The Palestine Chronology

Late in the evening, the IDF makes an air strike on a group of Palestinian resistance mbrs. nr. Gaza’s Jabaliya r.c., wounding 1. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts latenight arrest raids, house searches in Jenin town and r.c.; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, percussion grenades at Palestinian, Israeli, international peace activists taking part in nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall in Bil‘in (injuring 2 Palestinians, including a 10-yr.-old child). In Hebron, Jewish settlers rampage through Palestinian areas for a 9th day, burning 1 home and several gardens, shooting and wounding 1 Palestinian; the IDF occupies 9 Palestinian homes as operational bases, but apparently does not intervene. Jewish settlers fr. Avnei Hefetz nr. Tulkarm uproot 80 Palestinian olive trees, damage an irrigation network, fortify an existing unmanned IDF barrier outside Shu‘fat village. Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar block nearby Palestinian roads, stone Palestinian cars. Jewish settlers fr. Ma’ale Levona nr. Ramallah close a secondary Ramallah–Nablus road to Palestinian traffic, stoning Palestinian cars, causing one to flip over, injuring 2 Palestinians. (PCHR 12/18)

Inside Israel, Israeli Jews and Palestinians in Acre engage in their 4th straight night of rioting and sectarian violence; 2 Palestinian apartment buildings set on fire; some 12 people are arrested. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts latenight arrest raids, house searches in Tubas and nr. Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus. Jewish settlers fr. Susia nr. Hebron raid nearby a Palestinian home, beat 3 Palestinians. Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar and Brakha attack local Palestinians harvesting olives. (WP 10/12; NYT 10/13; OCHA 10/15; PCHR 10/16)

In the West Bank, the IDF issues 2 military orders confiscating 140 d. of Palestinian land in Bardala village in the Jordan Valley (reportedly for “settlement activities”) and 22 d. nr. Yatta outside Hebron (to build a wall near Miskadot Yehuda settlement); sends troops into Ramallah, where they occupy a previously abandoned observation post, withdrawing later in the afternoon; makes a rare daytime incursion into Dahaysha r.c. to arrest a Palestinian teenager; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Bethlehem, Jenin. Jewish settlers attack 2 Palestinian homes in Hebron, claiming that Palestinians threw stones fr. the area; the IDF, accompanied by settlers, evacuates and searches the homes. Some 20 masked, armed Jewish settlers fr. Talmon and Harsha settlements nr. Ramallah attack a Palestinian home and car, causing heavy damage. Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar stone Palestinian cars driving nr. the settlement, causing no reported injuries. Later in the day, the same settlers close the Nablus–Ramallah road to Palestinian traffic. (OCHA 9/24; PCHR 9/25) 

In the West Bank, a Palestinian sneaks into the unauthorized settlement outpost of Shalhevet (next to Yitzhar settlement, s. of Nablus), sets fire to a vacant building, then stabs and lightly wounds a 9-yr.-old Jewish settler boy who saw him and raised an alarm. In retaliation, armed Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar raid and open fire on the nearby Palestinian village of ‘Asira al-Qibliyya in an assault that lasts for several hrs., causing property damage and wounding 4 Palestinians; the IDF observes but does not intervene. Nr. Bethlehem, Palestinians stone a bus with Israeli license plates, lightly injuring 2 American tourists. In response, the IDF sends troops into the nearby village of Tuqu‘ to search for the assailants; the troops fire live ammunition at stone-throwing youths who confront them, killing a 16-yr.-old Palestinian boy, seriously wounding another teenager. The IDF also conducts latenight patrols in Husan and Nahalin villages nr. Bethlehem, firing on residential areas, causing no injuries; conducts separate latenight arrest raids, house searches in Nahalin and Tuqu‘, as well as nr. Hebron and Jenin. (NYT, WT 9/14; OCHA 9/17; PCHR 9/18; NYT 9/26; AIC 11/9)

