The Palestine Chronology

In the West Bank, Israeli forces carry out the punitive demolition of 2 homes in Qalandia r.c. late at night, displacing 6 Palestinians and sparking clashes with stone-throwing camp residents; 4 Palestinians are injured. The Israeli authorities revoke the entry permit of the governor of Hebron after he visits the home of the Palestinian who allegedly stabbed a settler youth to death on 6/30. IDF troops arrest 10 Palestinians and confiscate a car during late-night raids and house searches nr. Jenin, Bethlehem, and Hebron. Meanwhile, the IDF maintains its general closure of Hebron and the surrounding district, barricading at least 20 villages and patrolling throughout the region. (HA, MNA 7/3; HA, MNA, TOI, WAFA, YA 7/4; JP, MO 7/5; PCHR 7/14)

The Egyptian authorities open the Rafah border crossing for the 4th of 5 planned days this week. (OCHA 7/5)

The Israeli govt. approves the construction of 600 new residences for Palestinians in the Bayt Safafa neighborhood of East Jerusalem, despite criticism from some of its right-wing mbrs. Israeli PM Netanyahu also advances plans for 800 new Jewish settler housing units in East Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim, a West Bank settlement nr. Jerusalem. A senior Israeli official refers to the 800 settler units as an effort to “sweeten the pill” for Israelis opposing housing construction for Palestinians. (HA 7/3; JP, WAFA 7/4; HA 7/8)

Before the weekly cabinet meeting, and in response to the recent uptick in violence in Hebron, Netanyahu says, “We will make a special effort to strengthen [settlements] and will propose a special plan for Kiryat Arba at the next cabinet meeting.” Kiryat Arba is the settlement where a youth was killed in her sleep on 6/30. (HA, JP 7/3; MO 7/5)

In the West Bank, the IDF sends undercover units into Qabatya village nr. Jenin at midday in a car with Palestinian license plates to raid a cafe and arrest a wanted ´ Palestinian; demolishes 4 Palestinian homes in Azariyya nr. Jerusalem, in the E1 area marked for expansion of Ma’ale Adumim settlement, displacing 42 Palestinians. Late in the evening, the IDF conducts synchronized late-night incursions into Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah, and Zatara village nr. Bethlehem to raid and search the homes of 8 senior figures affiliated with Hamas (fmr. PA Dep. PM and Education M Nasser al-Din al-Sha‘ir in Nablus; Reform and Change Palestinian Council legislators Nizar ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Ramadan and ‘Assam Nu‘man Salhab in Hebron; Ayman Husayn Darghma in Ramallah; Khalid Tafish Thwayb in Zatara; Reform and Change office director for Ramallah and al-Bireh Mazin al-Rimawi in Ramallah; senior Hamas leader Adnan Ahed Asfur and al-Najah University prof. Issam Rashid al-Ashqar in Nablus), arresting them for their “ongoing efforts to restore the administrative branch of the Hamas terror organization in the [West Bank].” The moves come as an Israeli Justice Min. comm. debates limiting the privileges (e.g., visitation, phone calls, study groups) of Hamas prisoners in Israel. Some 40 Hamas-affiliated legislators have been arrested since Shalit’s capture in 6/06, most of whom remain in detention. Hamas views the moves as Israel’s attempts to pressure it to make concessions in the ongoing Cairo prisoner exchange talks. The IDF conducts additional late-night arrest raids, house searches in Nablus, and nr. Hebron, Jenin, and Tulkarm. Mbrs. of Kiryat Arba settlement’s private security service detain a Canadian journalist and a fieldworker for the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem as they pass nr. the settlement, holding them until the IDF arrives to question them; they are released 4 hrs. later. (OCHA 3/18; PCHR 3/19; NYT, WP, WT 3/20; OCHA 3/24, 3/25; PCHR 3/26; JPI 4/3)

In Gaza, the IDF bulldozes 24 d. of olive groves and a small Gaza police outpost nr. al-Maghazi r.c. Egyptian border police discover, demolish a smuggling tunnel on the Rafah border. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes a Palestinian home in Anata nr. Jerusalem; occupies a Palestinian home nr. Jenin as a military outpost; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Tulkarm and in al-Bireh (raiding and searching the municipal building, rounding up 2 municipal employees fr. their homes and bringing them to the offices to log onto password-protected computers), Ramallah (raiding the chamber of commerce offices), Jericho. The Israeli Housing Min. presents Olmert with a proposal for construction of 1,900 new Jewish settler housing units across the West Bank in 2008: 682 units in Beitar Ilit nr. Bethlehem, 510 units in Givat Ze’ev n. of Jerusalem, 302 units in Ma’ale Adumim e. of Jerusalem, 160 units in Binyamin settlement n. of Jerusalem, 158 units in Efrat nr. Bethlehem, and 48 units each in Ariel nr. Salfit and Kiryat Arba in Hebron. Palestinians throw stones at Jewish settler vehicles nr. Nablus; the settlers respond by shooting, killing 3 Palestinian sheep nearby. Jewish settlers fr. Keddumim nr. Qalqilya stone Palestinian vehicles driving nearby, causing no reported injuries. PA security forces impose a night curfew on Kafr Thuluth nr. Qalqilya to prevent clashes btwn. feuding families (the curfew is still in place as of 4/8). (PCHR 4/3; OCHA, PCHR 4/9)

The IDF fires on 3 Palestinians attempting to sneak into Israel fr. Jabaliya to find work, seriously wounding 1, lightly injuring 1, while 1 escapes; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Baqa‘ al-Sharqiyya. The IDF also imposes new restrictions on Palestinian movement nr. the Ibrahimi Mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, erecting an iron gate 30 m away fr. the site, closing the main road leading to the site to Palestinians, checking all Palestinians before allowing them through the gate to the site. Jewish settlers fr. Ma’on attack 5 Palestinian shepherds grazing their animals nearby; the IDF intervenes, arrests the Palestinians, takes them to Kiryat Arba for interrogation, releases them later. Israel authorizes the construction of a “temporary wall” btwn. Jerusalem, the West Bank in areas where the legal disputes to the route of the separation wall are still underway; approves a new route for the separation wall around Jerusalem that would annex Ma’ale Adumim settlement, surround Shu‘fat r.c. with fences, isolate Palestinian neighborhoods and villages n. of the city, incorporate Bilal Bin Rabah mosque n. of Bethlehem into Jerusalem. At Hebron University, 100s of students supporting Fatah disrupt a Hamas student rally in advance of campus elections, leaving 9 Palestinians injured. (AP, IMEMC 3/13; WT 3/14; OCHA 3/16; PCHR 3/17)