The Palestine Chronology

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)

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces shoot and kill 1 Palestinian mbr. of Hamas’s military wing and injure 2 others in a cross-border firefight nr. Khan Yunis. The Palestinian fighters shoot and severely injure an Israeli soldier during the exchange. In the West Bank, a Palestinian man is found dead in Jericho with several stab wounds. Clashes break out between stonethrowing Palestinian youth and Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint nr. Hebron; dozens of Palestinians suffer from tear gas inhalation. More clashes break out nr. Hebron and Nablus, where 2 Palestinians are moderately injured. Israeli forces demolish 400 m of stone walls in a village nr. Nablus and 2 agricultural buildings nr. Hebron. IDF troops arrest 4 Palestinians at a checkpoint nr. Jenin; conduct house searches and arrest raids in and around Nablus and Hebron, as well as nr. Ramallah. Israeli settlers enter Salfit to perform religious rites, and settlers separately open fire on PA police officers nearby. Israeli settlers attack a Palestinian construction worker in Hebron, lightly injuring him. PA security forces conduct raids across the West Bank and detain 14 mbrs. of Hamas. In East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities return the bodies of the 2 Palestinians who were killed after attacking a synagogue in West Jerusalem on 11/18. Israel punitively held the bodies for over a mo. Israeli security forces clash with stone-throwing Palestinians in Issawiyya, and 1 Palestinian child is injured with a rubber-coated metal bullet. Israeli forces conduct arrest raids in Issawiyya, Sur al-Bahir, and al-Tur, where they also demolish 2 residential structures and a barn. (AP, HA, IMEMC, JP, MNA, TOI, WAFA, YA 12/24; HA, MEMO, WAFA 12/25; PCHR 12/31)

The World Bank transfers $31.6 m. to the PA via the Palestinian Reform and Development Plan Trust Fund. The money was donated by Australia, the UK, and Norway and will fund, among other things, emergency needs in Gaza. (WAFA 12/24; MNA 12/25)

Israeli authorities approve the construction of 380 new residences in the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Har Homa and Ramot, as well as a separate plan for 1,850 residences in Arnona. (AFP, HA, IMEMC, WAFA 12/24)

In the Gaza Strip, a bomb explodes outside a Fatah-affiliated charity, lightly injuring 2 bystanders. Shipments of domestic-use gas into Gaza resume after a dispute between local officials and the PA unity govt. is resolved on 12/10. All public institutions, ministries, and charities go on strike in protest of the PA unity govt.’s failure to pay civil servants. Several civil society organizations coordinate cleaning campaigns in Gaza’s hospitals, as the sanitation workers’ strike continues for a 10th day. IDF troops stationed along the border e. of al-Bureij arrest 2 Palestinians attempting to cross into Israel. In the West Bank, 1,000s of Palestinians attend the funeral of Ziad Abu Ein in Ramallah. Palestinians gathered for the funeral clash with IDF troops in al-Bireh; 19 are injured from rubber-coated metal bullets. Meanwhile, over 100 Palestinians gather in c. Hebron to protest Abu Ein’s death, leading to 2 separate clashes with IDF soldiers. There are also demonstrations in Turmus ‘Ayya. During the day, Israeli soldiers arrest Palestinians at a checkpoints nr. Ramallah and Hebron. The IDF conducts arrest raids nr. Jenin and Hebron; patrols in Tulkarm and n. of Jenin. Late at night, unidentified assailants open fire on the home of an imprisoned Hamas MP in Hebron, causing damage. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces violently disperse 100s of Palestinians gathered to protest Abu Ein’s death in Shu‘fat r.c., Issawiyya, al-‘Izzariya, and Silwan. They conduct late-night arrest raids and house searches in Jabal Mukabir, Wadi al-Juz, Ras al-Amud, and Issawiyya. Meanwhile, 75 new security guards are added to the security detail at Haram al-Sharif in response to King Abdullah of Jordan’s request. (MNA 12/10; HA, JP, MNA, NYT 12/11; IMEMC, MNA 12/12; TOI 12/13; PCHR 12/18)

UN Special Coordinator Serry holds talks with senior Hamas official Abu Marzuq at the UN building in Gaza City. Serry calls on the PA unity govt. to take on its responsibilities stipulated in the cease-fire agreements, specifically staffing the border crossings. Outside the UN building, dozens of Palestinians gather for a sit-in protest in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. (MNA, TOI 12/11)

