Sunday, April 3, 2016

Amid deescalating violence in Israel and the West Bank, an Israeli security guard detains a Palestinian woman after she allegedly stabs and injures an Israeli woman in a small city nr. Tel Aviv. Later, Israeli forces arrest a Palestinian man at a checkpoint nr. Nablus as he walks toward a group of Israeli settlers, alleging that he was planning a stabbing attack. Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli forces carry out punitive demolitions of the 3 Jenin-area homes of Palestinians killed on 2/3 in a confrontation with Israeli forces in East Jerusalem, sparking minor clashes with stonethrowing Palestinians in the village; there are no serious injuries. Israeli forces also shut down a number of Palestinian shops in a village nr. Nablus and erect several mobile checkpoints around the village. IDF troops conduct raids and house searches nr. Bethlehem, Salfit, Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus, and Qalqilya, arresting 12 Palestinians, issuing arrest summons to 1, and confiscating a vehicle and surveillance tapes; patrol nr. Qalqilya and Hebron. Israeli settlers raze a small swath of Palestinian land nr. Nablus. Off Gaza’s c. coast, Israeli naval forces open fire on Palestinian fishing boats, causing no injuries. (HA, MNA, TOI, WAFA, YA 4/3; PCHR 4/7)

Early in the morning, the Israeli authorities put into effect their decision to extend the fishing zone off the s. Gaza coast to 9 naut. mi. The Israeli-enforced fishing zone remains 6 naut. mi. off the n. coast. (MNA 4/3)