In Gaza, the IDF conducts predawn arrest raids in Bayt Hanun, exchanging fire with Palestinian gunmen, fatally shooting 2 Palestinian bystanders, wounding 6 others, demolishing 6 Palestinian homes, heavily damaging 3 others, arresting 2 wanted men; fatally shoots a 3d Palestinian who strays too close to the s. Gaza border fence nr. al-Qarara; makes an air strike destroying a Palestinian home in Jabaliya r.c. after warning residents to leave, also destroying 2 nearby homes, wounding 1 Palestinian bystander; shells areas of Bayt Lahiya, wounding 3 Palestinians; bulldozes 50 d. of citrus groves in Jabaliya r.c. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in Bethlehem, al-Fawar r.c. nr Hebron, Jenin town and r.c., Tulkarm. Settler or IDF arsonists set fire to 467 Palestinian citrus trees on land nr. Qalqilya isolated behind the separation wall. The Fatah-aligned PA Government Employees Union (comprising some 80,000 mbrs., around half of public workers, including 25,000 health workers, 37,000 teachers) begins an openended strike to protest the PA’s failure to pay salaries. (NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 9/3; PCHR 9/7; WP 9/13)
Saturday, September 2, 2006