Palestinians Killed:
Rami al-Qatash (18 years old), Nablus

Israeli Terrorism

*Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Youth in Nablus Refugee Camp

*Occupied Towns on the Verge of Starvation Amidst Acts of Terror

*Israeli Army Escalates Attacks in Gaza Strip

Palestinian Resistance

*Israeli Army Officer Killed South of Israel

Diplomatic Moves in Middle East

*Palestinian Ministers Head to Amman on Urgent Mission

*Saudi Prince Embarks on Political Tour of Arab States on Eve of Quartet Meeting

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All Palestinian cities, towns, villages and refugee camps are facing a humanitarian catastrophe as a result of Israel's direct military occupation and collective punishment measures.

The Israeli army is occupying all West Bank cities, towns and villages, except for Jericho and is imposing a curfew on thousands of people as well as a tight military siege that isolates Palestinian areas from one another, thus freezing all aspects of daily life.

The Israeli occupation army is waging a war of starvation against the Palestinian people. Thousands of workers have lost their jobs and hundreds are arrested. Official and civilian institutions are demolished, leaving hundreds with no sources of income.

Additionally, the occupation army demolishes homes, wages military attacks on residential areas, kills civilians and systematically destroys Palestinian infrastructure. Students are prevented from sitting their official examinations and civilian life in general is put on hold.

All this is taking place amidst a shocking international silence and the Palestinians are left with no glimpse of hope of when this suffering will come to an end.

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Israeli Terrorism

*Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Youth in Nablus Refugee Camp*

Rami al-Qatash, 18 years old, from Askar refugee camp in Nablus was killed today when Israeli occupation soldiers opened fire unexpectedly in a random manner. A number of others were wounded in the attack.

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*Occupied Towns and Cities on the Verge of Starvation Amidst Acts of Terror*

All West Bank cities remain under Israeli military occupation. The residents are released from confinement only for a number of hours in the morning in certain areas. At the same time, Israeli soldiers continue with their campaign of terror in the occupied areas.

Tulkarem

A civilian was wounded today when Israeli soldiers opened fire at him in front of his wife and children and inside his own home during an invasion of Alar village near Tulkarem. The invading Israeli soldiers physically attacked the man for no apparent reason and when his children started crying they opened fire at him.

Israeli soldiers invaded this morning Alar village, north of Tulkarem, using several tanks and armored vehicles. A curfew was imposed on the residents and several homes raided.

Ramallah

Ramallah and al-Bireh municipalities warned today of a possible environmental catastrophe as a result of the Israeli occupying army closure of the road, which leads to the water purification station.

In a statement released today, the municipalities stressed that this might lead to the spread of diseases as well as pollution of groundwater.

The municipalities are also facing problems due to time pressure, as the curfew is only lifted for a number of hours in the morning and several of the city's roads are closed.

Nablus

Israeli Special Forces invaded Balata refugee camp today and several of its homes. One civilian Sidqi al-Aghbar was arrested.

Hebron

The Israeli occupation army carried out a wide-scale campaign of arrests in Hebron today. Since the early hours of the day, Israeli soldiers raided several homes and student residences and arrested a large number of people.

Israeli soldiers based at the northern and western entrances of Hebron opened fire at passers by.

Military reinforcements were reportedly carried out in the occupied city, which remains under curfew amidst continuous Israeli military action. The curfew is now imposed on a daily basis from 3:00 pm until 8:00 am the next morning.

Bethlehem

A curfew continues to be imposed on Bethlehem, while the Israeli army carries out acts of terror and collective punishment against its residents.

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*Israeli Army Escalates Attacks in Gaza Strip*

The Israeli army at dawn today invaded residential areas near Salah al-Din Gate near the Egyptian-Palestinian borders. 2 tanks, 4 armored vehicles and 2 bulldozers invaded the area under intense fire.

Israeli soldiers arrested at least 3 people during the invasion.

The Israeli army at dawn today attacked homes in al-Namsawi residential quarter, west of Khan Younis, with heavy machine gun fire. Several homes were damaged and one was set on fire as a result.

