The Palestine Chronology

Based on Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s 5/20 meeting with Mitchell (see 5/19) and a meeting today between Israeli and PA security officials, Israel announces plans to relax some restrictions on West Bank movement and access over the next 2 wks. as a goodwill gesture to support proximity talks. The promised moves include: removing 60 roadblocks (around 10% of total) across the West Bank, various steps to improve Palestinian tourism and trade, and lifting some restrictions on Israeli Palestinians access to the West Bank. (IFM 5/23; JTA 5/24; OCHA, WJW 5/27)

In Gaza, around 20 armed Palestinians vandalize and set fire to an United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) beachside summer camp for refugee children under construction w. of Gaza City, binding the caretaker and leaving him with a letter threatening UNRWA senior staff; Hamas denounces the attack; no group takes responsibility, but previously Islamist extremists have condemned UNRWA for corrupting Gazan youths by introducing them to activities they deem at odds with Islam. The Israeli navy fires on Palestinian fishing boats off the n. Gaza coast, forcing them to return to shore. IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging construction materials fr. former settlement sites nr. Bayt Lahiya, wounding 1 Palestinian. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids in and around Hebron and neighboring al-‘Arub refugee camp (r.c.), in Jenin and Qalqilya, nr. Jericho and Ramallah. (IFM 5/23; NYT 5/24; OCHA, PCHR 5/27; NYT 6/29)

Israel begins a 5-day nationwide civil defense exercise to test the preparedness of civilians, emergency services, local authorities in case of war. Netanyahu stresses that the drill does not mean Israel is expecting or planning a major security engagement. (NYT 5/24)

In the West Bank, the IDF raids a house in Bayt Fajjar nr. Bethlehem and another in Jericho, arresting 2 Palestinians (including 1 teenager). (PCHR 10/29)

New Israeli-Palestinian clashes erupt in East Jerusalem after Israel’s Islamic Movement and extremist Jewish groups call on their followers to rally in defense of the al-Aqsa Mosque and Temple Mount respectively. Israeli security forces deploy across the city to contain and prevent clashes, entering the al-Aqsa Mosque compound twice during the day with the stated aim of removing Palestinian demonstrators hiding among the approximately 200 worshippers at the site (temporarily locking worshippers inside the Dome of the Rock and the Southern Mosque), beating many Palestinians, firing tear gas and sound bombs, and arresting 10s of Palestinians (including PLC mbr. ‘Abd al-Qadir, who is ordered on 10/26 to stay out of Jerusalem for 21 days; see 10/4); as many as 25 Palestinians (including around 4 children, 7 women) and 5 journalists are injured. In a possibly related incident, Israeli security forces at Qalandia checkpoint arrest a Palestinian woman for allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli soldier; the IDF later raids her family’s house in Saffa nr. Ramallah. (NYT, WP, WT 10/26; OCHA, PCHR, WJW 10/29; PCHR 11/5)

An Israeli military court sentences 2 IDF soldiers to 20 days in a military prison, expels them fr. their unit, and prohibits them fr. serving as combat soldiers for having demonstrated in support of West Bank settlements during their swearing-in ceremony. (WJW 10/29)