Egyptian pres. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi travels to Jordan to hold talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah. They discuss the draft UNSC res. that Jordan plans to introduce on behalf of the Palestinians before 12/25. Meanwhile, Jordan’s House of Deps. votes to cancel its 9/2014 gas agreement with U.S. company Noble Energy. The MPs oppose increasing Jordan’s economic ties with Israel, despite Jordan’s ongoing energy crisis. (JT, MNA 12/11; JP 12/12; NYT 12/14)

The French Senate passes a nonbinding res. inviting the govt. to recognize Palestinian statehood. The French parliament previously passed a similar res. on 12/2. Meanwhile, the Swiss govt. invites all states party to the Fourth Geneva Convention, which includes every UN mbr. and Palestine, to attend a summit on 12/17 to discuss the situation in the oPt. (AFP, AP, HA 12/11; WAFA 12/13)

In the Gaza Strip, IDF troops along the n. border open fire on a group of Palestinian youth playing nr. the fence, seriously injuring 1. Later, a separate group of Israeli soldiers nearby opens fire on a group of Palestinian men approaching the border to throw stones at the soldiers, causing no injuries. Off the coast, Israeli naval forces open fire on Palestinian fishing boats. In the West Bank, IDF troops violently disperse Palestinians gathered for a sitin protest nr. al-Shuhada Street nr. Hebron; dozens suffer from tear gas inhalation. The Shuhada checkpoint has been closed since 11/22. The IDF conducts house searches and arrest raids nr. Nablus, Hebron, and Ramallah. In East Jerusalem late at night, IDF troops conduct raids and house searches in Ras al-Amud and Wadi al-Juz. In West Jerusalem, 3 mbrs. of the anti-Arab group Lehava torch 2 classrooms in a school where Arab and Jewish students study together and leave racist graffiti on the walls. (IMEMC, JP, MNA 11/29; HA, IMEMC, MEMO, REU 11/30; PCHR 12/4; HA 12/11)

In Cairo, the Arab League agrees to politically and financially back the Palestinians’ draft UNSC res. The financial backing would come in the form of monthly $100 m. cash donations to replace transfers of any tax revenues that Israel may punitively withhold. (AFP, HA 11/29; HA, WAFA 11/30; TOI 12/1; MDW 1/9)

The IDF begins imposing new regulations (announced 3/25) on Palestinians entering Jerusalem through Qalandia crossing nr. Ramallah: only Palestinians holding a permit to enter Israel may cross, even to enter the West Bank village of al-Ram (between Qalandia and the Green Line), effectively making the crossing an international checkpoint into Israel and annexing al-Ram. IDF drones fire on the car of AMB cmdr. Muhammad Hijazi as he drives in Gaza City in an apparent assassination attempt; Hijazi survives unharmed but his aide in the car, 2 Palestinian Security Forces officers nearby are wounded. The IDF also fires artillery shells at a group of Islamic Jihad mbrs. attempting to fire a rocket in the n. Gaza no-go zone, killing 1 Islamic Jihad mbr., wounding 3; fatally shoots an Islamic Jihad al-Quds Brigade mbr. Samir Furayhat in disputed circumstances during an arrest raid on Yamun (Islamic Jihad does not claim it was an assassination); conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Bethlehem and Tulkarm, in Nablus, nr. Qalqilya. (IMEMC, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, XIN 3/27; PCHR 3/30, 4/6)

An Islamic Jihad suicide bomber fr. al-Til detonates a device at a checkpoint nr. Tulkarm, killing 1 IDF soldier, 2 Palestinians and wounding 3 IDF soldiers, 7 Palestinians. A Palestinian stabs, injures an Israeli in the Atarot industrial zone nr. Jerusalem, flees. The IDF seals Qalqilya, Tulkarm; continues to shell the n. Gaza nogo zone, targeting 6 main access roads; sends troops into Jenin town and r.c., patrolling streets, firing on residential areas, occupying several homes as observation posts, then raiding and searching the PA General Intelligence headquarters; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Balata r.c. (firing on residential areas, wounding 2 Palestinians), al-Til and nr. Hebron, Jenin, Ramallah; begins to bulldoze Palestinian land east of Shavei Shomron settlement nr. Nablus to install a fence around the settlement. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba vandalize Palestinian homes, steal chickens in Hebron. Mbrs. of a Palestinian clan angry over the arrest of a relative on drug and auto theft charges storm a PA police station in Gaza City, exchange gunfire with police, leaving 1 PA policeman, 1 gunman dead. Unidentified Palestinian gunmen fire on Abbas’s Gaza City home, causing no injuries; Abbas is not there. (HA, IMEMC, JAZ, YA 12/29; HA, IMEMC, NYT, WP, WT 12/30; PCHR 1/5)

