4 Palestinians killed.
Israeli-Palestinian clashes
continue to abate. In Rafah, 4 Fatah mbrs. are killed, 5 are wounded in a
mysterious explosion. Though some reports claim the men were assembling a bomb
when it exploded, 1 of the 4 killed, Ramadan Azzam, is also head of
Gaza's popular resistance comms., raising speculation that the explosion
was an IDF assassination. Arafat's Fatah organization denies its mbrs.
are involved in bomb making. The IDF bulldozes 50+n60 dunams of
Palestinian land nr. Dugit settlement, 20 dunams nr. Rafah. (AP, WP 4/25; HJ
4/27 in WNC 4/30; MEI 5/4)
9 Palestinians killed.
The IDF sends tanks into PA-controlled Hebron, killing 1
Palestinian, wounding 4 before withdrawing. In Gaza, the IDF fatally
shoots 4 Palestinians who allegedly try to infiltrate Kefar Darom
settlement, sparking an exchange of gunfire with local PSF officers that
leaves 1 PSF mbr. dead. A 7th Palestinian is fatally shot at an
IDF checkpoint elsewhere. In Bethlehem, IDF snipers fatally shoot 2
Palestinians inside the Church of the Nativity, but the IDF allows 9
Palestinian children, 2 corpses to be evacuated. The IDF begins constructing a security fence, buffer
zone along 7.5 km of the Green Line nr. Tulkarm. (CNN, Irish Times
[Internet], Jewish Telegraphic Agency, MM, NYT, WT 4/25; AFP, USIS Washington
File, WP, WT 4/26; AYM 4/26 in WNC 4/29; AFP, HA, MM 4/30; JP 5/16; AYM 5/16 in
WNC 5/21)
In Arafat's Ramallah compound,
a PA judge sentences 4 PFLP mbrs. to terms of 1+n18 yrs. for their
involvement in the Ze'evi assassination; Israel dismisses the trial as invalid,
repeats demands their extradition. In Jenin r.c., Palestinians reject
U.S.-donated emergency aid, saying the U.S. is culpable in the destruction
of the camp.
An IDF soldier is killed by friendly fire nr. Ramallah. IDF
troops conducting a predawn arrest raid in Jenin are ambushed by AMB
gunmen, who wound 1 IDF soldier. The IDF continues with the raid,
detaining, stripping, searching, questioning 10s of Palestinian men, arresting
12, releasing others in their underwear. The IDF also conducts arrest
sweeps in Qalqilya, Tulkarm; bulldozes 113 dunams of land in Khuza. The
Palestinian Water Authority says it has been informed that the Israeli
Infrastructure Min. will stop supplying al-Bireh, Jenin, Nablus, Tubas,
Ramallah, other towns with water and will not allow Palestinians to drill new
water wells or maintain existing ones. (AFP, HA 4/25; WT 4/26; LAW, PCHR 5/1)
1 Israeli killed.
The IDF fires on stone-throwing Palestinians in Nablus, wounding 9;
conducts arrest raids on Hebron University campus; fires on residential areas in
Hebron, Khan Yunis; conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. Dozens of Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar, escorted by IDF soldiers, rampage through the neighboring Palestinian village of
Ourif, firing on homes, burning olive trees. (NYT, WT 4/26; VOP 4/26 in WNC
4/28; PR 4/28; VOP 4/28 in WNC 4/30; PCHR 4/29; PR 5/5)
Palestinian gunmen fire on Israeli border police patrol nr. Hebron, killing
1 border policeman, wounding 2; critically wound an Israeli Arab security
guard at an industrial site outside Efrat settlement. The AMB announces
that it has executed a suspected Palestinian collaborator it kidnapped on
4/24 outside Jerusalem.
