The Palestine Chronology

The IDF makes an air strike on a moving car in Gaza, assassinating senior Islamic Jihad military cmdr. Muhammad Dadu, killing 3 bystanders and wounding 4; patrols in Balata r.c. late in the evening, fatally shooting a Palestinian woman who comes to her window to observe events; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Tulkarm town and r.c., nr. Hebron, Jenin. Meanwhile, a bomb explodes at the PA General Intelligence Service (GIS) offices in Gaza, seriously wounding GIS chief Tariq Abu Rajab in an apparent assassination attempt, killing his bodyguard, wounding 8 others (unidentified gunmen shot, wounded a bodyguard outside Abu Rajab’s home on 5/14); PA security forces taking the wounded to the hospital fire fr. the windows of their cars to clear the streets; mbrs. of the ESF, believing themselves under attack, fire toward the convoy, causing no injuries. No group takes responsibility for the bombing; PA PM Ismail Haniyeh calls for an investigation. In response to the attempt on Abu Rajab’s life, a group calling itself the Fatah Protection Unit demands that PA Pres. Mahmud Abbas dismiss the Hamas-led government and call new elections, that the Interior Min. disband the ESF. Unidentified Palestinian gunmen fire on the home of Interior Min. spokesman Khalid Abu Hilal, causing damage but no injuries. (JAZ, PNN 5/20; MENA, PSCT, VOI 5/20 in WNC 5/21; NYT, WP, WT 5/21; AFP, Daily Star, HA, MM 5/22; PCHR 5/25)

The IDF opens the Qarni crossing (closed 5/13) for exports only but closes the Sufa crossing; sends undercover units in a car with Palestinian license plates into Nablus in a predawn raid, besieging a Palestinian house, fatally shooting 2 Islamic Jihad mbrs. in an hrs.-long exchange of gunfire, wounding and arresting a 3d, and causing a 78-yr.-old Palestinian bystander to suffer a fatal heart attack, occupying a home as an observation post; conducts arrest raids, house searches in ‘Ayn Bayt al-Ma’ refugee camp (r.c.) nr. Nablus, Jenin town and r.c. and nr. Bethlehem, Hebron, Ramallah. The PA Interior Min. begins deploying Interior M Said Siyam’s new 3,000-mbr. volunteer security force, the Executive Support Force (ESF), in Gaza. The ESF is made up of members of the Palestinian resistance (largely from Hamas, around one-sixth from the Popular Resistance Comms. [PRCs]). For the 2d day, a Hamas mbr. is killed in a drive-by shooting in Gaza City; no group claims responsibility. In Ramallah, 100s of government workers protest the PA’s failure to pay wages. Discount Bank, the last Israeli bank doing business with the PA, announces that it will sever its ties with Palestinian banks in 3–6 mos. (HA, MM, Palestine Media Center 5/17; JP, MM, NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 5/18; HA, NYT 5/19; HJ, MA 5/20 in WNC 5/21; PCHR 5/25)

On the 5th day of Operation Southern Arrow, the IDF conducts an air strike on a car driving in Gaza City, killing AMB mbrs. Muhammad Abu Shari‘a and Mahmud Ajjur and seriously injuring a 3d who had just fired a rocket into Israel (causing no damage or injuries), and an air strike on a car nr. Khan Yunis, assassinating at least 6 mbrs. of the Abu Rish Brigades (ARB; a Fatah offshoot) and wounding 4 other ARB mbrs. and at least 11 bystanders; 3 Palestinian children in Jabaliya r.c. and a family of 5 in Bayt Lahiya are wounded by shrapnel in continued shelling of n. Gaza. The IDF also bars Palestinians under age 30 fr. crossing checkpoints into or out of the Jordan Valley; sends troops back into Nablus, firing on stone-throwing youths who confront them, wounding 12; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron, nr. Jenin (targeting Islamic Jihad, firing on stone-throwing youths who confront the troops); patrols in Anabta nr. Tulkarm, firing on Palestinian youths who confront the troops. Jewish settlers fr. Suissa set fire to a Palestinian home, attack Palestinian farmers, shepherds in nearby Yatta. A smugglers tunnel on the Rafah border collapses, killing 2 Palestinians. (IMEMC 4/8; Palestine Satellite Channel Television, VOI, VOP 4/8 in WNC 4/9; IMEMC, NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 4/9; PCHR 4/13)