The Palestine Chronology

International diplomacy to end OCL clicks into gear with France proposing that Israel and Hamas impose a 48-hr. humanitarian truce to try to defuse the violence and restore the Gaza cease-fire, with humanitarian groups, Egypt, the EU, the Quartet, and the U.S. opening mediation channels (see Quarterly Update). Israel’s security cabinet meets to discuss the French proposal but does not formally respond.

Israeli actions: The IDF conducts 70 air strikes on Gaza, while the Israeli navy continues shelling from the sea, killing at least 10 Palestinians and wounding 40, bringing the death toll to about 370. The IDF reports hitting 110 individual sites, with primary targets being tunnels on the Rafah border, suspected weapons factories and rocket-launching sites, civil and naval police stations, and groups of resistance mbrs. In Gaza City, at least 20 air strikes hit Haniyeh’s offices, PA Interior Min., and main PA government complex in Gaza City, all of which had been targeted previously; 1 air strike hits an ambulance, killing 1 paramedic, seriously wounding a doctor and the driver. Part of Gaza’s main power grid is also hit, cutting all power to Gaza City. A fuel depot in Rafah is destroyed. In al-Bureij r.c., a mosque and health clinic are hit. In Khan Yunis, a money exchange is destroyed. At least 7 homes across the Strip are targeted. Target locations include Abasan, Bayt Hanun, Bayt Lahiya, al-Bureij r.c., Dayr al-Balah, Gaza City, Jabaliya town and r.c., Khan Yunis, al-Maghazi (c. Gaza), al-Mughraqa, al-Qarara, Rafah. The IDF launches a YouTube channel to broadcast declassified videos of its operations in Gaza, “other footage of interest to the international community” (JPI 1/8) and begins regular briefings for Internet bloggers worldwide.

Palestinian actions: Palestinians fire 41 rockets, 10 mortars into Israel, damaging 1 home in Sederot and causing several light injuries (excluding shock); 1 rocket lands in Beersheba, 25 mi. fr. the Gaza border, marking the farthest strike to date; 2 other long-range rockets land in Ashdod. Humanitarian notes: Israel allows 93 trucks into Gaza (50 carrying medical supplies and food donated by aid groups; 43 carrying commercial goods), but Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital says it is out of 150 kinds of medicine and 230 other medical supplies, including gloves, scissors, sterilization equipment, nitrogen for anesthesia. Fuel shipments are still cut off; Gaza’s power plant shuts down for lack of fuel. (BBC, HA, Independent 12/30; IDF, IFM, NYT, REU, UNOSAT, WP, WT 12/31; JP, PCHR 1/1; ITV 1/2; IDF 1/3; WP 1/4; IFM 1/8; NYT 1/13)

In the West Bank, a Palestinian worker in Mod’in Ilit settlement, angry over Israel’s war on Gaza, stabs, wounds 4 Jewish settlers before being shot and wounded by a paramedic who arrives on the scene. The IDF fires live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets, percussion grenades, tear gas at Palestinians demonstrating against OCL in al-Fawar r.c. nr. Hebron, wounding 3 (including teenagers ages 13, 14); makes simultaneous afternoon incursions into Beita and Hawara villages nr. Nablus, imposing curfews through 12/31; conducts simultaneous late-night raids, house searches on 4 villages nr. Jenin, firing on residential areas in all cases, causing no injuries and arresting only 1 teenager; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Abu Dis and Jalazun r.c. nr. Ramallah, and nr. Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarm. (PCHR, WJW 1/1)

Democratic candidate Barack Obama is elected president of the United States, to be inaugurated on 1/20/09. (MM 11/4; MM, NYT, WP, WT 11/5; MM 11/5, 11/6, 11/7)

