Israeli-Palestinian clashes continue, leaving 2 Palestinians dead. In what the IDF says is an effort to silence shooting at its positions, Israeli paratroopers, border police in armored personnel carriers and under cover of IDF tank and machine gun fire enter PA-controlled Bayt Jala and al-Khadir, where they fire on Palestinian homes for several hrs., killing 1 Palestinian, injuring 23. The IDF also briefly enters and shells residential areas of Tulkarm, killing 1 Palestinian, wounding 9; bulldozes 17 dunams of Palestinian land in Bayt Hanun. Israeli DM Ben-Eliezer says he has given IDF field cmdrs. greater freedom to launch ground attacks into areas under PA control to suppress Palestinian gunfire. In Petah Tikva, Israel, a bomb explodes in a trash bin nr. a bus station, lightly injuring 1 Israeli. (LAW, NYT 5/7; al-Quds 5/7 in WNC 5/8; WP, WT 5/8; PCHR 5/10; LAW 5/11)
Sunday, May 6, 2001