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  • July 31, 2008

    In the West Bank, the IDF conducts latenight arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Nablus. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba and a nearby unauthorized outpost in Hebron’s Wadi al-Nassara...

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  • July 30, 2008

    Amid investigations into his criminal wrongdoing, Olmert announces that he will not run in the Kadima party elections, now set for 9/17, and will resign as PM as soon as the party picks a new...

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  • July 29, 2008

    In the West Bank, the IDF fires live ammunition at a group of children who approach IDF bulldozers working on the separation wall nr. Ni‘lin while a nonviolent protest at the site winds down,...

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  • July 28, 2008

    In the West Bank, the IDF sets up checkpoints, conducts random ID checks in Hebron; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, and nr. Hebron, Jenin. The IDF forcibly...

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  • July 27, 2008

    Early in the morning, the IDF steps up shelling of a Hebron home surrounded on 7/26, then bulldozes it; the body of wanted Hamas mbr. Shihab al-Natsha is found inside and confiscated by the IDF....

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  • July 26, 2008

    In the West Bank, the IDF makes a major daytime raid into Hebron, surrounding 4 Palestinian homes, bulldozing surrounding areas, directing tank shells and heavy machine gun fire on the buildings,...

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  • July 25, 2008

    In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c., Nablus; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli,...

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  • July 24, 2008

    In the West Bank, the IDF conducts latenight arrest raids, house searches in and around Bethlehem, Jenin town and r.c., Nablus; patrols in, fires on residential areas of Tulkarm, causing no...

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  • July 23, 2008

    IDF troops on the n. Gaza border shoot, wound a Palestinian collecting scrap metal who strays nr. the border fence. In the West Bank, the IDF detain without charge the father of a young girl who...

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  • July 22, 2008

    Copying the 7/2 attack in Jerusalem, Palestinian construction worker Ghassan Abu Teir (a resident of Jerusalem with no political affiliation) steals a bulldozer and careens down a busy Jerusalem...

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  • July 21, 2008

    In the West Bank, the IDF raids, searches shops in Tulkarm; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, in Qabatya, and nr. Hebron, Jenin. Armed Jewish settlers fr....

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  • July 20, 2008

    In the West Bank, the IDF fires on Palestinian, Israeli, international activists protesting against the separation wall in Ni‘lin (10s suffer fr. tear gas inhalation); conducts late-night arrest...

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  • July 19, 2008

    In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, in Jenin town and r.c. The IDF fatally shoots a Syrian drug smuggler, wounds a 2d when they cross the n....

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  • July 18, 2008

    In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in, fires on residential areas of al-Bireh, Dayr al-Sudan, al-Mazara’, and Sinjil nr. Ramallah and Kafr Ra’i nr. Jenin; no injuries are reported. The IDF also...

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  • July 17, 2008

    In the West Bank, the IDF conducts latenight arrest raids, house searches in Qalandia r.c. nr. Jerusalem and nr. Nablus, Ramallah. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba occupy, set up tents on a plot of...

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  • July 16, 2008

    The IDF conducts major late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, firing on residential areas and stone-throwing youths who confront them wounding 2, arresting 30; also conducts...

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  • July 15, 2008

    The IDF demolishes 3 Palestinian homes in the East Jerusalem environs (1 in Issawiyya, 2 in Bayt Hanina), displacing 30 Palestinians, including 14 children; conducts late-night arrest raids, house...

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  • July 14, 2008

    Continuing pressure on Hamas-affiliated institutions in Nablus, the IDF makes another late-night raid into the city, arresting 7 Palestinians, including an assistant to the Hamas-affiliated mayor...

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  • July 13, 2008

    The IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus and nr. Jenin. Israeli police arrest a Jewish settler fr. Yitzhar for recent mortar attacks on Burin (see 7/9). (HA 7/...

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  • July 12, 2008

    Palestinians fire a rocket fr. Gaza into Israel in violation of the cease-fire, causing no damage or injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night house searches in and around Nablus,...

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  • July 11, 2008

    An unidentified gunman shoots, wounds 2 Israeli policemen in Jerusalem’s Old City (1 policeman dies of his injuries btwn. 7/23 and 7/30); no group takes responsibility, but Israel says it assumes...

