PC convenes in Rafah. Arafat announces names of new cabinet ministers who will comprise the 21-mbr. PA Executive Authority (EA) (RMC, VOP 5/9 in FBIS 5/10; MM 5/10)
Israel eases the closure on the West Bank, Gaza by allowing 400 seasonal laborers to start work at Kibbutz Bet Hashitta; allowing Palestinians aged 38 and over to go to their jobs in Israel. (QY 5/9 in FBIS 5/9) (see 4/28)
A Hamas-Islamic Jihad list wins 23 of 51 seats in the Birzeit University student elections. Fatah wins 17. The elections are widely seen as a barometer of support for the peace process. Last yr. Hamas won 18 seats to Fatah's 21. (MM 5/10)
Israel announces that over the past wk. the Israeli police, Shin Bet have arrested 11 Palestinians fr. East Jerusalem as alleged Hamas mbrs. connected with the 2/96, 3/96 bombings. (ITV 5/9 in FBIS 5/10)
In Cairo, lawyer Heidi Farouk Abdelhamid, who claims Jerusalem as her family's property, asks an Egyptian court to include Pres. Mubarak, the PA as plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking its return. Abdelhamid says she has authenticated documents dating back more than 600 yrs. that prove her family bought Jerusalem, about half of Israel fr. Arab peasants in 1388. The case is slated to be heard 6/11. (MM 5/10)
Israel says it will ask the UNSC to reconsider the extension of UNIFIL's [UN Interim Force in Lebanon] mandate, which comes up for renewal in July; says Qana incident shows the UN force's weakness, difficulty in carrying out its duties. PM Peres blames UNIFIL for giving Hizballah the "cover" needed to fire rockets at n. Israel and to "the family members of the terrorists." (MM 5/9; AFP, QY 5/9 in FBIS 5/9; AFP, RL 5/10 in FBIS 5/13)
In s. Lebanon, 2 SLA mbrs. are wounded in roadside attack by Hizballah. IDF shells areas of s. Lebanon in response. (RL 5/9 in FBIS 5/9, 5/10)