The Palestine Chronology

IDF undercover units raid Jenin, arresting local Islamic Jihad leader Abu Ali Kasi, 3 associates, killing 1 Palestinian bystander. The IDF also conducts arrest raids in Nablus (targeting the tanz im, PFLP), engaging in an exchange of gunfire that leaves 2 IDF soldiers, 1 Palestinian bystander wounded; demolishes a Palestinian home in Qalqilya; bulldozes 20 dunams of land in Khuza. Israeli police charge 4 Druze fr. n. Israel with conspiring to kidnap an IDF soldier. An Israeli court orders sealed the Shaykh Jarrah residences attacked by settlers on 4/27, leaving 48 Palestinians homeless. (HA, JTA 4/28; VOI 4/28 in WNC 4/29; LAW, PCHR 5/1)

As the U.S.’s 48-hr. deadline for Hussein to leave Iraq draws near, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, fearing Israel will step up attacks and impose stiff closures and curfews as soon as war on Iraq begins, close schools and businesses, hoard provisions, stay inside. Israel extends the closure on the territories (imposed 3/17 for Purim) until 3/30. The IDF demolishes a Palestinian home in Dayr al-Balah; conducts arrest raids in Jenin, al-Maghazi r.c., Qalqilya, Tulkarm. AMB gunmen ambush, fatally shoot a Jewish settler driving nr. Jenin. Israeli police arrest 3 Israeli Arabs fr. Acre on suspicion of joining Islamic Jihad, plotting attacks on Israelis. (AFP, JTA 3/19; HA, NYT, PCHR 3/20; PCHR 3/27; HA 4/3)

Abbas accepts Arafat’s nomination as PM, is given 3 wks. to form a government. (HA, MM 3/19; AYM, Interfax 3/19 in WNC 3/20; HA, NYT, WP 3/20; AYM 3/25, al-Quds 3/27 in WNC 3/28)

Just 90 mins. after the U.S. deadline passes for Hussein to leave Iraq, the U.S. makes a single strike on Baghdad, acting on intelligence of where Hussein, his top officials and sons could be found, assassinated. The strike marks the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, but not the start of the “shock and awe” air campaign that the U.S. previously indicated would launch the war. Iraqi TV airs 2 videos of Hussein that suggest he was unharmed. (MM 3/19; HA, MM, NYT, WP, WT 3/20; MM 4/21)

The IDF raids a branch of the Arab Bank in Azariyya, East Jerusalem, confiscates documents related to bank accounts belonging to Jerusalem residents allegedly linked to Hamas. A roadside bomb explodes nr. a Jewish settler bus in the West Bank, causing no injuries. A Palestinian dies of injuries received on 2/23. (HA, JTA 2/27; PCHR 3/6; LAW 3/13)

The Knesset approves (68–48) Israeli PM Ariel Sharon’s (reelected on 1/28/03) new coalition government. The 68-seat coalition includes the right-wing, pro-settler National Religious Party (6 seats), opposed to creation of a Palestinian state; the right-wing, secular nationalist Shinui (15 seats), which supports unilateral separation; and the ultraright-wing National Union Party (7 seats), which represents Jewish settlers, opposes talks with the Palestinians, and advocates expelling PA head Yasir Arafat and Palestinians from the occupied territories and annexing the land. Acting FM Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) becomes finance minister, acting Finance M Silvan Shalom (Likud) becomes FM; Likud’s Tshai Hanegbi (previously under criminal investigation by Israeli police) becomes internal security minister; Mofaz remains DM. Sharon says that the economy will be his 1st priority, the peace process his 2d; that the Palestinians would have to give up the right of return, agree to Jerusalem remaining the unified capital of Israel, and halt all violence if they want a comprehensive peace. (HA, MM, NYT, WP 2/27; NYT, WP, WT 2/28; MA 2/28 in WNC 3/3; WT 3/1; MEI 3/7)