Thursday, November 25, 2004

In Rafah, the IDF shells residential areas, conducts arrest raids and house searches, demolishes 8 Palestinian homes, severely damages 5 others, clashes with local militias, leaving 1 Hamas mbr. dead. The IDF also raids Hebron, demolishes a Palestinian home, fatally shoots Hamas mbrs. Murad al-Qawasmi, Omar alHaymuni, wounds a 3d in what may be an assassination; demolishes 1 Palestinian home, bulldozes 34 d. of land, shells residential areas nr. Khan Yunis; blows up 1 apartment in a 4-story Palestinian apartment building nr. Hebron; conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Gaza’s Kefar Darom settlement and in Aqabat Jabir r.c., Araba nr. Jenin, Bayt Sahur, Beitunia, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho, Qalqilya, Tulkarm r.c.; issues a military order, prohibiting Palestinian use of land 200–300 m on either side of the separation wall nr. Jenin. (VOI, VOP 11/25 in WNC 11/27; VOP 11/26 in WNC 11/30; FT 11/26; PCHR 12/2)

The Fatah Revolutionary Council endorses the Fatah Central Comm.’s 11/22 choice of Abbas as the party’s candidate for pres., with 100 of the council’s 129 mbrs. voting in favor. (WP 11/26)