2 Palestinians killed.
Israeli-Palestinian clashes continue, leaving 2 Palestinians dead.
The IDF opens fire on Khan Yunis, killing a 4-mo.-old Palestinian girl
inside her home, wounding at least 23 Palestinians, including 10 children.
Sharon apologizes for the incident in which the IDF was responding to 4
mortars fired toward Neve Dekalim settlement that caused no damage. The
IDF directs heavy machine gun fire at a car clearing a PA checkpoint nr.
Hebron, killing 1 PSF officer, wounding 2. The Israeli navy
captures a boat nr. the Israel-Lebanon border carrying a load of weapons,
ammunition. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine+nGeneral
Command (PFLP-GC) acknowledges the boat is theirs; the PA denies any
connection to the shipment. In the West Bank, the IDF enters 2 towns in
area A in pursuit of Palestinians said to have fired on Israeli forces.
The U.S. criticizes recent incursions into area A as a "serious
escalation." The IDF also directs heavy machine gun fire on residential
areas of Jinin; bulldozes 230 dunams of Palestinian land nr. Khan Yunis, 71
dunams in Gaza City. (AP, LAW 5/7; MM, NYT, WP, WT 5/8; al-Quds 5/8 in
WNC 5/9; MM 5/9; SA 5/9 in WNC 5/10; PCHR, WJW 5/10; DUS 5/10 in WNC 5/11; LAW
5/11; AYM 5/11 in WNC 5/14)
1 Palestinian killed. 15 Israelis killed.
The IDF conducts arrest raids in Tulkarm city, detaining
about 40 Palestinians; bulldozes a Palestinian home, fatally shoots a
Palestinian boy in Rafah; begins work on Jewish settler bypass roads
nr. Khan Yunis, nr. Nablus. In Bethlehem, the siege of the Church of the
Nativity continues, with Italy complaining it has not been consulted
on the 5/6 agmt. (AFP, AP, CNN, MM 5/7; AFP, ANSA, XIN 5/7 in WNC 5/8;
al-Quds 5/7 in WNC 5/9; MM, NYT, WP, WT 5/8; MA, RNE 5/8 in WNC 5/9; MM, WJW
5/9; al-Ra'i 5/9 in WNC 5/10; MM 5/10; AYM 5/12 in WNC 5/15; JP 5/16; MEI
5/17; HA 5/24)
The IDF announces plans to divide the West Bank into 8 isolated
zones (Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho, Jenin, Nablus, Qalqilya, Ramallah, Tulkarm);
to impose severe new restrictions on the movement of Palestinians, goods
btwn. zones. (UNRWA press release 5/14; al-Quds 5/16 in WNC 5/17; HA, JT
[Internet] 5/17; HA 5/18; AYM 5/28 in WNC 5/20; PMC 5/19; HA 5/22; NYT 5/24)
In Washington, Sharon, Bush hold talks on PA reform,
barely touch on the idea of a peace conference. They agree that the priority
should be halting Palestinian violence, restructuring the PA, unifying the PA
security services. Sharon also says that it is "premature" to discuss a
Palestinian state, Israel will never agree to withdraw to 1967 lines; suggests
Israel will not resume political talks until Arafat has been removed fr.
power. Bush say he will send CIA dir. Tenet to the region to help rebuild
the PA security forces. Sharon returns to Israel in light of the
Rishon Letzion bombing. (AP, CNN, MM 5/7; MENA, al-Quds 5/7 in WNC 5/8;
AYM 5/7, MA 5/8 in WNC 5/9; HA, JP [Internet], MM, NYT, WP, WT 5/8; MM, WJW, WP
5/9; QA, al-Ra'i 5/9 in WNC 5/10; MM 5/10; AYM 5/10 in WNC 5/13; JP
[Internet] 5/10; JP 5/16)
A suicide bomber detonates a device in an unlicensed gambling club in
the Rishon Letzion suburb of Tel Aviv, killing 15 Israelis, injuring 57.
Hamas's military wing claims responsibility, but the political wing will
not confirm.
