The Palestine Chronology

In the West Bank, Palestinian militants handed the body of a Druze citizen of Israel to Israel after negotiations between the PA and the militant group. Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and the PA all called for the release of the body. Israeli settlers threw stones at Palestinian vehicles traveling west of Ramallah, causing damage. Israeli forces shot and injured 2 Palestinian students with live ammunition during a raid at the Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie in Tulkarm; others suffered tear-gas related injuries. Israeli forces also demolished 3 agricultural structures in Kafr ad-Dik. Elsewhere, Israeli forces shot and injured 1 Palestinian minor before arresting him in Nil’in. Israeli forces also seized 2 caravans, demolished 1 agricultural structure, and razed land in Atara. 14 Palestinians were arrested, including 12 during late-night raids in al-Mughayyir, Bayt Rima, Qaddura refugee camp, ‘Anata, Arab ar-Rashayida, Beit Umar, Dura, Khirbet Qilqis, Azzun, and Huwwara. 2 were arrested at a flying checkpoint near the Halamish settlement. Off the coast of Gaza, Israeli naval forces shot and injured 1 Palestinian fisherman west of al-Sudaniyya. In Gaza, Israeli forces fired tear gas at agricultural lands east of Gaza City and Khan Yunis; no injuries were reported. In Israel, 3 Palestinians from Hebron were kidnapped in Yarka by Druze citizens of Israel seeking revenge for the kidnapping on 11/22 (see above). The 3 Palestinians were hospitalized after they were released. (HA, HA 11/23; AP, CNN, HA, HA, MEMO, TOI, TOI, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 11/24; ALM, MEMO, UNOCHA 11/25; MEMO 11/27; PCHR 12/1; UNOCHA 12/16)

Israel revoked 200 of the 15,500 work permits for Palestinians in Gaza, saying that a laborer had admitted that he planned to plant a bomb on a bus on behalf of Islamic Jihad. The man was arrested on 10/30. (REU 11/24)

Late at night, Israeli settlers enter Kobar, the Ramallah-area hometown of the Palestinian who stabbed 4 Israeli settlers at the Halamish settlement on 7/21. When Palestinians throw stones at the group, IDF troops escort the settlers out of the village and violently disperse the Palestinians, injuring 1. IDF troops also arrest 1 Palestinian during a raid in Qalqilya, and patrol nr. Hebron and Nablus during the day. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces arrest 1 Palestinian during a late-night raid in Qalandia r.c., sparking clashes with residents; 1 Palestinian is injured. They arrest 5 more Palestinians during raids in Silwan and the Old City. Along Gaza’s border, Israeli forces conduct a limited incursion to level land nr. Khan Yunis. In Israel, Israeli police clash with Palestinians in Jaffa protesting the police killing of a Palestinian in the area on 7/29; 2 protesters are arrested. (MNA 8/3; MNA, TOI, YA 8/4; PCHR 8/10)

Tensions in East Jerusalem remain high as Israeli forces mount new security cameras at the entrances to Haram al-Sharif to supplement the new metal detectors installed in the wake of the deadly attack on 7/14. They also reopen the sanctuary, allowing more than 100 Jewish settlers to tour it in the morning. Palestinians protest and pray outside the sanctuary throughout the day; approximately 21 are injured during the ensuing clashes with Israeli forces. Meanwhile, Israeli forces arrest 3 Palestinians during raids in al-Tur. In the West Bank, armed Israeli settlers march through a Palestinian village nr. Jenin in protest of the deadly attack on 7/21. Other settlers throw stones at Palestinian vehicles nr. Nablus and Hebron, causing no serious damage. IDF troops shoot and injure 3 Palestinians: 1 attempting to cut through a fence nr. Qalqilya, another evading arrest in the n. Jordan Valley, and a 3d driving “suspiciously” at a checkpoint nr. Nablus, according to an IDF spokesperson. Meanwhile, the IDF violently disperses Palestinians protesting in solidarity with the Muslim worshippers outside Haram al-Sharif in Jayyus village nr. Qalqilya (2 Palestinians are injured), arrests 4 Palestinians and issues 1 arrest summons during late-night raids nr. Bethlehem and Hebron, and patrols nr. Hebron and Salfit throughout the day. An arrest raid in Nablus sparks minor clashes with stonethrowing youths; 1 Palestinian is injured. (HA, MNA, TOI, WAFA, YA 7/23; PCHR 7/27)

