IDF troops on the c. Gaza border fire artillery shells at Gaza City’s municipal waste treatment facility, causing no injuries but forcing employees to flee, disrupting service. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Hebron and nr. Nablus. Israeli minister without portfolio Benny Begin attends the groundbreaking ceremony for a new settlement project to expand Bet Hagay settlement nr. Hebron, adding 10 new units; Begin stresses that government approval for the project was issued weeks before Netanyahu declared his 11/25 settlement freeze. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba accompanied by IDF forces enter al-Buqa‘a village e. of Hebron to plant 200 trees as an initial step toward confiscating the land; when some 40 Palestinian residents attempt to block the settlers, the IDF imposes a closure and intervenes to drive them away and guard the settlers (beating and arresting 1 Palestinian teenager, injuring 4 other Palestinians. (OCHA, PCHR 2/4)
Sunday, January 31, 2010