1. ISRAELI RAIDS CONTINUE; AL-AQ’SA BRIGADES HEAD KILLED… Israel kept up the heat on Palestinian terrorist organizations, launching its sixth consecutive day of operations with raids in West Bank cities and towns including Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus and Jenin. In a predawn raid, Israeli troops met strong resistance as they searched for wanted terrorists in Jenin. In one firefight, the head of the local Al-Aq’sa Martyrs Brigades unit, 30-year-old Samar Sa’adi, was killed. In the village of Burqin, two wanted men were shot and killed when soldiers believed they were about to open fire. Both were heavily armed, according to Israeli military sources. In all, 12 members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad were arrested.
2. ARAB DEMONSTRATION YIELDS RESULTS; INVESTIGATION INTO RIOTS TO BE REOPENED… News of positive results from its hunger strike spread through the protest tent opposite the Prime Minister’s Office and leaders of the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee considered halting demonstrations. Word had reached the hunger strikers that the Israeli Police Investigation Division was reopening its investigation into the deaths of thirteen Arabs who were killed when police fired live ammunition into a crowd of demonstrators after rioting broke out during an October 2000 demonstration. Although an independent commission established to investigate the incident found cause to initiate legal action against at least two police officers, the PID earlier this month closed the investigation, saying that there was no evidence upon which to indict. The outcry from human rights groups was fierce, and attention was focused on how the police conducted its investigation. A key point was the fact that victims were buried without autopsies that would establish the source of gunfire that killed individual victims.
3. ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN COOPERATION SET FOR LOCAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS… Israeli and Palestinian security officials are working in close cooperation for the Palestinian local council elections scheduled for Thursday. Seats in 104 local councils throughout the Palestinian Authority are up for grabs. The coordination between Israeli and Palestinian authorities includes a joint security headquarters, Israeli permission for Palestinian police to carry concealed weapons as they guard ballot boxes and maintain order, and the ability of Palestinian police to move about freely – including in areas under Israeli security control. The cooperation comes as Israel enters its sixth day of military operations throughout Palestinian territory.
4. SHARON TRIAL BALLOON SENDS HIM INTO RETREAT… Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon used a speech at an economic conference as his platform to back off of comments made by his chief political strategist yesterday that, according to the prime minister, “caused ambassadors to line up outside [my] office asking if we have some other agenda.” The source of the concern was strategist Eyal Arad’s suggestion that if the diplomatic deadlock continues, Israel will follow the lead set by the Gaza withdrawal and employ further unilateral moves, including the annexation of parts of post-1967 territory and setting of final borders with the Palestinians. Sharon typically uses the trial balloon tactic in foreshadowing upcoming policies. In this case, the diplomatic uproar was deafening. In his remarks, Sharon reiterated his commitment to the Road Map peace plan. But notwithstanding Sharon’s backtracking from Arad’s comments, the presumed trial balloon had already been seconded by both the chief of military intelligence and the army’s head of strategic planning. Both men called it the preferable strategy for Israel in dealing with the Palestinians.