The Palestine Chronology

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night raids, house searches in and around Bethlehem, arresting 2 Palestinians. (PCHR 10/22)

In East Jerusalem, the IDF serves eviction orders to 3 extended Palestinian families (58 individuals, including at least 16 children) living in 12 houses (in which they have lived since 1956) after an Israeli court rules in favor of Jewish groups claiming ownership of the properties; the court orders the Palestinian families to pay back rent to the Jewish groups and cover costs of demolishing the structures, apparently to make way for a new development. (PCHR 10/22)

In Gaza, the bodies of 2 Palestinians, an IQB mbr. and a mbr. of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s (PFLP) armed wing, are found nr. the Gaza border nr. Jabaliya, possibly the victims of an IDF flechette shell; the IDF does not comment. The IDF carries out air strikes on smuggling tunnels on the Rafah border, causing no reported injuries. (PCHR 10/1; OCHA 10/2)

In the West Bank, a fire in a field nr. the unauthorized settlement outpost of Gil’ad Farm nr. Nablus destroys Palestinian olive trees, 2 settler homes, utility lines and injures 6 settlers. Palestinians claim the fire was started by settlers, while settlers accuse the Palestinians; the IDF arrests 4 Palestinian farmers. IDF troops violently beat a Palestinian at Jibara checkpoint nr. Tulkarm; carry out late-night raids, house searches nr. Bethlehem and Ramallah, arresting 4 Palestinians and summoning 3 more for interrogation; patrol and open fire in Jenin town and r.c., causing no injuries and making no arrests. (JPI, PCHR 10/1; OCHA 10/2)

Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of Bayt Lahiya, forcing them to return to shore; 2 hrs. later the navy posts warning signs 500–1,000 m fr. shore warning fishing boats not to sail beyond that point, firing warning shots at boats that pass the line throughout the day. In the West Bank, the IDF makes a rare midday incursion into Silat al-Dahir s. of Jenin, searching homes and arresting 1 Palestinian; conducts latenight house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c., making no arrests; stages late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. Jewish settlers escorted by IDF troops seize a plot of land and a Palestinian home in Shaykh Jarrah in East Jerusalem (the Farhan-Hijazi properties), evicting a Palestinian family and beginning construction on the property; settlers have tried for years to seize the property, resulting in an Israeli court ruling in 2003 that the Palestinian family could remain in the home until the judiciary reached a final verdict, which it has not yet done; the Palestinian family immediately petitions the court to order the settlers to leave. The UN notes that in the previous wk., Palestinian residents of an area of Bayt Yatir village btwn. the separation wall and the Green Line nr. Hebron that the IDF declared a closed military zone in 1/09 have had their “permanent resident” permits required to access the area revoked by the IDF and replaced with “worker” permits, raising concerns that Israel intends eventually to evict them. (OCHA, PCHR 7/30; OCHA 8/18)

U.S. envoy Mitchell stops in Damascus to meet with Syrian pres. al-Asad, then heads to Israel for a 3-day visit to meet with PM Netanyahu and DM Barak, pressing both sides for the revival of the Israeli-Syrian track toward a comprehensive Israeli-Arab peace. Mitchell will also touch base with Abbas in Ramallah. (NYT 7/26; WP 7/27)

Netanyahu gives a major policy speech on Israeli peace and security, drafted as a rebuttal to Obama’s 6/4 Cairo address and intended to inject a Zionist narrative (see Doc. C1). In an effort to appease Obama, he for the 1st time agrees to support the creation of a Palestinian state, but only under a host of conditions that would essentially redefine Palestinian sovereignty. (IFM 6/14; NYT, WP, WT 6/15; WJW 6/18; JPI 6/26)

The badly decomposed body of a Palestinian shepherd missing since 4/21/09 is found 50 m fr. the n. Gaza border fence nr. Bayt Hanun, raising speculation that he was fatally shot by the IDF when he strayed nr. the border. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Jenin (firing on residential areas, causing no injuries), Jerusalem. Jewish settlers attack a 10-yr.-old Palestinian boy in Silwan nr. Jerusalem; when the boy’s family intervenes, 30 settlement guards fr. settlements in the area join in the attack, beating another 4 Palestinians. A Palestinian dies in an Egyptian hospital of injuries received in an IDF drone strike on Jabaliya r.c. during OCL. (OCHA, PCHR 6/18)

Palestinians fire a rocket fr. Gaza into Israel, damaging a house in Sederot but causing no injuries. Late in the evening, IDF warplanes make at least 7 air strikes on Gaza, hitting at least 4 smuggling tunnels on the Rafah border (3 Palestinians working in tunnels are reported missing); a workshop in al-Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City, destroying it and heavily damaging a nearby marble factory, causing no casualties; a Hamas outpost nr. the border fence with Israel, causing no reported injuries; and a group of armed Palestinians in al-Zaytun neighborhood in Gaza City, wounding 1. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Dahaysha r.c. nr. Bethlehem. (OCHA, WT 5/20; PCHR, WT 5/21)

Palestinian Authority (PA) pres. Mahmud Abbas dissolves PA PM Salam Fayyad’s government and reappoints it, replacing 8 independent technocrats with Fatah members, none of whom are elected members of the Palestinian Council. (MNA 5/19; NYT, WT 5/20; NYT 5/21)

In the West Bank, the IDF fires on Palestinian youths who allegedly try to throw Molotov cocktails at the gate of Beit El settlement nr. Ramallah, killing 1 Palestinian teenager and wounding another; opens fire on Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists taking part in weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall in Bil‘in, killing 1 Palestinian (hitting him in the chest with a high-velocity tear gas round at a distance of 20 yds.); sets up a military checkpoint outside the entrance to Sebastia nr. Nablus and checks Palestinian ID cards, withdrawing late in the evening. Beit Haggai settlement guards fatally shoot a Palestinian teenager in disputed circumstances: settlers say the teen, whose family house and property abut the settlement, crossed a fence into the settlement and tried to stab them; local Palestinians believe settlers shot the boy, unarmed and in his yard, and carried his body into the settlement. The IDF also vacates the house in Tura al-Gharbiyya occupied on 4/16. (NYT 4/18; OCHA 4/22; PCHR 4/23)

In the West Bank, Israel reopens a main road to Bani Na‘im nr. Hebron (closed since 2001); authorizes the Palestinian Authority (PA) to build an additional 12 police stations across the West Bank (Israel previously approved 20 and the PA has built 19); issues VIP travel permits to 120 high-ranking PA security officers and Palestinian personalities (bringing to about 390 the number of VIP permits issued to date); increases the number of Palestinian workers allowed into Israel (no figures given); allows Israeli Palestinians to visit Nablus and Jenin on weekends (intended to boost those local economies). The IDF also levels Palestinian land to expand an IDF checkpoint nr. Einav settlement nr. Tulkarm; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Bethlehem, in Hebron, nr. Jenin and Ramallah. In Gaza,IDF troops on the s. Gaza border fire on unarmed Palestinians inspecting damaged homes e. of Khuza nr. the border fence, wounding a Palestinian teenager. The UN reports that Palestinians have fired 21 rockets and mortars into Israel since 2/18, causing no damage or injuries. A Palestinian teenager dies of injuries sustained during the 1/15 IDF air strikes that assassinated Gaza’s acting interior minister Sa‘id Siyam during OCL. (IFM 2/24; OCHA 2/25; PCHR 2/26)

Israel’s new parliament, elected on 2/10/09, is sworn in. (WP 2/25)