A remote-controlled bomb blows up a diesel truck parked outside a major refinery nr. Tel Aviv. Israeli authorities call it a failed attempt by Palestinians to create a catastrophic explosion. No one claims responsibility. A mysterious explosion in a house in Nablus kills 2 Palestinian youths, injures 5. The IDF fatally shoots a Palestinian who allegedly threw a grenade at troops nr. the Rafah border; conducts arrest raids into villages n. of Hebron and in Jenin, Qalandiya r.c., Rafah, Silat al-Dahir, Rafah (destroying 22 shops, 5 Palestinian homes). The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) complains that the IDF has repeatedly stopped and searched 2 of its ambulances, including forcing the patients out of the ambulance, opening oxygen containers, damaging medical supplies. A Palestinian woman delivers a stillborn baby in Nablus after being detained at IDF checkpoints for hrs. (MM 5/23; JP, MM, NYT, WP, WT 5/24; MA 5/26 in WNC 5/28; LAW 5/29; PCHR 5/30; JPI 6/7)
Thursday, May 23, 2002