In the West Bank, the IDF makes an early-evening raid into Nablus, occupying several buildings in Ras al-‘Ayn neighborhood as observation posts, raiding an apartment building to capture 2 wanted AMB mbrs., wounding 1 wanted man and fatally shooting 1 Palestinian bystander in the process. The IDF also conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Tulkarm, in Ni‘lin (those arrested include 2 boys ages 11 and 14), and nr. Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, Tubas. Some 20 Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar nr. Nablus throws stones at residents of ‘Asira al-Qibliyya, who throw stones back, prompting the IDF to fire in the air and at the legs of the Palestinians “to try to restore order”; no serious injuries are reported. Jewish settlers attack an IDF contingent that enters an unauthorized settlement outpost nr. Ramallah to confiscate construction equipment being used to expand the outpost; no serious injuries are reported; late in the evening, Jewish settlers from another nearby outpost enter an IDF base w. of Ramallah, damage the water supply. (PCHR 9/11; NYT 9/12; NYT 9/14; OCHA 9/17; PCHR 9/18; AIC 11/9)

E. of Beirut, Druze politician Shaykh Sali Aridi of the pro-Syrian Lebanese Democratic Party is assassinated by a bomb placed under his car. No group claims responsibility. (WP 9/11)

In the West Bank, the IDF raids and searches homes nr. Jenin but makes no arrests; 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 (10s suffer tear gas inhalation). Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba and a nearby unauthorized outpost in Wadi al-Nassara attack Palestinian homes for a 2d day, causing damage but no reported injuries. Jewish settlers with a bulldozer occupy and level a plot of Palestinian land s. of Bethlehem; the IDF removes the settlers. Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar nr. Nablus throw a large rock at a passing Palestinian car, seriously injuring a Palestinian woman and lightly injuring her child; the IDF evacuates the mother to a hospital in Israel. In Gaza, Hamas-affiliated police detain several senior Fatah officials in what Hamas calls a response to Fatah’s detention of West Bank Hamas loyalists on 7/28. Egyptian border police demolish a smuggling tunnel on the Rafah border, suffocating 5 Palestinians. (NYT 8/2; OCHA 8/6; PCHR 8/7; 8/13)

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)

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)

On the 1st day of the cease-fire in Gaza, no Israeli-Palestinian violence is reported inside the Strip. Israeli naval vessels, however, fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of Rafah, forcing them to return to shore. Hamas removes armed mbrs. fr. posts along the border with Israel. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes a Palestinian home in Qalqilya; raids several Palestinian homes in Hebron, detains and photographs 30 residents for no apparent reason; conducts latenight arrest raids, house searches nr. Nablus and in Jenin town and r.c., Qabatya. Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar nr. Nablus block a road, stone Palestinian cars driving in the area, burn 800 d. of Palestinian olive groves, stone local Palestinians who attempt to reach the area to put out the fires; the IDF observes but only intervenes to detain Palestinians who arrive to extinguish the fire. Jewish settlers fr. Tapuach settlement nr. Salfit burn 48 d. of nearby Palestinian crops. A Jewish settler seriously injures a 70-yr.-old Palestinian man in a deliberate hit-and-run along the Qalqilya-Nablus road outside Qalqilya; the IDF evacuates him to an Israeli hospital. In Gaza City, unidentified gunmen fire on the offices of a Hamas-affiliated newspaper, causing damage but no injuries. In al-Bureij r.c., Hamas-affiliated police raid, fire in the air to disperse a wedding party, claiming attendees were playing pro-Fatah songs; no injuries are reported. (MM 6/19; AHR, NYT, WP 6/20; OCHA 6/25; PCHR 6/26)

