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  • November 2, 2007

    For the 1st time since 6/07, Abbas meets with 4 West Bank Hamas officials in an effort to encourage them to split fr. their Gaza counterparts. In Nablus, the PA deploys a new 308-mbr. policing...

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  • October 9, 2007

    Israel confirms that it is building a 10-mi. Palestinian-only road around Ma’ale Adumim settlement, linking Jericho and Bethlehem and bypassing Jerusalem, to create “transportational contiguity”...

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  • August 2, 2007

    In Gaza, an ailing Palestinian given prior approval to enter Israel for medical treatment dies at Erez crossing after being denied passage by the IDF for 2 days. In the West Bank, the IDF fatally...

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  • May 22, 2007

    The IDF expands military operations in Gaza, making at least 7 air strikes on Hamas, ESF, and PA General Intelligence targets in Gaza, targeting 4 suspected arms caches and 3 other sites (...

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  • April 28, 2007

    IDF troops on the Gaza border fatally shoot 3 Hamas mbrs. who approach the border fence e. of Gaza City. The Israeli navy fires on Palestinian fishermen off the Rafah coast, forcing them back to...

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  • March 31, 2007

    The IDF sends bulldozers into Gaza e. of Dayr al-Balah to level land. The IDF patrols Jenin town and r.c.; conducts arrest raids, house searches in ‘Ayn al-Sultan r.c. nr. Jericho. Palestinians...

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  • February 1, 2007

    IDF troops on the Gaza border fires on a group of Palestinians in the fmr. Nisanit settlement area nr. the border fence nr. Bayt Lahiya, wounding 1. In the West Bank, the IDF sends an undercover...

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For the 1st time since 6/07, Abbas meets with 4 West Bank Hamas officials in an effort to encourage them to split fr. their Gaza counterparts. In Nablus, the PA deploys a new 308-mbr. policing unit trained by Western advisers at a multimillion dollar training facility in Jericho; they will form part of a new National Security Force unit set up to “operate in coordination with Israeli forces to fight crime and terrorism” as part of Abbas’s new security effort “to restore law and order” in the West Bank, in keeping with road map requirements; the unit will patrol during the day only, while the IDF will continue night operations. In Gaza, the IDF makes an air strike on an ESF post nr. Rafah, killing 1 ESF officer, wounding 3. Nr. Bayt Hanun, 2 Palestinians are injured when a mortar they are preparing misfires. A Palestinian is injured when a smuggling tunnel under the Rafah border collapses. In the West Bank, the IDF lifts the round-the-clock curfew on ‘Azun imposed on 10/31; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Tulkarm town, r.c. and nr. Qalqilya; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, percussion grenades, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Bil‘in (injuring 1 demonstrator, 1 journalist). Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba and Harsina in Hebron attack, vandalize nearby Palestinian homes, also beating 1 Palestinian. (NYT, WT 11/3; NYT 11/6; OCHA 11/7; PCHR 11/8; NYT 11/14)

Israel confirms that it is building a 10-mi. Palestinian-only road around Ma’ale Adumim settlement, linking Jericho and Bethlehem and bypassing Jerusalem, to create “transportational contiguity” btwn. Palestinian communities that would otherwise be cut off by the separation wall; critics note that 56 acres of privately owned Palestinian land and 352 acres of “state land” have been appropriated for the construction, which will also allow for the expansion and linkage of Ma’ale Adumim, Mishor Adumim, and Kedar settlements. In Gaza, the IDF raids and searches homes in al-Shuka, occupying several houses as observation posts (troops are still in the village at the end of the day); sends troops into al-Fakhari nr. Khan Yunis, raiding several homes, leveling lands, firing on residential areas, causing no reported injuries; sends troops into Bayt Hanun, bulldozing at least 100 d. of citrus trees and fences around a college and cemetery, withdrawing in the evening. The ESF creates 2 new openings in the Rafah border fence nr. Rafah’s Bloc J and al-Barahma, but no passage through the openings is reported. Egypt allows 30 Islamic Jihad mbrs. and Palestinian civilians stranded in Egypt since Israel sealed the Gaza borders on 6/12 to return to Gaza through the Rafah crossing (see 9/30). In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Bethlehem (arresting a mbr. of the Bethlehem municipal council), nr. Hebron, and in al-Bireh, Ramallah, Qalqilya (occupying homes as observation posts, firing on Palestinian children as they leave school, wounding 2, ages 11 and 13). (NYT, OCHA, WP, WT 10/10; PCHR 10/11; OCHA 10/17)

In Gaza, an ailing Palestinian given prior approval to enter Israel for medical treatment dies at Erez crossing after being denied passage by the IDF for 2 days. In the West Bank, the IDF fatally shoots local Islamic Jihad leader Raed Abu al-Adass in a raid on Balata r.c. in what may be an assassination; conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Jericho, Tulkarm; fires rubbercoated steel bullets, percussion grenades, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall in Bil‘in, injuring 4. In Hebron, 2 Jewish settlers fr. Mitzpe Ya’ir outpost attack a UN vehicle carrying 3 UN employees and 2 Israeli journalists, breaking the windshield, placing large rocks in front of the tires to prevent it fr. moving, injuring 1 UN employee; the IDF, Israeli police arrest the settlers, who are quickly released on bail. (NYT 8/4; OCHA 8/8; PCHR 8/9)

