Israeli-Palestinian clashes intensify slightly.
The IDF blocks the main north+nsouth road in Gaza, effectively
dividing the Strip in half; bulldozes 7 dunams of Palestinian land nr. Kefar
Darom. (MEZ, MM 10/26; NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 10/27; PCHR 10/29)
In Washington, Israeli amb. David Ivri meets with
officials fr. the National Security Council, White House to
discuss Israel's supplemental aid request. (HA [Internet] 10/27; AYM 10/29 in
WNC 11/1)
Pres. Clinton speaks to Barak about easing the
violence, coming to Washington for talks on renewing negotiations. No agmt. is
reached. (WP 10/27) (see 10/24)
A Palestinian suicide bomber on a bicycle lightly injures 1 IDF soldier
outside Gaza's Kissufim settlement. Islamic Jihad takes responsibility.
4 Palestinians killed.
Under further pressure fr. the EU, Russia, UN, and
U.S., Israel agrees to pull the IDF out of the Bethlehem area on
10/27, to consider expanding the pullout to 5 other major PA-controlled towns if
the cease-fire in Bethlehem holds and the PA agrees to extradite suspects
in the Ze'evi case. Throughout the day, however, heavy clashes continue in,
around Bethlehem except for a brief period while a team of EU officials
tour the area. The IDF fatally shoots 3 Palestinians, 1 Israeli
Arab; digs deep trenches in Jinin to keep Palestinians from sneaking into
Israel; sets up new military outposts outside Nablus, Ramallah; enters Dayr
Nitham village, opening fire on and damaging several Palestinian homes; shells
residential areas of Khan Yunis, Rafah; conducts an arrest raid in Qalqilya. (MM
10/27; NYT, WP, WT 10/27; Interfax 10/27 in WNC 10/29; LAW 10/31)
1 Palestinian killed.
The IDF continues operations in Jenin, arresting 10s of Palestinians;
fires live ammunition at stone-throwing Palestinians in Brazil r.c., killing a
13-yr.-old Palestinian boy; directs tank, heavy machine gun fire at
residential areas of Rafah late in the evening, seriously injuring 3
Palestinians, demolishing 1 Palestinian home; occupies an apartment block
in Hebron as an IDF post. (WP, WT 10/27; LAW, PCHR 10/30)
AMB mbrs. kidnap, shoot 2 Palestinian women
fr. Nablus thought to be collaborators with Israel; 1 woman dies, the other is
injured.
4 Palestinians killed.
The IDF makes a predawn raid on Gaza City, evacuates 2,000
Palestinians fr. their homes, blows up a PSF post, 3 unfinished
12-story PSF apartment buildings overlooking the IDF Netzarim post attacked
on 10/23. The IDF also fatally shoots 3 armed Palestinians
attempting to infiltrate a Gaza settlement; conducts arrest raids in Bethlehem;
fires on residential areas of Khan Yunis; imposes a curfew on, conducts arrest
raids and house searches in Qalqilya. At least 1 Palestinian
dies of injuries received in Gaza City on 10/22. Israeli airport authorities
arrest, hold for deportation 4 Belgians suspected of arriving at Ben
Gurion Airport on a Palestinian solidarity visit. (HA, NYT, WP, WT 10/26; VOP
10/26 in WNC 10/28; MM, NYT 10/27; al-Quds 10/28 in WNC 10/30; PR, WT
10/29; PCHR 10/30; MEI 11/7; WP 11/21)
Palestinians fire a Qassam
rocket at Sederot, causing no damage or injuries.
3 Palestinians killed.
The IDF withdraws fr. Khan Yunis in the morning but shells residential
areas in late in the evening, killing 1 Palestinian; fires on residential
areas and agricultural lands nr. Rafah, killing a Palestinian farmer
working in his field; demolishes a Palestinian home in Hebron; conducts
arrest raids, house searches in `Azun, Dayr Ghassana, Hebron, Yamun. Late in the
evening, the IDF sends troops into Bayt Hanun, shells residential areas,
begins bulldozing wide tracts of land. A Jewish settler fr. Yitzhar
shoots a Palestinian shepherd in nearby Ourif village nr. Nablus; other
settlers bar an ambulance fr. reaching the scene, allowing the man to bleed to
death. (HA, MM, PRCS 10/26; VOI, VOP 10/26 in WNC 10/28; PR, PRCS 10/27; PCHR
10/28)
5 Israelis killed.
After Hadera attack, Israel immediately cancels a planned mtg.
