June 25, 2009

No Israeli-Palestinian violence is reported. To mark the 3d anniversary of Shalit’s capture, Israeli protesters block the crossings into Gaza, and Israel’s transportation union urges haulers to observe a 1-day boycott on the import of goods to Gaza. Israel agrees to limit military incursions into 4 major Palestinian cities (Bethlehem, Jericho, Qalqilya, and Ramallah), allowing the PASF to operate there 24 hrs./day, instead of requiring them to remain in barracks fr. midnight to 5:00 a.m. as it had done before. Israel also agrees to remove some West Bank roadblocks and barriers to travel (there are currently more than 600), but no immediate steps are taken on this. (NYT, WJW, WP, WT 6/26; OCHA, PCHR 7/2)