The Palestine Chronology

In light of the IDF's overnight assault on Rafah, the U.S. calls on Israel to halt demolitions of Palestinian homes, incursions into PA controled areas. Meanwhile, the IDF fatally shoots 2 Palestinians in Rafah. PSF Gaza head Muhammad Dahlan says the PSF will not conduct preventive arrests of suspected Palestinian militants without hard evidence, as Israel demanded on 9/26. (HA 9/27; AFP, HP, MM, NYT, WP 9/28)

The U.S. says it has more evidence linking Bin Laden to the 9/11 attacks. Laying the groundwork for a military response, Bush labels the attacks "acts of war," begins to rally "an international coalition to combat terrorism." The U.S. presses Pakistan in particular to cooperate with any U.S. military action against neighboring Afghanistan, Bin Laden's base of operations. Congress adopts (100-0 in the Senate, 408-0 in the House) a joint resolution that the admin. says frees the White House from having to seek a formal declaration of war to carry out military action. (AP 9/12; NYT, WP, WT 9/13; MENA, al-Ra'i 9/13 in WNC 9/14; Dawn [Islamabad] 9/17; MM 9/19; MEI 9/28)

Israel sends 22 tanks into Jinin and nearby Arraba and Tamun. Tanks shell targets while F-15s, F-16s drop bombs, killing 8 Palestinians, wounding 50, leveling the PSF headquarters and 2 Force 17 office in Jinin, 2 PSF offices in Arraba and Tamun. Among the dead are 3 suspected Islamic Jihad mbrs. who barricade themselves in a building in Arraba during an IDF arrest sweep, are killed when the IDF shells the building. IDF soldiers also open fire on 2 taxis nr. Gaza's al-Mahatin Junction, killing 2 Palestinians, injuring 8; arrest Palestinian Council (PC) mbr. Ahmad Zagayr (Fatah) in his Jerusalem office, take him to the Russian Compound prison; direct heavy machine gun fire at residential areas of al-Khadir, Khan Yunis; bulldoze Palestinian land for a new settler bypass road to Gush Katif; reinforces troops around Nablus; conduct arrest raids in Arraba, Hizma. A Jewish settler is killed by a Palestinian sniper nr. Qalqilya. (HP, MEZ, MM 9/12; AP, MM, NYT, WP, WT 9/13; MENA 9/13 in WNC 9/14; al-Quds 9/13, SA 9/14, al-Majallah 9/16 in WNC 9/17; WP 9/14; PMC 9/15; MEI 9/28)

An Israeli Arab suicide bomber detonates a device at a train station in the n. Israeli town of Nahariya, killing 3 Israeli Jews, injuring 63, most lightly. Israel blames the PA, saying the bomber crossed into Jinin to get explosives fr. Hamas, and the PA ignored requests to arrest him. In retaliation, the IDF attacks 5 PA security and political offices in al-Bireh, Jericho, Jinin, Nablus, and Ramallah, injuring 5 Palestinians. In the Jordan Valley, Islamic Jihad mbrs. ambush a Jewish settler minibus, killing 2 Jewish settlers. Another Palestinian suicide bomber detonates a car bomb next to a bus in Bayt Lid, killing only himself, injuring 3 Israelis. 1 Palestinian is killed in clashes with the IDF in Gaza. Israel also arrests PA Jerusalem affairs adviser Ziad Abu Ziad; expels him fr. the city, claiming he had entered without a permit. This evening, Sharon meets with his security cabinet, which votes to step up attacks on Palestinian targets. (HA 9/9; AFP 9/9 in WNC 9/10; JP [Internet], MM, NYT, WP, WT 9/10; NYT 9/11; WJW 9/13; MEI 9/14; JP 9/24: MEI 9/28)

In Gaza, top PA intelligence official, Col. Taysir Khattab, is killed when a remote-controlled bomb in his car explodes--an apparent Israeli assassination; his bodyguard is seriously injured. A bomb in a taxi in Tulkarm kills 1 Palestinian woman, injures 4; no one claims responsibility. The woman reportedly is the wife senior tanzim leader Ahmad Tabuk, who is currently held in a PA jail. (LAW 9/1; AP, NYT, WP, WT 9/2; AKH 9/3, al-Quds 9/5, SA 9/6 in WNC 9/7)

In Durban, 6,000 international NGOs close 5 days of mtgs. on preventing racism, held on the sidelines of the WCAR. Their closing statement calls Israel a "racist, apartheid state," calls on Israel to end its "systematic perpetration of racist crimes," including segregation, separation, dispossession, restricted land access. (SAPA 9/1, 9/2 in WNC 9/4; WP 9/3; MM 9/5; MM 9/5; AKH 9/5 in WNC 9/7; LAW 9/6)