5 Palestinians killed.
The IDF fires on residential areas of Khan Yunis, fatally shooting an
18-mo.-old Palestinian child playing outside his home; fatally shoots a
Hamas mbr. scouting, according to Hamas, a n. Gaza Jewish settlement for
an attack; fatally shoots a mentally disabled Palestinian nr. Khan Yunis
when he allegedly fails to obey orders to stop when approaching an IDF
roadblock. Wanted senior Hamas mbr. Amin Manzalawi is killed in a
mysterious explosion in Zawata; Hamas claims the IDF assassinated him. An IDF
vehicle hits a civilian car in Tulkarm, killing 1 Palestinian, injuring
2. A group of 20 armed Jewish settlers attack 10 Palestinian farmers,
2 Israeli and 5 international peace activists plowing a field nr. Eli
settlement; IDF soldiers intervene, tell Palestinians and internationals
to leave. Jewish settlers break ground for 72 new housing units in Beit
El. (HA, ISM press release 5/7; NYT, PCHR 5/8; PR 5/14; PCHR 5/15)
3 Palestinians killed.
Overnight, the IDF raids Nur al-Shams r.c. outside Tulkarm to arrest
wanted Islamic Jihad mbrs.; Islamic Jihad mbrs. Sa`id Musay’i, Wa’il `Khadir
are fatally shot when they open fire on the troops, a 3d mbr. surrenders.
The IDF also fatally shoots a Palestinian on a Nablus rooftop who
allegedly is armed; fires on stone-throwing Palestinians in Beita; blows up a
car in Nablus allegedly rigged as a car bomb; blocks the entrances to Kafr Dik
village nr. Qalqilya; demolishes 2 Palestinian homes nr. Rafah, 1 nr.
Khan Yunis; bulldozes 17 dunams of land nr. Khan Yunis; erects a new IDF post in
Khan Yunis; conducts arrest raids nr. Jenin. The PSF fortifies Arafat’s
headquarters in Ramallah, placing wrecked cars and concrete-filled barrels
around the entrance to impede the IDF in the event of a raid. (AFP 5/7; MA, VOI,
VOP, YA 5/7 in WNC 5/11; NYT 5/8; PCHR 5/13)
The IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in Dayr Ghusun nr.
Tulkarm, Dura (also firing on residential areas, wounding 5); conducts patrols
in Nablus. Jewish settlers fr. Keddumim poison a Palestinian well nr.
Qalqilya, killing a horse. Jewish settlers fr. Ramat Yishai chase
Palestinians, vandalize homes, destroy water lines in Hebron, damaging 5 houses.
Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba severely beat a 7-yr.-old Palestinian boy
playing nr. the settlement; the IDF observes but does not intervene. (IMEMC 5/8; VOP 5/8 in WNC 5/9; PR 5/11; PCHR 5/12)
Islamic Jihad kidnaps 3 alleged collaborators in Saida nr. Tulkarm;
claims to execute 1.
1 Palestinian killed.
In the 2d such incident in 2 days, the IDF shells n. Gaza, killing a
57-yr-old Palestinian farmer working his field nr. Bayt Lahiya, wounding a
59-yr.-old Palestinian woman outside her Bayt Hanun home. The IDF also shuts all
crossings into Gaza, citing unspecified security threats; conducts arrest raids,
house searches in and around Nablus (exchanging fire with armed Palestinians in
Balata r.c., causing no injuries) and nr. Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Qalqilya,
Ramallah, Tulkarm. Palestinians fire 4 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no
damage or injuries. In Hebron, 700 Israeli police supported by 1,000 IDF troops
evacuate some 3 Jewish settler families who occupied a Palestinian home on 4/7
and 40–50 settler youths supporting them, sparking scuffles btwn. troops and
settlers that leave 19 officers, 7 settlers injured; an Israeli court ruled the
families’ alleged purchase of the property fraudulent on 5/5 and ordered them to
leave immediately. (HA, IMEMC, WT, XIN 5/7; MM, NYT, WP, WT 5/8; PCHR 5/11; see
also HA 4/30)
The IDF makes an air strike on a car n. of Bayt Hanun allegedly carrying
rockets to fire into Israel; 2 Islamic Jihad mbrs. escape unharmed, but a
bystander is wounded. The Israeli navy fires on Palestinian fishing boats off
the coast of Bayt Lahiya, forcing them to return to shore. In the West Bank, the IDF enters Bita nr. Nablus,
forces the closure of the local market; conducts arrest raids, house searches in
Nablus, nr. Bethlehem (firing on stone-throwing youths who confront the troops,
wounding 1) and Jenin, and in and around Hebron, Tulkarm; confiscates 10 d. of
Palestinian land e. of Qalqilya for construction of a settler bypass road for
Keddumim settlement. (NYT 5/8; OCHA 5/9; PCHR 5/10)
Palestinians fire
around 4 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel during the day, damaging a home in
Sederot, causing no injuries.
