The Palestine Chronology

On the 2d day of his trip to Washington, Israeli vice PM Mofaz meets with U.S. national security adviser (NSA) Thomas Donilon. Pres. Obama joins the meeting unexpectedly and talks with Mofaz for 35 mins. about his recent calls to resume negotiations. (WJW 6/28)

Violence on the Gaza border is down significantly, with the 6/20 cease-fire generally seeming to hold. The IDF reports 7 Qassam rockets fired into Israel during the day, causing no damage or injuries. In the West Bank, Ulpana settlers agree to the deal brokered by YESHA on 6/20 to evacuate their outpost voluntarily. The IDF patrols in 4 villages nr. Ramallah and 1 nr. Jericho in the morning; and in Tulkarm, 1 nearby village, 2 villages nr. Ramallah, and 1 nr. Qalqilya late at night. (HA 6/21; PCHR 6/28; OCHA 6/29)

Kadima head Shaul Mofaz arrives in Washington for his 1st official visit as Israel’s vice PM in charge of overseeing peace process issues. He meets with U.S. secy. of state Hillary Clinton and U.S. security officials and urges the U.S. to support reviving peace talks with the Palestinians, stating that the greatest threat to Israel is not Iran but a Palestinian demographic majority. He presents his own peace plan (1st unveiled in 2009 and not endorsed by Netanyahu), which calls for the creation of an interim Palestinian state with temporary borders on 60% of the West Bank, land swaps making up for the other 40%, and Israel’s permanent control over most settlement areas. (WP 6/20)

Israeli drones and warplanes carry out another 5 air strikes across Gaza, leaving at least 2 armed Palestinians and 1 Palestinian child dead and 10 Palestinians (2 armed, 8 civilian) wounded. The strikes include (1) an air strike on Gaza City targeting 2 members of the Salafist Tawhid and Jihad (TAJ) group whom Israel now alleges were involved in the 6/18 attack on Israel from the Sinai (1 TAJ member is killed, 1 is wounded; a family picnicking nearby is also hit, leaving a 13-yr.-old Palestinian boy dead, and 4 mbrs. of his family, including 3 children, seriously injured); (2) 2 missiles fired at a rocket-launching team in Rafah (1 armed Palestinian killed, 1 wounded); (3) air strikes on 2 IQB training camps in Jabaliya r.c. and Nussayrat r.c. (injuring 5 bystanders in nearby homes). Meanwhile, Palestinians fire more rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, damaging a house but causing no injuries. Since 6/17, Israel has carried out at least 17 air strikes on Gaza, and Palestinians have fired more than 100 rockets and mortars. By late evening, Hamas officials in Gaza say that Gaza’s factions have agreed to an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire with Israel to end 3 days of cross-border violence. In addition, Israeli naval vessels fire on and detain 3 Palestinian fishing boats off the n. Gaza shore, questioning 6 fishermen (all released on 6/21). In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Salfit, and nr. Hebron and Jenin; conducts late-night patrols in Jericho. (YA 6/20; NYT, PCHR, WP 6/21; PCHR 6/28; OCHA 6/29)

Overnight, the YESHA settlers’ council reaches a deal with the Israeli government to peacefully evacuate Ulpana outpost in exchange for a promises that 300 new housing units will be built in neighboring Beit El settlement and that the deal would not be used as a precedent for deciding the fate of other unauthorized settlement outposts. Meanwhile, some 1,000 Israeli police officers undergo special training to prevent violence and injuries during the Ulpana evacuation. (NYT 6/20)

Several U.S. representatives from both parties testifying before the House Armed Services Comm. recommend that the Pentagon begin preparing for military action against Iran, including expediting deployment of bunker-busting munitions that could target Iran’s underground facilities. (WP 6/21)

Israeli and Palestinian officials issue opposing statements on the content of Israel’s principles on borders presented in the Jordanian-sponsored exploratory talks last quarter. Israeli officials say the principles “effectively means a withdrawal from 90% of the West Bank,” similar to proposals made by Israel at the 2008 Annapolis conference. Palestinian officials counter that Israel never presented maps or discussed percentages, stating “If they wanted to say 90% they should have said 90%.” (WT 2/24)