Unidentified Palestinians fire 2 rockets from Gaza into s. Israel; 1 explodes in midair, and the other lands in an open area nr. Ashqelon, causing no damage or injuries. Late that night, Israeli tanks positioned along Gaza’s border shell a Hamas post nr. Dayr al-Balah and an open area nr. Khan Yunis, causing an unknown amount of damage. (TOI 7/23; HA, MNA, WAFA, YA 7/24)

At the Israeli Embassy in Amman, an Israeli security guard shoots and kills 2 Jordanians, the property owner and a teenage worker, in disputed circumstances. The attack exacerbates Israeli-Jordanian tensions, which are already running high given the ongoing crisis at Haram al-Sharif. The Israeli authorities refuse to allow the Jordanian police to question the guard, and the Jordanian authorities refuse to allow the Israeli Embassy staff to leave the country until the guard submits to questioning. (MNA, TOI 7/23; HA, YA 7/24)

The Israeli press reports that the IDF has barred Palestinian workers from entering Halamish and a number of other Israeli settlements following the deadly attack on 7/21 and the settler protests on 7/22. Meanwhile, Israeli PM Netanyahu says that the home of the Palestinian who stabbed 4 Israeli settlers on 7/21 will be demolished soon. (MNA, TOI, WAFA, YA 7/23)

Gaza’s border crossings remained sealed for a 3d day. The IDF fires warning shots at Palestinian farmers who stray nr. the Gaza border fence e. of Khan Yunis, seriously injuring 2 elderly Palestinians. The Israeli navy fires warning shots at fishermen to keep them close to shore. AMB mbrs. fire 2 rockets into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. Hamas’s Gaza security chiefSiyam meets with heads of the various Gaza factions to discuss ways of reacting to IDF actions in the West Bank while respecting the Gaza cease-fire. Islamic Jihad pledges to coordinate its responses with Hamas. In the West Bank, the IDF makes an unusual daytime raid into Bayt Umar village nr. Hebron, setting up road blocks, checking IDs, raiding and searching homes, firing on stone-throwing youths who confront troops, killing a 16-yr.-old Palestinian boy, arresting 1 Palestinian; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus and Ramallah, nr. Bethlehem and Jenin, and outside East Jerusalem. Jewish settlers fr. Halamish nr. Ramallah burn a Palestinian olive tree. Nr. Jabaliya r.c., unidentified assailants detonate a bomb outside a fmr. PA Preventive Security officer’s home, causing damage but no injuries. (NYT, WT 6/27; MM 6/30; OCHA 7/2; PCHR 7/3)

The AMB fires 4 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF sends undercover units into Dahaysha r.c. in a car with Palestinian license plates to arrest a wanted Palestinian teenager; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Tulkarm, nr. Tulkarm, and in and around Hebron, Nablus. Israel’s mayor of Jerusalem Uri Lupolianski suspends for review construction work at the Haram alSharif/Temple Mount, though Palestinians hold small protests, throw stones at the IDF during the day in and around East Jerusalem, Hebron. Jewish settlers fr. Karnei Shomron and Ginat Shomron nr. Qalqilya prevent Palestinians from working their land nearby. Under IDF escort, Jewish settlers fr. Halamish nr. Ramallah uproot 50 olive trees in the Palestinian village of Dayr Nizam. In Gaza City, 200 family mbrs. of Palestinians held in Israeli jails demonstrate outside the PC headquarters, demanding that the PA do more to free their relatives. In Khan Yunis, unidentified assailants kidnap, quickly release unharmed fmr. PA atty. gen. Khalid al-Qidra. A Fatah mbr. injured during 1/29 ESF-Fatah clashes in Jabaliya r.c. dies. (MM 2/12; MM, NYT, WT 2/13; OCHA 2/14; PCHR 2/15)

