Tears, smiles, hugs and cheers fill newspapers' pages Wednesday as pictures of the reunion between freed Palestinian prisoners and their relatives occupy Egypt's front pages. News about the success of first phase of the Egyptian-brokered prisoner-swap deal between Israel and Hamas lifts the mood of local newspapers amid growing divisions within political coalitions for the upcoming parliamentary elections and continuing protests and strikes across the country. The deal saw the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been imprisoned by Hamas for five years, in exchange for the freedom of 477 prisoners, as part of the first phase of the deal to set free a total of 1027 Palestinians, reports state-owned daily Al-Ahram. Thousands of Palestinians gathered in Gaza and Ramallah to welcome the freed prisoners. Al-Ahram quotes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as saying that he made a deal with the Israeli government similar to that made by Hamas to release another group of Palestinian war prisoners. The main headline of privately owned Al-Shorouk reads “The prisoners defy Israel: Long live Egypt, free and Arab.” The state-owned Al-Akhbar newspaper reports that Palestinian Minister of Prisoner Affairs Issa Qaraqei announced the suspension of Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike in Israeli prisons after Israel promised to end solitary confinement with the prisoner-swap deal. Besides the prisoner swap deal, the military's simulation of crossing the Suez Canal in the 1973 war, attended by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), occupies front pages of state-owned newspapers. “We will firmly confront attempts to divide the army and the people,” state-owned Al-Gomhurriya quotes Tantawi as saying. Tantawi confirmed the SCAF's commitment to the road map to hand over power to an elected civilian authority through transparent elections. As for this week's protests calendar, lawyers' protests against the judicial independence draft law take the lead in newspapers' coverage. The privately owned Al-Tahrir daily opts for the sensational headline: “The lawyers ruled ... and closed the courts.” Lawyers used tracks to lock the gates of the courts complex in Mahalla and Qena governorates, preventing judges from entering the courtrooms as they announced a general strike, reports Al-Tahrir. In Gharbiya, lawyers distributed statements rejecting the Judiciary Law, describing it as biased against lawyers as it marginalizes their role and doesn't respect their immunity, giving wide powers to the judges inside courts. Protests spread to several governorates, including Aswan, Cairo and Qalyubiya, according to Al-Tahrir. Meanwhile, mass resignations hit the liberal Wafd Party in different governorates in protest to former members of ex-president Hosni Mubarak's regime joining the party's parliamentary elections lists. Wafd Party President al-Sayed al-Badawy denied the resignations, reports Al-Shorouk. “All the lists are formed in an organized way and are being purged from any figures that used to belong to the dissolved National Democratic Party,” said Badawy. Egypt's papers: Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size Al-Gomhurriya: Daily, state-run Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party Youm7: Daily, privately owned Al-Tahrir: Daily, privately owned Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Arab Nasserist party