Jerusalem Post reports that Naftali Bennett, former head of PM Netanyahu’s office and a former head of the YESHA settlers council who has recently launched a new group called One State Israel, has started circulating his proposed solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict to Israel’s political and military elites, who reportedly give it “high praise.” His “Israel Stability Initiative,” which he describes as “a practical plan for managing the . . . conflict,” calls for: (1) Israel unilaterally extending sovereignty over West Bank area C (60% of the West Bank); (2) granting citizenship to the 50,000 (by his estimate; as of 8/2011, OCHA put the figure at 150,000) Palestinians in Area C; (3) full PA “autonomy” in and freedom of movement among West Bank areas A and B; (4) no right of return for Palestinian refugees and no access for Palestinian refugees to areas under PA control; (5) a “full Israeli security umbrella” covering all of the West Bank; (6) the permanent separation of Gaza from the West Bank; and (7) heavy Israeli investment in economic projects in the West Bank that reinforce separation, such as joint industrial zones and separate road networks. (JP 2/23; YA 2/24; Foreign Policy online 5/1; see also OCHA, “Displacement and Insecurity in Area C of the West Bank,” 8/2011)

Unidentified Palestinians fire 2 Qassam rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. In retaliation, Israeli warplanes and IDF troops on the s. Gaza border fire on open areas e. of Khan Yunis, causing no reported injuries. Late at night, after unidentified Palestinians fire another 2 Qassam rockets into Israel (causing no damage or injuries), Israeli warplanes make 3 air strikes on a group of armed Palestinians operating nr. Gaza City and on a Hamas training base in n. Gaza, causing no reported injuries. In the West Bank, IDF troops nr. Hebron uproot 690 trees and bulldoze 22 dunams (d.; 4 d. = 1 acre) of agricultural land, a well and water tank, and 800 meters (m) of fence surrounding the fields, located in Surif village; and demolish a mosque, a school, and 19 shelters in Khirbat Janba bedouin community; conducts daytime patrols in Qalqilya, Tulkarm, 4 villages nr. Ramallah, and 1 nr. Jenin (accidentally damaging 1 home and a water network when an IDF vehicle gets stuck); conducts afternoon and evening patrols in Qalqilya and 1 nearby village, Tulkarm and 3 nearby villages, and 1 village nr. Salfit; conducts late night patrols nr. Qalqilya. In Jerusalem, Israeli police arrest 7 Palestinians for jeering a group of Jews touring the Temple Mount/alAqsa Mosque compound. (JP 2/23; JP, WT, YA 2/24; PCHR 3/1; OCHA 3/2)

PA pres. and Fatah head Abbas holds separate meetings in Cairo with Hamas leader Mishal and Hamas’s acting PM in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh (marking their 1st meeting since 2007). Afterward, Fatah officials stated (Jerusalem Post 2/26) that Abbas has agreed to Mishal’s request to suspend talks on implementation of the 5/2011 Fatah-Hamas unity deal until Hamas resolves its internal disputes. (REU 2/23; JP 2/26)

Hamas’s military wing, the Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades (IQB), takes responsibility for shooting at a Jewish settler vehicle driving nr. Hebron (in area C, under full Israeli control, where the PASF is not allowed to operate), killing 4 Jewish settlers, including a pregnant woman, marking the deadliest West Bank attack on Israelis in more than 2 yrs. and the first staged by Hamas since before the 1/2006 elections. Both Abbas and Netanyahu say the attack should not derail peace talks. The YESHA settlement council vows to renew construction in West Bank settlements immediately, before the temporary freeze ends, to demonstrate Israelis’ “resolve against terrorism.” Following the attack and throughout the night, the IDF seals the entrances to Hebron, Halhul, and al-Fawar r.c. and imposes a curfew on nearby Bani Na‘im village, raiding and searching homes and detaining Palestinians with suspected connections to Hamas. Meanwhile, Jewish settlers implementing their “price-tag” doctrine to punish Palestinians for any state acts against settlers, beat Palestinian farmers working their land nr. Emanuel settlement nr. Salfit and stone Palestinian vehicles traveling on the Nablus–Qalqilya road (2 separate incidents) as well as on a road bypassing Yitzhar settlement nr. Nablus. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba in Hebron attempt to break into a nearby Palestinian home but are prevented by the IDF. Late at night, the IDF patrols 2 villages nr. Salfit; no incidents are reported. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that in the previous wk. 3 Palestinians were killed in 2 separate tunnel collapses on the Rafah border. (NYT, WP, WT 9/1; PCHR 9/2; OCHA 9/3)