In a major escalation and violation of the Gaza cease-fire, the IDF sends a large infantry unit into central Gaza nr. Dayr al-Balah allegedly to destroy a tunnel nr. the border, occupying 2 Palestinian homes (1 covering the tunnel), wounding 1 Palestinian woman in the process; troops then clash with Hamas gunmen who arrive on the scene, killing a senior Hamas cmdr., wounding 2 Hamas mbrs., leaving 4 IDF soldiers wounded, and marking the 1st armed clash since the cease-fire went into effect on 6/19. Israel publicly accuses Hamas of plotting to dig under the border fence to capture soldiers and abduct them to Gaza; separately, Israeli defense officials acknowledge (see WT 11/20) that they simply wanted to send a message to Hamas not to operate near the border. In response, Hamas fires 10 mortars fr. Gaza toward Israel; several land inside Israel, causing no damage or injuries. Later, the IDF makes air strikes on Khan Yunis and al-Qarara, killing 5 Hamas mbrs., wounding several. Israel calls these attacks “pinpoint operations” against specific threats, saying it still intends to adhere to the cease-fire. The IDF also sends troops into n. Gaza nr. Bayt Hanun to level land. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Hebron, nr. Bethlehem and Tulkarm. OCHA reports that in the previous wk. at least 8 IDF soldiers have been injured in clashes with Jewish settlers seeking retaliation for the 10/26 evacuation of Federman Farm. (IFM, JAZ, NYT, OCHA, PCHR, WP 11/5; MM, PCHR 11/6; WT 11/20)

In the 1st such incident since 6/13/08 (before the cease-fire began), IDF troops on the s. Gaza border fire across the border on residential areas of al-Shuka, seriously wounding 1 Palestinian. The IDF also makes an afternoon raid into Hebron, surrounding a PA security force unit on patrol, arresting 2 PA security officers; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, percussion grenades at Palestinian, Israeli, international peace activists taking part in a nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Bil‘in, wounding 2 Palestinians and an Israeli journalist; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international peace activists taking part in a similar nonviolent demonstration in Ni‘lin (10s suffer tear gas inhalation); conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. A Jewish settler seriously injures a 6-yr.-old Palestinian boy in an accidental hit-and-run in Hebron; the IDF evacuates the child to a Jerusalem hospital. (OCHA 9/17; PCHR 9/18; AIC 11/9)

As the quarter opens, a 6-mo. Hamas-Israel cease-fire in the Hamascontrolled Gaza Strip, which began on 6/19/08, remains in effect, with occasional cross-border incidents reported (see Quarterly Update in JPS 149 for background). Israel, however, maintains a tight closure on Gaza Strip (imposed since 1/08), allowing only the minimum amount of food, fuel, and basic humanitarian aid to enter and permitting no exports or individuals to leave. During the day, Israeli naval vessels pursue Palestinian fishing boats off the Gaza coast, confiscating 1, temporarily detaining 2 fishermen. In the West Bank, controlled by the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA), the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fire tear gas at, beat Palestinians holding a nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Dayr al-Bhussun nr. Tulkarm; conduct late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron, nr. Jenin. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba and the nearby Beit HaShalom outpost in Hebron’s Wadi al-Nassara neighborhood (comprising the al-Rajabi building seized in 4/08 and surrounding land seized last quarter; see Quarterly Update in JPS 149) attack Palestinians and their property in Wadi al-Nassara, wounding 1 Palestinian. (OCHA 8/20; PCHR 8/21)

In response to Palestinian rocket fire on 8/11, Israel suspends fuel shipments and humanitarian imports to Gaza for 1 day (see 7/8); Hamas official Mahmud Zahhar calls those who fired the rocket on 8/11 in violation of the cease-fire traitors and collaborators, reiterating that “there is a consensus by all Palestinian factions to respect the truce.” In the West Bank, theIDF conducts daytime arrest raids, house searches in Hebron and Tulkarm, and nr. Qalqilya. Jewish settlers who occupied (7/17) a plot of Palestinian land in Wadi alNassara in Hebron attack a Palestinian home with rocks and bottles, injuring a 13-yr.-old boy. Armed Jewish settlers attempt for a 3d time (see 8/6, 8/7) to enter Shu‘fat r.c. to establish an unauthorized outpost; the IDF bars their entry, arrests 13 settlers. PA security forces raid, seal for 1 yr. a school in Hebron, detain the director for alleged affiliation with Hamas (see 8/8). Meanwhile, OCHA reports that Hamas’s crackdown on Fatah in Gaza continues, with 465 Fatah supporters arrested and 204 Fatah-affiliated community organizations shut since the 7/25 Gaza City bombings; 279 of the detainees have been released; 34 of the organizations have been allowed to reopen. (OCHA 8/13; PCHR, WT 8/14)

