The Palestine Chronology

Israel deports to the Gaza Strip 2 Gazans found living illegally in Beersheba; the IDF sends them through the Israeli side of the Erez crossing but the men refuse to move through to the 150-m transit area to the Palestinian side, demanding they be allowed to return to Israel; IDF troops fire warning shots at them for more than 2 hrs. before forcing them to enter Gaza. Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the Bayt Lahiya coast, forcing them to return to shore. The UN reports that since 4/28, 1 Palestinian has been killed in a tunnel collapse and 4 Palestinians have been killed and 9 injured when they were overcome by gas fumes while smuggling fuel through a tunnel. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes 1 Palestinian home nr. the separation wall southwest of Bethlehem, leaving 8 Palestinians homeless; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Nablus. Jewish settlers set a fire destroying a mosque in Luban al-Sharqiyya nr. Nablus, an act Abbas says may jeopardize proximity talks. Jewish settlers also set fire to a Palestinian olive grove outside Hawara. The attacks are thought to be in response to the IDF demolition of structures in Shavei Shomron settlement on 5/2—part of the settlers price-tag doctrine to retaliate against Palestinians (and occasionally the IDF) in reaction to any attempt to curb settlement activity. (NYT, WP 5/5; OCHA, PCHR 5/6)

U.S. special envoy Mitchell arrives in the region to secure formal PA-Israeli agreement to open proximity talks, but the PA says Israel must halt all new settlement construction and evictions of Palestinians during the 4-mo. duration of negotiations, while Israel says the PA must halt all incitement, especially its boycott of settlement-made goods. (NYT, WT 5/4; WJW 5/6)

Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the Bayt Lahiya coast, forcing them to return to shore. In the West Bank, the IDF destroys several structures in Shavei Shomron settlement built in violation of the 10-mo. settlement freeze; conducts synchronized late-night arrest raids, house searches in 3 villages nr. Hebron. (NYT 5/5; OCHA, PCHR 5/6)

Mbrs. of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claim responsibility for firing 2 manufactured Grad rockets fr. Gaza into Israel; the missiles hit nr. Netivot, causing no damage or injuries. Egypt allows a token delegation of around 85 international activists to cross into Gaza to demonstrate with Gazans for an end to Israel’s siege, while in Cairo, Egyptian authorities disperse another 1,000 international activists calling on Egypt and Israel to open the Gaza border. Inside Israel, about 1,000 Israeli Palestinian and Jewish peace activists march to the Erez crossing in solidarity with the internationals in Egypt. Israeli police arrest a Jewish settler teenager connected to the outlawed right-wing group Kahane Chai suspected in the 12/11 arson of a mosque in Yasuf. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes 2 animal shelters on a Palestinian farm located nr. an unauthorized Israeli settlement outpost northeast of Hebron, saying they had been erected illegally; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. Jewish settlers fr. Shavei Shomron and Einav settlements set up an outpost on a hill nr. Nablus overlooking the spot where a settler was ambushed and killed on 12/24. Jewish settlers at another settlement outpost northwest of Hebron raze 1,500 d. of surrounding Palestinian agricultural land, saying they plan to build a park and swimming pools. (JP 12/31; NYT, WP 1/1; HA 1/2; OCHA, PCHR 1/6; WJW 1/7)

In the West Bank, the IDF stages synchronized late-night house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c., arresting 1 Palestinian; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in al-Fara‘a r.c. nr. Tubas and nr. Hebron, Ramallah. A Jewish settler is fatally shot while driving nr. Nablus; a caller to a Palestinian radio station claims the attack was carried out by the Fatah-offshoot al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (AMB). Jewish settlers, implementing their “price-tag doctrine” of retaliation, vandalize Palestinian homes and block Palestinian traffic nr. Yitzhar settlement s. of Nablus; bar Palestinian traffic, stone and vandalize Palestinian vehicles, and uproot 100s of Palestinian trees nr. Shavei Shomron settlement, home to the deceased settler; attempt to prevent a Palestinian bus fr. passing through the Einav checkpoint nr. Tulkarm. (NYT 12/25; PCHR 12/30; OCHA 1/6)

The IDF conducts military exercises in the Golan Heights. Meanwhile, IDF troops on the n. Gaza border make a brief incursion to detain 2 Palestinian teenagers scavenging for scrap metal from destroyed buildings nr. the border fence n. of Bayt Hanun, holding them for 12 hrs. of interrogation before releasing them. Israel allows Gazans to export 1 truckload of carnations (30,000 flowers), marking the first exports permitted since 4/27/09. In the West Bank, the IDF raids Khirbat Tana village, located in area C northeast of Nablus and w. of Mehola settlement, early in the morning, searching several homes and confiscating 4 tractors, stating the area is a closed military zone (see Quarterly Update for details). The IDF also shuts the Shavei Shomron checkpoint on the Jenin–Nablus route for road repair work that is expected to take 9 mos.; the closure creates long delays for Palestinians traveling between Jenin and the s. West Bank. Jewish settlers fr. Revava northwest of Salfit brutally beat a 13-yr.-old Palestinian child; the IDF evacuates the child to an Israeli hospital. (NYT 12/11; OCHA, PCHR 12/16)

