The Palestine Chronology

The IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in 2 villages nr. Salfit (synchronized), in Jericho and 1 nearby village (synchronized), and 1 village each nr. Bethlehem, Jenin, Qalqilya, Ramallah, and Tulkarm. Jewish settlers fr. Adei Ad outpost nr. Nablus beat a Palestinian shepherd grazing his sheep nearby and kill his sheep; an Israeli guard fr. nearby Shilo settlement intervenes and the settlers flee; the guard summons Israeli border police, who photograph the scene and take the shepherd’s formal complaint. (PCHR 7/19; OCHA 7/20)

In Israel, 1,000s of Israelis demonstrate in Tel Aviv to mark the 1st anniversary of the launch of the 2011 social justice protests against the rising cost of living. During the protest, one of the prominent activists connected with the July 14 Movement, Moshe Silman, immolates himself and is critically injured (he dies on 7/20). (WP 7/17; NYT 7/21)

IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction material in the fmr. settlement sites, wounding 1. Hamas’s acting FM Mahmud Zahhar warns that Gazans who fire rockets at Israel violate an agreement among Palestinian factions not to initiate strikes on Israeli targets and face possible arrest. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in 2 villages nr. Jericho and Jenin in the morning, making no arrests; makes a late-night raid into Mazra‘a village nr. Ramallah, patrolling streets and firing rubbercoated steel bullets, tear gas, stun grenades at stone-throwing youths who confront them, causing no serious injuries; makes a late-night raid on a Palestinian apartment building in Ya‘bad village nr. Jenin, photographing it and questioning the owner; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in al-Askar r.c. and nearby Nablus, in Hebron, and nr. Salfit. Jewish settlers fr. Shilo settlement throw stones at Palestinians driving on the nearby Nablus– Ramallah road, causing no injuries. In East Jerusalem, Israeli security forces raid and search a Palestinian home in the alBustan area of Silwan early in the morning, arresting 2 Palestinians. (al-Hayat 10/31; PCHR 11/4; OCHA 11/5)

Direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are formally relaunched at a ceremony at the State Dept. in Washington, with Abbas and Netanyahu pledging to meet again on 9/13–14 in Egypt and then every 2 weeks thereafter to “keep momentum going.” Clinton, Abbas, Netanyahu, and U.S. special envoy George Mitchell meet, after which Abbas and Netanyahu meet privately for 90 mins. Mitchell then announces that the leaders have decided to work toward a “framework agreement” within a year that would outline “the compromises each side must be ready to make” to achieve peace as a 1st step before attempting to iron out a comprehensive peace treaty. (NYT, WP, WT 9/3)

For a 3d day in a row, IQB gunmen fire on a Jewish settler vehicle driving in West Bank area C, causing no injuries. Asked if Hamas’s political leadership approved the recent string of shootings, West Bank IQB spokesman Abu Ubaidah says the operations are “in harmony with the attitude of the political wing.” The PASF says that since the 1st shooting on 8/31, they have detained 300 Hamas mbrs. Late in the evening, the IDF patrol in villages nr. Jericho, Nablus, Qalqilya, and Salfit, making no arrests; conducts arrest raids in Hebron (shooting and wounding 1 Palestinian, releasing him to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society) and neighboring al-‘Arub r.c. Jewish settlers fr. Halamish settlement nr. Ramallah stone Palestinian vehicles driving by the settlement. Jewish settlers fr. Shilo settlement nr. Ramallah stone Palestinian cars on the Ramallah–Nablus road. Unidentified Jewish settlers stone Palestinian vehicles driving nr. Nablus. PCHR reports that Israel’s Gihon Water Company recently sent letters to churches and nunneries in the Old City of Jerusalem warning that their water service will be cut off if they do not immediately pay water consumption fees accumulated since 1967; historically, religious establishments in Jerusalem have been exempt from such fees. (PCHR 9/2; WP 9/4; PCHR 9/8; OCHA 9/17)

Before dawn, Hamas mbrs. detonate explosives at 17 points along the 7-mi.-long Rafah border wall, allowing 10,000s of Palestinians to stream into Egypt to buy food, fuel, medicine, cement, livestock, and other goods that have been banned by Israel since 6/07; Gazans who have been stranded in Egypt reenter Gaza. (For details on the border breach, see the Quarterly Update.) Egyptian pres. Husni Mubarak authorizes border police to stand down, saying Egypt will not be party to starving the Palestinians, but makes it clear that Egypt expects Gazans to return home quickly. IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fatally shoot a Palestinian farmer working his land northwest of Bayt Lahiya. The IDF also levels land inside Gaza northeast of Bayt Hanun, uprooting 350 d. of olive and citrus groves. A Palestinian is injured when 2 rockets to be fired into Israel explode at the launch site. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, searches in and around Hebron (including surrounding and searching a medical clinic, interrogating staff and patients, arresting 2 staff mbrs.), in Balata r.c., and nr. Jenin, Salfit; raids a hospital in Bethlehem, confiscating 3 computers and a diagnostic machine that tests for osteoporosis; returns 200 olive trees to a farmer in Qaryut nr. Nablus who had 300 trees stolen by Jewish settlers fr. Shilo settlement in 6/07. A Palestinian civilian dies of injuries received during IDF operations in Nablus on 1/3. (HA, Independent, JAZ, NYT 1/23; NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 1/24; WP 1/28; OCHA 1/30; PCHR 1/31)