAFA)
