The Palestine Chronology

The White House abandons efforts to persuade Israel to impose a 90-day settlement construction freeze and takes its generous package of diplomatic and security incentives off the table. The message comes days before senior Israeli and Palestinian negotiators plan to meet in Washington for further talks on the peace process and before U.S. Secy. of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to make a major Middle East policy statement on 12/10. (NYT, WP, WT 12/8)

The IDF makes a brief incursion e. of al-Bureij r.c. in c. Gaza to level lands along the border fence, firing on surrounding areas, causing no reported injuries. Unidentified Palestinians fire 2 mortars fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. Late in the evening, the IDF responds with air strikes on a poultry farm nr. Khan Yunis (an alleged arms cache) and at a smuggling tunnel on the Rafah border, causing no injuries. In the West Bank, IDF escorts plain-clothed individuals into Rafat village nr. Salfit in the morning; the group pauses outside the local mosque, pointing at it and taking notes. The IDF also conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Hebron and nr. Nablus, and patrols in Anabta village nr. Tulkarm. In Israel, 47 state-employed Israeli rabbis issue an open letter distributed in synagogues and religious journals saying that it is prohibited by the Torah to sell or rent a house or a field in the land of Israel to non-Jews. Netanyahu denounces the letter. (JP 12/7; WT, YA 12/8; PCHR 12/9; OCHA 12/10; JPI 12/17)

Israeli municipal authorities in Jerusalem demolish 9 Palestinian shops in Hizma village in the East Jerusalem suburbs. The IDF makes a brief incursion into n. Gaza to level land along the border fence to clear lines of sight. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes a mosque, 1 Palestinian home, and 10 storehouses in Khirbat Yazra village nr. Tubas, displacing 15 Palestinians; demolishes another Palestinian home in Yatta village nr. Hebron, displacing 25 Palestinians; conducts rare daytime arrest raids, searches nr. Jenin, Tulkarm; patrols in Tulkarm and Kharbatha al-Misbah village nr. Ramallah in the afternoon, firing rubber-coated steel bullets and beating several stone-throwing Palestinian youths who confront them; conducts latenight arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. (PCHR 12/2; OCHA 12/3)

In a bid to secure the backing of rightwing coalition partners for a package of U.S. guarantees for a short extension of the settlement freeze, Netanyahu proposes legislation that would require those becoming Israeli citizens to pledge a loyalty oath to “the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state,” as opposed to simply “the State of Israel” as it is now worded. (NYT 10/7, 10/8; WP 10/11)

Unidentified Palestinians fire 2 Qassam rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. The IDF retaliates with a late-night air strike on an IQB training site in the Shaykh Ridwan area of Gaza City, destroying a building, damaging 30 surrounding buildings and 3 cars, and injuring 6 Palestinian civilians. In the West Bank, the IDF makes a brief incursion into Tulkarm early in the morning to photograph the entrances of a police station, the local PASF and PA General Intelligence headquarters, and a PASF medical services building, withdrawing without incident; blocks Palestinians from joining a solidarity rally with Jewish settlers outside Bayt Fajjar village (site of a mosque arson on 10/4), sparking clashes between stonethrowing Palestinian youths and soldiers (no serious injuries reported); patrols late at night, without incident in 2 villages n. of Jenin; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in ‘Ayn Bayt al-Ma’a r.c. and Zawata village, both nr. Nablus. The Israeli daily Ha’Aretz reports that nearly 350 housing units are currently under construction in West Bank settlements, including 56 in Keddumim nr. Qalqilya, 54 in Ariel n. of Salfit, 56 in Karme Tzur; 24 within Ma’ate Binyamin regional council area (nr. Jerusalem and Ramallah), 34 in Kiryat Arba, and 1 each in Barqan, Dolev, Kefar Adumim, Kochav HaShachar, Oranit, Revava, Sha’are Tikva, Tekoa, and Yakir. (HA, JP 10/6; NYT, PCHR, REU, YA 10/7; PCHR 10/14; OCHA 10/15)

IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction materials in the fmr. settlement sites, wounding 1. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night patrols in Zayta village nr. Tulkarm, detaining 2 Palestinian men for questioning, but releasing them when they withdraw hrs. later. In an act of reconciliation, rabbis fr. the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, escorted by the IDF and PASF, bring new Qur’ans to the Bayt Fajjar mosque burned on 10/4, saying they are “sorry and ashamed” by the arson. A PA security court in Ramallah sentences IQB mbr. Alaa Hisham Diab to 20 yrs. in prison for his participation in a 5/09 shootout in Qalqilya that left 3 PASF officers and 2 IQB mbrs. dead. Hamas denounces the verdict, saying that the apparent “lack of legality of the courts that issue these verdicts” and the timing of “these verdicts . . . while there is talk of coming closer to reaching internal reconciliation” are disturbing. (AFP, MNA 10/5; UNSCO, WP, WT 10/6; PCHR 10/7; OCHA 10/8)

In the West Bank, the IDF patrols without incident in 2 villages nr. Tulkarm and 1 nr. Jenin in the morning; enters Azun village nr. Qalqilya in the evening, closing the main road No. 55 toward the village, sealing all the entrances to the village, and searching nearby fields for 2 hrs. looking for Palestinian youths who threw stones at passing troops (no arrests are made); conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Jenin town and r.c. and nr. Ramallah. Jewish settlers set fire to a mosque in Bayt Fajjar nr. Bethlehem and write “revenge” and “price tag” in Hebrew near the doorway. Netanyahu denounces the incident and orders security forces to “act firmly to quickly uncover the criminals and bring them to justice.” DM Barak calls the assailants “terrorist(s) in every sense of the word.” (JAZ, MNA, YA 10/4; NYT, WP 10/5; PCHR 10/7; OCHA 10/8)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts patrols without incident in 3 villages nr. Tulkarm and 1 nr. Jericho during the day, and in 2 villages nr. Salfit and 1 nr. Qalqilya late at night. Jewish settlers attempt to break into al-‘Ayn Mosque in Silwan in East Jerusalem but are confronted by Palestinians and removed by Israeli security forces. (PCHR 9/2; OCHA 9/3)

Israel deports to the Gaza Strip 2 Gazans found living illegally in Beersheba; the IDF sends them through the Israeli side of the Erez crossing but the men refuse to move through to the 150-m transit area to the Palestinian side, demanding they be allowed to return to Israel; IDF troops fire warning shots at them for more than 2 hrs. before forcing them to enter Gaza. Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the Bayt Lahiya coast, forcing them to return to shore. The UN reports that since 4/28, 1 Palestinian has been killed in a tunnel collapse and 4 Palestinians have been killed and 9 injured when they were overcome by gas fumes while smuggling fuel through a tunnel. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes 1 Palestinian home nr. the separation wall southwest of Bethlehem, leaving 8 Palestinians homeless; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Nablus. Jewish settlers set a fire destroying a mosque in Luban al-Sharqiyya nr. Nablus, an act Abbas says may jeopardize proximity talks. Jewish settlers also set fire to a Palestinian olive grove outside Hawara. The attacks are thought to be in response to the IDF demolition of structures in Shavei Shomron settlement on 5/2—part of the settlers price-tag doctrine to retaliate against Palestinians (and occasionally the IDF) in reaction to any attempt to curb settlement activity. (NYT, WP 5/5; OCHA, PCHR 5/6)

The IDF makes a brief incursion 250 m into Gaza e. of Jabaliya to level land along the border to clear lines of sight. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes 1 Palestinian home nr. Bethlehem; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in ‘Askar r.c. nr. Nablus, al-Fara‘a r.c. nr. Tubas and nr. Bethlehem, Ramallah. Jewish settlers vandalize a Palestinian mosque, burn 3 Palestinian cars in Hawara village. (PCHR, WP 4/15; OCHA, PCHR 4/22)

IDF troops make an incursion 500 m into Gaza nr. Wadi al-Silqa village to level 9 d. of agricultural land. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in al-Am‘ari r.c., Jenin.

