Sunday, February 8, 2004

The IDF raids the Rafah home of PFLP military cmdr. Ashraf Abu Libdeh, fatally shooting him in what may be an assassination, also firing on the surrounding area, wounding 21 bystanders, including 9 children, 2 women. In Silwan, East Jerusalem, 16 Jewish settler families under heavy Israeli police guard take over 16 Palestinian homes they claim to have purchased fr. residents, doubling Silwan’s settler population; settlers have taken over a total of 50 homes, schools, archeological sites in the area. An ailing 8-yr.-old Palestinian boy fr. Habla village dies en route to the hospital when no IDF soldiers are present to allow his passage through the separation wall to reach a Qalqilya hospital 3 km away, forcing his ambulance to drive 30 km around the wall to reach the hospital. The Sharon admin. announces it will shorten the planned route of the separation wall to reduce the hardship on Palestinians, gain U.S. support for the project. (Globes, MA 2/8; VOP 2/8 in WNC 2/10; HA, WP, WT 2/9; VOP 2/9 in WNC 2/11; WP 2/10; PR 2/11; PCHR 2/12)