The Palestine Chronology

Mbrs. of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claim responsibility for firing 2 manufactured Grad rockets fr. Gaza into Israel; the missiles hit nr. Netivot, causing no damage or injuries. Egypt allows a token delegation of around 85 international activists to cross into Gaza to demonstrate with Gazans for an end to Israel’s siege, while in Cairo, Egyptian authorities disperse another 1,000 international activists calling on Egypt and Israel to open the Gaza border. Inside Israel, about 1,000 Israeli Palestinian and Jewish peace activists march to the Erez crossing in solidarity with the internationals in Egypt. Israeli police arrest a Jewish settler teenager connected to the outlawed right-wing group Kahane Chai suspected in the 12/11 arson of a mosque in Yasuf. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes 2 animal shelters on a Palestinian farm located nr. an unauthorized Israeli settlement outpost northeast of Hebron, saying they had been erected illegally; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. Jewish settlers fr. Shavei Shomron and Einav settlements set up an outpost on a hill nr. Nablus overlooking the spot where a settler was ambushed and killed on 12/24. Jewish settlers at another settlement outpost northwest of Hebron raze 1,500 d. of surrounding Palestinian agricultural land, saying they plan to build a park and swimming pools. (JP 12/31; NYT, WP 1/1; HA 1/2; OCHA, PCHR 1/6; WJW 1/7)

Some 1,000 international activists gather in Egypt in preparation for a 12/31 solidarity march to the Rafah border to mark the 1-yr. anniversary of Operation Cast Lead (OCL) and bring tens of thousands of dollars of humanitarian aid into Gaza, but Egypt vows to keep the border closed. French activists protest outside the French emb. in Cairo, while American activists visit the U.S. emb. Israel allows 3 container shipments of glass into Gaza for the first time since 6/07; says it will allow 3 containers of glass per day for 5 days a week for the next month (a total of 81 containers are allowed in as of 2/9, about 90 percent of what Israel had pledged). In the West Bank, Jewish settlers fr. Bet Ayn nr. Hebron attempt to force 2 Palestinian shepherds grazing their sheep on nearby Palestinian land to leave the area; when they refuse, 1 settler opens fire, hitting 1 shepherd in the shoulder; the IDF arrests both Palestinians while they are receiving medical care from paramedics. (NYT, PCHR 12/30; OCHA, PCHR 1/6; OCHA 2/11)

In Cairo, Mubarak and Netanyahu hold a 3-hr. mtg. to discuss the peace process. Afterward, Egyptian FM Ahmad Abu al-Ghayt publicly praises Netanyahu for raising new ideas for advancing the peace process. (NYT 12/30; HA 12/31; AFP, al-Dustur 1/5)

The Lebanese army directs symbolic anti-aircraft fire at 4 Israeli warplanes that violate Lebanese air space in s. Lebanon. (WT 12/30)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Jenin. A Jewish settler fr. Carmiel opens fire on a Palestinian woman grazing sheep nr. the settlement, missing her; IDF police detain the woman and interrogate her at Kiryat Arba settlement before releasing her. (PCHR 12/30; OCHA 1/6)

In the West Bank, IDF undercover units raid the Nablus homes of 3 AMB mbrs. (Nadir al-Sarkaji, Ghassan Abu Sharikh, and ‘Anan Sobeh) allegedly behind the fatal shooting of a settler on 12/24, killing all 3 and wounding 1 bystander. The deaths constitute assassinations, as the men could have been detained: 2 of them are called to surrender and are fatally shot as they leave their homes unarmed; in the 3d case, soldiers enter the home, and when the wanted man refuses to exit a closet and surrender, soldiers rig the closet door with explosives and detonate the charge, killing him. IDF soldiers surrounding the buildings fire tear gas to disperse stone-throwing Palestinian youths who confront them, hitting 2 (ages 12 and 19) with tear gas canisters, injuring them. PA PM Fayyad denounces the IDF’s failure to coordinate the raids with the Dayton-trained PASF units responsible for security in Nablus, which were in the process of conducting a police investigation of the 12/24 killing. IDF troops in the West Bank also conduct late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Nablus. (NYT, WP, WT 12/27; JPI 12/28; PCHR 12/30; OCHA 1/6)

Hamas officials in Lebanon confirm that 2 senior Hamas bodyguards and a 3d person (possibly a Hamas mbr.) were killed and 5 people wounded late on 12/26 in a large explosion at a Hamas office in the Dahiya neighborhood of s. Beirut (Hizballah’s stronghold). (HA 12/26; Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, WT, XIN 12/27; AFP, Kuwait News Agency, Middle East News Agency, MNA, YA 12/28; MNA, al-Nahar, al-Sharq al-Awsat 1/6)