The IDF conducts air strikes to destroy 2 vacant AMB buildings in n. Gaza; fires 3 shells at the eastern border of Gaza nr. alMaghazi r.c., causing no injuries; demolishes a Palestinian home in Bayt Hanina outside East Jerusalem for being constructed without permits; conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus; completes a section of the separation wall btwn. Qalandia checkpoint s. of Ramallah and the al-Ram and Dahiyat al-Barid area nr. Jerusalem. Nr. Tulkarm, 2 Palestinian teenagers throw Molotov cocktails at an IDF patrol, causing no injuries; 1 is shot, wounded by the IDF. Some 20 AMB gunmen occupy the n. Gaza governor’s office, Education Min. offices, and a shari‘a court for several hrs., demanding jobs in the PA security forces; some 400 Palestinians, including AMB mbrs., hold a similar protest outside the Fatah headquarters in Bethlehem. The Jewish “hilltop youth” settlers set up 13 new unauthorized outposts nr. existing settlements in the Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho, Nablus, Qalqilya, and Ramallah areas. (HA, IMEMC, JAZ, REU, YA 12/27; DS, HA, IMEMC, NYT 12/28; PCHR 12/29)

An Islamic Jihad suicide bomber fr. Kefar Rai (btwn. Jenin and Tulkarm) detonates a device outside a shopping mall in Netanya, killing 5 Israelis, wounding 31 (4 seriously). Islamic Jihad says the attack is retaliation for the IDF’s 10/24 assassination of 2 of its leaders. The IDF immediately imposes closures on the West Bank and shuts pedestrian crossings in Gaza (keeping the Qarni crossing open for goods); announces that it is preparing for a wide-scale retaliation operation in northern Gaza and will step up assassinations and arrest campaigns in the West Bank, with DM Mofaz stating that the IDF had “decided to operate in a much broader, much deeper and more intensive manner against the Islamic Jihad infrastructure” and would make an effort to keep fr. drawing Hamas into the fighting. Later in the evening, the Israeli security cabinet authorizes the IDF to “adopt a harsher response” to rocket fire fr. Gaza, targeting built-up areas of Gaza as well as launch sites in uninhabited areas. During the day, the IDF also shells uninhabited areas in n. Gaza and in s. Gaza nr. Khan Yunis, causing no damage or injuries; makes 5 mock air raids over Gaza, breaking the sound barrier; fires on residential areas of Aida r.c., wounding 2 Palestinians; conducts arrest raids in and around Hebron and in Bethlehem, Jenin (targeting Hamas, including detaining 2 candidates in the 12/15 municipal elections, 1 candidate in the 1/25 parliamentary elections), Ramallah; bulldozes 5 d. of Palestinian land in Silwan for construction of a parking lot for Jewish settlers. Palestinians throw 2 pipe bombs at an IDF patrol nr. Bethlehem and fire on an IDF checkpoint nr. Nablus, causing no damage or injuries. PA police fire at Palestinians in Jenin rallying in support of the Netanya bombing. Israeli police round up another 500 Palestinians working in Israel without permits (see 12/4). (BBC, HA, IDF Radio, IMEMC, XIN, YA 12/5; CSM, DS, HA, IMEMC, JAZ, NYT, REU, WP, WT, YA 12/6; AFP, PCHR 12/8)