Gaza’s border crossings remained sealed for a 3d day. The IDF fires warning shots at Palestinian farmers who stray nr. the Gaza border fence e. of Khan Yunis, seriously injuring 2 elderly Palestinians. The Israeli navy fires warning shots at fishermen to keep them close to shore. AMB mbrs. fire 2 rockets into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. Hamas’s Gaza security chiefSiyam meets with heads of the various Gaza factions to discuss ways of reacting to IDF actions in the West Bank while respecting the Gaza cease-fire. Islamic Jihad pledges to coordinate its responses with Hamas. In the West Bank, the IDF makes an unusual daytime raid into Bayt Umar village nr. Hebron, setting up road blocks, checking IDs, raiding and searching homes, firing on stone-throwing youths who confront troops, killing a 16-yr.-old Palestinian boy, arresting 1 Palestinian; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus and Ramallah, nr. Bethlehem and Jenin, and outside East Jerusalem. Jewish settlers fr. Halamish nr. Ramallah burn a Palestinian olive tree. Nr. Jabaliya r.c., unidentified assailants detonate a bomb outside a fmr. PA Preventive Security officer’s home, causing damage but no injuries. (NYT, WT 6/27; MM 6/30; OCHA 7/2; PCHR 7/3)

Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Sulayman secures a pledge by Hamas, Islamic Jihad to suspend rocket fire fr. Gaza unilaterally while he works to obtain a more formal bilateral cease-fire agmt. with Israel. In Jerusalem, an armed Palestinian enters the library of Mercaz Harav, Israel’s leading Zionist yeshiva and the ideological home of the far-right religious settler movement, and opens fire on students with an AK-47, killing 8 Israelis and wounding 9 before an IDF soldier and 2 undercover policemen enter the building and shoot him dead; Israeli security officials identify the attacker as a bus driver for the school and an East Jerusalem resident who apparently acted alone. Israeli police later raid Jabal Mukabir neighborhood, detaining 9 Palestinians for questioning. In Gaza, Islamic Jihad, Hamas mbrs. ambush an IDF patrol that enters Gaza through the Kissufim crossing, detonating a roadside bomb and firing on the vehicle, killing 1 IDF soldier, wounding at least 1. In response, the IDF shells an Islamic Jihad site nr. al-Qarara, killing 3 Islamic Jihad mbrs.; makes an air strike on an Islamic Jihad rocketlaunching site nr. Dayr al-Balah, killing 1 Islamic Jihad mbr. A 5th Islamic Jihad mbr. is killed when a rocket he is preparing to fire into Israel explodes prematurely. The IDF also bulldozes land inside the Gaza border fence e. of al-Qarara. The Israeli navy fires on Palestinian fishermen off the Rafah coast, heavily damaging 1 boat, causing no injuries. Palestinians fire 7 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, damaging 2 houses, lightly injuring 1 Israeli. Egypt begins replacing some stretches of barbed wire along the Rafah border with a 10-ft.-high stone and concrete wall. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes the Bethlehem home of a wanted Palestinian; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Tulkarm r.c., nr. Jenin (raiding and sealing al-Majd TV and al-Salam Press offices for allegedly aiding Islamic Jihad), Salfit. (HA, IFM 3/6; AP, HA, NYT, WP, WT 3/7; NYT, WP 3/8; OCHA 3/12; PCHR 3/13)