The Palestine Chronology

Firmly in control of Gaza, Hamas declares amnesty for Fatah leaders, except National Security Advisor (NSA) Dahlan, with the aim of quelling violence, releasing several of the 10 senior Fatah political security officials captured earlier in the day; orders all mbrs. of the PA security forces in Gaza to continue to report for duty to provide law and order, albeit under Hamas cmdrs. Hamas also calls for the immediate release of kidnapped BBC correspondent Johnston. With fighting suspended, Palestinian crowds loot abandoned Fatah buildings, targeting in particular Dahlan’s home and Abbas’s presidential compound; Hamas mbrs. surround and prevent looting at Abbas’s Gaza residence. Some violence persists, with a Fatah mbr. thrown to his death from a high building by the family of a man he killed earlier; a Fatah security official commits suicide after learning that he was on a Hamas wanted list. Meanwhile, Egypt reinforces its forces on the border with Gaza with riot police, APCs, and water cannons, fearing that Palestinians will attempt to flee Gaza for Egypt en masse at the first opportunity. Israel temporarily opens the Erez crossing to allow Fatah officials to escape Gaza for Ramallah. In the West Bank, Abbas names Finance M Salam al-Fayyad as his new PM, charging him with forming a government; issues a presidential decree suspending articles of the Basic Law (the interim Palestinian constitution) requiring the new government to receive a vote of confidence from the PC (currently controlled by the Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform party). Fatah-Hamas tensions remain high in the West Bank, where heavily armed Fatah mbrs. patrol in Ramallah in a show of force; Fatah mbrs. ransack Change and Reform offices, Hamas-run charity organizations in several cities; kidnap at least 9 Hamas mbrs. AMB mbrs. fatally shoot a Hamas mbr. in Nablus. Inside Israel, the Israel Prisons Service separates Fatah, Hamas detainees to prevent rioting. Meanwhile, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches, patrols in villages around Jenin, firing on residential areas, causing no injuries. In Gaza, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in Dayr al-Balah; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, percussion grenades, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists attending weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall in Bil‘in, injuring 2. (AP, HA, WP, QA 6/15; NYT, WP, WT 6/16; Interfax 6/16 in WNC 6/17; PCHR 6/21; NYT 7/9)

Within hrs. of Arafat’s death, the PC, in keeping with the Basic Law, formally swears in PC speaker Rawhi Fattuh as interim head of the PA until elections are organized within the next 60 days;Qurai‘ maintains the position of PM, responsible for daily PA operations. Qaddumi is elected as head of Fatah by the 15-mbr. Fatah Central Comm. Abbas is voted head of the PLO by the PLO Exec. Comm. The State Dept. says that it is prepared to help the Palestinians hold elections if asked; says that Israel still must carry out Gaza disengagement. France sends Arafat’s body off to Egypt with full military honors. Throughout the day, Palestinians across the territories rally, demonstrate in honor of Arafat. (MM, NYT, WP, WT 11/11; JAZ, VOI, VOP 11/11 in WNC 11/13; MM, NYT, WP, WT 11/12)

The IDF raids Shaykh Ajlin, exchanging fire with armed Palestinians (leaving 1 Palestinian dead), shelling residential areas (killing 2 Palestinian civilians, wounding 7), bulldozing 120 d.; fatally shoots an Egyptian who apparently infiltrated into Gaza fr. Egypt; fatally shoots 3 Palestinians (at least 2 of them armed) s. of Netzarim; fires on stone-throwing Palestinians in Bayt Omar nr. Hebron, killing 1 Palestinian, wounding 10; fires on stone-throwing Palestinians protesting the separation wall nr. Jayyus, wounding 2 with live ammunition; fires on residential areas of Rafah; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus. Some 100 AMB mbrs. (some armed and masked) outside Arafat’s headquarters in Ramallah call for an investigation into Arafat’s death and rumors he was poisoned by Israeli agents, chant slogans denouncing Abbas, fmr. PA security chief Muhammad Dahlan as agents for the CIA. Israeli border police disperse 100s of Palestinians conducting nationalist marches in East Jerusalem in memory of Arafat. In Haifa, Israeli police disperse some 100 Israeli Palestinians holding a candlelight vigil for Arafat, detain a woman carrying a Palestinian flag. ( JP, VOI, YA 11/11 in WNC 11/13; HA 11/17; PCHR 11/18)