Friday, June 20, 2008

IDF soldiers on the c. Gaza boarder e. of al-Maghazi fire on Palestinian farmers who stray nr. the border fence while tending their fields, causing no injuries.Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the Bayt Lahiya coast, forcing them to return to shore. In the West Bank, the IDF issues a military order confiscating 1,500 d. of Palestinian land in Bayt Hanina for construction of the separation wall around Ramot settlement; searches a Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulance, a house in Bayt Umar nr. Hebron; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Bil‘in (10s suffer tear gas inhalation); severely beats and fires tear gas, percussion grenades at demonstrators at a similar protest al-Ma‘sara (injuring 2); conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, nr. Ramallah (arresting 9 Palestinian teenagers in Jalazun r.c.). Jewish settlers fr. Susia attack and beat several Palestinian farmers and shepherds in nearby Yatta, injuring 2. Several hrs. later, Jewish settlers fr. Mitzpe Ya’ir nr. Hebron attack Palestinian farmers and shepherds in the same area, injuring 3; the IDF detains the injured Palestinians for questioning. Unidentified gunmen shoot, wound 3 Jewish settlers hiking nr. Nachliel settlement nr. Ramallah. (OCHA 6/25; PCHR 6/26)