The IDF continues house-to-house searches in Tulkarm r.c.; assassinates wanted Hamas mbr. Khalid Rayan (aka Khalid Bakir) in Nablus (there is an exchange of gunfire during an “arrest raid” that wounds 2 IDF soldiers, but soldiers walk up to Rayan’s body and shoot him in the head to make sure he is dead); for no apparent reason fatally shoots a 14-yr.-old Palestinian standing outside his home in Qalqilya; fatally shoots a Palestinian farmer working in a field nr. a closed military zone in n. Gaza; demolishes 6 Palestinian homes in Sur al-Bahir, 1 in al-Tur; raids Nussayrat r.c., firing on residential areas, conducting house-to-house searches, knocking through walls to move to adjoining buildings; extends indefinitely the closure of Palestine Polytechnic University in Hebron, initially shut on 1/15/03. On the 1-yr. anniversary of the launch of Operation Defensive Shield in Jenin town and r.c., 1,000s of Jenin residents demonstrate against Israeli actions, the U.S.-led war on Iraq. Palestinians fire 3 mortars at Jewish settlements in Gaza, causing no damage or injuries. (HA 4/3; WP 4/4; PR 4/9; LAW, PCHR 4/10)
Thursday, April 3, 2003