Israeli-Palestinian clashes
continue. The IDF
sends tanks, bulldozers back into Bayt Hanun to demolish a PSF post. Bush
calls Sharon to urge restraint. Sharp clashes are reported in Bethlehem
(where the IDF fires surface-to-surface missiles at a new conference center, a
stone cutting factory), nr. Jerusalem. The IDF also bulldozes Palestinian land
nr. Gaza airport. (MM 4/18; ATL, MENA 4/18 in WNC 4/19; MM, NYT, WP, WT 4/19;
AYM, MENA, al-Quds 4/19 in WNC 4/24; WP 4/21)
Israeli
FM Peres meets with Arafat economic adviser Muhammad Rashid (Khalid
Salam) reportedly to discuss reducing violence, though no details are
released. (EFE [Madrid] 4/19 in WNC 4/24; AYM 4/24 in WNC 4/25)
Hrs. after the IDF completes its pulls out of PA-controlled
areas of n. Gaza, Palestinians again fire 7 mortars fr. Bayt Hanun toward
a Jewish settlement in Gaza and the Erez crossing, causing no damage.
6 Palestinians killed.
The IDF eases the closure on Jenin r.c. during the day, begins a
comprehensive withdrawal to the outskirts of the camp and town by evening. The
IDF makes a brief incursion into Qalqilya; lifts the curfew on Bethlehem
for 4 hrs.; directs heavy machine gun fire at residential areas of Rafah,
killing 2 Palestinians; captures wanted senior Hamas mbr. Husam Ataf
Ali Badran in a raid nr. Nablus, also killing 3 Palestinians. A
newborn Palestinian baby dies when barred by the IDF fr. reaching a
hospital. (AFP, AP, CNN, HA, MM 4/18; HA, JP [Internet], MEI, NYT, REU, UPMRC,
WP, WT 4/19; REU 4/22; MM 4/23; JP [Internet] 4/24; MM 4/30; MEI 5/3)
The IDF shells residential areas of Khan Yunis. Israeli security
arrests 12 Israeli border police for violent crimes against Palestinians,
including 4 detained in connection with the 12/30/02 beating death of a
Palestinian in Hebron, thought to be the 1st fatality of the Israeli forces’
“lottery”. (NYT, WP 4/19; HA 4/21; LAW, MM, PCHR, WJW 4/24)
3 Palestinians killed.
The IDF fires on international, Israeli, Palestinian peace activists
staging a nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall nr. Biddu,
killing 1 Palestinian, wounding 8; demolishes the PA Agriculture Min.
dir. gen.’s home in Dayr al-Balah; fires on stone-throwing youths in
Bethlehem, Burqa, Hebron, Qalandia, villages nr. Ramallah, Silwad; fires on
residential areas of Dayr al-Balah, Rafah, Tulkarm; conducts arrest raids, house
searches in al-Arub r.c., Dahaysha r.c., Dura. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba bulldoze 5 dunams
of nearby Palestinian land, clash with Palestinians who attempt to stop them;
the IDF intervenes to arrest 3 Palestinians, does not halt the
bulldozing. A Palestinian dies of injuries received on 4/16. (PSCT, VOP
4/18 in WNC 4/20; AFP, AP, NYT, WP, WT 4/19; PR 4/21; PCHR 4/22)
Hamas fires 5 Qassam
rockets at Israeli targets in Gaza, causing no damage or injuries. In Gaza City,
10,000s of Palestinians take part in the funeral of Rantisi, his
bodyguards; the Church of the Nativity closes its doors for the afternoon
in protest of the Rantisi assassination. Late in the evening, 2 Israeli Arabs
fire on an Israeli border patrol in the Galilee, causing no damage or
injuries; the patrol returns fire, killing 1, wounding 1; the AMB takes
responsibility.
The IDF issues demolition orders for 10 wells in a bedouin area
nr. Hebron; imposes a curfew on Burqa nr. Nablus, claiming someone fr. the
village threw a Molotov cocktail at an IDF patrol, causing no injuries;
bulldozes Palestinian land and places barbwire nr. the Erez crossing, fires on a
Palestinian farming his land nearby, wounding him; sends troops into al-Arub
r.c. nr. Hebron to arrest 2 Palestinian teenagers (ages 14, 16) for throwing
stones at passing IDF patrols. Armed Jewish settlers
fr. Kiryat Arba close roads (several with burning barricades), throw stones at
Palestinian houses and cars (damaging 6 homes), uproot olive trees and
grapevines. (HA, MM, NYT 4/19; OCHA, PR 4/20; PCHR 4/21)
PRC gunmen shoot, wound an IDF soldier, an
Israeli civilian worker on the Rafah border, saying the PRCs are not bound by
the truce agreed by the Palestinian factions in 2/8.