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  • July 10, 2008

    The IDF fatally shoots a Palestinian nr. the Gaza border fence e. of Dayr al-Balah, saying it mistakenly thought he was armed. In retaliation, the AMB fires 2 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing...

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  • July 9, 2008

    The IDF conducts additional late-night raids in Nablus, searching, sealing, and confiscating computers and documents fr. several organizations allegedly connected to the ICA, including Afaq TV...

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  • July 8, 2008

    After a wk. of almost complete Palestinian quiet in Gaza, Israel agrees to an Egyptian request to resume limited imports to the Strip, but states that it will henceforth close Gaza’s borders for 1...

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  • July 7, 2008

    Israeli DM Ehud Barak signs an order banning 36 foreign nonprofits that have given money to charities run by the Islamic Charitable Association (ICA), which Israel alleges is connected to Hamas (...

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  • July 6, 2008

    IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire on Palestinian farmers, preventing them fr. reaching their fields nr. the border fence but causing no injuries. In the West Bank, Ni‘lin villagers defy an IDF...

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  • July 5, 2008

    Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishermen off the Bayt Lahiya coast, forcing them to return to shore. In the West Bank, the IDF blockades, imposes a round-theclock curfew on Ni‘lin nr....

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  • July 4, 2008

    In Gaza, 1 Palestinian man is injured when a smuggling tunnel under the Rafah border collapses. In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli,...

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  • July 3, 2008

    Palestinians fire 1 rocket fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes 2 Palestinian homes just outside of Jerusalem, displacing 21 Palestinians (...

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  • July 2, 2008

    Palestinian construction worker Hussam Dweikat (who has Israeli residency status in East Jerusalem) commandeers a Caterpillar bulldozer (symbolic, as the IDF uses Caterpillar D9 bulldozers to...

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In the West Bank, the IDF conducts latenight arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Nablus. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba and a nearby unauthorized outpost in Hebron’s Wadi al-Nassara neighborhood (seized on 7/17) attack Palestinians and their homes nearby, injuring 3 Palestinians; set up 2 additional tents at the outpost. (OCHA 8/6; PCHR 8/7)

Amid investigations into his criminal wrongdoing, Olmert announces that he will not run in the Kadima party elections, now set for 9/17, and will resign as PM as soon as the party picks a new leader. (HA, REU 7/30; NYT, WP, WT 7/31)

Israeli, Palestinian negotiators arrive in Washington for talks under U.S. auspices (see 6/24). (MM 7/30; WP 7/31)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts daytime arrest raids, house searches nr. Nablus and similar late-night operations nr. Nablus and Salfit, and in and around Hebron, Jenin town and r.c., Tubas; sends undercover units in a car with Palestinian license plates into Burqin to abduct a wanted Islamic Jihad mbr.; fires on the funeral for the 11-yr.-old Palestinian boy killed in Ni‘lin on 7/29, leaving 1 Palestinian teenager brain dead, wounding 7 others; takes up positions in Anabta nr. Tulkarm, fires on residential areas, then fires on stone-throwing Palestinians who confront them, wounding 1 Palestinian. (WP 7/31; OCHA 8/6; PCHR 8/7)

In the West Bank, the IDF fires live ammunition at a group of children who approach IDF bulldozers working on the separation wall nr. Ni‘lin while a nonviolent protest at the site winds down, fatally shooting an 11- yr.-old Palestinian boy in the head; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, and nr. Bethlehem, Jenin. (HA, NYT, OCHA, PCHR, WP, WT 7/30; PCHR 8/7)

Israeli and Syrian negotiators open a 4th round of indirect peace talks in Istanbul. (JP, XIN, YA 7/30)

