Saturday, July 24, 2004

The IDF fatally shoots a 16-yr.-old Palestinian standing on the roof of his home in Bayt Hanun; sends troops into Nablus, sparking stone-throwing, then firing on demonstrators, wounding 1; fires on Palestinian residential areas of Hebron; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Dahaysha r.c., Dayr al-Balah, Tubas, Yatta. In Gaza, unidentified armed Palestinians raid, set fire to a PA police station in Gaza City, causing serious damage; 20 armed AMB mbrs. take over the Local Government Min. offices in Khan Yunis, demanding the reinstatement of at least 11 AMB mbrs. fired fr. their security jobs and the dismissal of Musa Arafat, leaving after the PA pledges to look into reinstating those fired. In Ramallah, Palestinians rally in support of Arafat. In his 1st appearance since intra-Palestinian violence in Gaza began on 7/16, Arafat denies he is facing a crisis, dismisses Qurai‘’s attempt to resign, pledges to carry out reforms. (NYT, WP, WT 7/25; PCHR 7/29)