1 Palestinian killed.
IDF troops fire on, kill a Palestinian taxi driver who hits an
IDF soldier at a checkpoint nr. Hebron; the soldier is also killed, but
the IDF says he may have died fr. IDF gunfire, not from being struck by the car;
also says it is unclear whether the Palestinian deliberately tried to run down
the soldier. The IDF declares closed military zones around Nablus to
protect a group of Jewish settlers visiting Joseph's Tomb, arrests 2
Palestinians found in the closed areas; raids Hebron University, detains and
interrogates students and staff, searching for wanted Palestinians but
apparently not arresting anyone; conducts arrest raids, house searches in
Dahariyya, Qalqilya; sends troops into Bayt Iba nr. Nablus to remove all
campaign advertising for the 5/5 municipal elections; orders an Agence
France-Presse photographer to stop filming nr. Shu`fat checkpoint outside
Jerusalem, beats and detains him for several hours. (IMEMC, PRCS 4/25; BBC, HA,
NYT 4/26; NYT, OCHA, PR 4/27; PCHR 4/28)
The IDF arrests without charge Hamas’s chief West Bank spokesman Farhad Asad;
raids an elementary school in Hebron, arresting a 12-yr.-old Palestinian for
throwing stones; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus
(firing on stone-throwing youths who confront the troops, wounding 6), in Jenin
r.c., nr. Hebron. In a rare move, Israel’s Jerusalem Municipality approves 17
proposals for Arab construction in the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Bayt
Hanina, Shu‘fat on approximately 1,000 d. of land; Jerusalem Mayor Uri
Lupolianski calls the decision a “revolutionary step” that constitutes a
“breakthrough” for Palestinian residents of the city. (JP 4/25; IMEMC, WP 4/26;
PCHR 4/27)
IDF troops on the Gaza border shoot, wound a Palestinian farmer working his
field nr. Jabaliya r.c.; fire on a group of Palestinians who stray nr. the
border fence e. of al-Maghazi r.c., causing no injuries; send bulldozers, tanks
into Gaza to level land along the border fence nr. Rafah. In Jabaliya r.c., 2
Palestinian children are injured when they accidentally trigger an unexploded
IDF tank shell. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes 2 Palestinian homes
in East Jerusalem; occupies a Palestinian home nr. the Hawara checkpoint into
Nablus as an observation post; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Jalazun
r.c. nr. Ramallah, Nablus (Palestinians detonate a roadside bomb nr. an IDF
vehicle during the raid, injuring 2 IDF soldiers). Nr. Jenin, 2 Palestinian boys
are injured when they accidentally trigger unexploded IDF ordnance. The Foreign
Press Association bureau in Jerusalem organizes a demonstration by foreign
reporters outside the Erez crossing into Gaza in support of kidnapped BBC
reporter Johnston. (REU, WT 4/25; PCHR 4/26; OCHA 5/2; PCHR 5/3)
In Gaza City, a Hamas mbr. dies when explosives he is handling
detonate prematurely.
1 Palestinian killed. 2 Israelis killed.
Late at night, the IDF makes an incursion into Bayt Hanun, surrounding
and then making an air strike on the home of a wanted Hamas mbr., causing
a fire and then shooting at occupants as they flee, seriously wounding a mother
and teenage daughter, barring ambulances fr. reaching the area for 4 hrs.
(during which time the girl dies); the IDF trades fire with Palestinian
resistance mbrs. during the incursion, wounding 2 gunmen, 3 bystanders; the
wanted Palestinian is not captured. The IDF conducts late-night arrest
raids, house searches in Bethlehem, al-Bireh; fires rubber-coated steel
bullets, percussion grenades, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international
activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstration against the separation
wall in Bil`in (10s suffer tear gas inhalation) and beat demonstrators at a
similar protest al-Masa’ra (lightly injuring 3). Jewish settlers fr.
Taffuh settlement nr. Salfit enter the nearby village of Yasuf and fire on
Palestinians, wounding 1. (WP 4/26; NYT 4/27; OCHA, PCHR 4/30)
At the Rafah and Erez crossings, 1,000s
of Palestinians take part in nonviolent rallies calling on Israel to lift
the siege.
In the West Bank, a Palestinian sniper
fatally shoots 2 Israeli security guards at a factory in the Nitzani
Shalom industrial zone nr. the separation wall, escapes; several groups including
Hamas claim responsibility.
Israeli soldiers arrested a 23-year-old Palestinian shepherd from the West Bank village of Al-Twani while he was herding his sheep near the “Ma’on” settlement. (Ma’an News Agency)