btwn. Israeli, PA cabinet mbrs.; Sharon says he will not meet with
Abbas until he takes "serious action" against militants. Late in the
evening, the Israeli cabinet approves Operation Starting All Over
Againóa "broad and nonstop" offensive (including assassinations) against
"terrorism" in the West Bank and Gaza that will continue until "terrorism" ends;
says there are no plans for a ground offensive into Gaza at present, but
restrictions on Palestinian movement across the West Bank will be tightened,
diplomatic offensives will be raised to pressure Syria over its hosting
of Islamic Jihad in Damascus. Meanwhile, right-wing Jewish settler youths
occupy abandoned buildings nr. Elon Moreh, Keddumim settlements and site on
Worshippers Way in Hebron, declaring new unauthorized outposts. (HA, WP, YA
10/26; HA, NYT, PCHR, WP, WT, YA 10/27; HA 10/28; IMEMC 10/31; PCHR 11/10)
Early in the morning, Palestinians fire 2 rockets fr. Bayt
Hanun into Israel, causing no damage or injuries; IDF artillery responds,
shelling a road and an open field n. Gaza where Palestinians have launched
rockets, causing no injuries. Despite the exchange, the IDF partially
reopens the Erez and Qarni crossings. In the afternoon, an Islamic Jihad
suicide bomber retaliating for the 10/24 Saadi assassination detonates a
bomb in an open-air market in Hadera, killing 5 Israelis, wounding 6
seriously, 14 moderately. Palestinians also fire another rocket at
the Negev (no damage or injuries), a mortar at an IDF post on the s. Gaza
border (no damage or injuries).
4 Palestinians killed.
In Gaza, the IDF fatally shoots a Palestinian hunting birds when he strays
near an IDF observation post nr. Jabaliya; fires on Palestinians working on a
farm nr. al-Maghazi r.c., wounding 1; makes an air strike destroying the home of
a Hamas mbr., a neighboring home in Jabaliya r.c. after warning residents to
leave. In the West Bank, the IDF sends undercover units in cars with Palestinian
license plates into al-Fara‘a r.c. nr. Jenin in search of wanted Islamic Jihad
mbrs., fires on residential areas, exchanges fire with Palestinian gunmen,
killing 2 Islamic Jihad mbrs., wounding and arresting 1; conducts arrest raids,
house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c. (fatally shooting 1 Palestinian
who goes to his roof to see what is going on), in Hebron and Qalqilya, nr.
Bethlehem; patrols in, fires on residential areas of Kafr Dan nr. Jenin. (OCHA
11/1; PCHR 11/2)
4 Palestinians killed.
IDF troops
clash with armed Palestinians in, make 2 air strikes on Gaza City, killing at least 4 Hamas and Islamic Jihad mbrs., wounding at least 5. The IDF
also conducts land-leveling operations inside the Gaza border e. of Gaza City. Egyptian border police find, demolish 2 smuggling tunnels on the Rafah
border. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in Nablus (also raiding an Islamic charity, confiscating computers and files), nr. Jenin; fires percussion grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets at 2 groups of
stone-throwing Palestinians in Hebron, injuring 4; fires rubber-coated steel
bullets, percussion grenades, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstration against the separation
wall in Bil`in (injuring 3). Jewish settlers fr. Ramat Yishai nr. Hebron attack and vandalize a nearby Palestinian home; the IDF intervenes to halt
the attack. (NYT 10/27; OCHA 10/31; PCHR 11/1)
Palestinians stone a Jewish settler vehicle nr. Ramallah, injuring 2 settlers.
Israeli settlers attacked Israeli troops and damaged Palestinian property in Hebron after the army demolished a settler outpost. Israeli Attorney General Meni Mazuz called for an incitement investigation against right-wing activists, hours after rioting by settlers that included the desecration of headstones at a Muslim cemetery near "Kiryat Arba." The settlers were said to have sprayed paint on graves and punctured tires of some 24 cars. During the rioting, settlers hurled abuse at security forces and called for a "revenge attack" against them in response to the evacuation of an outpost. Defense Minister Ehud Barak slammed the settlers' actions saying, "I believe that the punishment is too soft and that the legal and justice system must pay attention to that." (AFP, AP, Haaretz, Reuters)
Hamas leader Saeed Siyyam said it would be possible for the Egyptian-sponsored national Palestinian dialogue to succeed if there were no external interventions. He added that the current dialogue would not be like previous ones as now there was a "different fact on the ground" and that the agreement should be applied as one package and simultaneously. (Xinhua)
Ahmad Hiyasat, chief executive officer of Jordan's National Electric Power Company said, "The [energy ministers of the region] are expected to announce Palestine as a new member in the project, and that it will be provided with electricity through the Jordanian electric gird." The decision was supposed to be made at the 13th meeting of the energy ministers of seven regional partners in an electric grid project. Ministers and officials from Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Syria and Turkey would take part in the meeting in Amman. (Xinhua)
The first Palestinian national football team hosted Jordan in its first international match on home soil, at a newly inaugurated stadium in the neighbourhood of Al Ram outside Ramallah. It had been built in part with funds from the football governing body FÈdÈration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and FIFA President Joseph Blatter attended the game. (Xinhua)
The Free Gaza movement sent a formal notice to Israel informing them of the group's second humanitarian mission to the Gaza Strip. Their boat was to depart from Cyprus on 28 October and arrive some 30 hours later. The group said that it would be carrying 6 cubic metres of medical supplies, which had been cleared by customs at the Larnaca International Airport. There would be a total of 26 passengers and crew on board, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire, PLC Member Mustafa Barghouti, Member of the Knesset Jamal Zahalka, and five physicians. (Ma'an News Agency)