Meanwhile, by September, Israel s housing ministry, controlled by the pro-settler National Religious Party, had authorized new construction in West Bank settlements located mostly around Jerusalem. The pace of authorizations exceeded that of the previous right-wing government. Barak ordered a review of the housing ministry s plans. While Barak convinced settlers to dismantle 12 illegal hilltop outposts in October, he also agreed to legalize 30 others. Clashes between Palestinians, who often throw stones, and Israeli soldiers erupted in Bethlehem in October after the shooting death of a Palestinian merchant by an Israeli soldier.
Israeli soldiers shoot rubber-coated bullets indiscriminately at Palestinian demonstrators.
A 1997 draft law limits the right of Palestinians to claim compensation for wrongful injury or death caused by Israeli soldiers. Under a 1995 Palestinian press law, journalists may be fined and jailed and newspapers closed for publishing secret information on Palestinian security forces or news that might harm national unity or incite violence. Official Palestinian radio and television are government mouthpieces. In May Palestinian security forces arrested three journalists working for an Islamic weekly who reported on instances of alleged torture by the Palestinian police. Upon his release 20 days later, Dasuki charged his jailers had tortured him.