The Palestine Chronology

Israel announces that the IDF will resume targeting Islamic Jihad mbrs. for assassination. The PA warns that the move could rupture the unofficial cease-fire, but Israel argues that the targeting would still be in line with truce provisions, which it claims allow Israel to defend itself against imminent attack if the PA security forces fail to do so; the PA rejects this. Later, the IDF fires missiles at a group of Islamic Jihad mbrs. in Bayt Lahiya in an apparent assassination attempt. The IDF also conducts major arrest raids, house searches in Balata r.c. and Nablus, clashing with local gunmen, leaving no reported casualties; conducts other arrest raids, house searches in Hebron, nr. Jenin; demolishes 10 Palestinian homes in Jiftlik nr. Jericho; bulldozes 5 d. of land in, fires on residential areas of Khan Yunis; conducts patrols in Kafr Dik nr. Nablus, Tamun nr. Jenin. A Palestinian grabs the gun of an Israeli security guard at the Barkan industrial zone nr. Ariel settlement, shoots and wounds the guard, flees. Palestinian gunmen fire on an IDF outpost nr. Gush Katif, causing damage but no injuries. Palestinian gunmen fire on a building in Balata r.c. where Qurai‘ is giving a speech, detonate a roadside bomb as he and his convoy leave the area; no injuries are reported in either incident, no group claims responsibility. (AFP, HA, WP, WT, XIN 6/22; PCHR 6/23; VOP 6/23 in WNC 6/24; OCHA, PR 6/29; PHRC 6/30)

Overnight, the IDF arrests 52 Islamic Jihad mbrs. in the largest raids against the group in the West Bank since 3/05; half of the mbrs. are arrested in Hebron, others in Jenin, Qalqilya, Ramallah. Minutes before Sharon and Abbas hold their 1st mtg. since the 2/8 Sharm al-Shaykh summit to coordinate disengagement, IDF aircraft fires 2 missiles at a group of Islamic Jihad mbrs. in Bayt Lahiya in what Israeli officials say is a failed attempt to assassinate a wanted Islamic Jihad mbr. The Israel FMin. says that “the message was very clear—that Israel cannot accept the fact that Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and the alAqsa Brigades have weapons.” The PA urges Islamic Jihad, the AMB to abide by the cease-fire. Palestinians fire a mortar at a Jewish settlement in s. Gaza, causing no damage or injuries. The IDF also conducts arrest raids, house searches in Nablus, Qalqilya and around Bethlehem, Hebron, Tulkarm. (AFP, HA, JAZ 6/21; VOP 6/21 in WNC 6/21; Daily Star, HA, NYT, PR, WP, WT 6/22; PCHR, WP, WT 6/23; VOI 6/23 in WNC 6/24; QA 6/27 in WNC 6/28; Jordan Times 7/1)

The Knesset Interior Comm. discusses the civilian aspects of the Or Commission’s 9/1/03 report into the 10/00 riots during which 13 Israeli Palestinians were killed by police (see Peace Monitor in JPS 118; Chronology in JPS 130). Fmr. High Court Justice Theodore Or says that the government has done nothing to implement his comm.’s recommendations (particularly for achieving equal rights for Israeli Palestinians), address the issues raised in the report. (YA 6/21)

The IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron, in Bethlehem; undercover units arrest 3 wanted Islamic Jihad mbrs. in an operation nr. Jenin (see 6/15). Islamic Jihad fires 2 rockets at Sederot, causing damage but no injuries. Palestinian lawyers demonstrate in Ramallah to draw attention to calls by the Palestinian Bar Association on the PA to halt chaos in the territories. Israeli police arrest 6 Jewish settler women fr. Kiryat Arba for writing graffiti calling for the expulsion of Palestinians on the walls of adjacent Palestinian homes. (IMEMC, JAZ 6/16; HA 6/17; PCHR 6/23)

