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  • July 5, 2010

    In an effort to show positive movement on the peace process in advance of Netanyahu’s 7/6 meeting with Obama, Israel releases its new guidelines for the entry of goods to Gaza in keeping with its...

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  • May 26, 2010

    Unidentified Palestinians fire 1 Qassam rocket, 2 mortars fr. Gaza toward Israel, causing no damage or injuries; the mortars land inside Gaza. The IDF responds with air strikes on the abandoned...

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  • May 21, 2010

    IDF troops on the s. Gaza border fatally shoot 2 armed Palestinian teenagers who infiltrate the border fence nr. Abasan; the IDF claims they are mbrs. of Hamas’s armed-wing, the Izzeddin al-Qassam...

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  • May 16, 2010

    As the quarter opens, Israel’s siege of Gaza continues, with Israel barring all exports, most imports except limited humanitarian and consumer goods and small amounts of construction materials for...

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  • May 2, 2010

    IDF troops enter the n. Gaza no-go zone nr. Bayt Lahiya to fire on Palestinians (some well over 300 m away fr. the border) scavenging the former Aley Sinai and Dugit settlement sites for...

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  • March 7, 2010

    In light of the 3/3 Arab League endorsement, the PLO Exec. Comm. gives its blessing for Abbas to open indirect talks with Israel mediated by the U.S., but warns that it would not endorse...

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  • March 2, 2010

    Israeli mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat unveils a plan to demolish 10s of Palestinian homes built without permits in al-Bustan in the Silwan area of East Jerusalem to make way for a tourist center (...

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In an effort to show positive movement on the peace process in advance of Netanyahu’s 7/6 meeting with Obama, Israel releases its new guidelines for the entry of goods to Gaza in keeping with its 6/20 cabinet decision, issuing 2 lists of (1) prohibited goods, which include all weapons and munitions, and (2) restricted “dual use” items with military or terrorist applications (including many common chemicals and fertilizers, optical equipment, knives). Israel also itemizes 19 permitted construction goods allowed for import only for PA or internationally supervised projects. Israeli DM Barak personally briefs Abbas, Fayyad on Israel’s steps to ease the Gaza blockade and improve security and economic coordination in the West Bank. (NYT, WT 7/6; WJW 7/8; OCHA 7/9)

IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction materials 700 m fr. the border, seriously wounding a 13-yr.-old boy. Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the c. Gaza coast, seriously wounding a 14-yr.-old boy and damaging the boat. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in Tulkarm and neighboring Dayr al-Ghusun in the morning and Bidya village in the afternoon, making no arrests; enters Kafr Lakif village nr. Qalqilya in the afternoon, raiding a metal workshop and arresting 2 Palestinians; fires rubber-coated bullets, tear gas, stun grenades at Palestinians holding a nonviolent demonstration against settlement expansion in Bayt Jala (injuring 4, including 1 journalist); conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Qalqilya, Salfit. Israeli tax authorities search Palestinian shops in East Jerusalem’s al-Misrara market, seizing the truck of one shop, releasing it later in the day after the owner pays $13,000 in back taxes. (PCHR 7/7; OCHA 7/9)

Unidentified Palestinians fire 1 Qassam rocket, 2 mortars fr. Gaza toward Israel, causing no damage or injuries; the mortars land inside Gaza. The IDF responds with air strikes on the abandoned Dahaniyya airport site and a target in Bayt Hanun in the n. (seriously injuring 2 Palestinians). The Israeli navy fires on Palestinian fishing boats off the n. Gaza coast, forcing them to return to shore. IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging construction materials in former settlement sites nr. the border (wounding 1) and in the former Erez industrial zone (wounding 2). In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Bayt Jala, nr. Hebron. (OCHA, PCHR 5/27; NYT, WP 5/30; PCHR 6/3; OCHA 6/4)

IDF troops on the s. Gaza border fatally shoot 2 armed Palestinian teenagers who infiltrate the border fence nr. Abasan; the IDF claims they are mbrs. of Hamas’s armed-wing, the Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades (IQB). The IDF sends troops 800 m into Abasan to raze a Palestinian house under construction, a poultry farm, and 2 dunams (d.; 4 d. = 1 acre) of agricultural land planted with olive and palm trees to clear lines of site. Later, IDF troops and armed Palestinians exchange fire across the Gaza border, leaving 1 IDF soldier wounded. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Ramallah. Palestinians (sometimes accompanied by Israeli and international activists) hold weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall and land confiscations in Bil‘in and Ni‘lin nr. Ramallah, Dayr Nizam/al-Nabi Salih in the north central West Bank, and Bayt Jala and al-Ma‘sara nr. Bethlehem. IDF soldiers fire rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades at the protesters, leaving scores suffering tear gas inhalation, injuring 5 Palestinians, and arresting 11 Israelis and internationals (including an Israeli journalist). (NYT 5/22; OCHA, PCHR 5/27)

