The Palestine Chronology

Responding to an appeal made by PA Pres. Mahmud Abbas in 11/2010, Brazil recognizes Palestine as a state based on 1967 borders. The Israeli FMin. opens low-profiles talks with other Latin American leaders to prevent them fr. following suit. (WP 12/4; WJW 12/16; JPI 12/17)

Israeli municipal authorities in East Jerusalem demolish 1 Palestinian home in al-Tur neighborhood. IDF troops on the Gaza border e. of Jabaliya direct at least 17 artillery shells and gunfire at armed Palestinians planting explosive devices along the border fence, killing 2 Islamic Jihad mbrs.; later makes a brief incursion into the area to level land in the area to clear lines of sight. IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction materials, wounding 1. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night patrols in Zayta nr. Tulkarm; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. (PCHR 12/2; NYT 12/3; PCHR 12/9; OCHA 12/10)

Palestinians fire 4 mortars at an IDF post outside Atzmona settlement in s. Gaza, injuring 11 IDF soldiers; also fire 2 mortars at hot houses and an IDF post in Gush Katif, causing no damage or injuries. In response, the IDF gunships destroy a carpentry workshop in Rafah that allegedly served as a Hamas weapons factory and cache. The IDF also fatally shoots an Islamic Jihad mbr. planting a roadside bomb outside a Gaza settlement; fires on residential areas of Rafah, seriously injuring a 3-yr.-old Palestinian girl inside her home; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Bayt Dajan nr. Nablus, Bayt Omar nr. Hebron, al-Qarara, Zayta nr. Tulkarm. The Knesset approves $20 m. for construction of a Palestinian-only road btwn. Anata and Azariyya n. of Jerusalem as part of Israel’s West Bank separation plan. (HA 12/16; JAZ, VOI 12/16 in WNC 12/18; PR 12/22; PCHR 12/23)