The Palestine Chronology

The IDF demolishes 1 Palestinian home in Tamun; clashes with Palestinians in Silat al-Haratiyya, injuring 9; fires on residential areas of Jenin; conducts house-to-house searches in Juhur al-Dik nr. Gaza City, detaining more than 100 Palestinians, taking them to Neve Dekalim settlement for interrogation (all but 6, who are taken to jail in Israel, are released after 9 hrs.). IDF soldiers discover a package bomb at a gas station in Afula; the device is disarmed; no group claims responsibility. Palestinians throw an explosive device and an IDF vehicle nr. Askar r.c., lightly injuring 1 soldier. Jewish settlers fr. Tapuach nr. Hebron harvest Palestinian olive trees while Palestinian residents are under curfew, shoot at international peace activists who attempt to intervene. Israel says it has arrested alleged West Bank ALF leader Rakad Salim on charges of paying families of Palestinian suicide bombers, other Palestinians wounded or killed during the intifada on behalf of Iraq. (HA, LAW, PCHR, Rabbis for Human Rights press release 10/2; HA 10/3; PCHR 10/9)

Israel backs off plans to expel to Gaza 21 male relatives of suspected Palestinian militants (see 7/19). Sharon tells his cabinet that he will abide by Atty. Gen. Rubinstein's ruling that family mbrs. would have to have been directly involved in supporting the attacks in order to be deported. A small remote controlled bomb explodes underneath a commuter train in Rehovat nr. Tel Aviv, slightly injuring the driver; no one takes responsibility. The IDF conducts arrest raids in Jenin; fires on residential areas of Khan Yunis. A Jewish settler driving in Hebron deliberately runs over a Palestinian man, seriously injuring him. (MM, NYT, WT 7/22; MM 7/23; PCHR 7/24; LAW 7/31)

Sharon, Housing M Natan Sharansky announce plans to create 14 new Jewish localities in the Negev and Galilee to strengthen Jewish control of the land, create a security buffer btwn. Jenin and Afula (the site of numerous Palestinian attacks). (HA 7/22; Between the Lines 8/02)

A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates a device in an Afula bus station, injuring 1 patrolman, when he is stopped by Israeli police for a security check. The IDF conducts arrest raids into Tulkarm, Zabuna nr. Jenin; shells residential areas nr. Khan Yunis. (MM 5/20; NYT, WT 5/21; LAW 5/22)

Israeli-Palestinian violence continues to escalate, leaving 1 Israeli civilian, 1 Jewish settler, at least 6 Palestinians dead. A package bomb planted by a Jewish vigilante group called Revenge of the Innocent Babes (in reference to the 3/2 Beit Israel attack) explodes on a playground at a Palestinian school in East Jerusalem, injuring 2 teachers, 24 children. In response to the 3/4 AMB attack in Tel Aviv, IDF F-16s rocket Palestinian targets across Gaza and in Bethlehem, Nablus, Ramallah, Tulkarm; helicopters fire a missile at a car in Ramallah, killing 3 Palestinians, including 2 wanted AMB members, Muhannad Abu Halawa and Fawzi Murrar. The IDF also makes incursions into Palestinian areas nr. Bayt Lahia, Jabaliya, Khan Yunis, Tamun; direct shells, heavy machine gun fire at residential areas of Bethlehem, al-Khadir, Qalqilya; demolishes greenhouses in Issawiyya. Nr. Gush Etzion settlement, Palestinian gunmen fire on a Jewish settler vehicle, killing 1 settler. A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates a devices on a bus in Afula, Israel, killing 1 Israeli. Palestinians also launch 2 Qassam-2s fr. Gaza into Israel, for the 1st time hitting an apartment building in Sederot, injuring 2 children. Jewish settlers attack a PSF post in Qalqilya, stone a Palestinian car nr. Ramallah. (HP, MM 3/5; XIN 3/5 in WNC 3/6; LAW, MM, NYT, PCHR, PMC, WP, WT 3/6; MA 3/6 in WNC 3/7; AYM 3/7 in WNC 3/8; MEI 3/8; JP 3/15)

     Sharon convenes his inner cabinet, then his full cabinet to discuss how to respond to the 3/4 Tel Aviv attack. Participants reportedly debate launching massive "mopping-up" operations in refugee camps, incursions into a list of villages in areas A and B, escalating attacks on Ramallah (including removing Arafat). The cabinet gives the IDF "free rein to further intensify military pressure on the PA, especially in Ramallah," bars all Palestinian vehicular traffic in the West Bank. (MM 3/5; NYT, PMC, WP, WT 3/6) quote in PMC 3/6