The Palestine Chronology

In the West Bank, the IDF sends an undercover unit into Tulkarm in a vehicle with Palestinian license plates to arrest 3 wanted Palestinians; demolishes a Palestinian home in Issawiyya nr. Jerusalem, partially demolishes a 2d home in nearby Ras al-Amud; conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron and in ‘Askar r.c., Nablus, Qalqilya (firing percussion grenades into a Palestinian home causing a 56-yr.-old Palestinian woman to have a fatal heart attack). A Palestinian fires at an IDF checkpoint btwn. Sanur and Qabatya nr. Jenin, injuring 1 soldier. In Gaza City, suspected Hamas gunmen open fire on the car of PA General Intelligence col. and Fatah mbr. Baha Balusha on its way to drop off Balusha’s children at school, killing all 3 children (ages 6–9), the driver, wounding a bodyguard, 2 children outside the school in a failed assassination attempt; the gunmen are dispersed by ESF mbrs. who return fire; Hamas denounces the shooting as a “gruesome crime”; no group claims responsibility. (MM 12/11; NYT, WP, WT 12/12; OCHA 12/13; PCHR 12/14; MM 1/10)