The IDF expands military operations in Gaza, making at least 7 air strikes on Hamas, ESF, and PA General Intelligence targets in Gaza, targeting 4 suspected arms caches and 3 other sites (including PA Interior Min. offices in Rafah), injuring 16 Palestinians, damaging at least 25 Palestinian homes; sending tanks and bulldozers into the Strip to level agricultural land e. of Bayt Hanun; directing heavy machine gun fire at a rocket launching site in n. Gaza; conducting arrest raids in Khuza’a nr. Khan Yunis. Late in the evening, the IDF sends troops into Khan Yunis to conduct arrest raids and house searches. Palestinians fire 9 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, lightly wounding 2 Israelis. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, nr. Bethlehem, and in Hebron, Jericho, Jenin, Qalqilya. Jewish settlers vandalize Palestinian vehicles in East Jerusalem. A Hamas mbr. is fatally shot by suspected Fatah mbrs. in Khan Yunis. (OCHA, WP 5/23; PCHR 5/24; OCHA 5/30)

Heavy clashes btwn. the Lebanese army, FI at Nahr al-Barid r.c. continue for a 3d day. In Tripoli, a lone FI suicide bomber, still hiding from the police crackdown on 5/20, detonates a device when police close in on his location, killing only himself. Later in the afternoon, the Lebanese army halts its shelling of Nahr al-Barid r.c. in response to a shaky, undeclared cease-fire by FI, prompting some 10,000 Palestinians to flee. Palestinians in ‘Ayn al-Hilwa r.c. and Rashidiyya r.c. demonstrate against the army’s heavy shelling of Nahr al-Barid. (Independent, REU 5/22; DS, LBC, MENA, al-Sharq al-Awsat, al-Safir 5/22 in WNC 5/23; NYT, WP, WT 5/23)

IDF troops on the Gaza border fatally shoot 3 Hamas mbrs. who approach the border fence e. of Gaza City. The Israeli navy fires on Palestinian fishermen off the Rafah coast, forcing them back to shore. In the West Bank, the IDF raids, searches an Islamic charity and a prisoners’ support group in Ramallah, confiscating documents, damaging computers; patrols, fires on residential areas of Tulkarm, damaging several shops; conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Jericho and in Qalqilya, Tubas. Jewish settlers stone Palestinian vehicles, attack Palestinians nr. the evacuated Homesh settlement site. In Gaza, unidentified assailants detonate a small bomb outside a club frequented by PA traffic police in Sudaniyya, causing no injuries. (HA 4/28; OCHA 5/2; PCHR 5/3)

The IDF sends bulldozers into Gaza e. of Dayr al-Balah to level land. The IDF patrols Jenin town and r.c.; conducts arrest raids, house searches in ‘Ayn al-Sultan r.c. nr. Jericho. Palestinians stone Jewish settler vehicles along bypass Road 443 nr. Bayt ‘Ur, lightly injuring 2 settlers. In Hebron, 2 Jewish settlers beat a 9-yr.-old Palestinian boy. (OCHA 4/4; PCHR 4/5)

IDF troops on the Gaza border fires on a group of Palestinians in the fmr. Nisanit settlement area nr. the border fence nr. Bayt Lahiya, wounding 1. In the West Bank, the IDF sends an undercover unit in a car with Palestinian license plates into Tulkarm r.c., fires on a group of Palestinians wounding 4 (an AMB mbr., an Islamic Jihad mbr., 2 bystanders ages 10 and 16), then fires 5 shots at 1 of the wounded, AMB mbr. Jasr Zughayb, assassinating him; fatally shoots 2 AMB mbrs. in an exchange of fire in Nablus, also demolishing the home in which they were staying; fatally shoots a 17-yr.-old Palestinian who attempts to cut through the separation fence nr. Ramallah; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Abu Dis; raids the Modern College building in Beitunia nr. Ramallah, firing on PSF officers dispatched to the scene responding to reports of suspicious activity, killing 2 PSF officers. In Gaza, a combined group of Hamas, ESF mbrs. acting on rumors of Fatah of smuggling weapons halt, demand to inspect a 4-truck convoy escorted by Abbas’s presidential guard that entered Gaza fr. Israel through the Kerem Shalom crossing, sparking an exchange of gunfire that leaves at least 5 Palestinians dead (including 4 presidential guardsmen, 1 female bystander), 34 wounded (including 14 bystanders); the shipment of supplies (widely believed to be arms and ammunition though in separate statements, Fatah says it is food and medical supplies, equipment and tents, generators and spare parts) fr. the UAE reportedly was organized by Gaza strongman Dahlan, with the knowledge of the U.S. and Israel, and was intended for guard units loyal to him; the contents of the trucks cannot be confirmed, as they are seized during the clash (it is unclear by whom). The convoy incident precipitates Fatah-Hamas gunfights across the Strip that kill at least 3 Palestinians, wound at least another 50, and end a 3-day truce. In the most serious incidents: PA Presidential Guard units storm the Islamic University campus, clash with ESF mbrs. guarding the campus (leaving 22 wounded), claim to seize a large weapons cache and to detain 7 Iranian “explosives experts”; Hamas denies the presence of any Iranians in Gaza, Fatah does not give any proof of the arrests, Israel and the U.S. say they cannot corroborate the story; suspected Fatah gunmen fire on Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum nr. Gaza City, causing no injuries. Other Fatah-Hamas clashes are reported in Bayt Hanun, Bureij r.c., Gaza City, Jabaliya r.c., Khan Yunis, Rafah. In Gaza City, 5,000 Palestinians attend a rally organized by the National and Islamic Higher Comm. for the Follow-up of the Intifada (NIHC) calling for a cessation to intra-Palestinian violence. Abbas issues a presidential decree taking over 18 acres of Palestinian land nr. the Qarni crossing for construction of a presidential guard training base, to be funded by Western donors; the UN will provide training; a 16-acre presidential guard base and intelligence services training college is also being built in Jericho. (MM 2/1; NYT, WP, WT 2/2; WP 2/3; Middle East Newsline 2/5; MM 2/6; OCHA 2/7; PCHR 2/8; NYT 2/23; JTA 3/4)