The Palestine Chronology

Palestinians fire 4 mortars, 1 RPG at IDF troops stationed at the Rafah airport, causing no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts patrols in Nablus. Jewish settlers in Hebron attack a Palestinian family, vandalize several homes; the IDF observes but does not intervene. Jewish settlers fr. Otniel nr. Hebron, escorted by IDF troops, occupy 30 d. of Palestinian land in nearby Yatta, set up tents and light towers, uproot 10s of Palestinian olive and almond trees to make way for a new unauthorized settlement outpost; the IDF also erects an observation tower on the land. The Palestinian rights group al-Haq reports that Abbas’s security forces in the West Bank have detained up to 400 Hamas mbrs. since Hamas took control of Gaza on 6/15. (NYT 7/15; OCHA 7/18; PCHR 7/19)

The IDF expands Operation Summer Rains overnight, sending 50 tanks, troops back into n. Gaza in and around Gaza City, engaging in intense clashes with and conducting air strikes on Palestinian gunmen, leaving at least 7 Hamas mbrs., 5 Islamic Jihad mbrs., 9 civilians dead, at least 57 Palestinians wounded, bulldozing wide tracts of land. In at least 3 incidents in Jabaliya r.c., the IDF phones Hamas mbrs. warning them to evacuate their houses, then conducts air strikes destroying the homes. The IDF also closes the Qarni crossing. Palestinians fire 13 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, lightly injuring 1 Israeli in Sederot. In the West Bank, the IDF sends undercover units in a car with Palestinian license plates into Kafr Qadim nr. Qalqilya, surrounds a home, evacuates and checks residents, demolishes the home, arrests 1 Palestinian, injures 1; bars a Palestinian heart attack victim fr. crossing a checkpoint to reach a Qalqilya hospital, allowing him to die; patrols, searches cars in Yatta nr. Hebron; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron, and in al-Fara‘a r.c. nr. Jenin, Nablus. In Rafah, a Palestinian is killed in an exchange of fire btwn. PA security forces, armed Palestinians. Israeli security sources reveal that Israeli-Canadian citizen Falah, arrested on 7/8 and held without access to a lawyer, was detained for photographing a military antenna nr. Ras al-Naqura, alleging that he was sent “to photograph and report where rockets have landed in Israel,” noting that he visited Beirut, Tehran within the last 2 yrs.; Falah, who was arrested before Hizballah’s 7/12 cross-border raid and the firing of rockets into Israel, said the photos were for academic purposes, he did not know the antenna was military, and his trips to Lebanon, Iran were public knowledge. (REU, NYT, WP 7/26; NYT, WP, WT 7/26; PCHR 7/27; OCHA 8/2; PCHR 8/3)

The IDF faces intense fighting in s. Lebanon, where some 100 Hizballah mbrs. ambush an elite IDF Golani Brigade unit in Bint Jubayl, pinning them down for 1 hr. under a heavy barrage of mortars, antitank rounds, RPGs, and small-arms fire before they could return fire, killing 8 IDF soldiers, wounding at least 22; the IDF estimates that it killed around 20 Hizballah mbrs. A 9th IDF soldier is killed, 5 are wounded by antitank fire in clashes nr. Maroun al-Ras. Meanwhile, the IDF continues air strikes nr. Beirut and in s. Lebanon, including hitting an Amal command center and the Hizballah headquarters in Tyre. In Anjar nr. the Syrian border, a truck carrying emergency food, medical supplies donated by the UAE (see 7/18) is hit, killing the Syrian driver. Hizballah fires around 150 rockets into Israel, striking Carmiel, Haifa, Jish, Safad, Tiberias. Israel allows 2 Jordanian military transports carrying humanitarian aid to land at Beirut airport, though it still will not provide safety guarantees for trucks transporting the supplies southward on the coastal highway or across the border fr. Syria, where relief goods for 20,000 people have been stockpiled. The UN moves 5 convoys of supplies (containing wheat, soap, diapers, water purification tablets, medical kits) to the south on 5 routes approved for one-time use by the IDF. (NYT, WP, WT 7/27)

Israel says it has begun construction of 2 additional fences around the Gaza Strip—1 of razor wire, 1 with electronic sensors and surveillance cameras—to ensure Israeli security after disengagement; both fences will be inside Israel. IDF undercover units make a major incursion into Tulkarm, raid the home of wanted Islamic Jihad mbr. Mu’ayyad Musa, fatally shoot him in an apparent assassination. The IDF demolishes a Palestinian home in Husan w. of Bethlehem for construction of the separation wall; fires on residential areas of Budrus nr. Ramallah, Rafah; raids the Abu Huli neighborhood of Dayr al-Balah, searches homes, rounds up residents for interrogation, arrests 2; conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Bayt Khalil nr. Hebron, Burqin, Nablus, Qabatya, Yatta. Palestinians fire 3 rockets at Sederot and the Negev, a mortar at the Gaza security fence, causing no damage or injuries.Armed mbrs. of the Jenin Martyrs Brigades (a Bureij cell of the PRCs affiliated with Fatah) kidnap PA military intelligence officer Jihad ‘Abid (fmr. aide to fmr. military intelligence head Musa Arafat) as he returns to Gaza through the Rafah crossing. (AFP, HA, XIN, 7/28; NYT 7/29; PR 8/3; PCHR 8/4; HA 8/8)

