The Palestine Chronology

The IDF blows upa2d smugglers’ tunnel to Egypt in Rafah (see 12/9), demolishing a Palestinian home; fires on residential areas of Birzeit, Brazil r.c. Israeli police say that in recent days, they have arrested 9 East Jerusalem Palestinians on suspicion of putting together a Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount security patrol financed by the PA. Jewish settlers unilaterally evacuate 1 unauthorized settlement outpost in the central West Bank; the IDF says it has received orders to dismantle another 5. An Israeli military court exonerates for lack of evidence PA General Intelligence officer Musa Shahin, who was placed in administrative detention in 7/02 for allegedly firing on 2 IDF posts. (HA 12/10; al-Quds 12/10 in WNC 12/16; PCHR 12/11)

Islamic Jihad says that it could agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders “on a temporary basis.” (VOP 12/10 in WNC 12/12)

A 2-day donors’ Ad Hoc Liaison Comm. mtg. opens in Rome. (AP, MM 12/10; AFP, VOP 12/10 in WNC 12/12; MM, NYT 12/11; VOP 12/11 in WNC 12/13; Jerusalem Times 12/18)

The IDF seals the West Bank and Gaza for Rosh Hashanah, which begins at sundown and lasts through 9/28; conducts arrest raids in Jenin r.c., arresting senior Islamic Jihad mbr. Faris Wahada; fires on residential areas of Rafah, wounding 1. An Islamic Jihad gunman infiltrates a Hebron Jewish settlement, fatally shoots 2 Jewish settlers (including a 7-mo.-old girl), wounds 2 before being shot dead by security guards. A Palestinian dies of injuries received on 9/19. (HA 9/26; NYT, Palestine Chronicle, WP 9/27; MM 9/29; PCHR 10/2)

The IDF fires on residential areas of Rafah; sends tanks into Bayt Furik and Silat al-Harith, firing on stone-throwing Palestinians, wounding 3; bulldozes 19 dunams of land in al-Mughraqa; conducts arrest raids in Salfit. Palestinian gunmen ambush, fatally shoot an IDF soldier nr. Jenin; AMB, Islamic Jihad both take responsibility. Palestinian gunmen fire o n an IDF patrol nr. Rafah, wounding 1 soldier. An Israeli court releases 2 Jewish settler terrorism suspects without pressing charges; 13 others are still under arrest. (HA 9/4; NYT, WP 9/5; PCHR 9/11)

Abbas convenes the Palestinian Council (PC) to present a report on his 1st 100 days in office; asks PC mbrs. to affirm unequivocally his policies (including unification of the PA security forces under his command) or demand his resignation. Outside the PC session, at least 50 Palestinian protesters (some reports say 200), including 5 masked, armed AMB mbrs., call on Abbas to resign. (BBC, HA, MM, NYT, WT 9/4; AFP, QA 9/4 in WNC 9/6; HA, MM, NYT, WP, WT 9/5; MENA 9/5 in WNC 9/9; MEI 9/12)

The IDF demolishes a Palestinian home in Jenin; conducts arrest raids in Nablus. Nr. the Negev village of Tal Arad, 5 Israeli policemen attempt to arrest a bedouin youth for throwing stones at cars, sparking a riot by 10s of local bedouin in which the police shoot, wound 3 bedouin; 2 bedouin, 5 policemen are also injured in scuffles. Palestinians fire a Qassam rocket at Sederot, lightly injuring 1 Israeli. Jewish settlers set up a new unauthorized outpost, nr. the site of 1 taken down last wk. Israel bars entry at the Ben-Gurion Airport to a delegation of Belgian, Dutch doctors on a mission to assess the damage to the Palestinian health care system in the West Bank, Gaza. (HA, Medical Fact Finding Mission–Palestine press release 6/23; PCHR, WJW 6/26)

The IDF raids a branch of the Arab Bank in Azariyya, East Jerusalem, confiscates documents related to bank accounts belonging to Jerusalem residents allegedly linked to Hamas. A roadside bomb explodes nr. a Jewish settler bus in the West Bank, causing no injuries. A Palestinian dies of injuries received on 2/23. (HA, JTA 2/27; PCHR 3/6; LAW 3/13)

The Knesset approves (68–48) Israeli PM Ariel Sharon’s (reelected on 1/28/03) new coalition government. The 68-seat coalition includes the right-wing, pro-settler National Religious Party (6 seats), opposed to creation of a Palestinian state; the right-wing, secular nationalist Shinui (15 seats), which supports unilateral separation; and the ultraright-wing National Union Party (7 seats), which represents Jewish settlers, opposes talks with the Palestinians, and advocates expelling PA head Yasir Arafat and Palestinians from the occupied territories and annexing the land. Acting FM Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) becomes finance minister, acting Finance M Silvan Shalom (Likud) becomes FM; Likud’s Tshai Hanegbi (previously under criminal investigation by Israeli police) becomes internal security minister; Mofaz remains DM. Sharon says that the economy will be his 1st priority, the peace process his 2d; that the Palestinians would have to give up the right of return, agree to Jerusalem remaining the unified capital of Israel, and halt all violence if they want a comprehensive peace. (HA, MM, NYT, WP 2/27; NYT, WP, WT 2/28; MA 2/28 in WNC 3/3; WT 3/1; MEI 3/7)

The IDF fatally shoots 2 Palestinians nr. Atzmona settlement; conducts arrest raids (targeting Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PFLP) in Bethlehem, al-Fahs, Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, al-Qarara, Ramallah, Tufah; demolishes a Palestinian home in Ras al-Amud, 1 in `Aqbat Tafuh. Late in the evening, IDF helicopters fire missiles at the Gaza City home of senior Hamas mbr. Muhammad Atil, killing his 2 teenage children, wounding 11. The IDF reports that it has removed fr. his post an intelligence officer who “disrupted” a planned air strike in retaliation to the 1/5 Tel Aviv bombing in order to “prevent harm to innocent Palestinians”; the officer was in possession of, refused to share intelligence information critical to the mission. The IDF begins work on a 45 km stretch of the separation fence btwn. Kafr Salim and Beit She’an, nr. Jenin. (HA, REU 1/27; HA, NYT, WT 1/28; MA 1/28 in WNC 1/29; LAW, PCHR, PR 1/29; PR 2/5)

Palestinian factions close 4-days of talks in Egypt without reaching an agmt. on a cease-fire and national unity platform. (HA, MM 1/27; MENA 1/27 in WNC 1/28; MENA, SA, XIN 1/28 in WNC 1/29; PCHR, PR 1/29; MM 1/30; MEI 2/21)

International Atomic Energy Agency, UN inspectors report that Iraq has generally cooperated with inspections but has not been proactive; they have found no evidence of biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons but say some questions remain. (MM 1/27; MM, NYT, WP, WT 1/28; MM 1/31)