In the West Bank, the IDF stages synchronized late-night house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c., arresting 1 Palestinian; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in al-Fara‘a r.c. nr. Tubas and nr. Hebron, Ramallah. A Jewish settler is fatally shot while driving nr. Nablus; a caller to a Palestinian radio station claims the attack was carried out by the Fatah-offshoot al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (AMB). Jewish settlers, implementing their “price-tag doctrine” of retaliation, vandalize Palestinian homes and block Palestinian traffic nr. Yitzhar settlement s. of Nablus; bar Palestinian traffic, stone and vandalize Palestinian vehicles, and uproot 100s of Palestinian trees nr. Shavei Shomron settlement, home to the deceased settler; attempt to prevent a Palestinian bus fr. passing through the Einav checkpoint nr. Tulkarm. (NYT 12/25; PCHR 12/30; OCHA 1/6)

In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes a gas station and grocery store in Qusra village nr. Nablus, saying Palestinian youths had used the buildings as cover to throw stones at passing IDF troops; conducts late-night house searches nr. Hebron and Jenin, and in Balata r.c. and Jalazun r.c. nr. Ramallah, but makes only 2 arrests. (PCHR 12/30; OCHA 1/6)

Egyptian security officials acknowledge that they are building an underground steel barrier along the Rafah border to prevent smuggling. In the West Bank, the IDF ceases permanent staffing of the major Bayt Ibia checkpoint at the w. entrance to Nablus (established in 2001), easing Palestinian access to the city; conducts latenight house searches nr. Hebron, making no arrests; makes late-night arrest raids in Qalqilya. The PASF arrests 15 Hamas mbrs. across the West Bank and fires on a car carrying Hizb al-Tahrir’s senior spokesman, arresting him; no explanation is given. (NYT 12/22; NYT, OCHA, PCHR 12/23; WT 1/6)

In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in al-‘Arub r.c. nr. Hebron late in the evening, firing on stone-throwing youths who confront them, arresting a 14-yr.-old Palestinian boy; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Balata r.c. and nr. Hebron, Jenin. (OCHA, PCHR 12/23)

The IDF admits that in the 1990s government forensic pathologists harvested organs from dead bodies (including those of Palestinians, IDF soldiers, and foreign workers) without permission, but says the practice was stopped “a decade ago.” The admission comes after an U.S. academic released a copy of an interview from 2000 with the head of Israel’s Abu Kabir forensic institute in which the physician admitted the harvesting. (WP, WT 12/21; WJW 12/24)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night house searches in Bil‘in, arresting 2 Palestinians involved in the weekly demonstrations against the separation wall, including artist Ibrahim Bernat (who makes portraits from rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun grenade canisters fired by IDF troops against demonstrators), confiscating his portrait collection. A Jewish settler fr. Gush Etzion nr. Bethlehem fires on 5 Palestinian farmers working land in Safa village nr. Hebron that settlers have previously tried to seize; no injuries are reported; the IDF observes but does not intervene. Jewish settlers fr. Shilo stone Palestinian vehicles driving on the Ramallah– Nablus road nr. the settlement, causing no injuries; the IDF observes but does not intervene. (OCHA, PCHR 12/23)

In the West Bank, the IDF makes a rare daytime raid on 2 houses in the center of Hebron, violently beating several Palestinians (moderately injuring 5), detaining 4 for questioning, ultimately arresting 1; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades, tear gas at stone-throwing Palestinians and nonviolent international (and, in the case of Bil‘in, Israeli) activists taking part in protests against the separation wall in Bil‘in and Ni‘lin (10s suffer tear gas inhalation at both sites); fires stun grenades and tear gas at Palestinian and international activists taking part in a nonviolent protest against the separation wall in al-Ma‘sara, also beating several protesters (moderately injuring 1 Palestinian); conducts late-night house searches in Tubas and nr. Jenin, making no arrests. (OCHA, PCHR 12/23)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night patrols in Rumana nr. Jenin, arresting 2 16-yr.-old Palestinians who are out on the street; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. In East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities issue fines of thousands of dollars and demolition orders for 9 Palestinian homes and 1 mosque in Jabal Mukabir neighborhood. Israeli security forces break up Palestinians holding a public gathering at Damascus Gate to mark the formal end of the Arab League’s designation of Jerusalem as the Arab cultural capital for 2009; at least 6 Palestinians are arrested for illegal political activity in Jerusalem, and several are beaten. (OCHA, PCHR 12/23)

