DAILY SCOPE: “Israel” Steals Natural Resources, Reaps Lives
Local Editor
NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES:
ASSAFIR:
Occupation Assures Belittling Souls of Palestinians, State
Abu Ain Taking Last Breaths: We Will Triumph
AN-NAHAR:
“Israeli” Soldier Killed Abu Ain
Abbas: All Options to Respond are Open
AL-AKHBAR:
He Went to Plant an Olive Tree, They Harvested His Soul
AL-LIWAA:
Palestinian Rage, Considering Halt of Security Cooperation with “Israel”
AL-MUSTAQBAL
“Israel” Beats Palestinian Minister to Death
Lebanese newspapers on Thursday tackled several local and regional topics, of which most outstanding is the martyrdom of Palestinian minister in charge of the “resistance against settlements and apartheid wall”, organization, Ziad Abu Ain, after “Israeli” soldiers hit him to death. “Israeli” aggression covered by Lebanese papers also included the “Israeli” theft of Lebanese oil resources.
Also, papers dealt with another regional issue: visit of Russian Forieng Minister Mikhail Bogdanov to Damascus to meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Touching on the Lebanese important matter concerning offshore riches, As-Safir newspaper said “The Lebanese do not feel that their natural resources are being stolen from their sea, and that the gas runs probably under their feet on its way to the “Israeli” entity which seems to benefit from the remnants of the Lebanese state that is busy with matters of confronting terrorism, displaced and refugees as well as security and the presidential file.”
The paper noted even though Lebanon is dealing with many hurdles, yet this is no excuse for it to take things easy and slowly, and keep procrastinating in finishing the mechanisms required to start excavations in the sea for oil and gas.
Under the title ‘Abu Ain Catching His Last Breaths: We Will triumph”, As-Safir newspaper wrote that “At 9 a.m. yesterday, head of the “resistance against settlement and apartheid wall” organization, minister Ziad Abu Ain, called journalists and asked them to come cover the activities that were designated to protest against the occupation near Ramallah.
He told As-Safir “There will be so much action today, we will embarrass them,” and then he was martyred a few hours later. The martyrdom of Abu Ain is another crime to add on the list of occupation countless crimes against the Palestinians, and again it reflects how the occupation belittles the souls of Palestinians as well as the Palestinian authority and its figures.
Before tens of journalists, there was verbal tension between Abu Ain and the “Israeli” soldiers, when an Israeli border policeman shoved and grabbed him by the throat during the protest.
Also, As-Safir said a few minutes before he was killed, he said in a video recprd “I was assaulted and hit by the occupation forces, but this fascist occupation will leave and the Palestinians will triumph.”
Around 30 “Israeli” soldiers and border policemen fired tear gas and sound grenades at the group and a scuffle ensued in which a border policeman pushed Abu Ain and grabbed his neck firmly with one hand. Footage of the incident and pictures taken by Reuters do not show Abu Ain responding with violence.
As-Safir came to know that the Palestinian authority asked a Jordanian delegation, including a team of doctors, to arrive to Ramallah to take part in the funeral and look closer into the reasons behind Abu Ain’s death.
On the same topic, An-Nahar newspaper wrote “The killing of Palestinian minister Ziad Abu Ain (55 years old) took place after an “Israeli” soldier shoved and grabbed him by his throat.” The paper quoted the head of the Palestinian authority Mahmoud Abbas saying “This is a barbaric act that is unaccepted and will not pass without anything said about it.”
An-Nahar added that a few moments before his martyrdom, Abu Ain told reporters “This is the terror of occupation, this is a terrorist army practicing tyranny against the Palestinian people. We have come to our Palestinian land to plant a tree, and they assault us in return from the first moment. This is terror itself, the occupation army practices oppression and terror against the Palestinian people.”
Al-Akhbar daily, for its part wrote “The Palestinian authority stands before another embarrassing event, but it will not be hopeful this time, as the choice of settlement which died 20 years ago will not reap its fruits today. Maybe the olive sapling that minister Ziad Abu Ain intended to sow before he was killed by the occupation soldiers can be witness to Mahmoud Abbas on the “death of peace’, or the remaining of Palestinians in their land, steady and strong.”
In parallel, the resistance movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad called to the investment of the moment, and take a decisive stance on the security cooperation with the “Israeli” entity. The two movements, and after offering their condolences on the martyrdom of minister Abu Ain, declared that they support the activation of all means of intifada (uprising) in the occupied West Bank.
The paper further touched on the history of the martyr Ziad Abu Ain, saying he had a long history of resistance against occupation, and that he was detained many times for 13 years and jailed in “Israeli” and American prisons. He was also the first Palestinian detainee the US handed to “Israel” in 1981, even though the UN had issued 7 release verdicts demanding Washington to set him free.
On another important regional note, President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday received the special envoy for the Russian President, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, and the accompanying delegation.
According to As-Safir, Bogdanov relayed an oral message from Russian President Vladimir Putin on bilateral relations, the standing cooperation between the two friendly countries, and Russia’s continuing support for the Syrian people in the face of the vicious terrorist attack targeting it.
The Russian envoy briefed President al-Assad on the meetings he held recently as part of Russia’s efforts to create suitable conditions to put an end to terrorism in Syria and launch a comprehensive inter-Syrian dialogue away from any foreign interference, saying that Moscow supports the Syrian government’s efforts in carrying out national reconciliations as a basic step towards reaching a solution.
President al-Assad asserted that Russia always stood on the Syrian people’s side, and that it proved its support for peoples’ right to self-determination and its respect for states’ sovereignty and international law, saying that Syria is confident that any Russian political action will be based on these principles, therefore Syria deals in a positive manner with the efforts exerted by Russia to find a solution for the crisis.
