2 Palestinians killed.
Israeli-Palestinian clashes
abate slightly, though 2 Palestinians are killed. Observers note that
Palestinian mortar attacks have tapered off since Arafat's 2d call for a
halt on 2/19, though today Palestinians fire 5 mortars at Neve Dekalim
settlement and 3 at Gush Katif settlement, causing no damage. The
IDF raids the village of Wadi al-Silqa nr. Kefar Darom settlement, ransacks
homes, harasses residents, demolishes 1 Palestinian home; directs heavy
machine gun fire at al-Sudaniyya, Gaza City. Israel eases the border
closing btwn. Egypt, Gaza temporarily but then imposes a 72-hr. closure on the
West Bank and Gaza, sealing crossings to Egypt, Jordan and tightening controls
on Palestinian movement inside the territories, fearing attacks during Israeli
memorial, "independence" days on 4/25+n26. (MM, NYT, WT 4/25)
Iran
convenes a 2-day conference in support of the al-Aqsa intifada, Palestinians'
rights. Delegations fr. 35 Arab, Muslim countries and senior mbrs. of
Hamas, Hizballah, Islamic Jihad take part. (BBC 4/24; IRNA, TT
4/24 in WNC 4/25; MM, WT 4/25; Iran Daily, IRNA 4/25 in WNC 4/26; WJW
4/26; IRNA, VIRI 4/26 in WNC 4/27; HJ 4/27 in WNC 4/30; MM 5/2; IRNA 5/2 in WNC
5/3; al-Nahar 5/4 in WNC 5/7) (see Peace Monitor)
Palestinians fire 5 mortars at Neve Dekalim
settlement and 3 at Gush Katif settlement, causing no damage.
10 Palestinians killed.
The IDF assassinates senior AMB mbr. Yaqub Sarayra
in Bani Na`im, also killing a 2d Palestinian; fatally shoots
15-yr.-old Palestinian stone thrower in. Jenin. A mysterious explosion in
Jabaliya kills 3 Palestinians. In Bethlehem, an IDF sniper fatally
shoots a Palestinian inside the Church of the Nativity as he
passes by a window; 2 PSF officers inside the church surrender to IDF
custody. (AP 4/24; NYT, WP, WT 4/25)
In Gaza, the IDF fatally shoots 3 14-yr.-old Palestinian boys
who attempt to sneak into a Jewish settlement, armed with knives, a
homemade pipe bomb.
2 Palestinians killed. 1 Israeli killed.
After the Kfar Saba railway station bomb, Israel says it will not
stage a massive retaliation in response. The IDF fires on stone-throwing
Palestinian youths in Qarawat Bani Zayt, killing 2 Palestinians; fires on
an elementary school in Qalqilya, injuring 3 students, 1 teacher; shells
residential areas of Rafah; bulldozes nearly 300 dunams of land in Bayt Hanun,
34 dunams in Rafah; conducts arrest raids in Bethlehem (targeting Hamas),
al-Qarara, Tulkarm. Jewish settlers fr. Mitzpeh Yeriho seize a hilltop
nr. Jericho as a new outpost, called Givat Haherut (Liberty Hill), to “prevent
invasion” of the area by bedouin shepherds; Israeli police urge the
settlers to evacuate the site but leave when they refuse. (HA, LAW, MM 4/24;
AFP, ITAR-TASS 4/24 in WNC 4/25; NYT, WP, WT 4/25; al-Quds, VOI 4/25 in
WNC 4/28; PR 4/30; LAW, PCHR, WJW 5/1; MEI 5/2)
A Palestinian suicide bomber fr. Balata r.c. detonates a device at the
Kfar Saba railway station in Israel, killing 1 Israeli security guard,
injuring 13 Israelis. A statement faxed to Reuters claims the AMB carried
out the act with the help of the PFLP, but AMB’s chief spokesman
denies this, saying the attack was staged by Nablus breakaway faction of the AMB.
4 Palestinians killed.
The IDF raids Jenin, fatally shoots wanted AMB mbrs. Said Hardan,
Kamal Masa’id in an apparent assassination, also killing a Palestinian
bystander, shooting and wounding a Palestinian journalist who arrives
to cover the scene. Later in the day in Jenin, the IDF fires on a car
carrying 2 wanted AMB mbrs., wounding both, barring ambulances fr. reaching the
area for 1 hr., allowing AMB mbr. Husni Daraghma to bleed to death; the
other AMB mbr., Iyad Daraghma, is seriously wounded. The IDF also
bulldozes 11 dunams of land outside Nablus; conducts arrest raids, house
searches nr. Hebron. Jewish settlers fr. Susia severely beat a
Palestinian farmer, steal his tractor; the IDF observes but does not
intervene. (VOP 4/24 in WNC 4/27; NYT, WT 4/25; PR 4/28; PCHR 4/29)
The IDF extends the seal (see 4/21) on the West Bank and Gaza for a
wk.; tightens restrictions on Palestinian movement around Bethlehem; conducts
arrest raids, house searches in Araba. A Palestinian shepherd is injured
when he triggers unexploded IDF ordnance while herding his flock nr. Nablus.