Israeli naval vessels intercept a Palestinian fishing boat that approaches the boundary of the permitted fishing zone off the Bayt Lahiya coast, damaging the boat, forcing the fishermen to jump into the sea, and then detaining them, taking them to Ashdod port in Israel for several hrs. of questioning, before releasing them to Gaza. A smuggling tunnel under the Rafah border collapses, killing 3 Palestinians. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Nablus. In East Jerusalem, Palestinians in Silwan report that during the previous wk., Israeli workers and archeologists resumed work on 2 archeological tunnels under the city leading to the al-Aqsa Mosque (see Quarterly Update in JPS 154). A group of right-wing Jews breaks into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound to hold prayers marking Hanukkah, but Waqf officials ask Israeli police to intervene, and police remove them peacefully. Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem celebrating Hanukkah attack a number of Palestinian shops and residents in the Old City; Israeli security forces observe but do not intervene. The PASF crackdown on Hamas mbrs. in the West Bank winds down today, with the UN reporting at least 80 and as many as 300 detained. The Israeli High Court rules that a 2007-imposed ban on family visits by Gazans to Palestinians held in Israeli jails is valid. (OCHA, PCHR 12/16; PCHR 12/23; HA 12/31)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts rare daytime arrest raids, house searches nr. Jenin; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Bethlehem, Tubas, and nr. Nablus. Late in the evening, 2 IDF soldiers enter the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, violently beating and insulting a guard who asks them to remove their shoes. In Hebron, Jewish settlers brutally beat a 13- yr.-old Palestinian boy on his way home from school; the IDF observes but does not intervene. (OCHA, PCHR 12/16)

Israeli DM Barak orders government funding to be revoked from a yeshiva in Har Brakha settlement after the yeshiva’s head rabbi encourages his students to refuse orders to evacuate unauthorized settlement outposts. Meanwhile, the Israeli cabinet approves (21–5) changes to Israel’s map of national priority areas to include several isolated West Bank settlements, including several right-wing settlements (including Kiryat Arba and Keddumim) that have led protests against Netanyahu’s settlement freeze. These newly designated areas will be entitled to millions of dollars in additional government financing. (NYT, WT 12/14)

Before dawn, unidentified Palestinians fire several mortars or antitank missiles toward IDF troops on the central Gaza border inside Israel, causing no damage or injuries; the IDF returns fire, fatally shooting 1 Palestinian civilian outside his home in al-Bureij r.c., some 700 m from the border. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts latenight arrest raids, house searches in Hebron, Nablus. (OCHA, PCHR 12/16)

Jewish settlers launch an organized campaign of civil disobedience to protest Netanyahu’s settlement freeze, blocking traffic at major intersections leading into Jerusalem. Israeli police quickly disperse them without violence, but settlers say they plan to keep up such actions randomly over the coming days to frustrate the government. Meanwhile, IDF undercover units stage a major late-night raid on a Nablus apartment building, arresting Palestinian Salah al-Bukhari, wanted since 2001. The IDF also stages late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron and nr. Bethlehem, Nablus, Salfit, Tulkarm. Hamas-affiliated police manning the Gaza side of the Erez crossing block the exit of 37 Palestinian medical patients granted permission by Israel to leave the Strip, stating they have not obtained the proper exit visa from Gaza’s Interior Min. (see 12/6). (OCHA 12/9; WJW, PCHR 12/10)

The Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights reports that Gaza’s Hamas-run Interior Min. has started requiring Palestinians wishing to exit Gaza to obtain an exit permit from the ministry’s new Office of Travel Registration, with Hamas-affiliated police already enforcing the order on Palestinians exiting through the Erez crossing, but notably not at the Rafah crossing. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Bethlehem, Hebron (in 1 case severely beating several family members and allegedly stealing money and gold from 1 family). Jewish settlers fr. Efrat nr. Bethlehem burn at least 50 newly planted Palestinian olive trees in nearby Umm Salamuna village. (OCHA 12/9; PCHR 12/10)

In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubbercoated steel bullets, stun grenades, tear gas at stone-throwing Palestinians and nonviolent international (and, in the case of Bil‘in, Israeli) activists taking part in protests against the separation wall in Bil‘in (10s suffer tear gas inhalation) and Ni‘lin (moderately injuring 1 Palestinian); fires stun grenades and tear gas at Palestinian and international activists taking part in a nonviolent protest against the separation wall in al-Ma‘sara, also beating several protesters (moderately injuring 1 Palestinian); conducts late-night house searches in and around Hebron. Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar attempt to occupy 2 Palestinian homes nearby but are fended off by stonethrowing Palestinians. (OCHA 12/9; PCHR 12/10)

