April 24, 2005

The IDF extends the seal (see 4/21) on the West Bank and Gaza for a wk.; tightens restrictions on Palestinian movement around Bethlehem; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Araba. A Palestinian shepherd is injured when he triggers unexploded IDF ordnance while herding his flock nr. Nablus. 5 Jewish settlers fr. Elon Moreh severely beat a Palestinian shepherd tending his flock nr. Nablus. 19 Palestinian gunmen (some masked, all allegedly fmr. mbrs. of the PA security forces) shut down the Gaza coastal road for 2 hrs. to protest Abbas’s forced retirement of 100s of security officers, demand they be given their jobs back or new jobs in the PA. (AP, IMEMC 4/24; IMEMC 4/25; AYM 4/25 in WNC 4/26; IMEMC 4/26; OCHA, PR 4/27; PCHR 4/28)