The Palestine Chronology

The IDF assassinates senior AMB Jenin mbr. Mahmud Abu Khalifa (whom it tried to assassinate on 8/30), wanted AMB mbrs. Amjad and Yamin Abu al-Hayja in a missile strike on their car Jenin; shells agricultural areas nr. Netzarim (injuring a Palestinian woman working her field), residential areas of Rafah; raids a dorm at Ramallah’s Education College, interrogates students; conducts arrest raids, house searches in al-Aza r.c., Dahaysha r.c., Nablus and neighboring Kafr Khalil, al-Zahiriyya nr. Hebron, al-Qarara. Late in the evening, the IDF shells residential areas of Rafah nr. the Philadelphi Route, destroying 1 Palestinian home and a 4-story apartment building, leaving 53 Palestinians homeless. A Hamas mbr. dies of injuries received in the 9/7 IDF strike on Gaza City, bringing that toll to 15. In Nablus, some 100 AMB mbrs. set fire to the home of PA police officer Hamas Hajat (who along with his family is in hiding) in revenge for his killing of an AMB mbr; the house is destroyed, no one is injured; some 100 PA policemen observe the arson but do not intervene. (PRCS 9/13; VOI, VOP 9/13 in WNC 9/15; WP, WT 9/14; PR 9/15; PCHR 9/16; MEI 9/24)

The IDF bulldozes a Palestinian home nr. Netzarim settlement; conducts arrest raids in Aida r.c., Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Qalqilya, Tulkarm town and r.c., Ramallah. In Gaza, 3 Palestinian gunmen (1 each fr. the AMB, Islamic Jihad, Hamas) attempt to infiltrate Netzarim settlement and IDF post; the IDF fatally shoots 2 of the gunmen, the 3d escapes. Jewish settlers fr. Susia attack Palestinian farmers in their fields nearby, damage 14 dunams of crops. (VOP 4/12 in WNC 4/14; HA, NYT 4/13; PR 4/14; PCHR 4/15)

The IDF assassinates Hamas spiritual leader and founder Shaykh Ahmad Yasin, firing 3 internationally banned flechette missiles at him as he leaves a Gaza City mosque after morning prayers, also killing 3 bodyguards, 4 bystanders, wounding at least 17 Palestinians, including Yasin’s 2 sons. Immediately, 100,000s of Palestinians take to the streets throughout the territories to protest the assassination. The IDF seals Gaza; clashes with Palestinian demonstrators in Balata r.c. (killing an al-Najah Radio correspondent in Balata r.c., apparently thinking his mobile phone was a weapon), Bethlehem, Dayr al-Balah, Hebron (fatally shooting 1 Palestinian watching fr. his balcony), Jenin, Khan Yunis (killing 3 Palestinians), Nablus; fires on residential areas of Rafah, Qalqilya, Tal Zu’rub; imposes a curfew on areas around Jenin, fires on residential areas; temporarily occupies a Palestinian home as an IDF post nr. Dayr al-Balah. 100s of Palestinian youths in East Jerusalem gather at checkpoints to throw stones at IDF soldiers; Palestinian prisoners in 2 Israeli jails riot. Palestinians fire Qassam rockets, mortars, antitank rockets at Gush Katif and Netzarim settlements, nearby IDF posts, the western Negev, damaging 2 apartments in Netzarim but causing no injuries. An ax-wielding Palestinian fr. the West Bank village of Bidiyya wounds 3 Israelis outside an army base in Tel Aviv before being arrested. An unidentified assailant said to be Arab stabs, lightly wounds 3 Israelis on a Jaffa bus. 4 Palestinians are arrested for beating up a Jewish settler in East Jerusalem. Jewish settlers detain, beat a Palestinian man in the Jordan Valley. An estimated 200,000 Palestinians, including reps. of all Palestinian factions, take part in Yasin’s funeral services later in the day, with 21 PSF officers forming an honor guard for Yasin’s coffin, Gaza churches ringing their bells, mosques broadcasting Qur’anic verses. Meanwhile, Israeli defense chiefs meet, agree to target the entire remaining Hamas leadership immediately, without waiting for another Hamas attack. Israel also announces that it will close the only mental health clinic serving East Jerusalem Palestinians (1,200 patients) because of “security concerns.” (AP, BBC, CSM, HA, MA, MM, NYT, REU, WP, WT 3/22; AP, ATL, ITARTASS, MNR, MENA, IDF Radio, IRNA, ITARTASS, JP, VIRI, VOI, VOP, XIN 3/22 in WNC 3/24; al-Arabiyya TV [Dubai], Syrian Arab News Agency 3/22 in WNC 4/27; AFP, BBC, CSM, HA, JT, MM, NYT, WP, WT 3/23; AFP, AYM, DUS, HA, al-Hayat al-Jadida, JT, MA, MENA, al-Ra’i, THWR, TSHR, VIRI, YA 3/23 in WNC 3/25; MM, NYT, PR, WP 3/24; ATL, ITAR-TASS, Izvestiya, JT, al-Ra’i, SA, VOP, XIN 3/24 in WNC 3/26; AYM 3/24 in WNC 4/3; JT, MM, PCHR, WJW 3/25; ITAR-TASS, MENA, NHR, VIRI 3/25 in WNC 3/27; MM 3/26; MNR 3/27 in WNC 3/30; AYM 3/30, VOP 3/31 in WNC 4/2; MEI 4/2; PCHR 4/15)