Israel seals the West Bank and Gaza through 6/14 for the Shavut holidays. The IDF patrols in villages nr. Tulkarm, firing live ammunition at Palestinian stone-throwers who confront them in Saida, seriously injuring 1 bystander; patrols in, fires on residential area of Nablus. The PA executes 4 Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder (3 by hanging, 1 by firing squad), marking the 1st time in 3 yrs. that the PA has carried out the death penalty. An ailing Palestinian dies at a checkpoint nr. Tulkarm when the IDF bars passage to a private car taking him to a hospital. Rival factions of the AMB exchange gunfire in central Ramallah, leaving 2 AMB mbrs. wounded. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba attack Palestinian homes s. of Hebron, causing damage but no injuries. (IMEMC 6/12; BBC, NYT, WT 6/13; HA 6/14; OCHA, PR 6/15; PCHR 6/16; PR 6/22)

The IDF temporarily detains, roughs up 9 PA security officers in Hebron; sends troops into Tulkarm, fires on residential areas, wounding 1 in response to gunfire at a Palestinian wedding. 15 militant Jewish settler families take over a vacant Gaza hotel in Neve Dekalim settlement, threaten to use it as a base to resist disengagement implementation. PA security forces cracking down on the carrying of weapons in public stop 2 Palestinian Resistance Comm. (PRC) mbrs. driving in Gaza, fire on their car when they refuse to get out and permit a search, and instead drive away; 1 PRC mbr. is wounded. (WT 6 /10; VOP 6/10 in WNC 6/11; NYT 6/12; PCHR 6/16)

The IDF raids Qabatya nr. Jenin to arrest wanted Islamic Jihad cmdr. Marawa Khalil (also reported as Murwa Kamil), exchanges gunfire with him, attracting a mob of stone-throwing Palestinians; in the ensuing 90-min. clashes, Khalil and an unarmed Palestinian bystander are fatally shot, 9 Palestinians (including at least 3 bystanders) and 1 IDF soldier are wounded, Khalil’s house is demolished; 100s of Palestinians later march in Jenin, protesting the IDF operation and calling for revenge. In retaliation for the raid, Islamic Jihad fires mortars at Gaza’s Ganei Tal settlement, hitting a greenhouse and killing 2 Palestinian and 1 Chinese laborer, wounding 5 Palestinians. In further response to 6/6 events in Jerusalem, Hamas fires 3 Qassam rockets at Sederot and several mortars at Gaza settlements, causing light damage, no injuries; Israeli FM Silvan Shalom blames Hamas for “trying very hard to undermine our efforts to move toward peace with the Palestinian Authority.” The IDF also fatally shoots an Arab (identity unknown, carrying Egyptian bank notes) who tries to scale the Rafah border fence; fires a missile at Palestinian resistance mbrs. in Bayt Hanun, causing no damage or injuries; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron. (PRCS 6/7; MENA, VOP, XIN 6/7 in WNC 6/8; NYT, OCHA, PR, WP, WT 6/8; VOP, XIN 6/8 in WNC 6/9; PCHR 6/9; al-Ahram 6/10; PR 6/15)

The IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches around Bethlehem and in al-‘Azza r.c., Bayt Surik nr. Jerusalem, Yatta; halts a taxi nr. Ramallah, detains 1 passenger— Samir Burnat, a leading organizer of nonviolent protests against the separation wall in Bil‘in. Some 40 mbrs. of PA military intelligence loyal to Musa Arafat (forced to retire in 4/05) attack the PC building in Gaza City and block the main road to Rafah checkpoint, temporarily detain PA Amb. to North Korea Shakir Abu Aida in protest against Abbas’s recent age limits for PA security officers, release him unharmed. Palestinian attorneys stage a 1-day strike to protest the PA’s failure to protect judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers fr. increasing vigilantism. (HA 6/4; AP, IMEMC, NYT 6/5; PCHR 6/9; al-Ahram 6/10; PR 6//15; BBC 6/16)

The IDF fatally shoots a Palestinian motorist who fails to stop at a flying checkpoint btwn. Nablus and Tulkarm; conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Bethlehem and Hebron, in Nablus, in and around Tulkarm. Some 50 armed PA military intelligence officers block main roads in Gaza City, raid the PC offices in Rafah to protest the PA’s decision to meld military intelligence into the regular PA security forces. (PCHR 6/2; JP 6/2 in WNC 6/3; OCHA 6/8; PCHR 6/9)