Tuesday, October 24, 2006

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Jenin, Nablus. Jewish settlers fr. Hebron attack Palestinians harvesting their olive grove outside Hebron; the IDF arrests the Palestinian family for threatening the settlers, releases them but bars them fr. accessing their land. In Gaza City, unidentified Palestinian gunmen kidnap Spanish Associated Press photographer Emilio Morenatti, release him quickly after Abbas’s intervention; no details of the terms of release are given. A Palestinian wounded by the IDF in Bayt Hanun on 10/23 dies. (NYT 10/25; PCHR 11/2)

The German Defense Min. reports an incident btwn. its naval vessels off the Lebanese coast and the IDF in which 2 Israeli F-16s fired twice and released antimissile flares over a German ship. Israel denies the report, saying that jets were dispatched when a helicopter took off fr. a German boat without identifying itself, but as soon as Israel realized the mistake, the jets broke off. (NYT 10/26)