The Palestine Chronology

IDF troops shoot and injure a Palestinian youth at a bus stop outside the Kiryat Arba settlement near Hebron, allegedly after he attempts to stab a settler. They leave the injured youth lying on the ground without receiving treatment before arresting him and taking him to a hospital in Israel. In a video released later, the youth can be heard pleading for water and explaining that he was attempting to commit suicide. Israeli forces demolish 8 homes and 6 retaining walls in Steih Dyouk village near Jericho. They also arrest a Palestinian living outside Yatta near Hebron before demolishing his home. The IDF arrests 7 Palestinians and issue 1 arrest summons during late-night raids in and around Nablus, Hebron, Tulkarm, and Salfit, and patrols near Jenin and Hebron. Israeli settlers uproot 27 olive trees on Palestinian land outside Burin village near Nablus. Meanwhile, PASF troops conduct a raid in Yatta overnight, sparking a brief firefight with the wanted Palestinians and their affiliates; 1 Palestinian is killed and another is seriously injured. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces demolish a building in Silwan and a 2-story apartment building in Ras al-Amud, and arrest 1 Palestinian during a late-night raid in Qalandia refugee camp. (MNA, TOI, WAFA 9/13; PCHR 9/14; PCHR 9/21; EI 9/22)

The Egyptian authorities partially open the Rafah border crossing for a 3d day in a row, allowing Muslim worshippers to return from their pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. (OCHA 9/29)

The UN’s World Tourism Organization announces that the Palestinian bid for membership has been postponed until the body’s next meeting in 2019. The PA reportedly decided to suspend its bid following heavy U.S. pressure, according to a senior Israeli official. (HA, TOI 9/13)

Abbas addresses the UNGA and officially submits the papers requesting full UN member-state status. UN secy.-gen. Ban Ki-Moon immediately sends the application to the UNSC. Rotating UNSC head, Lebanese amb. Nawaf Salam, says he will distribute it to UNSC mbrs. on 9/26. (NYT, WP, WT 9/24)

Netanyahu also addresses the UNGA session, calling on Abbas to resume talks immediately in New York, again without giving details on the basis or goal of talks. (WP 9/24) Within 3 hrs. of Abbas’s speech, the Quartet issues a vague statement calling on Israel and the Palestinians to return to talks within a month, with the objective of reaching a final agreement within a year. While Quartet special envoy Blair heralds this as “breakthrough,” UN and U.S. officials say the idea is to delay UNSC consideration of the Palestinian application to the UN on the assumption that if talks are “underway and making progress,” the UNSC would put off a vote in hopes that the parties could reach negotiated agreement. (State Dept. press release 9/23; NYT, WP, WT 9/24)

In the West Bank, 1,000s of Palestinians gather in Ramallah’s Clock Tower Square after dark to watch Abbas’s UN address televised live and celebrate the application for statehood. Similar rallies are held across the West Bank, but are banned in Gaza by Hamas authorities, who are angry that Abbas did not consult with Hamas over the process. Observers note (e.g., NYT, WP 9/24) that the “festive mood was tempered with resentment at . . . Obama’s firm stance against the initiative.” One Palestinian on the street states (WP 9/24): “We are choking on the American double standard. America supported the movements for freedom in Egypt, Tunis, Libya and Yemen, but this stops when it comes to the Palestinian people. We are asking, why?” During the day, the regular weekly protest against the separation wall in Bil‘in, al-Nabi Salih, and Ni‘lin are turned into rallies in support of the UN statehood initiative; in al-Nabi Salih, Palestinian demonstrators burn Israeli flags and posters of Obama. Similar small rallies are held at Qalandia r.c. The IDF fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, and percussion grenades at the demonstrators, causing no serious injuries. (NYT, WP 9/24; PCHR 9/29; OCHA 9/30)

Meanwhile, nr. Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron, a Palestinian boy is killed in a hit-and-run by a vehicle with Israeli plates. Later in the day in the same area, a Jewish settler man and his infant son, residents of Kiryat Arba, die in a car crash; the IDF says it was an accident, but local settlers accuse the army of covering up a murder, claiming that vengeful local Palestinians stoned the vehicle causing it to crash. The IDF denies the claims and expresses concern that settlers are attempting to provoke violence on the eve of Abbas’s UN speech. Meanwhile, unarmed Palestinians patrolling the outskirts of Qusra village in the n. West Bank (subject of numerous recent attacks by Jewish settlers fr. Esh Kodesh outpost) throw stones at a group of armed Jewish settlers that try to enter the village, sparking a clash; the IDF intervenes, firing tear gas and live ammunition at the Palestinians, killing 1 Palestinian and wounding 7. The IDF also patrols in 2 villages nr. Ramallah and Salfit in the morning, in Jericho in the afternoon, and in al-Bireh, 2 villages nr. Salfit, and 1 nr. Tulkarm late at night. (NYT, WP 9/24; PCHR 9/29)

