May 19, 2005

The IDF sends troops into ‘Ayn Bani Salim nr. Hebron to search 35 Palestinian homes, take a census of and photograph the families; conducts arrest raids in Askar r.c., Balata r.c. (also firing on residential areas), Hebron, Tulkarm. Palestinians fire 10s of mortars, 3 rockets at IDF, Jewish settler targets in Gaza for a 2d day and also toward Sederot, causing light damage to an IDF base just outside Gaza and to the Qarni crossing, but no injuries; Israel threatens sharp retaliation. Jewish settlers fr. Ramat Yishai severely beat a 75-yr.-old Palestinian woman in Hebron. Jewish settlers fr. Efrat nr. Bethlehem continue to bulldoze Palestinian land in nearby al-Khadir (see 5/18). (IMEMC, NYT, WP 5/20; PCHR 5/26)