5 Jewish settlers fr. Elon Moreh severely beat a Palestinian shepherd
tending his flock nr. Nablus. (AP, IMEMC 4/24;
IMEMC 4/25; AYM 4/25 in WNC 4/26; IMEMC 4/26; OCHA, PR 4/27; PCHR 4/28)
19 Palestinian gunmen (some masked, all
allegedly fmr. mbrs. of the PA security forces) shut down the Gaza coastal road
for 2 hrs. to protest Abbas's forced retirement of 100s of security officers,
demand they be given their jobs back or new jobs in the PA.
The IDF shells n. Gaza, hitting a poultry farm in Bayt Lahiya (wounding 1
Palestinian), damaging 2 Palestinian homes (injuring 2 Palestinians), hitting a
farm in Bayt Hanun (killing 2 cows); conducts arrest raids in and around Nablus
and nr. Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, Ramallah. (PCHR 4/27)
In Gaza, a Palestinian is injured in Jabaliya r.c. while trying to
dismantle an unexploded IDF shell. In the West Bank, the IDF
occupies a Palestinian home in Saffa nr. Ramallah as an observation post;
patrols, fires on residential areas of Nablus; conducts late- night arrest
raids, house searches in Hebron. Nr. Jenin, 2 Palestinian children (ages 4, 7)
are injured when they accidentally trigger unexploded IDF ordnance. Thousands of
Jewish settlers march to the evacuated Homesh settlement site to protest the
2005 disengagement despite the IDF’s declaration of the area as a closed
military zone; 2 IDF soldiers are injured trying to keep settlers from the site.
Jewish settlers escorted by IDF troops bar Palestinians fr. using a road s. of
Jenin for several hrs. (BBC, MM 4/24; IFM, MM, NYT, OCHA, WP 4/25; PCHR 4/26)
On the day Israel marks independence day and Palestinians commemorate the
Nakba, Hamas’s Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades fires 6 rockets and 8 mortars into
Israel, causing no injuries, reiterating that it will no longer abide by the
11/26/06 cease-fire; the IDF responds with helicopter air strikes on n. Gaza and
fires on an open area e. of Rafah; no damage or injuries are reported on either
side. Meanwhile, moderates in Hamas’s political
wing say they are working to preserve the cease-fire.
UNRWA
suspends operations in Gaza citing lack of fuel because of Israel’s blockade,
stating that more than 700,000 Palestinians will not receive food aid as a
result. Operation of UNRWA schools, clinics are also affected; because of fuel
cuts 12 municipalities and solid waste management councils have stopped all
operations, affecting at least 500,000 Gazans. Early in the morning, the IDF
send troops under cover of aircraft into Abasan to level land, making an air
strike on a group of armed Palestinians, wounding 2 gunmen, 2 bystanders. In
the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night house searches nr. Tulkarm
(no arrests are reported). Jewish settlers enter the Homesh settlement
site (evacuated by the IDF in 2005), attack a Palestinian shepherd nearby, kill
2 of his sheep, steal 2. (WP, WT 4/25; OCHA, PCHR 4/30; see also UNRWA and OCHA press releases
4/23)
Unidentified assailants kidnap a fmr. PA
security officer (Fatah affiliated) fr. his home in Nussayrat r.c., severely
beat him.
Some 30 people were injured when Israeli troops clashed with demonstrators in the West Bank village of Bil’in protesting against the separation barrier, medics and witnesses said. The wounded sustained mainly light injuries from rubber-coated bullets and tear gas fired by the Israeli army forces near the village, where last week a Palestinian was killed in a similar weekly protest. Several hundred people, including Palestinian, Israeli and foreign activists, took part in the demonstration. Five other protestors were injured in similar clashes in the nearby village of Nil’in, according to medics. (AFP)
Israeli forces raided several homes in the Old City of Nablus and arrested three Palestinian youths. (Ma’an News Agency)
Israel will computerize the permit system for the entry of Palestinians in the West Bank to the areas on the west side of the separation wall, including Jerusalem, as of 1 May. The computer system would be installed at military controlled crossings, including gates separating villages from their agricultural land. Israeli authorities had already warned that those who failed to register in the new system could face the loss of their permits for a day, week or even month. (Ma’an News Agency)
Israeli settlers opened fire and wounded seven Palestinian villagers following massive clashes outside Nablus. A number of settlers from “Yitzhar” entered the nearby village of Ourif, opening fire and moderately wounding seven people, who were rushed to a Nablus hospital, Palestinian security sources said. Residents of “Yitzhar” claimed at the same time that Palestinian gunmen trying to infiltrate the settlement had opened fire and wounded three settlers, according to media reports. An Israeli army spokesperson said that some 100 “Yitzhar” settlers had clashed with a group of 70 Palestinians from Ourif who had tried to enter the settlement. An army force dispersed the rioters, she added. (AFP)
The Vatican said that the Holy See and the Arab League had agreed to work together to promote world peace, after a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa. In a separate meeting, Mr. Moussa and the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, signed a memorandum of understanding, according to a Vatican statement. The meetings allowed for an “exchange of views on the international situation, especially in the Middle East, and on the need to find a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to the other conflicts which afflict the region,” the Vatican said. (AP)
The first Representative of the Republic of Cyprus to the Palestinian Authority, Andreas Kouzoupis, presented his letters of appointment in Ramallah, to PA President Abbas. It was noted that the presence of the Republic of Cyprus at the Palestinian Authority will be in a Joint Representation Office with Malta, following relevant decisions taken by the Governments of Cyprus and Malta. (www.mfa.gov.cy)