The Palestine Chronology

In c. Gaza, IDF troops open fire on Palestinian homes nr. the border fence, causing damage. Off the coast nr. Bayt Lahiya, Israeli naval forces fire on Palestinian fishing boats, causing no damage or injuries. In the West Bank, IDF troops conduct raids in 1 village each nr. Qalqilya and Bethlehem, sparking clashes with stone-throwing residents in both and arresting 2 in the former. They also patrol in 1 village each nr. Ramallah and Qalqilya, and 2 areas nr. Hebron; arrest a Palestinian man n. of Hebron who attempted to stab an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint; assault a Palestinian at a checkpoint nr. Jenin. The IDF violently disperses Palestinian and international activists nonviolently protesting in 2 villages nr. Qalqilya, detaining 2 Palestinians, moderately injuring 2, and lightly injuring several. Israeli forces deliver demolition notices to a school and 2 homes in Hebron. Israeli settlers deface the walls of a Palestinian school nr. Nablus, leaving price-tag graffiti. Separately, Israeli settlers assault a Palestinian youth from another village nr. Nablus, forcing him to remove his clothes in the cold weather. In East Jerusalem, Jewish Israelis set fire to a Greek Orthodox seminary and leave price-tag graffiti. An Israeli court bans 4 Palestinian women from entering Haram al-Sharif for periods ranging from 10 to 60 days. They were detained on 2/25. (HA, MNA, TOI, WAFA 2/26; MNA 2/28; PCHR 3/5)

The IEC agrees to stop cutting power to areas in the West Bank (as it did on 2/23 and 2/25) in exchange for the Israeli govt.’s promise to offset the Palestinians’ debts with the tax revenues that it has punitively withheld from the PA since 1/2. The PM’s office also announces a deal that will connect Rawabi, the 1st planned Palestinian city, to the water grid, enabling new residents to move in to the city. The agreement will also connect several Israeli settlements in the area to the grid. (HA, TOI 2/26; NYT 2/27)

On the 6 mo. anniversary of the 8/16 cease-fire that ended Operation Protective Edge (OPE), 30 UN agencies and other international organizations in Gaza jointly express their alarm at the slow pace of reconstruction and the dire conditions in the Strip. In their statement, they say, “We must not fail Gaza,” and that “since 7/2014, the situation has deteriorated dramatically.” (WAFA 2/26)

The Jordanian and Israeli govts. sign a deal that will govern the construction of a pipeline to link the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, the 1st phase of a Dead Sea revitalization project that has been debated and discussed for over a decade. They plan to begin preparing tenders to offer to construction companies in the coming weeks. They ultimately plan to build a desalinization plant n. of Aqaba, Jordan. In 12/2013, reps. of Jordan, Israel, and the PA signed a memorandum of understanding at the World Bank to guide their joint efforts on the project. (AFP, TOI 2/26)

In the West Bank, the IDF makes a daytime raid into a village nr. Jenin, searching a store and arresting 1 Palestinian. In Jerusalem, Jewish vandals spray graffiti on a Greek Orthodox monastery and school saying “price tag” and “death to Christians.” Jewish settlers fr. Eli settlement nr. Nablus vandalize and spray racist graffiti on the walls of 2 nearby Palestinian stores and a car. OCHA reports that 70% of gas stations in Gaza have closed because of a sharp reduction in the amount of fuel coming through the Rafah smuggling tunnels in the past 2 wks.; OCHA cites unconfirmed reports as indicating that the sharp decline is a result of new restrictions and fees that Egyptian police have imposed on fuel trucks headed to Egyptian Rafah. (WT 2/8; PCHR 2/9; OCHA 2/10; JPI 2/17)

The Vatican announces that Pope Benedict XVI will visit Lebanon in 9/2012 to issue a statement on the future of the Catholic church in the Middle East and “the plight of Christians in the Muslim-dominated Middle East.” (WT 2/8)

The IDF imposes a curfew on Allar nr. Tulkarm, raids and occupies a girls school and 4 Palestinian homes as observation sites, detains 10s of Palestinians for interrogation; also conducts arrest raids, house searches in ‘Azun nr. Qalqilya, Dahariyya nr. Hebron; closes checkpoints into East Jerusalem before Friday prayers, fires tear gas and percussion grenades to disperse Palestinians waiting to cross; beats a Palestinian farmer tilling his land nr. the separation wall in Dayr al-‘Asal nr. Hebron; fires on residential areas of Khan Yunis; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at a nonviolent Palestinian demonstration against the separation wall nr. Bil‘in, seriously injuring a Palestinian, lightly injuring a foreign journalist with the Associated Press. Some 40 Jewish rabbinical students club, stone 8 Palestinian laborers working legally at Nachliel settlement, seriously injuring at least 5; Israeli police intervene but the settlers escape; police sources say the 8 Palestinians were “almost lynched.” Jewish settlers fr. Brakha settlement nr. Nablus ambush, beat, seriously injure a Palestinian truck driver passing the settlement. 10s of Jewish settlers fr. Halamish settlement occupy a plot of nearby Palestinian land housing the water spigots controlling the water supply to the settlement and nearby Palestinian villages. PA security officers seal a smugglers’ tunnel in Rafah; some Palestinians confront the officers with stones, causing no injuries; 1 Palestinian is arrested. (HA, MM 3/18; VOP 3/19; AYM 3/20; OCHA 3/23; PCHR 3/24)

