The Palestine Chronology

The IDF expels another 2 West Bank Palestinian administrative detainees to Gaza; demolishes at least 4 Palestinian homes in Rafah; fires on residential areas of Tarqumiyya (nr. Hebron); bulldozes 3 dunams of land in al-Mughraqa. The IDF, border police fire tear gas, percussion grenades into a peaceful crowd of more than 300 Palestinians, 30 ISM volunteers staging a nonviolent march fr. Tulkarm toward the separation wall, beating and arresting several marchers. (ISM press release 11/13; PCHR 11/20)

The IDF conducts arrest raids in Hebron (targeting the AMB), Jenin (targeting Islamic Jihad), Ramallah (targeting the AMB). Israeli border police fatally shoot a bedouin driving in the Negev when he refuses orders to stop; the Israelis suspected him of transporting illegal workers fr. the occupied territories; 10s of angry local residents demonstrate, damage police cars, throw stones at police officers. Unidentified assailants attempt to assassinate PA military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Musa Arafat, firing a rocket-propelled grenade at his office; the grenade misses, hits a prison, injuring 13 inmates. Israel announces that the Jewish settler population has increased by 5,415 during the 1st half of 2003. (HA, MM 7/24; AFP, WP 7/25; JP 7/27 in WNC 7/30; PR 7/30; PCHR 8/7)

Israeli border police open fire on an Israeli Arab vehicle nr. the Green Line that they mistakenly believe to be a carload of “terrorists” infiltrating fr. the West Bank, killing 1 Israeli Arab, wounding 1. The IDF conducts arrest raids in Jenin (targeting Islamic Jihad). Israel’s Jerusalem police arrest 200 Palestinians fr. Hebron, Nablus for being in Shu‘fat r.c., in East Jerusalem, without permits. A group of religious Jews on an Israeli police-escorted tour of the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif attempt to perform rituals there; Israeli police remove the group when Waqf guards attempt to intervene; Arafat calls the tours “provocative,” warns serious consequences may be unavoidable if Israel continues to permit such visits. (HA 7/22; HA, NYT, WP 7/23; PCHR 7/24)

The IDF shells residential areas of Khan Yunis. Israeli security arrests 12 Israeli border police for violent crimes against Palestinians, including 4 detained in connection with the 12/30/02 beating death of a Palestinian in Hebron, thought to be the 1st fatality of the Israeli forces’ "lottery." (NYT, WP 4/19; HA 4/21; LAW, MM, PCHR, WJW 4/24)

The IDF fires on stone-throwing Palestinians in al-Bireh, wounding 2; fires on, wounds a Palestinian nr. an IDF checkpoint nr. Khan Yunis for no apparent reason; fires on Palestinians at a roadblock outside Ramallah, injuring 2 children; conducts arrest raids in Dayr al-Balah, Rafah (arresting the 5 brothers of 2 wanted men who could not be found). Nr. Katzir, 2 Palestinians fire on Jewish settler vehicles, causing no damage or injuries; Israeli border police capture 1 gunman. (HA 3/23; PCHR 3/27; LAW 3/28)

The IDF bulldozes 63 shops, market stalls in Nazlat Issa, 1 of the only thriving Palestinian commercial centers, located very close to the West Bank border with Israel; maps of Israel’s planned security fence show the fence running e. of Nazlat Issa, which would cut off the village fr. the rest of the West Bank. The IDF also beats 2 Palestinian photographers for international agencies as they try to photograph an IDF jeep driving through Nablus with 2 Palestinian youths clinging to the hood, threaten to kill the journalists if they see the photo published; fires on residential areas of Bayt Lahia; conducts arrest raids (targeting Hamas, Islamic Jihad) in Hebron, Jenin r.c., Jericho, Nablus, Ramallah; demolishes a Palestinian home in Yatta, nr. Hebron. Islamic Jihad says that 2 of its low-ranking mbrs. have escaped fr. the IDF’s Ofer detention center in the West Bank. Israeli border police halt a suspicious van nr. Umm al-Fahm, just inside the Green Line; the 4 occupants of the car flee (2 into Israel, 2 into the West Bank); police find 300 kg. of explosives inside. Shin Bet arrests the wife of jailed PFLP leader Saadat at the Allenby border crossing, on her way to Jordan to fly to Brazil for a conference; gives no reason for her detention. A Palestinian dies of injuries received on 3/4/02. (BBC, HA 1/21; HA, LAW, NYT, PCHR, PM, PR, WT 1/22; PM 1/23)

Reversing an 8/18/02 decision, the Israeli High Court rules that the IDF’s "neighborhood procedure" (i.e., sending a Palestinian to warn a wanted individual to surrender to IDF troops waiting nearby) is legal, saying the IDF may not force Palestinians to act as human shields, but it may use them if they “volunteer.” (HA, WT 1/22)

The IDF raids al-Quds University in Ramallah, searches computers and files; demolishes 2 Palestinian homes in Hebron, 1 in Bayt Lahia; fires on residential areas of Canada r.c.; conducts arrest raids in al-Bireh, Jenin, Nablus (targeting the AMB), Ramallah; bulldozes 80 dunams of land in al-Qarara. IDF soldiers at Ma’ale Ephraim checkpoint halt a PRCS ambulance, search it, confiscate the paramedics IDs, order 1 paramedic at gunpoint to strip and stand in a garbage pile; when the medic refuses to remove his underwear, a soldier threatens to shoot him in the head, but the medic again refuses and is not harmed; the ambulance is held for another 3 hrs. before being ordered back to Nablus. In a 2d incident nr. Nablus, an IDF tank rams its gun barrel into an ambulance transporting a patient, lifts it off the ground, eventually allows it to proceed to the hospital. Israeli border police begin confiscating Palestinian taxis with Israeli license plates operating in East Jerusalem that are suspected of transporting illegal workers; order taxi drivers to begin checking the work permits of their passengers. (HA, PRCS press release 1/20; MM, PRCS press release 1/21; LAW, PCHR 1/22)