Israel says that the Hamas-led PA is responsible for the 4/17 suicide bombing
but that it will not launch a large-scale military operation in retaliation so
as to “avoid escalation”; instead it will increase “diplomatic pressure” on the
government, including revoking the Israeli residency rights of 3 Change and
Reform PC mbrs. (including Jerusalem Affairs M Abu ‘Arafa) from East Jerusalem,
meaning they would have to leave the city. The AMB, ARB, PRCs issue a joint
statement demanding that Abbas “apologize to the entire Palestinian people for
the offense he committed” by condemning the 4/17 suicide bombing. Meanwhile, the
IDF steps up Operation Southern Arrow, shelling areas of n. Gaza, hitting a
sewage treatment facility, seriously injuring 3 Palestinian children, and
wounding a farmer working his field, a shepherd grazing his sheep, a Palestinian
outside his home in Bayt Lahiya, a Palestinian walking in a residential area of
Bayt Hanun, a truck driver nr. the customs bureau in Jabaliya; detains, severely
beats a 16-yr.-old Palestinian boy at a Bethlehem checkpoint for allegedly
carrying a knife; conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Jenin, in Nablus
(confiscating the camera of an AP journalist covering the raid). Israeli police
detain PA Jerusalem Affairs M Abu ‘Arafa at a checkpoint on the outskirts of
East Jerusalem as he is en route to a PA cabinet mtg., delaying him 2 hrs. (AFP,
AP, IMEMC, JP, NYT, PNN, REU, WP 4/18; MM, NYT, WP, WT 4/19; MM, PCHR 4/20; HA
4/24)
In the West Bank, the IDF patrols, fires on residential areas of Yasuf nr.
Nablus, then fires on stone-throwing Palestinians who confront the troops,
wounding 2; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around
Nablus and Qalqilya, nr. Bethlehem and Hebron, and in Tulkarm town and r.c. For
the 2d day, Jewish settlers occupying a Palestinian building in Hebron harass
local Palestinians. Jewish settlers fr. Gil’ad nr. Qalqilya attack, beat 2
Palestinian women working their land nearby. (PCHR 4/19; OCHA 4/25;
PCHR 4/26)
Gaza municipal workers begin a
2-day sit-in to protest nonpayment of their salaries.
2 Palestinians killed.
IDF troops
make a late-night incursion into Gaza City, clashing with local armed
Palestinians, killing 1, wounding 3. In the West Bank, the IDF raids Balata r.c., surrounds
a home where AMB mbr. Hani al-Kabi is staying, fatally shoots him when
he resists arrest; until recently, Kabi voluntarily stayed in a PA jail
overnight as part of the 7/07 AMB amnesty deal with Israel. The IDF also
conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus;
fires rubber-coated steel bullets, percussion grenades, tear gas at
Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in weekly nonviolent
demonstrations against the separation wall in Bil`in (wounding a
journalist covering the protest) and al-Masara (injuring 3, including a
9-yr.-old girl). (CSM 4/18; AP, NYT 4/19; NYT 4/20; OCHA 4/23; PCHR 4/24)
Palestinians fire 4 rockets
fr. Gaza into Israel, causing damage but no injuries; 1 rocket fired toward
Israel lands nr. a home outside Bayt Lahiya injuring 2 Palestinians, including
a 5-yr.-old girl.
1 Palestinian killed.
Palestinian officials said that a 16-year-old was killed and a 19-year-old was wounded in the leg by Israeli army fire near the “Beit El” settlement. The Israeli military reported that soldiers guarding the settlement had spotted a group of Palestinians who threw firebombs toward the gate of “Beit El”. (AP)
"Several Israeli shells were fired this morning at Palestinian fishing boats off Rafah, without causing casualties," a Palestinian official told AFP
on condition of anonymity.
(AFP)
Egypt opened its border with the Gaza Strip for a limited number of humanitarian cases, Hamas spokesman Adel Zourob said. He added that the Rafah crossing point would be open for two days for patients, students and Palestinians holding residency permits in other countries. Later, it was announced that the crossing would also be open on 20 and 21 April. (DPA, Ma’an News Agency)
US Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell said in Cairo that a Palestinian State alongside Israel was the only way to end the Mideast conflict. "It has been the policy of the United States for many years that the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies in a two-State solution," he told reporters after the meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. This is "the policy of President Obama and one that we will pursue with great energy," he said, adding that an end to the conflict was "also in the national interest of the United States." "The President believes and I believe that a comprehensive peace in the Middle East will be possible only as a result of the leadership of Egypt, President Mubarak ... and the whole (Egyptian) Government," he added. (AFP, DPA)
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Sultanov reaffirmed Russia's support for the establishment of a Palestinian State as a basis for resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He had met, during his visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who affirmed the necessity that Israel stops construction of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. (WAFA)
Two Israeli police officers were injured when a Palestinian driver deliberately ran them down north of Jerusalem, a police spokesman said. (AFP)
A two-day civil society conference under the title “United Against Apartheid, Colonialism and Racism: Justice and Dignity for the Palestinian People” opened in Geneva, on the eve of the official UN Durban Review Conference. The meeting was sponsored by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee, which represents more than 170 organizations. (Ma’an News Agency)