In the West Bank, the IDF sets up checkpoints, conducts random ID checks in Hebron; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, and nr. Hebron, Jenin. The IDF forcibly evicts 70 Palestinians (including 20 children) from a Palestinian apartment building in East Jerusalem, then demolishes it, sparking unarmed clashes btwn. local residents and police (no serious injuries are reported). Fatah-Hamas tensions over the 7/25 bombings and ongoing Hamas crackdown spread to the West Bank, where PA security forces arrest more than 50 Hamas-affiliated activists and academics in Nablus (including acting mayor Hafiz Shahin; the Hamas-affiliated elected mayor and dep. mayor are in Israeli custody). Sources in Gaza, say Hamas-affiliated police have detained around 200 Fatah supporters since 7/25. Today, Gaza’s acting Hamas government bans the entry to Gaza of 3 daily newspapers seen as critical of its authority: al-Ayyam, al-Hayat, al-Quds. (NYT 7/29; OCHA, PCHR 7/30)

Early in the morning, the IDF steps up shelling of a Hebron home surrounded on 7/26, then bulldozes it; the body of wanted Hamas mbr. Shihab al-Natsha is found inside and confiscated by the IDF. Also in the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron and in Jenin town and r.c., Tulkarm; fires tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in a nonviolent protest against the separation wall in Ni‘lin, wounding 7. Jewish settlers fr. Brakha set fire to 10 d. of Palestinian crops and a house in Burin. Jewish settlers burn 50 d. of Palestinian olive groves nr. Qalqilya. (NYT 7/29; OCHA, PCHR 7/30)

In the West Bank, the IDF makes a major daytime raid into Hebron, surrounding 4 Palestinian homes, bulldozing surrounding areas, directing tank shells and heavy machine gun fire on the buildings, demanding the surrender of a wanted Hamas mbr. inside, also firing on stone-throwing Palestinians protesting the operation, wounding a 13-yr.-old boy; the operation is ongoing by the end of the day. The IDF also patrols in, fires on residential areas of Bayt Umar, then fires on stone-throwing youths who confront them, wounding 4, arresting 5; conducts daytime arrest raids, house searches in Jalazun r.c. nr. Ramallah and similar nighttime operations in and around Nablus, nr. Hebron. In Gaza, Hamas-led police launch a major crackdown on Fatah in response to the 7/25 bombings, arresting 10s of Fatah supporters and searching several Fatah offices (including those of PLO Exec. Comm. mbr. Zakariya al-Agha and PC mbr. Ziad Abu ‘Amr), while IQB mbrs. toss grenades at the home of a Gaza City Fatah leader (causing no reported injuries) and set up roadblocks across the Strip; 2 Hamas mbrs. wounded in the 7/25 beach bombing die. (WT 7/27; OCHA, PCHR 7/30)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c., Nablus; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall in Bil‘in (10s suffer tear gas inhalation; 1 Israeli journalist is injured) and Ni‘lin (5 are injured, including a French journalist). In Gaza, 3 bombs explode next to a car used by the IQB parked near a busy Gaza City beach (killing 3 Hamas mbrs. and 2 bystanders, including a 6-yr.old girl; wounding 17), the Gaza City home of Hamas official Marwan Abu Ras (no injuries), and a caf´e (killing 1 bystander), marking one of the most serious upsurges of intra-Palestinian violence since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 6/07; Fatah denies responsibility for the bombings. (NYT, WP 7/26; OCHA, PCHR 7/30; AHR 8/1)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts latenight arrest raids, house searches in and around Bethlehem, Jenin town and r.c., Nablus; patrols in, fires on residential areas of Tulkarm, causing no injuries. Some 20 Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar nr. Nablus, angry over the IDF removal of a mobile home fr. an unauthorized outpost nearby, attack and damage Palestinian houses and an electricity system in Burin, causing a fire that destroys 200 d. of olive trees. Israel’s Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Comm. announces that it is reviving plans to build a new Jewish settlement, Maskiyot, in the n. Jordan Valley, approving an initial 22 housing units for the site. (NYT, WP 7/25; HA 7/26; OCHA, PCHR 7/30)

IDF troops on the n. Gaza border shoot, wound a Palestinian collecting scrap metal who strays nr. the border fence. In the West Bank, the IDF detain without charge the father of a young girl who filmed IDF troops in Ni‘lin shooting and wounding a bound Palestinian prisoner on 7/7; fire on residential areas of Bayt Umar nr. Hebron, then fire on stone-throwing youths who confront them, wounding 1; also patrols in, fires on residential areas of Baytin and al-Bireh nr. Ramallah, causing no injuries; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, Qalqilya. (PCHR 7/24; OCHA, PCHR 7/30)