In Washington, Shalom holds further talks on Sharon’s disengagement plan with VP Dick Cheney, Powell, Rice. (WP 3/23)

Hamas detonates a roadside bomb nr. Mughraqa, disabling an IDF tank, injuring 4 soldiers. In response, the IDF demolishes 5 Palestinian homes in Mughraqa. The IDF also fires on residential areas of Khan Yunis (killing a 7-yr.-old Palestinian girl playing outside her home), Rafah (wounding an 8-yr.-old boy); demolishes a Palestinian home in Bethlehem; conducts arrest raids nr. Hebron, Netzarim settlement. A Palestinian youth attempts to stab an Israeli border policeman in Jerusalem; is shot, wounded, arrested. AMB gunmen fatally shoot George Khoury, son of a prominent Israeli Arab attorney, nr. East Jerusalem’s French Hill settlement, mistaking him for a Jewish settler; AMB issues an apology to the family, calling Khoury a martyr. Another Palestinian dies of injuries received during the IDF missile attack on Rafah on 3/17. (MM 3/19; VOP 3/19 in WNC 3/23; NYT, WP, WT 3/20; NYT, WP, WT 3/21; PR 3/24; HA, PCHR 3/25)

An AMB mbr. and a Hamas mbr., both fr. Gaza’s Jabaliya r.c., stage a double suicide bombing inside Israel’s Ashdod port, some 30 mi. north of the Strip, killing 11 Israelis, wounding 20, and marking the 1st suicide bombing inside Israel staged fr. Gaza and the 1st targeting civilian infrastructure. Hamas, AMB issue a communiqu´e stating that “joint, qualitative operations” involving various factions will be their practice in the future. In response, the IDF launches air strikes against 3 metal foundries, a printing press (alleged weapons factories) in Gaza City, wounding 1 Palestinian. The IDF also fatally shoots 3 armed Palestinians attempting to infiltrate Netzarim settlement; fatally shoots a Palestinian during an arrest raid in Rafah; fires on Palestinians playing soccer on a field nr. Neve Dekalim settlement, wounding 1; fires rubber bullets, stun grenades at Palestinian, Israeli, international demonstrators protesting the separation wall nr. Mod’in Ilit settlement, wounding 10; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Aida r.c., al-Qarara and nr. Nablus, Qalqilya. Jewish settlers fr. Ma’ale Shomron nr. Qalqilya bulldoze 150 dunams of adjacent Palestinian land. Jewish settlers fr. Asfar nr. Hebron confiscate 60 dunams of nearby Yatta village land (see 3/6). (BBC, HA 3/14; VOP 3/14 in WNC 3/16; MM, NYT, WP, WT 3/15; MM 3/16; QA, al-Quds 3/16 in WNC 3/18; MM, PR 3/17; HA, PCHR, WJW 3/18; MEI 3/19; JPI 3/26; WP 4/1)