The Israeli government approves construction of 84 structures in West Bank settlements despite the 11/25 freeze. Meanwhile, Israel makes its 1st arrests in enforcing its 10-mo. ban on new Jewish settlement construction, briefly detaining the mayor of Bet Arye settlement and 2 Jewish settlers in Elon Moreh when they confront police escorting building inspectors delivering stop-work orders. Israeli security officials say inspectors have handed out 60 stop-work orders since beginning on 11/30. YESHA settlement council leaders attend a high-profile ceremony to start construction of a new synagogue in Efrat settlement, vowing they will continue to settle the West Bank with or without government support. Also in the West Bank, the IDF makes unusual daytime arrest raids nr. Jenin; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Jenin. IDF troops on the n. Gaza border shoot, wound, detain 1 Palestinian nr. the border fence outside Bayt Lahiya. (NYT, PCHR 12/3; OCHA 12/9; PCHR 12/10)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts rare daytime arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron for a 2d day; makes a late-night incursion into Bayt Qad village nr. Jenin, searching an agricultural facility, arresting 1 Palestinian. Jewish settlers at several sites across the West Bank scuffle with new Israeli building inspectors hired by the DMin. to enforce Israel’s 10-mo. settlement building freeze (see 11/25); no major violence or injuries are reported. In East Jerusalem, Jewish settlers escorted by Israeli police and private security guards take possession of an addition to a Palestinian home in Shaykh Jarrah neighborhood, removing the Palestinian family’s furniture, after receiving a court ruling that the property is legally owned by a Jewish organization. Local Palestinians scuffle with the Jewish settlers, leaving 1 settler and 1 Palestinian injured. UN Secy.-Gen. Ban denounces Israel’s “provocative actions.” (NYT, WT 12/2; NYT, PCHR, WJW 12/3; OCHA 12/9)

For a 3d day, Israeli naval vessels off the n. Gaza coast fire on Palestinian fishing boats that approach the boundary of the permitted fishing zone, causing no reported injuries. IDF troops on the n. Gaza border also make a brief incursion e. of Jabaliya r.c. to level land along the border fence to clear lines of sight. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts rare daytime arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron. Some 50 Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar nr. Nablus, escorted by IDF troops attack a group of Palestinians gathering olive trees that had been uprooted by settlers 3 wks. before, vandalize a nearby Palestinian home. (PCHR 12/3; OCHA 12/9)

Israeli DM Ehud Barak issues the necessary military order freezing all new settlement building in line with Netanyahu’s 11/25 statement and simultaneously approves construction of 28 public and educational buildings in West Bank settlements, to be completed by 9/2010. In the West Bank, a Palestinian stabs 2 Jewish settler women outside Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron; IDF soldiers shoot and wound the Palestinian, and another Jewish settler deliberately drives over him repeatedly with his car as soldiers look on without intervening; the Palestinian is seriously injured but not killed. Jewish settlers fr. Keddumim nr. Nablus till a 70- dunam (d.; 4 d. = 1 acre) plot of Palestinian land 1,500 meters fr. the settlement as a first step toward annexing it to the settlement. (NYT 11/28; PCHR 12/3; OCHA 12/9)

In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubbercoated steel bullets, stun grenades, tear gas at stone-throwing Palestinians taking part in weekly protests against the separation wall in Bil‘in (10s suffer tear gas inhalation) and against Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists taking part in weekly nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Ni‘lin (injuring 3 Palestinians); fires stun grenades and tear gas at Palestinian and international activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in al-Ma‘sara s. of Bethlehem (injuring 3 Palestinians, including a 9-yr.-old boy); conducts late-night arrest raids on several coffee shops nr. Qalqilya, detaining 3 PA security officers and 3 teenagers (including a 14-yr.- old boy). In Hebron, Jewish settlers fr. Ma’on in Hebron beat 4 Palestinian youths tending sheep nearby, chasing them off the land; Jewish settlers fr. Carmiel attack and vandalize a Palestinian home nearby, attempting to drive the Palestinian family off the land. (OCHA, PCHR 11/25)

The Israeli Interior Min. approves construction of 900 new housing units in Gilo settlement in East Jerusalem, precipitating sharp criticism from the White House not only for the Gilo project but for “the continued pattern of evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes” in Jerusalem; UN Secy.-Gen. Ban Ki-moon “deplores” the decision. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Bethlehem, Hebron (evicting 1 Palestinian family from their home, occupying it as an observation post), Jericho, Nablus. In the Jerusalem environs, Israeli forces demolish 2 Palestinian homes (1 in Wadi Qaddum, housing 30 Palestinians; 1 in Bayt Hanina, displacing 11 Palestinians). (IFM, NYT, OCHA, PLONAD, WP, WT 11/18; PCHR 11/19)