The Israeli army also waged attacks on residential areas north of the Gaza Strip throughout the night. The electricity generators were targeted at first, which resulted in an electricity power cut throughout the area, then homes north of Beit Lahya, al-Badawiya village and al-Nada residential towers were severely attacked with heavy machine gun fire.

Palestinian official sources reported that the Israeli army at dawn today set up a field gun to the south of what is referred to as `Kisofim' crossing. The sources said that 4 tanks and manysoldiers are based at the location.

Three helicopters hovered over al-Breij refugee camp for a long period of time today.

International media sources revealed that Israeli army general Moshe Ya'alon is preparing the grounds to launch a major offensive against the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian Resistance

*Israeli Army Officer Killed South of Israel*

Israeli sources reported today that an Israeli army officer was shot dead this morning near Bir al-Sabi', south of Israel. According to the sources, the officer was critically wounded and later died in hospital.

Diplomatic Efforts in Middle East

*Palestinian Ministers Head to Amman on Urgent Mission*

Saeb Ureikat, Minister of Local Government, and Abbas al-Yahya, Minister of Interior, left to Jordan on an urgent mission today.

Ureikat met with the Prime Minister of Jordan Ali Abu al-Raghib and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Marwan al-Mu'asher to discuss the latest developments, particularly the meeting held with Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres, the necessity of an Arab political move to insist on a framework and a timetable for the political settlement, the catastrophic situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip due to Israeli occupation of all Palestinian areas and the crisis of Palestinians at the crossing bridge between Palestine and Jordan. The Jordanian government is preventing thousands of Palestinians from crossing to Jordan to visit their families and as a result these are forced to wait for days under the burning sun of the Jordan Valley.

General Abdel Raziq al-Yahya, the PA Minister of Interior, met for more than one hour with the Jordanian Minister of Interior to discuss the steps taken to reorganize the Palestinian security bodies as well as the crisis of not allowing Palestinians to enter Jordan.

*Saudi Prince Embarks on Political Tour of Arab States on Eve of Quartet Meeting*

Prince Saud al-Faisal is making a quick political tour of several Arab capitals to discuss the growing worry concerning a possible American attack against Iraq as well as the catastrophic situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Prince al-Faisal landed in Egypt to meet with President Mubarak for two hours to whom he delivered a letter from Prince Abdallah Ben Abdel Aziz, then landed in Damascus for a couple of hours to deliver a similar letter to President Bashar al-Asad and then in Amman to meet with King Abdallah of Jordan and deliver the same letter. It is understood that Prince Saud al-Faisal will continue his trip to visit the Gulf States for a similar purpose.

Analysts believe that the Saudis are worried about the situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the information about preparations for a wide-scale (land-air-sea) attack against Iraq by the Americans and the British.

In the meantime Saudi Arabia extended for the first time an official invitation to Jalal Talbani, one of the prominent leaders of the Kurds in north Iraq. High-level sources said the Saudis would discuss with Talbani the growing danger of a war on Iraq and the attitude of the Kurds vis-à-vis such a possible war.

These Saudi moves come on the eve of the quartet follow-up committee on the Middle East meeting, which is supposed to be held on July 15 in New York. It is anticipated that Mr. Collin Powell, Igor Ivanov, Javier Solana and UN Secretary General along with the special envoys of each of these groups will attend the meeting. It was also announced that Ahmad Maher, the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affair, Prince Saud al-Faisal and Marwan Mu'ashir, the Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, would be attending this meeting.

It is understood that the agenda of the meeting includes:

1)An evaluation of the reformatory steps taken by the PA on both the security and financial levels

2)A framework for the international conference on the Middle East to implement the American vision for the solution

3)A timetable for the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from areas that Israel had reoccupied since 28 September 2000, reducing the Israeli strangling measures imposed on the Palestinian people and resuming international aid to help the Palestinians reconstruct what had been destroyed by the Israeli army and to resume gradually their economic life.

Hear Palestine is a free press service offering daily mailings from the occupied Palestinian territories. Material is analysed and compiled from the Arabic press, radio and television transmissions, and direct interviews by Karma Abu-Sharif.