The first person to cross was a Palestinian who had not been in Gaza in 5 years. The improvements are attributable to improvement in the Israeli economy, where combined indicators pointed up for the third striaght month, and to Palestinian investments in tourist and infrastructure construction for year 2000 celebrations, as well as to increasing numbers of Palestinian workers allowed into Israel, thanks to a relatively quiet security situation. Several hours of rioting and rock throwing in Bethlehem followed an incident in which an Israeli soldier killed a Palestinian. According to Israeli sources, the Palestinian entered the Israeli checkpoint at the tomb of Rachel and pulled a knife with the intent of attacking the soldiers on duty there. An Israeli soldier opened fire and killed him, setting off hours of riotting, in which numerous Palestinians were wounded by rubber bullets shot by Israeli soldiers.
Palestinian sources claim that the shooting was unecessary.
The house sheltered 24 persons including three sisters, their husbands and their children. The house was built in 1991 without a license and the Jerusalem municipal council imposed a fine of 7,000 NIS on the owner. Six months ago the family got a demolition order. According to an affidavit given by Sara Fouad Khader, a relative who was in the house, municipality officials arrived in the morning and told them to leave the house because they had instructions to demolish it. Sara asked to be shown the demolition order, but they refused to show it to her.