The Palestine Chronology

Overnight, the Israeli navy rounds up 14 Palestinian fishing boats, detains 56 fishermen, releases 50 later in the day. A Hamas sniper fires across the Gaza border into Israel, wounding an Israeli electrical worker in the 1st armed attack by Hamas since the Gaza cease-fire went into effect 11/26/06. Hamas mbrs. also fire 2 mortars at the IDF post at Qarni crossing, causing no damage or injuries. Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad reiterates Hamas’s call for mutual calm; Israel says that it will continue to abide by the truce but that its patience is wearing thin. In Shati’ r.c., an Islamic Jihad mbr. is killed, 9 Palestinians are injured when explosives he is handling detonate prematurely. Egyptian security forces announce that they have captured a Hamas mbr. in the n. Sinai, who allegedly intended to sneak into Israel to stage a suicide bombing. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron, firing on stone-throwing Palestinians, wounding 4. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba bar Palestinian worshipers fr. entering al-Ras Mosque in Hebron; the IDF observes but does not intervene. Separately, 50 Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba, under IDF protection, occupy a 4-story Palestinian residential building in Hebron, claiming to have legally purchased it; the owner denies this; officers fr. the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) ask the settlers to see the purchase documents, but they refuse. A Jewish settler fr. Hebron seriously injures a Palestinian man in a deliberate hit and run. In Gaza City, 200 family mbrs. of Palestinians detained by Israel hold a sit-in to demand greater PA and international efforts to secure a prisoner release. (al-Mezan, NYT, OCHA, WP, WT 3/20; PCHR 3/22)

Overnight, the IDF revives Operation Hot Winter (see 3/1) in Nablus, conducting major house searches, arresting 2 Palestinians but withdrawing in the morning. During the day, IDF troops on the s. Gaza border fire on Palestinian farmers who stray near the border fence e. of al-Qarara, causing no injuries; later sends tanks, bulldozers across the border in the same area to level land, discovering and dismantling 2 roadside bombs. Late in the evening, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron, and nr. Bethlehem, Ramallah. Jewish settlers fr. Avraham Avino attack Palestinian workers repairing a Palestinian home nearby; the IDF observes but does not intervene. Jewish settlers fr. Ramat Yishai vandalize Palestinian homes nearby. A Palestinian gunman fires on a Jewish settler vehicle driving on the Itamar settlement bypass road nr. Nablus, wounding 1 settler. In Gaza City, suspected Fatah gunmen assassinate Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades cmdr. Ala’ al-Haddad; late in the evening, the ESF fires an RPG destroying a house in Gaza City in apparent retaliation. Fatah-ESF clashes escalate in Bayt Hanun, with ESF mbrs. firing an RPG at the home of a Fatah mbr. and Fatah mbrs. retaliating by firing an RPG at the home of a Hamas mbr.; 3 Palestinians are injured. Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad says that the PA has definite information about who kidnapped BBC corresponded Johnston on 3/12, indicating that they are mbrs. of the powerful Daghmash clan, which is involved in criminal activity and was responsible for the abduction of 2 Fox News journalists on 8/27/06; says the government is working to secure his release. (HA, NYT, OCHA 3/14; PCHR 3/15)