The Palestine Chronology

In the West Bank, Israeli authorities announced that it would seize 193 dunams (47.7 acres) of Palestinian-owned land near Dayr Dibwan for settlement expansion. 17 Palestinians were arrested during raids in and around Hebron, Tulkarm, Rujeib, Qalqilya, Ramallah, Rummana, Sawahara al-Sharqiyya, Aida refugee camp, Nablus, and Qusra. In East Jerusalem, 2 Palestinian was arrested during late-night raids in Issawiyya. (WAFA, WAFA 2/25; PCHR 3/4)

Israel imposed a general closure for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, closing all checkpoints for the Jewish Purim holiday. The closure was scheduled to be in effect from midnight on 2/25 to the night of 2/28. (HA 2/25)

The board of the Jewish National Fund voted to allocate $11.6 million to purchase land in the West Bank. (HA 2/25)

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bahrain’s prime minister Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa spoke on the phone about the U.S. plan to reengage diplomatically with Iran about its nuclear program. (AP, HA 2/25)

Israel said that an Israeli-owned ship was attacked by 1 or 2 missiles in the Gulf of Oman. Other reports said that the damage done to the ship was caused by a blast, to which the cause had not been determined. Israeli defense officials claimed that the missiles were fired by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. No injuries were reported, and the ship was able to continue to the UAE to repair the damage. Iran denied attacking the ship. (AJ, AP, HA, REU 2/26; REU 2/27; AJ, AP, HA, HA, REU 2/28; AJ, AP, HA, HA, REU 3/1)

Haaretz reported that 2 U.S. senators, Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Rob Portman (R-OH) were circulating a letter to U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken calling on him to take a more forceful stance on the ICC’s investigation of Israel and Hamas, in order to shield Israel. The pro-Israel group J Street said it was circulating their own letter, calling Cardin and Portman’s letter an “unnecessary act of political posturing,” saying the U.S. state department already rejected the ICC’s decision. J Street also criticized the Cardin and Portman letter for using “distributed territories” instead of “occupied territories” to describe the West Bank. (HA 2/25)

The U.S. attacked what the Pentagon said were Iranian-backed militia groups in eastern Syria, killing 17 people. The Pentagon said the strikes were in retaliation for 1 missile fired at a U.S. facility in Irbil, Iraq, which killed 1 U.S. national and injured 6 others on 2/15. (REU 2/25; AP, BBC, CNN, HA, REU 2/26)

Japan donated $39.7 million to UNRWA, $30.2 million for UNRWA core programming, and $9.5 million for expanding school services in Gaza. (WAFA 2/25)

Along Gaza’s border, IDF troops open fire on Palestinian shepherds nr. Khan Yunis, causing no injuries. Also, Israeli forces conduct a limited incursion to level land nr. Khan Yunis. In the West Bank, Israeli soldiers on patrol in a village nr. Bethlehem open fire on Palestinian students returning home, injuring 1. IDF troops raid a PA-run charity in Tulkarm and a university in Jenin, destroying and confiscating equipment, and conduct further raids and house searches in and around Jenin, Bethlehem, and Tulkarm, arresting 8 Palestinians. Israeli forces begin razing 40 dunams (around 9.8 acres) of Palestinian land nr. Hebron; destroy 3 residential structures and a number of health facilities, tents, and an animal barn nr. Hebron. Israeli settlers assault a Palestinian man nr. Nablus with sticks and stones, inflicting moderate injuries. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces demolish a store in Jabal Mukabir and a small mobile home in Bayt Hanina, and arrest 17 Palestinians during raids in the Old City. Also, a Palestinian shopkeeper demolishes his own store in Jabal Mukabir after Israeli forces surround it (he says he carried out the demolition himself because he did not want them to damage the adjacent store). Meanwhile, the Israeli authorities bar all Palestinian men under the age of 50 from entering Haram al-Sharif today, ahead of the Jewish Purim holiday on 3/24. Later, they close al-Aqsa Mosque after detaining 17 Palestinians attempting to enter the sanctuary. (MNA, WAFA 3/22; MNA 3/23; PCHR 3/24)

Israel’s political leadership decides to bar West Bank Palestinians from entering or exiting Israel, except in humanitarian cases, during the Jewish Purim festivities. The ban begins late tonight and extends through midnight on 3/26 local time. In recent years, the Israeli govt. has not imposed a ban on Palestinian movement during Purim. (TOI 3/22; HA, JP 3/23)

The PA cabinet decides to ban the products of 5 Israeli food companies—Tnuva, Strauss, Tara, Soglowek, and Tapuzina—from entering the West Bank in response to Israel’s 3/9 order to ban 5 Palestinian food companies from distributing their products in East Jerusalem. Although the order is effective today, it will take some time for the Israeli products to be cleared from shelves. (HA, JP, MNA, WAFA 3/22)

Israel seals the West Bank, Gaza through 3/7 for the Purim holidays. The IDF makes a major raid on Rafah in search for smugglers’ tunnels, fatally shooting a 14-yr.-old Palestinian boy nr. his school, wounding 9, firing on an ambulance, demolishing 1 Palestinian home, severely damaging 21 homes plus water and electrical works, bulldozing 23 dunams of land; no tunnels are found. In an apparent assassination, the IDF also shells the home of the Palestinian Resistance Comms. (PRC) Rafah head Awni Kulab, killing him, seriously injuring his wife and son; conducts arrest raids nr. Hebron, in Qalqilya; bulldozes 600 dunams of Palestinian land btwn. the separation wall and the Green Line outside Qalqilya. Jewish settlers conduct patrols with IDF soldiers in Hebron, photograph Palestinian homes, raid and vandalize 1. (AFP, MM, REU 3/4; VOP 3/4, al-Quds, VOP 3/5 in WNC 3/12; NYT, WT 3/5; PM 3/9; PR 3/10; PCHR 3/11)

An IDF bulldozer crushes, kills American International Solidarity Movement (ISM) worker Rachel Corrie, part of a group blocking bulldozers fr. demolishing a Palestinian home in Rafah. The IDF also seals the West Bank, Gaza for Purim (3/17–19); fires on residential areas of Khan Yunis, killing 1 Palestinian; fatally shoots a 2d Palestinian standing in his doorway in Rafah; bulldozes 2 dunams of land, 12 olive trees in Dayr al-Balah; raids areas around Bethlehem, Salfit. Arafat cancels the al-Azhar University workers union elections, fearing a landslide victory by Hamas, Islamic Jihad. (BBC, LAW 3/16; ITV, MA 3/16 in WNC 3/17; JP, MM, NYT, WP, WT 3/17; WT 3/18; PR 3/19; PCHR, WJW 3/20; MEI 3/21)