November 7, 2007

In Gaza, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches, ID checks in Um al-Nasser nr. Bayt Lahiya, detaining 67 Palestinians for questioning, firing on residential areas (particularly to hold back a group of journalists attempting to reach the area) and making an air strike on a previously destroyed Palestinian home. Overnight, the IDF raids Balata r.c., blows up the home of a senior AMB mbr., causing no reported injuries. Late in the evening, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in Nablus and nr. Hebron, Jenin, Salfit, Tulkarm. The U.S. complains that Israel is not allowing Abbas’s security forces to expand their control of the West Bank before the Annapolis conference, citing the 11/3 confiscation of body armor intended for the PA presidential guard and the continuing raids on Nablus since the new PA security force has been deployed there, undermining its credibility. (PCHR, PAP, WT 11/8; PCHR 11/15)