Israeli chief negotiator Molcho meets with PA Pres. Abbas in Ramallah to deliver PM Netanyahu’s formal written response to the Palestinians’ 4/17 letter. Anonymous Israeli officials say the letter calls for the immediate resumption of talks without preconditions. (WP 5/13)
Israeli and Palestinian officials confirm that Egyptian mediators are trying to broker understandings between Israel and hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails to end the strike. (WP 5/13)
The IDF conducts daytime patrols in 3 villages nr. Jericho (2 synchronized) and 1 nr. Ramallah; conducts late-night patrols in 2 villages nr. Ramallah. Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists hold a nonviolent demonstration in Bayt Umar protesting settlement expansion; IDF soldiers violently beat 3 Palestinian journalists. PA officials says that the PASF has arrested a suspect, Nizar Ghawadreh, in the shooting that resulted in the 5/1 death of Jenin governor Moussa, saying Ghawadreh’s motive appeared to be anger over the 4/2012 shooting death of his brother by PA police. Jewish settlers confiscate a 6-d. plot of Palestinian agricultural land nr. Bethlehem, barring the owner’s access. (NYT 5/13; PCHR 5/17; OCHA 5/18)