The Palestine Chronology

The IDF fires on Palestinians who stray nr. the central Gaza border fence while collecting scrap metal, wounding 2. Palestinians fire 7 rockets fr. Gaza toward Israel; 3 land inside Israel, causing no damage or injuries. In the West Bank, IDF undercover units raid a Nablus shop, wounding and capturing a wanted man, fatally shooting 1 Palestinian bystander (the shop owner’s son), wounding a 2d. The IDF also clashes with armed Palestinians in Jenin town and r.c., leaving 1 Palestinian gunman dead; conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Tulkarm; patrols in al-Naqura nr. Nablus (spot checking IDs of schoolchildren), Qarawat Bani Zaid nr. Salfit. In Dayr al-Balah, 2 PA General Intelligence officers are wounded in an exchange of fire with mbrs. of their own force; no motive is given. Unidentified gunmen fire on a PA police officer driving in Bayt Lahiya, missing him. (NYT 6/4; OCHA 6/6; PCHR 6/7)

The Lebanese army escalates its assault on Nahr al-Barid r.c., making helicopter air strikes on FItargets in addition to continuing tank shelling, reportedly to block an escape route fr. the camp to the sea and to destroy the upper floors of buildings used as sniper posts. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) officials in the r.c. report that residents still in the camp have been locking houses and barricading neighborhoods to try to isolate and force out FI mbrs. The Lebanese army confirms that the camp has been segmented into 3 parts: the first controlled by army fire from outside, the second controlled by refugees denying the militants sanctuary, and the third controlled by FI. The army reports 4 soldiers killed, 10 wounded during the day; casualties inside the camp are unknown. Lebanese PM Fuad Siniora pledges that Palestinians who have fled Nahr al-Barid will be allowed to return to the camp and that the camp will be rebuilt. (WT 6/3)

The IDF sends troops, bulldozers back into Bayt Hanun, digging trenches across several main roads; opens fire on stone-throwing youths in Qarawat Bani Zaid, killing 2 Palestinians; imposes a curfew on Bayt Furik, raids a mosque, confiscating computers; demolishes 1 Palestinian home in Dayr al-Balah, 1 in Nablus; conducts arrest raids in Askar r.c., Hebron, Jenin, Tubas. Israel also demolishes 2 bedouin homes in the unrecognized village of Wadi al-Na‘im. (HA, HP 5/21; HA, LAW, NYT, PCHR, WT 5/22; MEI 5/30)

In Washington, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Asst. Secy. of State for Near East Affairs William Burns hold separate mtgs. with Sharon chief of staff Dov Weisglass, PA Finance M Salam al-Fayyad to try to reach an agmt. on actions to reduce tensions and start talks. (HA, NYT 5/22; al-Quds 5/23 in WNC 5/27; HA 5/24)