3 Palestinians killed.
Israel
begins wk.-long celebrations leading up to its 60th anniversary on 5/14, while
Palestinians solemnly prepare to mark the Nakba; more than a dozen foreign
heads of state, including U.S. Pres. George W. Bush, plan to make
official visits to Israel in the next wk. Overnight, in Gaza, IDF tanks
and troops raid Abasan under cover of air support, cutting electricity to the
area, exchanging heavy fire with Palestinian gunmen, making numerous air
strikes and firing tank shells in the densely populated residential area,
killing 1 armed Palestinian and 1 Palestinian civilian (a woman
killed when soldiers detonate explosives outside her door and storm her home,
detaining her children, ages 2–12, in a room for 6 hrs. before releasing them),
wounding 19 armed men and 4 civilians (including 1 woman, 2 children),
arresting 60 Palestinians (55 are released on 5/8), demolishing 2 Palestinian
homes, and bulldozing large areas of agricultural land before withdrawing
late in the evening. The IDF also makes an air strike on a group of
armed Palestinians in Jabaliya r.c., killing 1 Palestinian resistance mbr.,
seriously wounding a 2d. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night
arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. (PCHR, WP 5/8; PCHR 5/15)
Hizballah
mbrs. and their supporters in Amal and the Syrian Social Nationalist
Party (SSNP) set up roadblocks leading to Beirut International Airport,
other major roads in an effort to press the government to reverse its 5/6
decisions. They clash with gunmen affiliated with Saad Hariri’s Future
Movement, leaving 5 civilians, 2 soldiers wounded. (NYT, WP 5/8)
1 Palestinian killed.
Israeli forces killed a 23-year-old Palestinian from Beit Hanoun. (WAFA)
A 35-year-old Palestinian woman was injured by Israeli fire while she was working on her farmland south of Rafah. (Ma’an News Agency)
Israeli forces arrested 16 Palestinians from Ramallah and Bethlehem. (WAFA)
Israeli troops detained two Palestinians at a military checkpoint near Jenin. (Ma’an News Agency)
Israeli warships surrounded and seized a fishing boat, detaining four [Palestinian] fishermen on the coast near Gaza City. (Ma’an News Agency)
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs issued a report entitled “Urban Contraction and Rural Fragmentation of Bethlehem Governorate", which examined how Israeli measures had impacted Palestinian livelihoods, development and residential expansion in the area. Only 13 per cent out of 660 sq. kilometres of Bethlehem land was available for Palestinian use, much of which was fragmented. The report said that 20 per cent of the remaining land was an Israeli-controlled "nature reserve". While the West Bank barrier cut Bethlehem off from its hinterland, it also cut through Bethlehem's western edges, blocking off grazing and agricultural land. As a result, Bethlehem's potential for residential and industrial expansion and development had been reduced, as well as its access to natural resources. The report said, however, actions like freezing construction of the Barrier inside the West Bank, and opening closed military areas and nature reserves for Palestinian development, could restore parts of the lost space to the governorate. (BBC, www.ochaopt.org)
An Israeli human rights group, Yesh Din (Volunteers for Human Rights), said Israel was expanding settlements in the West Bank at the fastest rate since 2003. The construction had reportedly been sped up since Prime Minister Netanyahu took office in March. (Ma’an News Agency)
“By agreeing to reconstruction without specific, binding assurances from the State of Israel, international donors were effectively underwriting Israel’s illegal actions in the occupied Palestinian territory,” a report released by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, the Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association, Al Haq, Al Mezan, BADIL Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Gaza Community Mental Health Program, Gisha: Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, ITTIJAH – Union of Arab Community Based Organisations, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, Public Committee against Torture in Israel and Women’s Affairs Centre said. The report continued, “International law – including, international human rights law, international humanitarian law and the law of State responsibility for wrongful acts – placed specific, binding obligations on the State of Israel (based, inter alia, on its duties as an Occupying Power) with respect to the maintenance and development of normal life in occupied territory. By repeatedly restricting their action to providing aid, without holding Israel accountable for its specific obligations, international donors are relieving Israel of its legally binding responsibilities.” The report noted that donors, “by repeatedly covering the cost of the occupation, without demanding accountability from Israel,” were “implicitly encouraging violations of international law,” and noted “individual donor States may thus be acting contrary to their own legal obligations.” The rights organizations noted that “aid alone cannot resolve the conflict” and urged Governments and international organizations to use political action rather than donations to spur peace and justice in the region. (Ma’an News Agency)
Arab Foreign Ministers were meeting in Cairo to formulate a united approach on the Middle East peace process. The Ministers were also to discuss a report on alleged crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip last January. A spokesman for the Arab League said that the Arab States should emerge from the meeting in Cairo with a clear vision of how to deal with the new Israeli Government, adding, “Some of the Israeli policies should be confronted firmly". The Arab Foreign Ministers would also decide whether to send their report on alleged Israeli crimes in Gaza to the International Criminal Court. (BBC)