An AMB suicide bomber fr. Husan detonates a device on a bus in Jerusalem, killing 8 Israelis, wounding 50. Israel says that the attack is proof that Israel needs to build the separation wall. The IDF immediately sends troops into Husan, seals nearby Bethlehem. The IDF also bars an ambulance fr. crossing a checkpoint to reach a Hebron hospital, allowing an ailing Palestinian woman to die; fires in residential areas of Rafah; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Aida r.c., Balata r.c., Bethlehem; issues orders expropriating 27 dunams of Palestinian land until 12/05 for construction of a security fence around Gaza’s Netzarim settlement. A Hamas mbr. dies in Khan Yunis when a missile he is trying to fire prematurely explodes. Palestinians report that the IDF has recently begun barring Palestinians under age 35 fr. crossing checkpoints around Nablus. On the eve of the International Court of Justice hearings on the wall, Israel begins dismantling a 5-mi. stretch of the barrier running east of the n. West Bank village of Baqa‘ al-Sharqiyya; the wall running west of the village will remain; Israel also reportedly plans not to build a 12.5 mi. stretch of wall cutting Jenin off fr. the Jordan Valley, not to dig deep trenches around Ben-Gurion Airport, to remove 2,953 feet of wall in the Qalqilya area. Palestinians across the territories begin holding demonstrations against the wall to coincide with the hearings. Jewish settlers throw rocks, bottles at Palestinian cars in East Jerusalem. (AFP, NYT, WP, WT 2/22; VOP, XIN 2/22 in WNC 2/24; HA, MM, NYT, WP, WT 2/23; AFP, MENA 2/23 in WNC 2/25; al-Quds 2/23 in WNC 2/26; AP 2/25; PCHR 2/26; MM 3/12)

The IDF assassinates Hamas mbr. Nasir Abu Shuka with an exploding cell phone in Bureij r.c.; fatally shoots a PFLP mbr. who throws a grenade at an IDF patrol in Rafah; fatally shoots a Palestinian youth nr. Netzarim settlement; demolishes a Palestinian home nr. Jenin, 1 nr. Ramallah; conducts arrest raids, house searches in ‘Aza r.c., Balata r.c., Bayt Sahur, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, Nablus; bulldozes 45 dunams of land in Wadi al-Silqa. In Gaza, an AMB mbr. is killed by friendly fire during an attempted AMB ambush of an IDF patrol. Palestinians also fire an antitank rocket at an IDF patrol nr. Gaza’s Neve Dekalim settlement, causing no damage or injuries. (HA 2/5; WP 2/6; VOP 2/6 in WNC 2/10; PCHR 2/8, 2/12)

The IDF makes a major predawn raid into Gaza City, targeting Palestinians who have stepped up attacks on Netzarim settlement in recent wks., sparking clashes that leave 5 Palestinian gunmen(4 Islamic Jihad mbrs., 1 Hamas mbr.), 4 Palestinian bystanders dead, 7 Palestinians (including an ambulance driver) wounded; Hamas fires 2 Qassam rockets at Netzarim in response, causing no damage or injuries. The IDF also demolishes 3 Palestinian homes nr. Hebron, 1 in al-Qarara; searches homes, bulldozes 1 dunam of land in al-Qarara. In coordination with the IDF, PSF officers resume patrols in West Bank cities. (MM, PCHR 1/28; VOP 1/28 in WNC 1/30; BBC, HA, LAW, NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 1/29; WP 2/11; PCHR 2/12)