The Palestine Chronology

Overnight, the IDF conducts air strikes on the home of PRC mbr. ‘Amr Qarmut in Jabaliya r.c. in what may be an assassination attempt (causing damage but no injuries), a Hamas-run school in Gaza City (injuring 23 Palestinians), and a cultural center in Bayt Hanun run by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), causing damage but no injuries; arrests 207 Palestinians (mostly Hamas and Islamic Jihad mbrs., including Hamas political leaders Shaykh Hasan Yusuf and Muhammad Ghazzal) in the largest raids across the West Bank since 2/05. During the day, Sharon says that he has given the IDF “free rein” to act against Palestinians firing rockets. The IDF continues to mass troops on the n. Gaza border, breaks the sound barrier over Gaza roughly every 2 hrs., fires artillery shells fr. Nahal Oz into open areas nr. Bayt Hanun as a warning to Palestinians (marking Israel’s 1st shelling of Gaza since 1967); fires missiles fr. F-16s at a car s. of Gaza City, assassinating senior Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad Shaykh Khalil, Islamic Jihad mbr. Nassir Barhum, wounding 4 bystanders. In the evening, Hamas agrees to stop rocket attacks immediately. Later, an IDF helicopter gunship strikes 3 targets in Khan Yunis, including the homes of senior AMB mbrs. Ziyad Abu Hayya and Mahir al-Farra in what may be assassination attempts, causing heavy damage, injuring 17 Palestinians; the IDF says it is targeting AMB arms storage facilities. A 12-yr.-old Palestinian wounded in the 9/23 Jabaliya explosion dies, bringing that toll to at least 16. (AFP, AP, HA, IMEMC, JAZ, WP, WT, XIN, YA 9/25; CSM, HA, IMEMC, JP, NYT, WP, WT 9/26; HA 9/27; AFP, DS, MEI, PCHR 9/29)

Today’s Independent (9/25) reports that a new book by 2 prominent Israeli journalists, Ofer Shelah and Raviv Druker, states that “at a conference of officers as early as May 2001, Shaul Mofaz, now defense minister and then chief of staff, asked for the tape to be switched off before telling them that he wanted a ‘price’ exacted from the Palestinians of 10 killed a day on each of the army’s seven fronts.” The book also reports that after 6 IDF soldiers were killed in an ambush in 3/02, “Mofaz personally ordered a revenge operation in which for the first time [sic—see “Overview of Israeli Military Operations,” Resource File Doc. A, JPS 134] Palestinian police officers would be shot, whether they posed a threat or not.” (Independent 9/25)

The IDF pulls out of Khan Yunis, suspending Operation Violet Iron, leaving a total of 14 Palestinian homes demolished, 21 severely damaged. Overnight, the IDF launches a 1-day incursion, Operation Autumn Wind, into n. Gaza to surround Bayt Hanun, Bayt Lahiya, Jabaliya r.c. in response to Palestinian rocket (7 total over the past 3 days) and mortar fire that wounded 1 Israeli civilian in the Erez industrial zone, lightly wounded 1 Israeli in Sederot; exchanges fire with armed Palestinians; shoots and seriously wounds a Palestinian cameraman covering clashes in Bayt Hanun, evacuates him to Israel. The IDF also bulldozes 15 d. of land in Dayr al-Balah; fires on residential areas of Rafah; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Bani Na‘im, Dura, Nablus and nearby Burqa, Tulkarm r.c., Tura al-Gharbiyya nr. Jenin. In Hebron, AMB mbrs. ambush, fatally shoot an Israeli security guard fr. Kiryat Arba settlement. (PCHR, PM 1/2; VOI 1/2 in WNC 1/4; NYT 1/3; PR 1/5; PCHR 1/6)

The IDF continues operations in Khan Yunis, shelling residential areas, wounding 8 Palestinians; shells residential areas of Jabaliya r.c., killing a 10-yr.-old Palestinian girl. The IDF further tightens restrictions on Palestinian movement in Hebron (see 12/31); imposes a 2-day curfew on Husan. The IDF also raids Tulkarm r.c., occupies the roofs of several houses, shoots and wounds a Palestinian resistance mbr. in what may be an assassination; the wounded man escapes; the IDF raids a medical center, the local hospital in an unsuccessful search for him. (PR 1/5; PCHR 1/6)