The Palestine Chronology

DF troops on the n. Gaza border nr. Bayt Hanun open fire on Palestinian farmers who stray too nr. the border fence, seriously injuring 1. Palestinians fire 3 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries, bringing to 21 the number of rockets fired since the Gaza cease-fire went into effect on 11/26. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes a Palestinian home in al-Walaja nr. Bethlehem; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Abu Dis, Jenin town and r.c., and nr. Bethlehem, Tulkarm; bars a Palestinian heart attack victim fr. crossing a checkpoint to reach a hospital in Nablus, allowing him to die. Following the 12/11 attack on Balusha’s car in Gaza City, Abbas deploys extra security forces under his command across the Strip, sparking an exchange of gunfire btwn. Fatah, Hamas mbrs. during a Fatah demonstration in Khan Yunis against the killings, leaving 4 Fatah mbrs. injured. Inside Israel, Israeli police demolish 4 homes in the unrecognized village of Um Mitnan in the Negev. (IMEMC, MM 12/12; OCHA, WP 12/13; PCHR 12/14)

The IDF pulls troops out of Nablus, lifts the 24-hr. curfew after a wk. of operations, during which 10s of Palestinians were detained; fires on residential areas of Khan Yunis, hitting an 8-yr.-old Palestinian in the chest with live ammunition; conducts arrest raids in and around Hebron, in Rafah. Israeli authorities demolish 7 Israeli Arab homes, a mosque in unrecognized villages in the Negev. Young Fatah mbrs. in Rafah waylay, essentially kidnap Arafat aide Ramzi Khoury, Gaza governor Muhammad al-Kidwa at the border crossing as they return fr. Cairo; take them on a forced 4 hr. tour of the recent IDF destruction in Rafah, protesting the PA’s failure to provide for 1,000s of homeless Palestinians. Jewish settlers attack Palestinians, Palestinian houses in Hebron. (WT 12/30; PCHR 1/1; MEI 1/9; HA 1/13)

The IDF demolishes a Palestinian home in Maghazi r.c., killing a 65-yr.-old Palestinian woman who refused orders to vacate; raids a PSF office in Qalqilya, fatally shooting 1 PSF officer, wounding another; fires on stone-throwing Palestinians in Nablus, killing a 17-yr.-old Palestinian, and in Tamun, seriously injuring a 13-yr.-old Palestinian; fires on residential areas of Khan Yunis, wounding 13 Palestinians; conducts arrest raids, demolishes stalls in the vegetable market in Hebron; conducts arrest raids in Bayt Awla, Bethlehem, Dayr Dibwan, Ramallah. Late in the evening, IDF helicopters open fire on a retirement home attached to a hospital in Gaza City, killing 2 Palestinian medical workers. Palestinians fire 10 mortars at Gush Katif settlement, causing no damage or injuries. (AP, HA, LAW, PCHR, REU 2/5; XIN 2/5 in WNC 2/7; LAW, NYT, WP, WT 2/6; NYT, PM, WP 2/7; DUS 2/7 in WNC 2/10)

Israeli Interior Min. inspectors demolish a mosque in Til al-Malah, an unrecognized bedouin village in the Negev. (HA 2/5)

Under “intense pressure from the American administration,” Sharon holds secret talks with PC speaker and senior PA negotiator Ahmad Qurai`, presents him with a plan for a gradual cease-fire and resumption of security coordination. (HA 2/8; WT 2/9; MM, NYT, WT 2/10; JT, QA, al-Quds, SA 2/10 in WNC 2/11; MM 2/11; AYM 2/11 in WNC 2/13; PR 2/12; MEI 2/21)