In a statement to the media before their meeting in Berlin, Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Liberman, to adopt a two-State plan as the basis for peace in the Middle East and the "sole path to peace and security." At an earlier meeting with members of the German parliamentary foreign affairs committee, Mr. Liberman refused to commit to a two-State approach under which the Palestinian Territories would achieve statehood. He also spoke about a "peace industry," which to date had achieved little but waste of money. (DPA)
Quartet Envoy Tony Blair visited the West Bank where he met with Bethlehem Governor Salah Ta’mari and local security chief A’mran Abu Hadeed at the Governor’s office. He discussed the forthcoming framework for peacemaking based on the two-State solution. He said that the new Israeli Government was still formulating its policy vis-ŕ-vis the peace process. He reiterated support for a programme of change in the day-to-day lives of Palestinians in the West Bank, [citing] Bethlehem as an example of success for the newly redeployed Palestinian security forces. He noted that Bethlehem’s tourism-based economy was also slowly rebounding from collapse during the second intifada. Governor Ta’mari presented Mr. Blair with details about Bethlehem’s suffering from the Israeli occupation, the wall and the expansion of the settlements. Mr. Blair said, “The Palestinians have lost all confidence in the peace process due to the Israeli actions,” adding. “The international community is demanded to restore Palestinians’ confidence to that it was serious in the peace process.” (Ma’an News agency)
The Security Council failed to agree on the procedures for a debate on the report of the Gaza Board of Inquiry. Council President Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, said Council Members had discussed “the modality of possible handling by the Security Council of the summary [of the report of the Board of Inquiry].” “We have not reached an agreement on the subject,” he told reporters, adding that he would discuss further “if and how” the Council should take up the summary. (DPA)
The United Nations International Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace concluded in Nicosia with a firm endorsement of the special role of national parliaments and inter-parliamentary organizations in advancing the faltering peace process. A statement issued by the Meeting’s organizers, capping two days of deliberations, press conferences and consultations, encouraged parliamentarians to develop closer cooperation among themselves, with Israeli and Palestinian lawmakers, and with the United Nations and the Committee, with a view to supporting a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the region, including a peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine. In the second plenary held earlier during the day entitled “Identifying the most efficient ways in which parliamentarians can make a difference in advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace”, parliamentarians said their contribution to Israeli-Palestinian peace could only be a quiet, modest, unpretentious, bottom-up approach based on informed, impartial, balanced and genuine engagement between parliamentarians of the world and Israeli-Palestinian parliamentarians, out of whose ranks emerged the national leaders and main actors responsible for the actual task of peace-finding and making. The final communiqué by the Meeting’s organizers noted the valid recommendations that had emerged to strengthen the role of parliamentarians at the national, regional, and international levels in contributing to resolving the question of Palestine. It called on the Committee, in collaboration with the relevant inter-parliamentary organizations, to examine those proposals with a view to their eventual implementation. The participants urged the new Israeli Government to declare its support for the two-State solution. (UN News Centre, UN press release GA/PAL/1123)
Israeli soldiers had been reportedly hit with a number of mortar shells and anti-tank projectiles near the southern Israeli-Gaza border, Israel Radio said. No damage or injuries were reported. (Ma’an News Agency)
Palestinian Legislative Council member Essa Qaraqie said that the PA had scrapped plans to host Pope Benedict XVI next week on a stage near the West Bank separation wall. Palestinians had hoped that receiving the Pope next to the towering cement wall and military watchtower inside the Aida refugee camp would highlight their suffering under Israeli occupation. He said the location had been changed to a UNRWA school after Israeli military officials forbade them to erect the stage near the barrier. The Pope's convoy would, however, still pass close to the barrier. (Haaretz)
According to the Secretary-General of Palestine Charity Union in Austria, Hani Ibrahim, the Hope Convoy, which had left Italy for the Egyptian port of Alexandria on 4 May, was bound for the Gaza Strip next week. The European anti-siege convoy was bringing a variety of medical supplies, including 12 ambulances and 25 copies of special computer software to help the blind. Volunteers and members of parliament were also joining the convoy. (Ma’an News Agency)
Hundreds of Palestine refugees gathered in the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) centres at refugee camps across the Gaza Strip, demanding an improvement in their living situation following the war and two years of siege. The joint action was organized by the Palestine People’s Party (PPP), which printed banners demanding emergency aid be doubled and delivered to Gazans, including the unemployed and those needing urgent medical attention. PPP Central Committee member Raed Abu Zaid spoke to crowds at the Deir El-Balah camp, after which protesters handed a list of their demands to the office of John Ging, Director of UNRWA Operations in Gaza. (Ma’an News Agency)