An 11-yr.-old Palestinian girl is fatally shot in a Rafah school yard. Palestinians say the gunfire came fr. an IDF post outside a nearby Jewish settlement, but the IDF denies this, claming that the girl was hit by gunfire fr. local Palestinians who were celebrating their return fr. the Hajj; residents say no such celebrations were taking place. In retaliation, Hamas fires 6 mortars, 6 Qassam rockets at Jewish settlements in Gaza, causing damage but no injuries. Islamic Jihad fires 3 rockets at Netzarim, causing no damage or injuries. The IDF bulldozes at least 800 d. of agricultural land outside Yatta, apparently to turn the land over for Jewish settlers’ use; begins bulldozing Palestinian land in al-Ram northwest of Jerusalem on a settler bypass road. (VOI 1/31 in WNC 2/1; MM, NYT, WP, WT 2/1; PR 2/2; PCHR 2/3)

Abbas is sworn in as PA pres.; reappoints Qurai‘ as PM, calls on him to form a government; calls for immediate talks with Israel, recommends going beyond the road map to include parallel talks on final status issues. Israel replies that there is “no necessity to find an alternative to the road map.” Abbas also vows to hold legislative elections on 7/17. (AFP 1/15; JAZ, PSCT, VOP 1/15 in WNC 1/20; NYT, WP, WT 1/16; PCHR 1/27)

The IDF makes a predawn raid on the al-Zaytun neighborhood of Gaza City launching Operation Eastern Step (billed by the IDF as pinpoint operations against Palestinians launching mortars and rockets fr. the area), shelling residential areas, raiding and occupying buildings as observation posts, bulldozing Palestinian land, sparking clashes, killing 5 Palestinians (2 resistance mbrs., 3 civilians), wounding 10. In retaliation, Hamas fires 6 mortars at Gaza’s Netzarim settlement (injuring a 7-yr.-old Jewish settler, lightly injuring another child), Sederot (killing 1 Israeli, lightly injuring 2). The IDF also fires on a group of children playing near what they mistakenly believe to be an unoccupied IDF post on the Rafah-Egypt border, other Palestinians race to extract the children and also come under fire, leaving 1 Palestinian adult and a child dead, 6 Palestinians wounded; fires missiles fr. a helicopter, destroying a workshop, severely damaging a home in Bayt Lahiya; fires on residential areas of Rafah; demolishes 3 Palestinian homes in Khan Yunis; bulldozes 40 d. in Shaykh Ajlin; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Dayr al-Hatab nr. Nablus, Dura, Issawiyya, Jericho, Yatta. (XIN 1/15; JP, VOI, VOP 1/15 in WNC 1/20; HA, NYT, WT 1/16; PCHR 1/18; OCHA 1/19)

The IDF fires on stone-throwing Palestinians in Yatta, on residential areas of Brazil r.c., Rafah; conducts arrest raids in Tulkarm. A Palestinian sniper shoots, wounds an IDF soldier manning a post outside Dayr al-Balah. Hamas fires mortars at a Jewish settlement in s. Gaza, causing no damage or injuries. (XIN 11/24; VOP 11/24 in WNC 11/27; PCHR 11/25; JP 11/25 in WNC 11/27)

The IDF demolishes 4 Palestinian homes in Rafah, 3 in Yatta; conducts arrest raids in Jenin. In Jerusalem, some 20,000 Jewish settlers demonstrate against the Aqaba summit. Palestinians fire a mortar at a Jewish settlement, a rocket at an IDF post, both in Gaza, causing no damage or injuries. In a move deliberately timed with the Aqaba summit, Tourism M Benny Elon begins work to set up offices of the pro-transfer Moledet party in 1 of the 2 Palestinian homes next to the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem’s Shaykh Jarrah neighborhood that Jewish settlers have been trying to seize for 1 yr. (see 4/27/03). (JP 6/4 in WNC 6/7; HA, MM, NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 6/5; PCHR 6/12; PR 6/25)

In Aqaba, Bush meets with Abbas, Sharon, King Abdallah; then meets with Abbas, Sharon only. Afterward, Abbas and Sharon each give carefully worded statements reiterating their commitments to peace. (HA, MM 6/4; Interfax, ITAR-TASS, JT, MENA, QA, SA 6/4 in WNC 6/7; HA, MM, NYT, WP, WT 6/5; DUS, JP, JT, MA, MENA, NHR, QA, al-Quds, al-Ra’i, SA, SFR, Star, YA 6/5 in WNC 6/8; al-Quds 6/5, DUS 6/6 in WNC 6/10; MM 6/6; THWR , TSHR 6/7 in WNC 7/11; JPI 6/13; PR 6/18; JPI 6/20)

In Nablus, 9 schools hold classes in violation of the ongoing curfew; the IDF blocks 3 other schools fr. opening. In Yatta, a nail bomb explodes in the courtyard of an elementary school while classes are in session, lightly injuring 8 Palestinian children; a 2d bomb is found, defused by the IDF; the IDF believes Jewish settlers staged the attack. In Tulkarm, a 14-yr.-old Palestinian is killed in a mysterious explosion; the IDF claims he was making a bomb. The IDF demolishes 9 Palestinian foundries in Khan Yunis allegedly used to manufacture mortars; demolishes 1 Palestinian home in Rafah; conducts arrest raids in Khan Yunis, Nablus; fires on a group of Palestinian children in Askar r.c., wounding 3 teenagers. (HA, REU 9/17; AP, JP, LAW, NYT, PCHR, PM, PR, WP, WT 9/18; AYM 9/20 in WNC 9/23)

The Quartet (the European Union [EU], Russia, UN, U.S.), reps. of Israel and the PA meet in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly opening session. The EU presents the Quartet with a draft “road map” for creation of a Palestinian state with provisional borders in 2003 and full Palestinian statehood by 6/05, the plausible target date mentioned by Bush in his 6/24/02 speech. (REU 9/17; MM, PR, WT 9/18; WJW 9/19; AYM, al-Quds 9/19 in WNC 9/20; AYM 9/20 in WNC 9/23; JT 9/24 in WNC 9/24; MEI 9/27)