The PLO and Fatah leaderships meet jointly in Ramallah and formally agree “to approach the UN this coming September to obtain recognition of the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders and Palestinian membership in the international community,” given that there are “no new incentives to return to negotiations.” (AP 6/26; JTA, Telegraph 6/27; HA 6/28)
Israel’s Government Press Office sends a letter to accredited foreign correspondents stating that Israel will ban entry for 10 yrs. to any foreign journalist who rides along with the Freedom Flotilla II; the Foreign Press Association denounces the decision. Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the n. Gaza coast, forcing them to return to shore. In the West Bank, the IDF begins dismantling part of the separation wall nr. Bil‘in in keeping with a 2007 Israeli High Court ruling that the path of the wall was illegal. OCHA reports that the IDF has also begun rerouting a section of the separation wall nr. Khirbat Jabara village nr. Tulkarm in keeping with another 2007 Israeli High Court decision. The IDF also patrols in 3 villages nr. Qalqilya (holding 1 Palestinian teenager for questioning); enters Issawiyya nr. Jerusalem late in the evening, firing tear gas and stun grenades at stonethrowing Palestinians who confront them, injuring and arresting 2 15-yr.-old Palestinian boys; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron and Tulkarm. (WP, WT 6/27; PCHR 6/30; OCHA 7/1)