January 30, 2008

The Israeli High Court endorses the Israeli DMin.’s 1/27 plan to wage “economic warfare” against Gaza. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c., and nr. Nablus, Ramallah; patrols in, fires on residential areas of Nablus, causing no injuries. An Israeli nonprofit group, Yemin Yehuda, begins construction of 200 settler housing units in East Jerusalem’s Shimon Hatzaddik compound. PA civil servants begin a 2-day strike to protest new PA restrictions on obtaining government services such as ID cards, birth certificates. (HA, NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 1/31; OCHA 2/6; PCHR 2/7)