Tuesday, August 31, 2004

In downtown Beersheba, 2 Hamas suicide bombers simultaneously detonate devices on 2 buses, killing 16 Israelis, wounding 82. The IDF demolishes the family homes of the bombers in Hebron. The IDF also imposes tighter restrictions on entry to and exit from Hebron; fatally shoots 1 Palestinian youth during a predawn incursion into Rafah; fires on residential areas of Nablus and reinforces checkpoints on the Nablus– Qalqilya road; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Bethlehem, Hebron; bulldozes 360 d. of agricultural land in Juhur Yidiq in central Gaza, 8 d. and 2 Palestinian homes in Rafah; raids, searches several charitable societies and PA Information Min. offices in Hebron, briefly detaining 20 Palestinians and 3 journalists covering the incident. A Jewish settler kills a 61-yr.-old Palestinian woman in a hit-and-run nr. Qalqilya. The AMB Jenin faction issues a statement calling PA FM Shaath a “traitor” for allegedly meeting with Israeli FM Silvan Shalom on the sidelines of a conference in Italy (ca. 8/26), threatening to kill him if he returns to the territories; Shalom says he did not interact with Shaath at the mtg. (HA, MM, WP 8/31; JAZ, MENA, VOI, VOP 8/31 in WNC 9/2; CSM, HA, MM, NYT, Palestinian Medial Relief Society press release, PR, WP, WT 9/1; AYM, QA, al-Quds, VOI 9/1 in WNC 9/3; HJ 9/1, JAZ, VOI, VOP 9/2 in WNC 9/4; HJ, MM, PCHR, WJW, WT 9/2; MM 9/3; JAZ 9/4 in WNC 9/7; PR 9/8; JPI, MEI, MM 9/10)