On the 1st Friday since the Gaza ceasefire went into effect, Gaza’s imams praise the “victory” of the Palestinian resistance; mosques across the Strip overflow with Hamas supporters. Hamas security officers deploy outside the posts they guarded before OCL, even if the buildings are no longer standing. Israel allows 65 truckloads of humanitarian aid and commercial goods into Gaza. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Qabatya; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, percussion grenades at Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall in Bil‘in (injuring 1 Palestinian, 2 foreign journalists; live ammunition is also fired but causes no injuries), Jayyus (injuring 1 Palestinian), Ni‘lin (injuring 6 Palestinians; live ammunition is also fired, causing 2 of the injuries). (HA, MM 1/23; NYT, WP 1/24; PCHR 1/29)
Friday, January 23, 2009