Overnight, the IDF sends troops into Gaza to engage a group of armed Palestinians laying a roadside bomb nr. the border fence, fatally shooting 2 Islamic Jihad mbrs.; the deaths bring to 22 the number of Gazans killed by the IDF since the 1/18/09 cease-fire. Later in the day, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine detonates a roadside bomb on the Gaza border fence as an IDF patrol passes, causing no damage or injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Jenin (firing live ammunition and stun grenades at homes, injuring a Palestinian woman); fires tear gas at stone-throwing Palestinians demonstrating against the separation wall construction in Bil‘in; fires live ammunition, rubbercoated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists taking part in weekly nonviolent protests against the separation wall in Ni‘lin (injuring 10 Palestinians, 2 with live ammunition). Jewish settlers burn 10s of d. of Palestinian crops nr. Yitzhar settlement nr. Nablus, block firefighters fr. reaching the scene. A Jewish settler is found dead nr. Eli settlement btwn. Ramallah and Nablus; the circumstances of his death are unclear. (NYT, WP 5/23; OCHA, PCHR 5/28)
Friday, May 22, 2009