Israeli settlements’ plans dominate dailies

The three Palestinian Arabic dailies Sunday highlighted the latest Israeli settlements’ plans, including legitimizing illegal outposts and expanding settlements in the Palestinian Territory. Al-Quds’ prime headline reported that the Israeli government will discuss legalizing three illegal outposts on Sunday, despite opposition from the government’s legal consultants. If approved, it would be the first time Israel decides to establish new settlements since 1990. The daily also featured Israeli plans to build 397 housing units in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukaber, Giv'at Ze'ev settlement southwest of Jerusalem, as well as three more settlements. Al-Ayyam newspaper said on its front page that the Israeli vice Premier, Moshe Ya'alon, threatened that the government coalition could fall if the government evicted the ‘Ulpana’ neighborhood, in the West Bank settlement of Beit El, in accordance to a previous supreme court eviction ruling. The three dailies featured President Mahmoud Abbas’ meeting with US peace envoy David Hale in Ramallah on Saturday, during which they discussed Abbas’ letter to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Al-Hayat al-Jadida focused on the Israeli army use of force to disperse the weekly non-violent demonstrations against settlements in the towns of Beit Ummar and Yatta, in Hebron governorate, injuring and arresting several participants. Featuring this item as well, al-Quds reported that Israeli soldiers closed a main intersection near Nablus for few hours, causing a huge traffic jam, and arrested two minors under the pretext of weapons and explosives’ possession. Both al-Hayat al-Jadida and al-Quds printed photos of a Palestinian child facing several Israeli soldiers in Beit Ummar. The dailies reported that more Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails are joining the open-ended hunger strike, which more than 1600 prisoners started on Tuesday, demanding better conditions and ending the administrative detention policy.