The Palestine Chronology

Unidentified Palestinians fire a rocket fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. The body of a Palestinian initially reported missing after the IDF’s 8/25 air strike on the Rafah border is recovered fr. a destroyed smuggling tunnel. (WJW, PCHR 9/3)

In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubbercoated steel bullets, sound bombs, tear gas at Palestinian and international activists taking part in a nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Ni‘lin (10s suffer fr. tear gas inhalation) and at Palestinian activists, some of whom throw stones at IDF troops, demonstrating against the separation wall in Bil‘in (injuring 1 Palestinian and exposing 10s of others to tear gas); closes the entrance to al-Ma‘sara, fires sound bombs and tear gas at Palestinian and international activists taking part in a nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall there, beating a number of them (injuring 2, including a 9-yr.-old child); conducts late-night raids, house searches in Nablus and nearby ‘Ayn Bayt al-Ma’ r.c., nr. Ramallah, arresting 6 Palestinians (including 1 woman). In Hebron, 3 Jewish settlers fr. Ramat Yishai beat a 12-yr.-old Palestinian child; the IDF observes but does not intervene. (PCHR 9/3)

On the 1st Friday of Ramadan, the IDF enforces age restrictions announced on 8/23 limiting Palestinian access to Jerusalem for prayers; an estimated 60,000 Palestinians enter the city. (OCHA, PCHR 9/3; OCHA Humanitarian Monitor 9/09)

The IDF makes a brief incursion into s. Gaza to level land and clear lines of sight e. of Abasan, Khuza, and al-Fukhari villages. (PCHR 8/27)

In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubbercoated steel bullets, sound bombs, tear gas, skunk (a foul-smelling liquid) at Palestinians and international activists taking part in a nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Ni‘lin (10s suffer fr. tear gas inhalation); fires rubber-coated steel bullets, sound bombs, tear gas and violently beats a number of Palestinian and international activists taking part in a nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in al-Ma‘sara (injuring 2, including 1 teenager); fires rubber-coated bullets, sound bombs, tear gas at Palestinian activists, some of whom throw stones at IDF troops, taking part in a demonstration against the separation wall in Bil‘in (10s suffer fr. tear gas inhalation); implements additional security restrictions on the movements of Palestinians in the old city of Hebron, which prevents a number of them fr. entering the al-Ibrahimi Mosque/ Tomb of the Patriarchs for Friday prayers; conducts late-night raids, house searches in Surif village nr. Hebron, arresting 2 Palestinians. (OCHA 8/25; PCHR 8/27)

Israeli naval boats fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the Rafah coast to force them back to shore, seriously wounding a 12-yr.-old Palestinian boy on the beach with a gunshot to the head. In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, stun grenades, skunk at stone-throwing Palestinians protesting the separation wall in Bil‘in; fires rubbercoated steel bullets, tear gas, percussion grenades at Palestinian and international activists holding nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall in al-Ma‘sara and Ni‘lin, causing no major injuries; conducts late-night house searches in and around Jenin, making no arrests. In Rafah, Hamas police and Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades (IQB) mbrs. attempt to arrest SCG leader Shaykh ‘Abd al-Latif Musa, surrounding his mosque during Friday prayers, sparking a 7-hr. battle that leaves 24 Palestinians dead (12 SCG, 6 Hamas, 6 bystanders), 130 injured (including a boy inside Egyptian Rafah), and 95 SCG supporters under arrest. The dead include Shaykh Musa, who reportedly commits suicide by detonating an explosives belt, killing s. Gaza IQB cmdr. Muhammad Jibril Shamali, who led the raid. (Agence France-Presse 8/14; MNA, NYT, WP, WT 8/16; Jerusalem Post, OCHA, PCHR 8/20)

Israel allows 973 Palestinians to transit through the Rafah crossing (881 going into Egypt, 92 returning to Gaza). In the West Bank, IDF troops catch a Palestinian man attempting to scale the separation wall in al-Ram to gain access to Jerusalem to find work; they force the man to stand on top of the wall and jump to the ground, causing him to fracture both legs; they then order him to crawl to a military jeep where they handcuff him before giving him medical attention. The IDF also fires rubbercoated steel bullets, stun grenades, tear gas, and skunk at stone-throwing Palestinians protesting the separation wall in Bil‘in; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades, tear gas at Palestinian and international activists demonstrating against the separation wall in Ni‘lin, causing no serious injuries; fire stun grenades and tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists nr. Nablus protesting the IDF’s bulldozing of large areas of Palestinian land for the expansion of Brakha settlement. (OCHA, PCHR 8/13)