The IDF imposes a curfew on Allar nr. Tulkarm, raids and occupies a girls school and 4 Palestinian homes as observation sites, detains 10s of Palestinians for interrogation; also conducts arrest raids, house searches in ‘Azun nr. Qalqilya, Dahariyya nr. Hebron; closes checkpoints into East Jerusalem before Friday prayers, fires tear gas and percussion grenades to disperse Palestinians waiting to cross; beats a Palestinian farmer tilling his land nr. the separation wall in Dayr al-‘Asal nr. Hebron; fires on residential areas of Khan Yunis; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at a nonviolent Palestinian demonstration against the separation wall nr. Bil‘in, seriously injuring a Palestinian, lightly injuring a foreign journalist with the Associated Press. Some 40 Jewish rabbinical students club, stone 8 Palestinian laborers working legally at Nachliel settlement, seriously injuring at least 5; Israeli police intervene but the settlers escape; police sources say the 8 Palestinians were “almost lynched.” Jewish settlers fr. Brakha settlement nr. Nablus ambush, beat, seriously injure a Palestinian truck driver passing the settlement. 10s of Jewish settlers fr. Halamish settlement occupy a plot of nearby Palestinian land housing the water spigots controlling the water supply to the settlement and nearby Palestinian villages. PA security officers seal a smugglers’ tunnel in Rafah; some Palestinians confront the officers with stones, causing no injuries; 1 Palestinian is arrested. (HA, MM 3/18; VOP 3/19; AYM 3/20; OCHA 3/23; PCHR 3/24)

Ma’ariv 3/18 reports that that the financial officer of the Greek Orthodox Church, Nikolaos Papadimas, who has power of attorney for Greek Orthodox Patriarch Irineos, recently signed a secret deal, without Irineos’s permission, to sell the church’s Omar Bin Khattab Square property in the Old City of Jerusalem to Jewish investors fr. abroad and then fled the country with his family, depositing $1.5 m. in a Tel Aviv bank account. The square is a valuable commercial area inside the Jaffa Gate, where 3 prominent Palestinian hotels and a number of shops are located. Irineos denies that he gave permission for the sale, meaning that, by church bylaws, the sale is void. (JAZ, MA, al-Quds, VOP 3/19 in WNC 3/28; HA, VOP 3/23; AP 3/24; NYT 3/25; PR 3/30; al-Quds, VOP 4/3 in WNC 4/4; NYT 4/4; Independent 5/10; HA 5/15; PR 5/18)

Hamas gunmen fire on a vehicle driving nr. Ofra settlement, killing 1 Jewish settler, wounding 3. A bicycle laden with explosives explodes nr. an IDF checkpoint in central Gaza, causing no damage or injuries; soldiers find, disarm a larger roadside bomb nearby. The IDF fatally shoots a mentally disabled Palestinian woman nr. Morag settlement in s. Gaza, later admitting the shooting was a mistake; demolishes a gas station, bulldozes 8 dunams of land nr. Khan Yunis; razes 1 Palestinian home, a poultry farm, 1 dunam of land in Dayr al-Balah; conducts arrest raids in Hebron. Jewish settlers reestablish an unauthorized settlement outpost nr. Neve Tzuf that was evacuated earlier in the wk. (HA, JP 6/20; NYT, WP, WT 6/21; PR 6/25; PCHR 6/26)

En route to a Quartet mtg. and a World Economic Forum conference in Jordan, Powell stops in Israel to meet with Sharon, then in Jericho to meet with Abbas. (HA, MM 6/20; AYM 6/20, MENA, NHR, SA 6/21, Der Spiegel [Hamburg] 6/23 in WNC 6/24; NYT, WP, WT 6/21; MM 6/23; MM, PR 6/25; MEI 6/27; THWR 6/27 in WNC 7/29)