The Palestine Chronology

The PA says it has arrested 15 PSF officers on suspicion of having taken part in attacks on Israelis. In Gaza, the PSF attempts to arrest Hamas spokesman `Abd al-`Aziz Rantisi, but 100s of Hamas mbrs. and supporters surround Rantisi's home, engage in a gun battle with PSF officers. The PSF also closes a shop in Gaza that allegedly made homemade mortars. A senior Hamas official says that the group has taken a decision to halt suicide operations in Israel but does not intend to announce it publicly. Nr. Tubas, a Palestinian shepherd is seriously injured when he steps on a land mine thought to have been buried by the IDF (see 11/22). (AFP, LAW, PCHR 12/19; NYT, WP 12/20; WP 12/21, 12/22)

Israeli, PA security officials hold talks on possible new security arrangements in the West Bank. (NYT 12/20; WT 12/21)

Israeli-Palestinian clashes abate slightly but are still at a relatively high level, leaving 1 Israeli civilian (a worker on a road crew nr. Ariel settlement) dead in a West Bank shooting. Bush phones Arafat, Sharon to urge both sides to contain violence. Sustained gun battles are reported nr. Gilo settlement outside Jerusalem, in Rafah. Palestinians fire 4 mortars, 12 homemade grenades at targets in Gaza; detonate a roadside bomb in the West Bank. IDF tanks enter 4 PA-controlled areas nr. Khuza in Gaza to bulldoze agricultural land, shell a PSF post; conduct an arrest sweep in Atil village. The PSF arrests the Palestinian owner of an iron-casting company on charges of manufacturing mortars. (AP 5/23; WP, MM, NYT, PCHR, WT 5/24)

Israeli-Palestinian clashes continue. Late this evening, the IDF helicopter gunships, naval boats shells PSF posts across the Gaza Strip specifically targeting, destroying at least 8 PSF armored personnel carriers, not aiming at adjacent PSF buildings; 3 PSF officers are wounded. The IDF says the attacks were in response to the "unprecedented number of mortar attacks" (they report 17) on Jewish settlements in Gaza in the past wk. The IDF also sends tanks, bulldozers into Rafah to demolish 2 Palestinian homes; 2 other homes are damaged by shelling. (MA 5/13 in WNC 5/14; WP, WT 5/14; PCHR 5/17)

As Israeli-Palestinian clashes continue, 2 Jewish settler teenagers (1 of whom is a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen) are found beaten to death in a cave nr. Bethlehem; the pair have been missing since 5/8. Sharon calls the murders a "new escalation," blames the PA. The IDF detains 15 Palestinians for questioning. YESHA settlers council says the proper response is to accelerate settlement construction, declare Arafat an enemy of the state, bring down the PA. The IDF makes 4 incursions into PA-controlled territory: sending bulldozers covered by tanks into Rafah to demolish a Palestinian home, shell a PSF post; bulldozing Palestinian land nr. Gaza City; twice entering Bayt Hanun to bulldoze land, a PSF post. Hamas claims responsiblity for a roadside bomb on the Egypt-Gaza border that kills 2 Rumanian migrant laborers, wounds 1. Palestinians fire 2 mortars at Nissanit settlement in Gaza, causing no damage. (AP, MM 5/9; MM, NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 5/10; LAW, MM, NYT, WP, WT 5/11; WJW 5/17; MEI 5/18)

For the 1st time in 3 yrs., the Israeli government demolishes 2 bedouin homes in the Negev. (Mossawa Center press release 5/17) (see 4/26)