In Gaza, the IDF fatally shoots 3 Islamic Jihad mbrs. laying a roadside bomb nr. the border fence e. of Khuza; makes an air strike destroying a workshop in Khan Yunis, causing no injuries; fires on Palestinian farmers who stray nr. the border fence nr. Kerem Shalom crossing, causing no injuries. Islamic Jihad mbrs. fire 2 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, hitting a cemetery in Ashqelon, lightly wounding 1 Israeli; the IDF makes an air strike on the launch site e. of Gaza City, killing 1 Islamic Jihad mbr., wounding 1. Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the Rafah coast, forcing them to return to shore. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, in Jenin town and r.c., and nr. Bethlehem. Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar settlement nr. Nablus attack and drive off 3 Palestinian shepherds (ages 12, 14, 30) tending a flock nearby, then kill their 3 donkeys. Unidentified assailants detonate a roadside bomb nr. a Hamas-affiliated police patrol in Gaza City, causing no injuries. (MM 6/16; NYT 6/17; OCHA 6/18; PCHR 6/19)

IDF troops on the c. Gaza border fire on Palestinian farmers working a plot of land nr. al-Maghazi refugee camp (r.c.), causing no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in Dura nr. Hebron, firing on stone-throwing youths who confront them, causing no reported injuries; conducts daytime arrest raids, house searches nr. Bethlehem and late-night raids, searches in and around Jenin. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba nr. Hebron vandalize nearby Palestinian property; the IDF observes but does not intervene. For a 2d day, 10s of armed Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar vandalize Palestinian homes in nearby Asira al-Qibliyya. In Gaza’s Jabaliya r.c., Hamas mbrs. raid a mosque controlled by the Salafist group al-Kitab wa al-Sunna, where the imam had denounced (5/16) Hamas in his Friday sermon, and evict at least 5 Palestinian worshippers. (OCHA 5/21; PCHR 5/22)

Bush arrives in Egypt to attend the World Economic Forum meetings, which open on 5/18. Today he meets in Cairo with PA pres. Mahmud Abbas to discuss the IsraeliPalestinian negotiations. (WP 5/18; NYT, WT 5/19)

In Doha, Qatar, 14 of Lebanon’s leading politicians open national unity talks aimed at resolving the ongoing government crisis. (WP, WT 5/18)

Israel’s siege of Gaza, imposed after Hamas’s takeover of the Strip in 6/07, remains tight. In Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conduct late-night arrest raids, house searches in Shuka nr. Rafah, arresting 3 Palestinians, wounding 1 with live ammunition, bulldozing 8 dunams (d.; 4 d. = 1 acre) of greenhouses and a poultry farm (killing 50,000 chickens). In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in Qaryut nr. Nablus, detaining 4 Palestinians (including 3 teenagers) for questioning; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Jenin and Hebron (partially bulldozing a Palestinian home in Bayt Umar); fires rubber-coated steel bullets, percussion grenades, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Bil‘in n. of Jerusalem nr. Ramallah (10s suffer tear gas inhalation); and beats demonstrators at a similar protest al-Ma‘sara nr. Bethlehem (lightly injuring 3). Nr. Nablus, 10s of armed Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar vandalize Palestinian homes in nearby Asira al-Qibliyya. In Gaza City, unknown assailants detonate a bomb outside a Catholic school in Gaza City, causing damage but no injuries. (OCHA 5/21; PCHR 5/22)

U.S. pres. George W. Bush ends a 4-day visit to Israel to mark Israel’s 60th anniversary (see Quarterly Update in JPS 148). (NYT, WP, WT 5/17; NYT 5/19)

In Gaza, the IDF sends tanks, bulldozers into Juhur al-Dik, areas n. of Rafah to bulldoze land. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, in Tulkarm, and nr. Jenin. Israel announces plans to construct several new housing units in Har Brakha settlement nr. Nablus on 229 d. of Palestinian land fr. neighboring Burin village. Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar nr. Nablus vandalize a nearby Palestinian home, set fire to Palestinian crops, beat Palestinians who come to put out the fire. A new contingent of 500 PA security officers trained in Jordan takes up patrols in Jenin, adding to the 150 police officers already there in what the PA has dubbed “Operation Smile and Hope”. In Jabaliya r.c., a Fatah mbr. is injured by an explosive device left outside his door; no group claims responsibility. (NYT, WT 5/4; OCHA 5/7; PCHR 5/8)