In the West Bank, the IDF makes a late-night raid on a Palestinian home nr. Qalqilya, demanding to detain a mentally handicapped man for interrogation, seriously beating his 26-yr.-old sister when she protests, damaging items in the home (including a Qur’an), before taking the man into custody. The IDF also conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Qalqilya, Salfit. An Israeli Interior Min. comm. issues a recommendation that the government annex around 12,000 d. of land to Ma’ale Adumim’s settlement boundaries to link Ma’ale Adumim with Kirdar settlement, 3 km to the east; 6,000 new housing units would be built in Kirdar to create territorial contiguity with Ma’ale Adumim, greatly reducing the geographical contiguity between the n. and s. West Bank, and cutting off Palestinian access to Jerusalem. (OCHA, PCHR 4/29; PCHR 5/4)
Saturday, April 25, 2009