The Palestine Chronology

The IDF launches a predawn air strike on the home of wanted Hamas mbr. Ahmad Jabari in Gaza City, assassinating 2 Hamas mbrs. and 1 Islamic Jihad mbr. (all relatives of Jabari), killing 2 bystanders, wounding 7; Jabari is moderately wounded. The IDF lifts the curfew on all of Nablus, except the Old City and al-‘Ayn r.c.; seals al-Fara’ r.c. nr. Nablus, patrolling streets, firing on stone-throwing youths who confront the troops; fires missiles at 2 workshops in Gaza City (alleged to be weapons factories), destroying both but causing no injuries; demolishes 2 Palestinian homes, 4 shops in Rafah; fires on residential areas of Khan Yunis, Rafah; raids, confiscates equipment and files fr. a charitable association nr. Bethlehem; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Dahaysha r.c., Nablus, Qalqilya; begins bulldozing a 350 dunams (d.; 4 d. = 1 acre) nr. Qalqilya for construction of the separation wall. Palestinians fire 2 Qassam rockets at Gaza’s Neve Dekalim settlement, lightly injuring 2 Jewish settlers; detonate a roadside bomb by an IDF tank in Gaza, causing some damage but no injuries. Jewish settlers fr. Pdu’el raze olive trees, place barbed wire around a plot of Palestinian land outside Salfit. Some 60 internationals, 20 Palestinians who began a Freedom March along the separation wall route to protest the wall’s construction in Zababda nr. Jenin on 7/30 arrive at their destination, Jerusalem, a day ahead of schedule. (NYT, PCHR, WP 8/18; PCHR 8/19, 8/25)