The Palestine Chronology

As many as 35 unidentified gunmen attack an Egyptian checkpoint near the Rafah border, fatally shooting 16 Egyptian security officers and wounding 3. Some of the assailants then steal 2 armored personnel carriers, which they pack with explosives and drive toward Kerem Shalom commercial crossing, where the borders of Egypt, Israel, and Gaza meet. The IDF calls in an air strike on the vehicles as they breach the border, killing at least 3 assailants. No group takes responsibility. Egypt seals the Rafah border crossing into Gaza as a precaution. Israel shuts the Israeli-Egypt side of Kerem Shalom and halts fuel shipments to Gaza through the Israel-Gaza side, but otherwise continues to allow limited imports of goods from Israel to Gaza. Hamas authorities in Gaza deny any Palestinian involvement, call the attack ‘‘terrorism,’’ and close smuggling tunnels from their side as well, stating that ‘‘Palestinian resistance factions are committed to fighting only against the Israeli occupation, and they launch their operations only from the Palestinian territories.’’ (MNA, NYT, WP 8/6; NYT 8/7)

An Israeli warplane makes an air strike on Rafah targeting 2 Tawhid and Jihad mbrs. as they ride a motorcycle through Rafah, assassinating Eid Oukal and wounding Ahmad Said Isma‘il; Israel accuses the men of being behind the 6/18 Sinai attack that killed an Israeli Palestinian worker and of plotting other crossborder attacks on Israeli civilians; no mention is made of the Sinai attack earlier in the day. Later, unidentified Palestinians fire 2 Qassam rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. The IDF responds by directing artillery fire and shooting from helicopters at the demolished Dahaniyya airport site and open areas e. of Rafah for several hours, causing no reported injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in 1 village nr. Ramallah in the morning; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Bethlehem, Hebron, and Ramallah. (NYT, PCHR 8/6; PCHR 8/9; OCHA 8/10)

The PA cancels plans to host a meeting in Ramallah of foreign envoys representing the Non-Aligned Movement to express solidarity with the Palestinians, stating that Israel has refused to grant entry permits to the representatives of Algeria, Bangladesh, Cuba, Indonesia, and Malaysia on the grounds that their countries do not recognize the State of Israel. The PA reportedly (NYT 8/6) intended to announce plans to revive its UN statehood effort at the opening of the next UNGA session in 9/2012. The group was also expected to release a ‘‘Ramallah Declaration’’ denouncing Israeli settlement expansion. (NYT, WP 8/6)

Iran airs the confessions of more than a dozen alleged conspirators to the killing of 5 nuclear scientists since 2010, claiming that the suspects were trained in Israel by the Mossad. (WP 8/6)

In the morning, IDF troops on the n. Gaza border w. of the Erez crossing direct gunfire and 1 artillery shell at open areas around the former Nisanit settlement site, causing no reported injuries. IDF troops on the n. Gaza border nr. Bayt Lahiya launch 4 artillery shells at open areas near the border, causing no reported injuries. Late at night, Israeli warplanes make a total of 7 air strikes on greenhouses and open areas nr. the Bayt Lahiya border in the north, a suspected weapons factory in c. Gaza, and a smuggling tunnel on the Rafah border, causing no injuries. A Palestinian civilian dies of injuries sustained in a 11/14/01 IDF air strike on a UNRWA school in Khan Yunis. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes 9 Palestinian stores in al-Oja village in the Jordan Valley, n. of Jericho; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Ramallah (where they target the home of Hamas-affiliated Reform and Change PC mbr. ‘Abd al-Jabir Fuqaha, arresting him, summoning his son for interrogation, and confiscating his computer, phone, and files), in Nablus, and nr. Hebron; conducts late-night patrols in 1 village nr. Qalqilya (summoning 3 Palestinians for interrogation). In East Jerusalem’s Shaykh Jarrah neighborhood, Israeli security forces raid the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office and a protest tent outside, detaining Hamas-affiliated PC mbrs. Muhammad Toutah and Khalid Abu Arafa, who had been living at the ICRC offices since 6/2010 to protest Israel’s 9/2009 decision to revoke their Jerusalem IDs on the grounds that they are affiliated with a “terrorist organization” (i.e., Hamas); Israeli authorities expel them to the West Bank. Hamasaffiliated PC mbr. Ismail Ashkar comments, “Every time we move toward reconciliation and reactivating the Palestinian parliament, we see Israel targeting our lawmakers.” (AFP, JP, NYT, YA 1/24; WP, WT 1/25; PCHR 1/26; OCHA 1/27)

Israeli embassies and mission in the Hague, Brussels, London, New York, Boston, and Houston receive envelopes containing a suspicious white powder that turns out to be flour, raising fears of an anthrax attack. No one takes responsibility. (DS 1/24; JPI 2/3)

Netanyahu warns Hamas that Israel will retaliate if rocket and mortar fire fr. Gaza resumes. Though no rocket or mortar fire is reported during the day, the IDF makes a late-night air strike on a smuggling tunnel on the Rafah border, causing no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in 4 villages nr. Jenin, Ramallah, and Tulkarm during the day and 1 nr. Jericho late at night; raids 2 villages nr Qalqilya late in the evening, searching homes for Palestinian youths who allegedly threw stones at troops earlier in the day, arresting 1 teenager. (WT 3/29; PCHR 3/31; OCHA 4/1)

The Knesset passes (37-11, with 72 abstaining or not voting) into law the “Citizenship Loyalty Law” which allows the court to revoke the citizenship status of anyone found guilty of treason, espionage, terrorism, or assisting a terrorist organization. The law is widely seen as being aimed at Israeli Palestinians. Knesset also votes to strip former Israeli Arab MK Azmi Bishara of his parliamentary benefits, including his pension. (Israel National News 3/29; JTA 3/30; JPI 4/8)

For the 1st time since 6/07, Abbas meets with 4 West Bank Hamas officials in an effort to encourage them to split fr. their Gaza counterparts. In Nablus, the PA deploys a new 308-mbr. policing unit trained by Western advisers at a multimillion dollar training facility in Jericho; they will form part of a new National Security Force unit set up to “operate in coordination with Israeli forces to fight crime and terrorism” as part of Abbas’s new security effort “to restore law and order” in the West Bank, in keeping with road map requirements; the unit will patrol during the day only, while the IDF will continue night operations. In Gaza, the IDF makes an air strike on an ESF post nr. Rafah, killing 1 ESF officer, wounding 3. Nr. Bayt Hanun, 2 Palestinians are injured when a mortar they are preparing misfires. A Palestinian is injured when a smuggling tunnel under the Rafah border collapses. In the West Bank, the IDF lifts the round-the-clock curfew on ‘Azun imposed on 10/31; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Tulkarm town, r.c. and nr. Qalqilya; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, percussion grenades, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Bil‘in (injuring 1 demonstrator, 1 journalist). Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba and Harsina in Hebron attack, vandalize nearby Palestinian homes, also beating 1 Palestinian. (NYT, WT 11/3; NYT 11/6; OCHA 11/7; PCHR 11/8; NYT 11/14)