Islamic Jihad announces that it will halt all rocket attacks fr. n. Gaza if Israel pledges to cease targeting its mbrs. Hrs. later, the IDF raids a house in Qabatya, assassinating Islamic Jihad mbrs. Jihad Zakarna and Arshad Abu Zayd, also wounding at least 7 bystanders; Islamic Jihad retaliates by firing at least 2 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. The IDF also sets up 2 new artillery positions outside n. and s. Gaza to deter rocket fire; opens the Rafah checkpoint for several hrs. to allow Palestinians making the hajj to leave for Saudi Arabia. Shin Bet reports that it has detained 3 PRC “rocket engineers” in the Negev on their way fr. Gaza to the West Bank. In Ramallah, PA police fire in the air to disperse 60 Islamic Jihad mbrs. protesting outside Abbas’s residence against the PA’s arrest of 4 fellow mbrs. earlier in the wk. Jewish settlers fr. Elon Moreh severely beat a 73-yr.-old Palestinian man walking nr. the settlement. (AFP, HA, IMEMC, XIN, YA 10/30; HA, NYT, WP 10/31; PCHR 11/10)

An IDF soldier, who deserted 2 mos. ago to protest disengagement and moved to the right-wing West Bank settlement of Tapuach, boards a Haifa–Shafa‘ Amr bus, still dressed in fatigues and carrying his military issue weapon; when the bus enters the Israeli Palestinian town of Shafa ‘Amr, the driver asks him whether he’s on the right bus; the soldier then shoots the Israeli Palestinian driver dead and opens fire on the passengers, killing another 3 Israeli Palestinians, wounding 20 before a mob beats him to death. Sharon denounces the “reprehensible act by a bloodthirsty Jewish terrorist”; YESHA settlers council also condemns the attack; the U.S. terms it a “terrible act of terrorism.” In Gaza City, the PA opens (symbolically on Arafat’s birthday) a 2-wk. “victory festival” to celebrate the pending disengagement and a wk.-long UNDP-funded publicity campaign called “Gaza—Reclaiming our Gem”; 10,000s of Palestinians, predominantly Fatah supporters, rally outside Gaza’s PC headquarters to hear speeches by Abbas, Qurai‘, Dahlan, who emphasize national unity, call on Palestinians not to take any actions that would jeopardize the national image, emphasize that the world is watching how Palestinians react to disengagement and assume responsibility for Gaza. The IDF raids Ramallah, arrests Islamic Jihad spokesman Shaykh Khadir ‘Adnan; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Aida r.c. (arresting a PA security officer), Bayt Fajjar, Hebron (occupying 2 houses as observation posts), al-Til, Yatta; patrols in Bethlehem; arrests a PA security officer at a checkpoint outside Jerusalem. A Jewish settler fr. Neve Dekalim throws a Molotov cocktail at a Palestinian home in al-Mawasi, causing damage but no injuries. Israel announces plans to build 72 new housing units in Beitar Ilit settlement nr. Jerusalem. A Palestinian dies of injures received on 8/2 in Bayt Hanun. (IMEMC, HA, REU, YA 8/4; AFP, BBC, JAZ, MA, NYT, WP, WT, YA 8/5; VOP 8/5 in WNC 8/5; NYT, WP, WT 8/6; OCHA, PR 8/10; PCHR 8/11)

The BBC reports that papers in the British National Archives show that in 1958, Britain secretly sold Israel 20 tons of heavy water vital for production of plutonium and the manufacture of nuclear weapons at its Dimona reactor. No “peaceful use only” condition was placed on the sale. (BBC 8/4) The World Bank releases a report showing Israel to be 2d only to Italy as the most corrupt, least efficient of developed countries. The report states that “Israel is considered one of the riskiest places in the Western world, with an unstable, inefficient regime, low accountability, a relative high rate of state corruption, and poor law enforcement.” (HA 8/4)

The IDF for no apparent reason severely beats 3 Palestinians in 3 separate incidents at checkpoints in Hebron; beats, detains a 50-yr.-old Palestinian at a checkpoint outside Tulkarm after a prolonged interrogation; issues military orders for 40 residents of Nahalin village nr. Bethlehem to vacate their 4,000 d. of land nr. the Gush Etzion bloc within 45 days for construction of the separation wall. An Israeli guard patrolling a separation wall construction site near Bayt ‘Awwa fires on, injures a Palestinian who accidentally strays too close to the area. Jewish settlers fence off a piece of Palestinian land in Silwad nr. Ramallah for expansion of Ofra settlement. (IMEMC 3/27; OCHA, PR 3/30; PCHR 3/31)