On the anniversary of the Nakba, 1,000s of Palestinians fr. the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria stage marches (mostly nonviolent, though some stone throwing) toward the Israeli border. In Lebanon, though troops, riot police, and UNIFIL soldiers deploy to prevent marchers fr. reaching the border, a large group succeeds in reaching the border fence nr. Hizballah-controlled Maroun al-Ras village, where they throw stones at IDF troops. IDF troops open fire into Lebanon, leaving 10 Palestinians dead and at least 112 wounded. Palestinians refugees marching fr. Syria knock down the border fence into the Golan Heights, enter the Druze village of Majdal Shams, and rally in the village square, erecting Palestinian flags. IDF troops open fire to drive them back across the border, killing 4 Palestinians and wounding around 200. On the border with Jordan, Jordanian troops fired tear gas and scuffle with some 800 Palestinians, preventing them fr. reaching the border, leaving 14 demonstrators and 3 police officers lightly injured. In Egypt, govt. forces reinforce their border, preventing some 250 Palestinians fr. marching to the Rafah crossing. In Cairo, riot police fire tear gas, disperse protesters converging on the Israeli embassy, injuring around 120. On the Gaza border, IDF troops fire live ammunition and artillery at Gazans marching toward the border, wounding at least 125. In the West Bank, IDF troops fire tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets to disperse around 1,000 stone-throwing Palestinians marching toward the Qalandia crossing (injuring 10s) and violently beat scores of Palestinians marching fr. Palestinian-controlled area A toward Israeli security-controlled area B in Hebron (injuring 10s). A large peaceful rally commemorating the Nakba is held in Ramallah. Numerous smaller and protests clashes are also reported in the West Bank and East Jerusalem; rights groups say some 185 Palestinians have been injured in these clashes over the past 3 days, 153 of them in Jerusalem. Netanyahu accuses the demonstrators of “incitement” and challenging “the very existence of Israel.” Other Israeli officials accuse Iran and Syria of instigating the Palestinians, noting that Syrian security did nothing to prevent Palestinians fr. approaching the border. (DS, IFM, IsRN, JAZ, JP, MA, YA 5/15; Christian Science Monitor, NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 5/16)

Unrelated to the “March to Palestine,” IDF troops fired across the border into Gaza, killing a Palestinian who allegedly was planting an explosive device. Inside Israel, an Israeli Palestinian drives his truck into several cars, a bus, and pedestrians in Tel Aviv, killing 1 Israeli and injuring 17 in what Israeli police say was a deliberate terrorist attack; the driver, who is arrested, strongly denies deliberately harming anyone, saying he lost control of his vehicle when a tire blew. The IDF also patrols in 2 village nr. Qalqilya (arresting 1 Palestinian teenager for throwing stones) and 2 nr. Tulkarm; sends undercover units into Nur al-Shams r.c. nr. Tulkarm late at night, surrounding and raiding a house and arresting 1 Palestinian; conducts other late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around al-‘Arub r.c. and Hebron, and nr. Salfit. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron throw 4 Molotov cocktails at a nearby Palestinian home, causing minor damage. Israel resumes transferring VAT taxes to the PA (see 5/1), having received PA assurances that none of the money would be accessible to Hamas under the new Fatah-Hamas unity deal, but warning that it would reconsider suspending transfers if Hamas was allowed to join a PA govt. (NYT 5/16; PCHR 5/19; OCHA 5/20)

At quarter’s end, fierce fighting is ongoing in Libya and NATO intervention continues. Rebel-held areas increasingly report shortages of food and medical supplies. No reliable figures on casualties are available since independent media access and communications are extremely difficult. Deaths are thought to be well into the 1,000s and perhaps as high as 10,000. (WP 5/16; REU 6/9)

In Gaza, Palestinian workers replace the Gaza power plant’s damaged batteries with modified car batteries, allowing the plant to resume operation (see 11/24). In the West Bank, the IDF fires on Palestinians protesting outside Qalandia r.c. against recent IDF arrests there, seriously wounding 1 teenager; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Nablus and Balata r.c., in and around Tulkarm r.c., and in villages around Hebron, Nablus, and Ramallah (raids within each area are synchronized). Jewish settlers vandalize a Palestinian ambulance nr. Salfit. Jewish settlers fr. Beit Shalom and Kiryat Arba attack a 61-yr.-old Palestinian woman, vandalize several homes; the IDF observes but does not intervene. (OCHA 11/26; PCHR, WT 11/27; PCHR 12/4)