August 15, 2004

The IDF surrounds an area of Wadi alSilqa, orders all men ages 16–50 to assemble in a field, holds them for 3 hrs., checks their IDs, releases them; for a 2d day sends troops into Balata r.c., Nablus under cover of shelling, fires on stone throwing Palestinians who confront them, seriously injuring 2 stone throwers and a passerby; conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Ramallah. In East Jerusalem, IDF soldiers fatally shoot a Palestinian who attempts to stab a soldier at a checkpoint. Some 1,700 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails begin a hunger strike, citing 57 demands for improved conditions. (PM, XIN 8/15; MM 8/16; MENA, VOI, VOP 8/17 in WNC 8/19; MM, PR 8/18; MM, PCHR 8/19)