Ma’ariv 3/18 reports that that the financial officer of the Greek Orthodox Church, Nikolaos Papadimas, who has power of attorney for Greek Orthodox Patriarch Irineos, recently signed a secret deal, without Irineos’s permission, to sell the church’s Omar Bin Khattab Square property in the Old City of Jerusalem to Jewish investors fr. abroad and then fled the country with his family, depositing $1.5 m. in a Tel Aviv bank account. The square is a valuable commercial area inside the Jaffa Gate, where 3 prominent Palestinian hotels and a number of shops are located. Irineos denies that he gave permission for the sale, meaning that, by church bylaws, the sale is void. (JAZ, MA, al-Quds, VOP 3/19 in WNC 3/28; HA, VOP 3/23; AP 3/24; NYT 3/25; PR 3/30; al-Quds, VOP 4/3 in WNC 4/4; NYT 4/4; Independent 5/10; HA 5/15; PR 5/18)

Before dawn, in retaliation for the 11/10 AMB kibbutz attack, the IDF sends 150 tanks, APCs into Nablus and its surrounding r.c.’s (Askar r.c., `Ayn Bayt al-Ma’ r.c., Balata r.c.), conducts house-to-house searches, occupies schools and buldings as outposts, surrounds Nablus’s Old City, fires on residential areas of adjacent Balata r.c. In another predawn attack, IDF helicopters fire missiles at the same car repair shop targetted on 11/11, destroying it, killing a 2-yr.-old Palestinian child, damaging several surrounding homes. The IDF also arrests 30 Hamas mbrs. across the West Bank, 11 of them in Nablus, some in Birzeit; fires on residential areas of Tal al-Sultan. (LAW, MM, NYT, PCHR, PR, WP, WT 11/13; MM, NYT, WT 11/14)

Israeli atty. gen. Eliyakim Rubinstein announces that the government intends to press charges against Greek Orthodox spiritual head Father Theodosis Atallah Hanna for “unauthorized contact with the enemy,” meeting with “terrorists,” inciting violence for recent travels to Lebanon, Syria to visit Greek Orthodox communities there. Father Theodosis notes that the atty. gen. has not charged rabbis who visit Jewish comunities in Iraq, Syria, or Yemen. (Father Theodosis press release 11/13)

Iraq accepts UN Res. 1441 unconditionally, opening the door for arms inspectors to return to Iraq for the 1st time since UN arms experts left in 1998 beginning on 11/18. (AP 11/13; MENA 11/13 in WNC 11/14; MM, NYT, WP, WT 11/14; MM 11/15)

Israel's Interior M Eli Yishai says he has initiated steps to revoke the residency status of 4 East Jerusalem Palestinians arrested for participation in a Hamas cell (see 8/21); he says, "There is no need to wait for a trial because the evidence is clear and based on intelligence of their terrorist activity." Israeli police detain senior Greek Orthodox Church official Atallah Hanna at his East Jerusalem home on charges of "expressing support for terrorist organizations," "illegally entering an enemy country" (Lebanon and Syria); release him after 5 hrs. of questioning. The IDF arrests the head of Hamas's Qalqilya political wing; bulldozes 7 dunams of olive groves in Dayr al-Balah; conducts arrest raids in Dura. (AFP, HA 8/22; MM, WT 8/23; MM 8/27; LAW, PCHR 8/28)

Israeli PM Ariel Sharon cancels plans to make a trip to the U.S. to attend a rally in support of Israel in Tallahassee with Florida gov. Jeb Bush, brother of U.S. Pres. George W. Bush, on 9/9, a day before the Florida Democratic primary; go to LA to attend another rally hosted by a Republican candidate in tight midterm elections there. Democrats had denounced the visit, which was arranged with Pres. Bush's sway, but Sharon says he decided he would have to stay in Israel to prepare for a budget battle which will take place in 10/02. Sharon canceled two previous trips to Florida when he cut short previous trips to the U.S. because of bombings in Israel. (NYT, WP 8/23; MA 8/23 in WNC 8/26)

In the U.S., Texas gov. Bush is declared the winner of the 11/7 presidential elections. VP Gore concedes. Bush will take office on 1/20/01. (NYT, WP, WT 12/13; HA 12/14; MA, MENA 12/14 in WNC 12/18; MM 12/15; Globes 12/17 in WNC 12/20; MM 12/20) (see 11/26)

Israeli-Palestinian clashes continue, leaving at least 3 Palestinians dead. The IDF shoots senior Fatah mbr. Yusif Abu Sawi, rumored to be on Israel's wanted list, in another apparent assassination. 2 Palestinians are killed, 15 wounded in clashes with the IDF in Khan Yunis, during which the IDF shells a PSF post. The IDF bulldozes more Palestinian land in Dayr al-Balah, damaging 2 Palestinian homes and destroying 2 homes, the foundations of 1 home under construction, a greenhouse, an apiary, and an irrigation system. IDF shelling in Bethlehem damages St. Nicholas', St. Michael's Greek Orthodox churches. (LAW 12/12; MEZ NYT, WP, WT 12/13; AYM 12/13 in WNC 12/18; PCHR 12/18)

In Rabat, Morocco, U.S. special envoy Ross meets with Arafat to explore whether Arafat is "ready to return" to negotiations with Israel. (MM, WT 12/12; IDF Radio [Internet] 12/13; NYT 12/15; NYT, WP 12/16; NYT 12/29)