Palestine

RAMALLAH, Feb 28 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestine yesterday, lashed out at U.S. position, towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling it a “foggy” position.

“The U.S. foggy position encourages the Israeli government to escalate its settlement policy,” the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) said.

RAMALLAH, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye announced on Saturday that tightened precautionary measures against the spread of coronavirus will be imposed in Palestine for 12 more days.

Ishtaye told a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah that the new measures will be valid starting Sunday for 12 days, adding that the measures were taken to curb the increasing numbers of infections in the Palestinian territories.

GAZA, Feb 26 (NNN-WAFA) – The Islamic Hamas movement said yesterday, it has released 45 prisoners from its jails in the Gaza Strip, ahead of the general elections.

The Hamas-run interior ministry said, the release of the prisoners is “a goodwill gesture aimed to prepare a positive atmosphere for holding the general elections and ending 14 years of internal Palestinian division.”

In a statement, Hamas said, the prisoners were arrested “for reasons that had caused harm to the local factions and their armed wings.”

GAZA, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- A total of 20,000 doses of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines, funded by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), arrived in the Gaza Strip on Sunday through the Rafah border crossing.

"Today, we have received the shipment of COVID-19 vaccines funded by the UAE," Ghazi Hamad, undersecretary of the Hamas-run ministry of social development, told reporters at the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

Hamad added that the UAE will send more doses of coronavirus vaccines to the Gaza Strip in the near future.

RAMALLAH, Feb 18 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammed Ishtaye, said yesterday that, the high rate of voter registration, reflects “the eagerness of the voters, mainly the youths, to participate in the Palestinian political process.”

“Youths want to exercise their right to choose their representatives and shape their future, by participating in the democratic process based on the foundations of freedom, political pluralism and national partnership,” Ishtaye said, in a press statement.

RAMALLAH, Feb 6 (NNN-WAFA) – A Palestinian man was shot dead yesterday, by Israeli settlers’ gunfire, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian medical sources said.

The sources said that Khaled Nofal, 34, was killed, after an Israeli settler opened fire at him, near the village of Ras Karkar, West of the city.

Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that an unarmed Palestinian man was shot dead, in a West Bank settlement, after he tried to break into a home.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ call for elections has thrown his political future into peril, forcing him to negotiate competing demands to engage with a friendlier U.S. administration, mend the rift with his militant Hamas rivals and keep his unruly Fatah movement from breaking apart.

The presidential decree issued last month, calling for what would be the first Palestinian elections in 15 years, stemmed from negotiations launched with Hamas last year aimed at shoring up ranks in the face of unprecedented crises.

02 Feb 2021; MEMO: Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh announced on Monday the resumption of contacts with Washington, Al-Quds Al-Araby has reported. He made the announcement during his weekly cabinet meeting.

GAZA, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- For the first time in two months, the Egyptian authorities will temporarily reopen the Rafah border crossing point with the Gaza Strip for four days for travel in both directions, said the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza.

In a press statement, the ministry said the Rafah's crossing point on the border with Egypt would open from Monday to Thursday.

"The ministry will allow patients, students, Egyptian and foreign passport holders, as well as those who have residency documents to travel through," the statement added.

29 Jan 2021; MEMO: The Israeli army yesterday destroyed a natural reserve and uprooted at least 10,000 trees in a military campaign in the northern West Bank in a move that Palestinians termed a "crime".