The Palestine Chronology

Israeli DM Ehud Barak issues the necessary military order freezing all new settlement building in line with Netanyahu’s 11/25 statement and simultaneously approves construction of 28 public and educational buildings in West Bank settlements, to be completed by 9/2010. In the West Bank, a Palestinian stabs 2 Jewish settler women outside Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron; IDF soldiers shoot and wound the Palestinian, and another Jewish settler deliberately drives over him repeatedly with his car as soldiers look on without intervening; the Palestinian is seriously injured but not killed. Jewish settlers fr. Keddumim nr. Nablus till a 70- dunam (d.; 4 d. = 1 acre) plot of Palestinian land 1,500 meters fr. the settlement as a first step toward annexing it to the settlement. (NYT 11/28; PCHR 12/3; OCHA 12/9)

In the West Bank, the IDF seals Attara nr. Ramallah for 3 hrs. after troops discover a suspicious object during vehicle checks at the entrance to the village. The IDF conducts late-night raids, house searches nr. Qalqilya and Salfit and in Jenin town and r.c., but makes no arrests; a Palestinian whose house is raided reports money missing. The IDF also patrols and opens fire in Qabatya but makes no arrests and causes no injuries. Jewish settlers fr. Susia, escorted by the IDF, erect tents and set up electricity generators on an unauthorized settlement outpost site nr. Hebron that was dismantled by the IDF on 9/9. The Israeli High Court, ruling on a petition filed in 2003, orders the IDF to dismantle sections of the separation wall in Khirbat Jibara and Jayyus n. of Qalqilya, reinstating Palestinian access to 2,488 dunams (d.; 4 d. = 1 acre) of land. (OCHA 9/11; OCHA, PCHR 9/17; OCHA Humanitarian Monitor 9/09)

In Silwan in East Jerusalem, a Jewish settler shoots, wounds 1 Palestinian, also hitting 1 Palestinian teenager with shrapnel; the settler is arrested by Israeli police. The al-Aqsa Association reports that the Israeli authorities are digging a new tunnel under Silwan. (NYT 9/12; OCHA , PCHR 9/17; OCHA Humanitarian Monitor 9/09)

The Gaza cease-fire holds, with no Israeli or Palestinian violence reported. Israeli officials say the IDF has accelerated its withdrawal fr. Gaza in hopes that it will be completed by the time U.S. pres.-elect Barack Obama is sworn in on 1/20. Across Gaza, some stores reopen, and traffic along the main north–south route (occupied by the IDF during the war) resumes, though observers say (WP 1/20) that “much of the main highway was nearly impassable from the dirt and debris plowed up by Israel’s military”; Hamas-led police provide traffic control in damaged areas and generally try to assert a presence. Israel allows a small group of foreign reporters into Gaza and permits them to interview Palestinians, but requires them to team report as a pool and runs their coverage through IDF censors, given the continued presence of Israeli soldiers in the field. Israel for the first time since 12/27 allows a few truckloads of commercial goods into Gaza in addition to humanitarian aid; in total, 208 truckloads are allowed entry. Rescue workers continue searching for survivors and uncovering bodies (at least 14 today), particularly in al-Zaytun. (AY, DUS, MM, YA 1/19; NYT, WP, WT 1/20; DUS, al-Hayat, JP, MM, QA 1/21; NYT, PCHR, UNICEF press release, WT 1/22; PCHR 1/29; AP 1/30; WT 2/4; WP 2/8; Electronic Intifada 2/24)

The IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Jenin, Nablus; issues military orders confiscating 3,000 dunams (d.; 4 d. = 1 acre) of land in Yatta s. of Hebron and 13 d. nr. Bethlehem for settlement expansion, and 500 d. of land in Abu Dis for construction of the separation wall around Jerusalem. A Jewish settler driving nr. Ramallah is shot, seriously wounded fr. a passing car. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces evict a family (18 mbrs.) and seal their home in Jabal al-Mukabir, where Israelis are expanding a Jewish settlement. (HA, NYT 1/20; MM 1/21; PCHR 1/22)