Copying the 7/2 attack in Jerusalem, Palestinian construction worker Ghassan Abu Teir (a resident of Jerusalem with no political affiliation) steals a bulldozer and careens down a busy Jerusalem street, ramming cars and a bus, injuring 16 people before being shot dead by an armed Israeli driver. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c., Nablus, and nr. Tulkarm. (NYT, OCHA, WP, WT 7/23; PCHR 7/24)

In the West Bank, the IDF raids, searches shops in Tulkarm; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, in Qabatya, and nr. Hebron, Jenin. Armed Jewish settlers fr. Gilad settlement nr. Qalqilya attack 2 Palestinian farmers, severely beat them, and spray a chemical substance on their faces and bodies, then burn 2 d. of nearby Palestinian olive groves; when local Palestinians arrive to put out the fire, they are fired upon by the settlers (who use live ammunition) and the IDF (using rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, percussion grenades). Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba attack Palestinian homes, attempt to break into at least 1 home in the same area where settlers seized a plot of land on 7/17. (OCHA 7/23; PCHR 7/24)

In the West Bank, the IDF fires on Palestinian, Israeli, international activists protesting against the separation wall in Ni‘lin (10s suffer fr. tear gas inhalation); conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus (arresting 26 Palestinians, including Reform and Change PC mbr. Muna Mansur and the manager of the Nablus mall targeted on 7/8), nr. Jenin; raids an Islamic charity and kindergarten in Jericho, confiscating computers and documents. (OCHA 7/23; PCHR 7/24)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, in Jenin town and r.c. The IDF fatally shoots a Syrian drug smuggler, wounds a 2d when they cross the n. Israel border into the Golan. (WP 7/20; AHR 7/21; OCHA 7/23; PCHR 7/24)

In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in, fires on residential areas of al-Bireh, Dayr al-Sudan, al-Mazara’, and Sinjil nr. Ramallah and Kafr Ra’i nr. Jenin; no injuries are reported. The IDF also fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Bil‘in and Ni‘lin (10s suffer tear gas inhalation at both locations). (NYT 7/19; OCHA 7/23; PCHR 7/24)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts latenight arrest raids, house searches in Qalandia r.c. nr. Jerusalem and nr. Nablus, Ramallah. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba occupy, set up tents on a plot of Palestinian land in Hebron’s Wadi al-Nassara neighborhood to expand an unauthorized outpost set up in a nearby building seized by settlers some time ago; the IDF reinforces troops in the area but does not intervene. (OCHA 7/23; PCHR 7/24)

The IDF conducts major late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, firing on residential areas and stone-throwing youths who confront them wounding 2, arresting 30; also conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Jenin. (PCHR 7/17; OCHA 7/23; PCHR 7/24)

Israel, Hizballah implement a major prisoner exchange that includes Hizballah’s return of the bodies of the 2 IDF soldiers who were captured and killed on 7/06, sparking the 2006 Lebanon war, and Israel release of Samir Quntar (convicted by Israel in a 1979 attack that left 5 Israelis dead) (HA, IFM, MA, NYT, YA 7/16; AHR, IFM, NYT, WP, WT 7/17)

The IDF demolishes 3 Palestinian homes in the East Jerusalem environs (1 in Issawiyya, 2 in Bayt Hanina), displacing 30 Palestinians, including 14 children; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus (including raiding the offices of the International Solidarity Association for Human Rights, confiscating computers and files), in al-Far‘a r.c. (firing on stone-throwing youths, wounding 3) and Qalqilya, and nr. Jenin, Ramallah, Tulkarm. (OCHA 7/16; PCHR 7/17)

Continuing pressure on Hamas-affiliated institutions in Nablus, the IDF makes another late-night raid into the city, arresting 7 Palestinians, including an assistant to the Hamas-affiliated mayor Adli Yaish (among the 40 Hamas-affiliated politicians arrested in 6/06), a Hamas-affiliated mbr. of the municipal council, a journalist, and senior officers of a hospital, factory, sports club, and women’s association. The IDF also conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Bethlehem, nr. Nablus. Jewish settlers occupy an abandoned IDF base nr. Bayt Sahur in a renewed effort to establish an outpost at the site; the IDF allows them to stay overnight. (OCHA 7/16; PCHR 7/17)

The IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus and nr. Jenin. Israeli police arrest a Jewish settler fr. Yitzhar for recent mortar attacks on Burin (see 7/9). (HA 7/13; OCHA 7/16; PCHR 7/17)

Palestinians fire a rocket fr. Gaza into Israel in violation of the cease-fire, causing no damage or injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night house searches in and around Nablus, and in Jenin town and r.c., Qabatya. (WP 7/13; OCHA 7/16; PCHR 7/17)

An unidentified gunman shoots, wounds 2 Israeli policemen in Jerusalem’s Old City (1 policeman dies of his injuries btwn. 7/23 and 7/30); no group takes responsibility, but Israel says it assumes it was a nationalist attack by a Palestinian. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts early morning arrest raids, house searches in Jalazun r.c.; fatally shoots a 50-yr.-old Hamas mbr. in an alleged exchange of gunfire nr. Yakir settlement nr. Salfit; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall in Bil‘in (10s suffer tear gas inhalation) and al-Ma‘sara (wounding 2); fires rubber-coated steel bullets at Palestinians and international activists protesting IDF bulldozing operations for construction of the separation wall nr. Ni‘lin, wounding 5, arresting 4; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c., nr. Bethlehem. (WP 7/13; OCHA 7/16; PCHR 7/17)

The IDF fatally shoots a Palestinian nr. the Gaza border fence e. of Dayr al-Balah, saying it mistakenly thought he was armed. In retaliation, the AMB fires 2 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. Later, Hamas-affiliated police arrest 7 AMB mbrs. for firing the rockets, marking the 1st such arrests by the Hamas leadership in Gaza. Israel does not reseal Gaza border crossings or take any military action against the rocket fire. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts daytime arrest raids, house searches nr. Bethlehem; patrols in Tulkarm, conducting random ID checks; makes another late-night raid into Nablus, breaking into the municipal headquarters (confiscating computers and documents fr. the accounting department), searching 4 mosques, confiscating 4 school buses; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Jenin, Jerusalem. (WP, WT 7/11; OCHA 7/16; PCHR 7/17)

The IDF conducts additional late-night raids in Nablus, searching, sealing, and confiscating computers and documents fr. several organizations allegedly connected to the ICA, including Afaq TV station, the Union of Palestinian Women Committees (confiscating food donations intended for needy Nablus families), a clinic, a kindergarten (taking 2 buses). The IDF sends undercover units driving a car with Palestinian license plates into Kafr Dan nr. Jenin, ambushing a Palestinian car and opening fire, assassinating Talal ‘Abid, a wanted mbr. of the Abu Ammar Brigades (a Fatah offshoot in Jenin), arresting a 2d Palestinian; sends troops, bulldozers into Hebron to demolish 2 Palestinian homes (18 residents) for allegedly harboring wanted individuals, also uprooting trees and heavily damaging a 3d home; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas a Palestinians demonstrating against the separation wall in Dayr al-Ghusun nr. Tulkarm, injuring several (including 2 journalists); conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Hebron, Nablus. Jewish settlers fr. Brakha fire 6 mortars at Burin village and 1 at Madama village, causing no damage or injuries (see 7/1, 7/3). Israel’s Interior Min. approves construction of 920 new settler housing units in Har Homa settlement in the Palestinian neighborhood of Jabal Abu Ghunaym in Jerusalem; it is not clear if this figure includes 121 units approved on 6/1. (JP 7/9; PCHR 7/10; WT 7/11; OCHA 7/16; PCHR 7/17; NYT 7/18; AHR 7/21)