In Jerusalem, Israeli police inform 4 PC mbrs. fr. the Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform party—Khalid Abu ‘Arafa, Muhammad Abu Tir, Ahmad Atwan, and Muhammad Totah (all arrested in 6/06 as part of Israel’s round-up of Hamas-affiliated PC mbrs. and recently released after completing their sentences)— that Israel’s High Court has upheld a 9/09 ruling revoking their permanent Jerusalem residency status because their participation in 1/06 Palestinian elections constituted disloyalty to the state, warning that they will be deported to Gaza if they do not leave Jerusalem voluntarily (Abu Tir by 6/19, the others by 7/3). (NYT 5/22; PCHR 5/27; PCHR 6/7)

As the quarter opens, Israel’s siege of Gaza continues, with Israel barring all exports, most imports except limited humanitarian and consumer goods and small amounts of construction materials for UN-supervised projects, and most crossborder transit by individuals (with very limited exceptions for extreme medical cases, VIPs, and international NGO workers). The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) enforces a 300-meter-deep no-go zone inside the full length of the Gaza border and limits the Palestinian fishing zone off Gaza to 500–1,000 m off the immediate Bayt Lahiya and Rafah coasts, and 3 nautical miles elsewhere. In the West Bank, the IDF raids Palestinian municipal inspector offices in al-Gazzazin in Hebron’s old city, sealing the office and evicting the staff (unarmed police who maintain public order); fires tear gas to disperse Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists conducting a nonviolent march to the separation wall outside Bayt Jala nr. Bethlehem, arresting 8 demonstrators. In Gaza, batonwielding, Hamas-affiliated police beat and evict Palestinians fr. at least 25 homes in s. Rafah before bulldozing the houses, saying they were built illegally on government land; 31 families (190 individuals) are rendered homeless. (WT 5/17; NYT 5/19; OCHA, PCHR 5/20)

IDF troops enter the n. Gaza no-go zone nr. Bayt Lahiya to fire on Palestinians (some well over 300 m away fr. the border) scavenging the former Aley Sinai and Dugit settlement sites for construction materials, wounding 1. Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the Bayt Lahiya coast, forcing them to return to shore. In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades, tear gas at Palestinian, international activists staging a nonviolent march to the separation wall outside Bayt Jala nr. Bethlehem, injuring 4 Palestinians (including 1 journalist); conducts late-night patrols in Kfairet village southeast of Jenin, making no arrests; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. In East Jerusalem, Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba in Hebron and from settlements nr. Bethlehem, escorted by IDF troops, take over a Palestinian home (belonging to the Salah family, who has lived there since 1967) in keeping with a 12/15/09 court order that ruled in favor of a Kiryat Arba settler who claimed to have purchased the property in 1991. (OCHA, PCHR 5/6)

In light of the 3/3 Arab League endorsement, the PLO Exec. Comm. gives its blessing for Abbas to open indirect talks with Israel mediated by the U.S., but warns that it would not endorse continuing the talks past 4 mos. unless at least the outlines of a border agreement were achieved and would not agree to a start to direct talks until Israel imposed a comprehensive settlement freeze, including East Jerusalem. Israel accepted indirect talks last wk. (NYT, WP, WT 3/8)

In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubbercoated steel bullets, stun grenades, tear gas at Palestinian and international activists who stage a nonviolent march outside Bayt Jala and attempt to plant trees on land slated for confiscation for the separation wall, injuring 5 Palestinians (including 3 journalists); conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Anata r.c. nr. Jerusalem, Hebron. (OCHA, PCHR 3/11)

Israeli mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat unveils a plan to demolish 10s of Palestinian homes built without permits in al-Bustan in the Silwan area of East Jerusalem to make way for a tourist center (offering the Palestinians new apartments over retail space to be constructed, which they reject) but delays the plan at the last minute at the request of PM Netanyahu, who tells Barkat to continue efforts to negotiate an amicable deal with Palestinian residents. In the West Bank, the IDF sends troops covered by helicopters into several villages w. of Jenin in search of 2 Islamic Jihad mbrs., surrounding and searching relatives’ homes, making no arrests; resumes work on a segment of the separation wall in Bayt Jala nr. Bethlehem (suspended for 3 yrs.) where 300 d. of agricultural land and 2,000 olive trees are slated to be razed; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Tulkarm, nr. Ramallah. (WT 3/3; OCHA, PCHR 3/4; JPI 3/19)