In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes 1 Palestinian home and an addition to a 2d home in East Jerusalem, displacing 15 Palestinians (including 8 children), with 1 family fined $3,000 for unlicensed construction; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Hebron, Nablus and neighboring ‘Ayn Bayt al-Ma’, and Hizma village northeast of Jerusalem (arresting 3 12-yr.-old Palestinians and a 14-yr.-old), and nr. Jenin. The UN reports that in the previous wk., the IDF vacated 3 checkpoints around Qalqilya (including completely dismantling 1: Izbat Jalud) and increased the operating hours of 4 main checkpoints around Nablus (Asira al-Shamaliyya, Bayt Iba, Hawara, Shavei Shomron) to 24 hrs./ day 7 days/wk., significantly easing Palestinian travel btwn. Qalqilya and Nablus. The UN also reports that since the 5/31 and 6/4 Fatah-Hamas clashes in Qalqilya, Hamas police have arrested 73 Fatah-affiliated Palestinians on charges of “seeking to undermine internal security in Gaza.” Meanwhile, the PASF has arrested at least 74 Palestinians in the West Bank, making this the 2d wk. that the PASF has arrested more Palestinians than the IDF. (OCHA, PCHR 6/11)

U.S. special envoy Mitchell begins a 2-day visit to Israel and Ramallah (his 4th trip to the region) to follow up with Israeli and PA leaders regarding Obama’s 6/4 speech. (IFM 6/9; NYT, WT 6/10; NYT, WJW, WT 9/11) 

Israeli warplanes drop boxes of leaflets across Gaza announcing that the IDF is expanding its self-declared “buffer zone” fr. 150 to 300 meters along most of the Gaza border, making more agricultural land inaccessible; 1 box hits a house, injuring a child. In the West Bank, the IDF shoots, seriously wounds an unarmed Palestinian teenager who strays nr. Shavei Shomron settlement nr. Nablus; patrols in Nur Shams r.c. nr. Tulkarm, firing on stone-throwing youths who confront them, wounding 3; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Jenin. Jewish settlers fr. Elkana settlement nr. Salfit vandalize a Palestinian home and intimidate the residents. (OCHA, PCHR 5/28; OCHA 6/1)

n the West Bank, the IDF begins leveling 78 d. of Palestinian land w. of Nablus for the creation of a new settler-only bypass road to Shavei Shomron settlement. At least 8 Jewish settlers severely beat a Palestinian man outside his Silwan home in East Jerusalem. A Gazan woman fr. Bayt Lahiya dies in an Egyptian hospital fr. white phosphorus injuries sustained during OCL. (OCHA 3/31, 4/1; PCHR 4/2)

The IDF fires a surface-to-surface missile at central Bayt Lahiya in an attempt to assassinate 3 Hamas mbrs., missing them but injuring 3 bystanders, damaging 2 homes and a car. The Israeli navy fires on 2 Islamic Jihad mbrs. in a boat off the Gaza coast, killing them. The IDF also withdraws troops from a strip of land northeast of Bayt Lahiya occupied on 10/19. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah; raids and searches homes, checks IDs of residents in Bayt Jala nr. Bethlehem. Jewish settlers fr. Shavei Shomron nr. Nablus, escorted by IDF troops, attack Palestinians harvesting olives nearby. Jewish settlers fr. Beitar Ilit nr. Bethlehem beat a Palestinian passing by the settlement. Jewish settlers fr. Karnei Shomron steal a harvest of olives fr. a Palestinian farmer nr. Qalqilya. In Gaza City, mbrs. of a Fatah-affiliated clan fire on a car of Hamas mbrs., sparking clashes that leave 3 Palestinians dead (1 clan member, 2 bystanders), 35 wounded. In Rafah, ESF officers attempt to confiscate a vehicle fr. armed Islamic Jihad mbrs., sparking an exchange of fire that leaves 1 Palestinian bystander dead and 16 Palestinians (including bystanders) injured. (WP, WT 10/21; OCHA 10/24; PCHR 10/25)

After mos. of IDF operations in which an Islamic Jihad leader was assassinated on 3/10, another leader survived an attempted assassination on 7/10, and more than 300 cadres were arrested following the 2/25 suicide bombing carried out by a renegade Islamic Jihad mbr., an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber fr. al-Til outside Tulkarm detonates a device outside a mall in Netanya, killing 3 Israelis, wounding up to 48, marking the 1st suicide bombing since 2/25/05 (1st inside Israel since 11/1/04); Islamic Jihad at first denies, then confirms responsibility. Israel suspends all contacts with the PA regarding disengagement, seals the West Bank and Gaza, vows to respond harshly against the group. Abbas states, “We condemn this terrorist attack. It’s a crime against the Palestinian people. Those traitors are working against the Palestinian interest. . . . They did a stupid thing that they should be punished for,” though he notes Islamic Jihad’s denial. At almost the same time as the bombing, a stolen car breaks through the fence of Shavei Shomron settlement in the West Bank and explodes, injuring the driver but causing no other casualties; the IDF says the driver was an Islamic Jihad mbr. who had been working as an informant for Israel; he had been handcuffed to the wheel of the car and the bomb he was carrying was detonated by cell phone, suggesting an attempt to assassinate him for collaboration. The IDF demolishes 2 Palestinian homes built without permits in Issawiyya and Silwan, East Jerusalem, where Israel intends to construct a park; conducts house searches, detains Palestinians for interrogation in Bayt Fajjar nr. Bethlehem. Palestinians detonate aroadside bomb under an IDF jeep outside Netzer Hazani settlement in s. Gaza, injuring 2 soldiers. Masked Palestinian gunmen fire on senior PA Interior Min. Ibrahim Salama as he drives in Ramallah, force his car to stop, severely beat him; no group takes responsibility. (AP, BBC, HA, IMEMC, XIN 7/12; VOI, VOP 7/12 in WNC 7/13; NYT, OCHA, PR, WP, WT, YA 7/13; HA, Interfax, ITAR-TASS, JP, MA, XIN, YA 7/13 in WNC 7/14; PCHR 7/14; al-Safir 7/16 in WNC 7/17; PR 7/20; XIN 7/21)