The Palestine Chronology

Violence escalates in the West Bank as settlers and Israeli forces continue retaliating against Palestinians in the wake of the 10/1 killing of 2 settlers. Israeli settlers protest on a main road outside Nablus, and the IDF disperses the ensuing clashes with stonethrowing Palestinian youths. Meanwhile, settlers set fire to dozens of olive trees and Palestinian agricultural land nr. Nablus, and throw stones at drivers nr. Salfit, injuring 3 Palestinian medics. Late at night, IDF troops conduct raids in and around Nablus searching for the perpetrators of the killing; they arrest 10 Palestinians and deliver a demolition notice to the home of a suspect. Clashes erupt with stone-throwers, and the IDF injures 11 youths with live ammunition. Elsewhere in the West Bank, IDF troops violently disperse Palestinian, Israeli, and international protesters at demonstrations against the Israeli occupation and recent access restrictions at Haram al-Sharif in 6 areas nr. Ramallah (Bil‘in, Ni‘lin, Nabi Salih, Silwad, Jalazun r.c., and Budrus), Kafr Qaddum nr. Qalqilya, and 2 areas nr. Hebron; 6 Palestinians are injured, including 1 journalist. Israeli forces arrest 6 Palestinians in connection with clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli settlers the day before in a village outside Bethlehem. IDF troops clash with Palestinian stonethrowers during patrols in and around Hebron, and outside Nablus Palestinian youths throw stones at 2 Israeli settlers, causing light injuries. Violence also continues in East Jerusalem, with the Israeli authorities continuing to enforce the restrictions on access at Haram al-Sharif that were announced on 9/27 for the Jewish holiday Sukkoth. Israeli forces temporarily seal the entrances to Issawiyya and shoot stun grenades at residents who approach their mobile checkpoints, sparking intermittent clashes; 1 Palestinian is seriously injured. Palestinian youths throw stones at Israeli border police in the Old City, causing minor injuries. On Gaza’s s. border, Israeli forces arrest 7 Palestinians attempting to cross into Israel for work. Israeli forces level land nr. Khan Yunis during a limited incursion along the border fence. (MNA, TOI 10/2; MNA 10/3; PCHR 10/8)

In the Gaza Strip, IDF troops on the n. border open fire on 2 Palestinian men trying to enter Israel, injuring and detaining 1. In the West Bank, the IDF arrests 15 Palestinians nr. Qalqilya on charges relating to the 12/25 Molotov cocktail attack. Israeli soldiers shoot and injure 4 Palestinians with rubber-coated metal bullets during clashes nr. Tulkarm and Hebron. Later, Israeli settlers clash with stonethrowing Palestinians in Bayt Umar, injuring 1 Israeli. IDF troops violently disperse Palestinian, Israeli, and international protesters at weekly demonstrations against Israel’s separation wall, settlements, and occupation in villages nr. Ramallah (Bil‘in, Nabi Salih, and Ni‘lin) and Qalqilya (Kafr Qaddum), injuring 4. The IDF conducts house searches and arrest raids in Jalazun r.c.; patrols nr. Ramallah, Hebron, Jericho, and Tulkarm. Elsewhere, Israeli settlers accompanied by IDF troops enter a village nr. Jenin to perform religious rites. PA security forces shoot and injure a Palestinian teenager during overnight clashes with stone-throwing residents in al-Fara‘a r.c. nr. Nablus. In East Jerusalem, a Palestinian man stabs 2 Israeli border police guards nr. the Old City, injuring them both. Separately, Israeli forces arrest a Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) leader at a mobile checkpoint between Jerusalem and Jericho, and a Palestinian youth in Ras alAmud. Israeli forces also conduct a raid in Wadi al-Juz, sparking clashes with stonethrowing residents; 1 Palestinian is injured and arrested. (JP, MNA, TOI, YA 12/26; IMEMC 12/27; PCHR 12/31)

In the Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian authorities complete a survey of the 1,200 homes between 500 and 1,000 m of the border with Gaza and prepare to begin demolitions, as announced on 11/17. (MNA 12/27; DNE 12/29; ALM 12/30)

Israelis in Sederot close schools, demand government action after Palestinians fire 3 more rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. Egyptian border police demolish a smuggling tunnel on the Rafah border. In the West Bank, the IDF raids, searches several Hamas-run charities in Nablus, confiscating documents, computers and sealing the offices; patrols in, fires on residential areas of ‘Azun nr. Qalqilya (also firing on stone-throwing youths who confront them, wounding 2 children, ages 13 and 14), Sa‘ir nr. Hebron (seriously wounding 1 Palestinian); conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, in Qabatya nr. Jenin and Tulkarm r.c., and nr. Hebron. The Israeli High Court rules that the separation wall around Bil‘in, site of weekly nonviolent protests, must be moved westward to prevent the de facto annexation of more han half of the village’s agricultural land, rejecting the government’s claim that a wide buffer zone was needed to protect nearby Mod’in Ilit settlement and determining that the original route took into consideration plans to expand the settlement “as much as possible”; the decision gives the government a “reasonable period of time” to take down and move portions of the wall, which is expected to return 250 acres of land to Bil‘in residents. In Gaza City, the previously unheard-of Security Members Martyrs Brigade took responsibility for detonating a bomb under the car of a prominent Hamas mbr. in Gaza City, causing no injuries; the group is thought to be made up of Fatah security officers still in Gaza who have been underground since Hamas took over in mid6/07. Suspected Fatah mbrs. also fire on an ESF patrol, causing no injuries. In Rafah, ESF officers fire on Fatah mbrs. writing proFatah graffiti, wounding 3. (BBC 9/4; IFM, NYT, OCHA, WP, WT 9/5; PCHR, WT 9/6)