IDF troops on the c. Gaza border e. of Gaza Valley open fire on 7 Palestinians nr. the border fence, killing 1 Palestinian teenager and wounding another, then enter Gaza to detain the entire group. The IDF claims they were engaging in hostile activity, a charge local Palestinians deny. (NYT, WP 11/14; PCHR 11/19; OCHA 11/20; OCHA Humanitarian Monitor 11/09)

In the West Bank, the IDF completes construction of a segment of the separation wall along bypass road No. 55 nr. Qalqilya, completely isolating Azun village and separating the farmers in the village fr. at least 1,300 d. of their land; fires live ammunition at Palestinian and international activists taking part in a nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Ni‘lin (injuring at least 2 Palestinians); fires rubber-coated steel bullets, sound bombs, tear gas at Palestinian activists, some of whom throw stones at IDF troops, taking part in a demonstration against the separation wall in Bil‘in (10s suffer fr. tear gas inhalation). Jewish settlers fr. Avraham Avino occupy a Palestinian commercial building on al-Sahla street in the old city of Hebron for several hrs. to conduct religious ceremonies. (MNA 11/14; PCHR 11/19; OCHA 11/20)

In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes 12 partially built Palestinian homes and 1 poultry farm in Rujib nr. Nablus; issues demolition orders for 17 other Palestinian civilian structures (including 9 homes housing 57 people, of whom 39 are children) in Umm al-Khayr nr. Hebron’s Carmiel settlement; and conducts latenight raids, house searches in Tulkarm, summoning 4 Palestinians for interrogation. Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar uproot nearly 100 olive trees fr. nearby Palestinian land. (OCHA 11/12; PCHR 11/19)

In the West Bank, the IDF patrols Kafr Haris village nr. Salfit and imposes a curfew, disrupting all daily activities in the village; conducts late-night raids, house searches in Qalandia r.c. s. of Ramallah, ‘Aqabat r.c. s. of Jericho, Hebron, Qalqilya, and nr. Nablus, arresting 7 Palestinians (including 2 teenagers). (PCHR 11/12, 11/19)

In the West Bank, the IDF opens the Jalama crossing connecting Israel’s Gilboa region with Jenin in the West Bank to Palestinian vehicular traffic for the first time in 8 yrs. (the crossing remains closed to Israeli Jews); Quartet envoy Tony Blair attends the opening ceremony. The IDF also conducts late-night raids, house searches nr. Nablus and Jerusalem, arresting 11 Palestinians (including 5 teenagers). Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba throw stones, empty bottles at Palestinians and their homes in the Wadi al-Nasara neighborhood of Hebron; the IDF observes but does not intervene. Also in Hebron, 3 Jewish settlers fr. the unauthorized settlement outpost of Ramat Yishai beat 2 Palestinian teenagers. (NYT 11/11; OCHA, PCHR 11/12; JPI 11/19)

To mark the Muslim holiday ‘Id al-Adha, Israeli officials allow the import of 3,000 cattle to Gaza. (WJW 11/12; JPI 11/19)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night raids, house searches in and around Hebron, in Jericho and Tubas, and nr. Ramallah, arresting 11 Palestinians (including 1 teenager). (PCHR 11/12)

In East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities paste demolition orders on the walls of 15 Palestinian homes in the ‘Ayn al-Luza, alBustan (in Silwan), and Yemen quarters of the Old City. Although residents of the houses are given 20 days to appeal the demolitions, the notices are back-dated 18 days. Elsewhere in Silwan, Israeli forces demolish 1 Palestinian home and deliver a demolition order to the Old Town Women Society, which provides aid to at least 70 Palestinian families. (OCHA, PCHR 11/12; PCHR 11/19)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night raids, house searches nr. Bethlehem and Nablus, in and around Jenin town and r.c., and in al-Fawar r.c. nr. Hebron, arresting 10 Palestinians (including 3 teenagers). (PCHR 11/12)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night raids, house searches in villages nr. Bethlehem and Jenin but makes no arrests. For unknown reasons, IDF troops at a checkpoint in Hebron fire at a Palestinian family in a car, seriously wounding the driver with shrapnel. Jewish settlers fr. Brakha attempt to raid Burin village but are repelled at the entrance by stone-throwing Palestinians; the IDF intervenes, firing bullets and tear gas, beating a number of Palestinians (including several journalists), and removing the settlers fr. the area. In Hebron, Jewish settlers fr. the unauthorized settlement outpost of Beit Hadasah, escorted by IDF troops, march toward Kiryat Arba settlement, stoning Palestinian homes along the way. (OCHA, PCHR 11/12)