After a wk. of almost complete Palestinian quiet in Gaza, Israel agrees to an Egyptian request to resume limited imports to the Strip, but states that it will henceforth close Gaza’s borders for 1 day for each Palestinian rocket fired and allow an extra 5 truckloads of food and 200 tons of cement into Gaza (over the minimum level of humanitarian goods) for each day without rocket fire. After Israel opens its border crossings at noon, Palestinians fire 3 mortars from Gaza toward Israel; 1 lands in Gaza and 2 in Israel, causing no damage or injuries; Israel does not respond. Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the Gaza City coast, wounding 1 fisherman and forcing the boats to return to shore. In the West Bank, late in the evening, the IDF orders PA security forces in Nablus to return to their barracks, then sends some 130 military vehicles into the city to raid and seal several ICA-run schools, businesses (including a shopping mall, claiming that profits of the mall’s owners finance Hamas operations, a claim the shop owners deny), charities, and sport clubs, as well as a major medical center, seizing computers, records, cash; Shin Bet officers post notices that raided properties have been turned over to the Israeli army for 5 yrs., occupants have a limited time to vacate the premises, and anyone entering the sites after this may be arrested and imprisoned for Hamas collaboration. TheIDF also raids the al-Bireh municipal center, destroying computers containing vital data, such as land registrations, births, marriages; patrols in al-Far‘a r.c. nr, Jenin, firing on stone-throwing youths who confront them, wounding 3 (ages 12, 13, 19); lifts the 24-hr. curfew on Ni‘lin that was imposed on 7/5. (AHR, AP, OCHA, WP 7/9; PCHR 7/10, 7/17; AHR 7/21)

Israeli DM Ehud Barak signs an order banning 36 foreign nonprofits that have given money to charities run by the Islamic Charitable Association (ICA), which Israel alleges is connected to Hamas (see Quarterly Update in JPS 148), initiating what it vows will be an “unprecedented” military campaign to seal “scores” of offices that had received money from the 36 groups, viewing the action as “essential for the disruption of Hamas operations” in the West Bank. Late at night, the IDF raids and seals the first 7 ICA charities in Nablus. During the day, the IDF detains 1 Palestinian at a demonstration against the separation wall in Ni‘lin (see 7/5); a Palestinian girl videotapes soldiers handcuffing, blindfolding, beating the Palestinian, then shooting him at close range with a rubber-coated steel bullet, injuring him; he is treated by a IDF medic and released. Nr. Salfit, an armed Palestinian shoots, wounds a Jewish settler fr. nearby Yaqir settlement, is shot dead by an IDF soldier; the IDF later (7/20) alleges that the gunman, Mahmud ‘Azi fr. Qarawat Bani Hasan, was the head of the ICA. Late in the evening, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in al-Bireh, nr. Bethlehem and Hebron. Meanwhile, Palestinians fire 2 mortars from Gaza toward Israel; both land inside the Strip, causing no damage or injuries. (BBC 7/7; IFM, OCHA 7/9; BBC, IFM, PCHR 7/10; AHR 7/20; PCHR 7/24)

IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire on Palestinian farmers, preventing them fr. reaching their fields nr. the border fence but causing no injuries. In the West Bank, Ni‘lin villagers defy an IDF curfew to stage peaceful protest marches against the IDF blockade imposed on 7/5; the IDF fires tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets at the protesters, lightly injuring around 50. The IDF also bulldozes newly paved roads in Ni‘lin while the curfew is in place, damaging part of the municipal sewage system; conducts latenight arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, in Tulkarm, and nr. Bethlehem, Jenin, Qalqilya, Ramallah. Jewish settlers fr. Asfar settlement nr. Bethlehem beat 2 Palestinian shepherds grazing their flocks nearby. In Hebron, local Jewish settlers harass a French diplomatic delegation touring the city with Palestinian guides, arguing that settlers should lead the tour because the delegation was on “Israeli land.” A carload of Jewish settlers fires on a Palestinian taxi nr. Jenin, seriously wounding 1 Palestinian. (WT 7/7; OCHA 7/9; PCHR 7/10)

Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishermen off the Bayt Lahiya coast, forcing them to return to shore. In the West Bank, the IDF blockades, imposes a round-theclock curfew on Ni‘lin nr. Ramallah in what the army calls an “open-ended effort to curb protests” against the separation wall (see 5/27); conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Tulkarm and in Jenin town and r.c. and Qabatya. Jewish settlers fr. Hebron attack, beat 4 Palestinian farmers; the IDF halts the attack only after international peace activists arrive. Jewish settlers fr. the unauthorized outpost of Asael nr. Hebron burn 15 d. of Palestinian crop land and kidnap, severely beat a Palestinian, tying him to a telephone pole inside the outpost; the IDF bars an ambulance fr. reaching him for over 2 hrs. In Nussayrat r.c., rival wings of Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigade exchange fire, causing no injuries; Hamas-affiliated police bring the situation under control, arresting several Islamic Jihad mbrs. In Rafah, 2 unidentified gunmen shoot, wound a fmr. PA police officer. A Palestinian teenager injured by IDF UXO nr. Shuka on 7/2 dies. (WP 7/6; OCHA 7/9; PCHR 7/10; Nation 7/19)

In Gaza, 1 Palestinian man is injured when a smuggling tunnel under the Rafah border collapses. In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Bil‘in (wounding 2) and fires tear gas, percussion grenades at demonstrators at a similar protest al-Ma‘sara (10s suffer tear gas inhalation); conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, in Bethlehem. Jewish settlers enter Nablus to pray at Joseph’s Tomb; the IDF evacuates them, reprimanding them for not coordinating the visit with the IDF in advance (see 6/13). Jewish settlers fr. Shilo nr. Ramallah stone a bus carrying peace activists, causing damage but no injuries. (OCHA 7/9; PCHR 7/10)

Palestinians fire 1 rocket fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes 2 Palestinian homes just outside of Jerusalem, displacing 21 Palestinians (including 11 children); sets up roadblocks and curfews in parts of Kafr Haris nr. Salfit to keep Palestinians away while they escort Jewish settlers to Jewish holy sites in the village; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists protesting against separation wall construction in Ni‘lin, wounding 9; makes a late-night incursion into al-Far‘a r.c., patrolling the streets, firing on residential areas, firing on stone-throwing Palestinian youths who confront them, wounding 13; makes a similar late-night incursion into Jenin town and r.c., patrolling streets, firing on residential areas, causing no injuries. The Israeli DMin. approves construction of a yeshiva boarding school in Beit Romano settlement in Hebron. Armed Jewish settlers fr. Brakha enter Burin village and open fire on Palestinian homes, causing no injuries (cf. 7/1); the IDF removes the settlers. Jewish settlers fr. Keddumim throw stones at Palestinian vehicles driving nearby, damaging 4 but causing no injuries. Jewish settlers fr. Halamish settlement sets fire to a Palestinian olive tree in nearby Dayr Nidham. (OCHA 7/9; PCHR 7/10)

Palestinian construction worker Hussam Dweikat (who has Israeli residency status in East Jerusalem) commandeers a Caterpillar bulldozer (symbolic, as the IDF uses Caterpillar D9 bulldozers to level Palestinian homes and land in the occupied territories) from the Jerusalem construction site where he works, plows through midday traffic in West Jerusalem’s business district, overturning a bus, running over at least 2 cars, killing 3 Israelis, injuring more than 40 before a police officer fatally shoots him. Israeli officials believe Dweikat acted alone. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Bethlehem, in Tubas, and nr. Jenin, Nablus (also raiding a mosque and its library, taking computers, documents, books), Ramallah. Jewish settlers fr. Massu’a in the Jordan Valley attempt to fence off and confiscate a plot of land in Jiftlik village, but the Palestinian owners drive them away. Palestinian youths stone a Jewish settler bus nr. Ramallah, causing damage but no injuries. In Gaza, 1,000s of Palestinians storm the Rafah crossing, demanding entry to Egypt and throwing stones at Egyptian security forces, who respond by pushing the crowd back with water cannons and tear gas; Hamas-affiliated police bring the situation under control. Hamas-affiliated police launch a campaign to removed small shops and huts erected along the Gaza shoreline without municipal permission. Nr. Shuka, 2 Palestinian teenagers are injured when they accidentally trigger IDF unexploded ordnance (UXO). (AP, BBC, HA, IFM, Israel Radio, MA, MM, PCHR, REU, YA 7/2; NYT, WP, WT 7/3; MM, WP 7/4; OCHA 7/9; PCHR 7/10)