After a 2d round of talks with Syrian FM Shara`, Russian FMin. official Saltanov goes to Beirut to meet with PM Huss regarding Israel's planned withdrawal fr. s. Lebanon. (ITAR-TASS 5/10 in WNC 5/11; RAI [Moscow] 5/11 in WNC 5/15)
Some 5,000 Israeli Arabs mark Israel's independence day by participating in a "right of return march" fr. the village of Kabul in the Galilee to the site of the village of al-Damun, nr. Haifa, that was destroyed by Zionist forces in 1948. Another 1,000 Israeli Arabs and displaced residents of Umm al-Zaynat hold a memorial at the site of that destroyed village. (BDL 5/12)
At the main Bethlehem checkpoint, some 500 Palestinians demonstrate for the release of Palestinian prisoners fr. Israeli jails. IDF soldiers fire rubber bullets at the crowd, injuring 5 Palestinians. (MA [Internet] 5/11)
The PA allows Love and Peace Radio in Ramallah to resume broadcasting. (JT [Internet] 5/11) (see 5/5)
Apparently as a result of Syrian heir-apparent Bashar al-Asad's anticorruption campaign, fmr. PM Muhammad Zu'bi, who was replaced 3/13 with the new government, is expelled fr. the Ba`th party and incited on charges of committing unspecified financial, political irregularities. (MEI 5/19)