Monday, October 3, 2011

Inside Israel, Jewish extremists set fire to a mosque in the Israeli Palestinian village of Tuba-Zangaria and scrawl graffiti reading “price tag,” “revenge,” and “Palmer” (in reference to Asher Palmer, the Jewish settler killed in a traffic accident that Jewish settlers claimed was caused by stone-throwing Palestinians; see 9/23). Some 200 angry Palestinian residents march toward a neighboring Jewish town but are blocked by Israeli police who fire tear gas to disperse them; protesters set fire to tires and throw stones at police in response; no serious injuries are reported. Netanyahu denounces the arson, and Israeli pres. Peres and Israel’s 2 chief rabbis visit the mosque in a show of solidarity with the village. IDF troops on the c. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction materials in a landfill nr. the border, wounding 1. In the West Bank, the IDF razes at least 5 d. of Palestinian agricultural land and uproots at least 95 olive and oak trees for construction of an IDF access road in preparation for construction of a new segment of the separation wall in al-Walaja; patrols in Tulkarm and 1 village nr. Ramallah in the morning, in 1 village nr. Jericho in the afternoon, and inside Jericho late at night; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. (NYT, WP 10/4; PCHR 10/6; OCHA 10/7; PCHR 10/27)