Demolition order of dung gate dominates dailies

The three Palestinian Arabic dailies Wednesday focused on the Israeli decision to demolish Bab al-Magharbeh (Dung Gate) bridge in East Jerusalem. Al-Quds reported on the decision of the Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem that Bab al-Magharbeh (Dung Gate) bridge in Jerusalem’s Old City is in danger of collapse or fire and must be demolished within 30 days. The dailies said the engineer in charge of the Western (Wailing) Wall claimed that if the bridge is not demolished, the Israeli municipality will seek legal action. They also reported on the fear of outbreak of Palestinian protests. Al-Quds and al-Ayyam published a wide-scale picture of the bridge. Al-Ayyam reported on its front page that the Quartet will start its separate meetings with Palestinian and Israeli officials on Wednesday, in an attempt to resume Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. The newspaper said Palestinian officials denied alleges of a new US peace formula for a partial freeze of Israeli settlement activities to resume negotiations. The news piece also reported that Palestinian officials do not have high expectations of the Quartet’s peace efforts. News on the funeral of late Saudi crown prince, Sultan bin Abdulaziz al Saud, which was attended by Arab and Islamic prominent figures, was featured on the front page of al-Hayat al-Jadida. Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that the European Union denounced the Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman’s latest statements against President Mahmoud Abbas, considering them as “inciting.” In addition, al-Quds reported on Abbas’ expected address to Fatah Revolutionary Council later this day. Al-Ayyam reported on Arab unanimous support to the recommendation to grant Palestine a full membership in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), following the opening of the 36th session of UNESCO’s General Conference on Tuesday. Al-Quds editorial addressed US and Israeli efforts to prevent granting Palestine full membership in the UNESCO, similar to their efforts to thwart the Palestinian statehood application to the UN Security Council. The newspaper stressed the Palestinians’ persistence to pursue the UN bid and called on the Security Council to approve the Palestinian request.