In Jerusalem, Israeli security forces seal entrances of Jerusalem’s Old City to Palestinians, deploy 200 security officers inside the al-Aqsa Mosque compound (locking the doors of the mosque and corralling Palestinian worshipers), escort 500 Jewish settlers to pray at the site for Purim; when some 20 masked Palestinians inside the compound stone tourists below the wall, Israeli riot police fire rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, stun grenades at the Palestinians in the compound, injuring 6; Israeli police escort settlers away around noon, but small clashes continue in alleyways around the mosque, leaving 10s more Palestinians and 4 Israeli police lightly injured and at least 7 Palestinians under arrest.

Israel’s Jerusalem district court orders Palestinian resident of Jerusalem Mansur Abu Gharbiyya expelled for 2 yrs. for “participating in public activities” (not further specified). (NYT, WT 3/1; OCHA, PCHR 3/4)

IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire on Palestinians scavenging material from destroyed buildings 400 m fr. the border, forcing them to flee; no injuries are reported. Shortly after, the same IDF unit shells the area where the Palestinians had been scavenging as well as a Palestinian home in Bayt Lahiya, causing damage but no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in Bayt Rima nr. Ramallah during the day; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. Some 50 Jewish settlers break into the ancient Na’aran synagogue in Palestinian-controlled area A in Jericho to hold religious services, declaring their hopes of “renewing Jewish settlement in Jericho”; the IDF removes the settlers, arresting at least 35. Jewish settlers escorted by IDF troops enter Kafr Haris village n. of Salfit to perform Jewish prayers at monuments in the village. (HA 2/22; PCHR 2/24; OCHA 2/25)

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu adds 2 key West Bank Jewish shrines, the Tomb of the Patriarchs (known as alIbrahimi Mosque to Palestinians) in the center of Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb just inside Bethlehem, to Israel’s national heritage sites, allocating $1 m. for their maintenance and repair as part of a $100 m. project to refurbish and link 150 national heritage sites, creating a “historical biblical trail [to] educate the next generation about Jewish and Zionist history.” The PA condemns the action. (IFM 2/21; PCHR, WT 2/22; NYT 2/23; JPI 3/4)

In Gaza, IDF troops on the s. Gaza border e. of al-Qarara exchange cross-border fire with armed Palestinians, causing no reported injuries; Israeli naval vessels then shell the area, injuring 3 armed Palestinians, damaging a mosque. IDF troops in observation towers on the Gaza border e. of Jabaliya fire on Palestinian farmers working land 400 m fr. the border (outside Israel’s no-go zone), forcing them to leave. Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the n. Gaza coast, forcing them to return to shore. Late in the evening, IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire at Palestinian homes in Bayt Hanun for 40 mins., causing no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF opens fire on a Palestinian vehicle driving nr. Husan village w. of Bethlehem, wounding 3 Palestinians (ages 17–21), claiming they fired on an IDF patrol; fires tear gas, stun grenades at Palestinians attempting to reach their agricultural land inside a closed military zone nr. Hebron, injuring an 8-yr.-old Palestinian boy; raids and seals (until 2/28) 2 Palestinian organizations in Sur Bahir nr. Jerusalem; imposes a late-night curfew on, conducts house searches in al-Zubaydat village nr. Jericho. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron throw stones and bottles at Palestinian houses in nearby Wadi Husayn, injuring a 7-yr.-old Palestinian boy. Jewish settlers fr. Shilo settlement n. of Ramallah seize 10 d. of Palestinian agricultural land to expand their settlement. (PCHR 2/24; OCHA 2/25)

In Gaza, Hamas officials confirm that 1 Hamas mbr. was killed and 3 injured in an explosion in n. Gaza caused by mishandled explosives. In the West Bank, the IDF raids an elementary school in Bayt Za‘ta and several homes in al-‘Arub r.c., both n. of Hebron, questioning children regarding stone-throwing at IDF jeeps operating in the area, arresting 2 children (ages 14 and 17) in al-‘Arub r.c.; makes an incursion into al-Bireh in the evening, surrounding a mosque and checking the IDs of worshipers, making no arrests; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Bil‘in and Ni‘lin (arresting Palestinian organizers of the weekly demonstrations against the separation wall) and nr. Hebron, Tubas. Jewish settlers fr. Gil’ad attack Palestinian farmers working their nearby land. (NYT 1/12; OCHA 1/13; PCHR 1/14)