IDF troops on the Gaza border fire a tank shell at a Gaza municipality truck nr. Juhur al-Dik, injuring 4 municipal workers; send tanks, bulldozers into Gaza nr. Bureij r.c. to level land. The Israeli navy fires on Palestinian fishing boats off the Rafah coast, forcing them to return to shore. In the West Bank, the IDF temporarily occupies several buildings in Nablus, exchanging fire with Palestinian gunmen, leaving 2 armed Palestinians dead; patrols in and around Jenin town and r.c.; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Hebron, Kafr Dan and Qabatya nr. Jenin, Tulkarm; issues military orders confiscating 10 d. of Palestinian land e. of Tulkarm for military training purposes. In tandem with a visit by U.S. Secy. of State Condoleezza Rice, 2,000 right-wing Jewish settlers and activists march to and reoccupy the Homesh settlement site in the n. West Bank, evacuated during disengagement in 2005, with plans to stay at the site for 2 days and eventually to rebuild the settlement; the main YESHA settlers group does not endorse the action; the IDF mobilizes 4 brigades to monitor marchers and take action should they or local Palestinians become violent, saying they will forcibly remove the settlers if they do not leave on 3/27 as planned. Fatah-Hamas clashes leave 5 Palestinians wounded in Rafah. Hamas mbrs. fire an antitank missile at, then occupy the Fatah-affiliated Bayt Hanun Sports Club; no injuries are reported. (WT 3/26; NYT, WT 3/27; OCHA 3/28; PCHR 3/29)

What the IDF describes as an Israeli “special police unit” operating outside Jenin ambushes, assassinates wanted Islamic Jihad military cmdr. Nahid Abu Ghanim, seriously wounds a bystander. Hrs. later, the AMB kills 3 Jewish settlers, wounds at least 5 in drive-by shootings outside Gush Etzion settlement nr. Bethlehem and Eli nr. Nablus; the IDF seals Bethlehem and Hebron, bars Palestinian traffic in those areas, says arrest raids will increase; YESHA settlers council calls on Sharon to close all West Bank roads to Palestinian traffic. During the day, the IDF also handcuffs and severely beats a Palestinian shepherd nr. Tulkarm for no apparent reason; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Kafr Qalil nr. Nablus. Late in the evening, the IDF launches arrest raids that continue overnight in villages around Hebron, Jenin, Ramallah, Tulkarm. An unnamed IDF spokesman confirms that the IDF has sent undercover officers who can pass as Arabs into the weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall in Bil`in to encourage Palestinians to throw stones; troops then use force to disperse crowds. Jewish settlers cut down 30 Palestinian olive trees in Salim. (HA, PCHR 10/16; NYT, PM, WP, WT 10/17; CSM, HA 10/18; PCHR 10/20)

An IDF soldier, who deserted 2 mos. ago to protest disengagement and moved to the right-wing West Bank settlement of Tapuach, boards a Haifa–Shafa‘ Amr bus, still dressed in fatigues and carrying his military issue weapon; when the bus enters the Israeli Palestinian town of Shafa ‘Amr, the driver asks him whether he’s on the right bus; the soldier then shoots the Israeli Palestinian driver dead and opens fire on the passengers, killing another 3 Israeli Palestinians, wounding 20 before a mob beats him to death. Sharon denounces the “reprehensible act by a bloodthirsty Jewish terrorist”; YESHA settlers council also condemns the attack; the U.S. terms it a “terrible act of terrorism.” In Gaza City, the PA opens (symbolically on Arafat’s birthday) a 2-wk. “victory festival” to celebrate the pending disengagement and a wk.-long UNDP-funded publicity campaign called “Gaza—Reclaiming our Gem”; 10,000s of Palestinians, predominantly Fatah supporters, rally outside Gaza’s PC headquarters to hear speeches by Abbas, Qurai‘, Dahlan, who emphasize national unity, call on Palestinians not to take any actions that would jeopardize the national image, emphasize that the world is watching how Palestinians react to disengagement and assume responsibility for Gaza. The IDF raids Ramallah, arrests Islamic Jihad spokesman Shaykh Khadir ‘Adnan; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Aida r.c. (arresting a PA security officer), Bayt Fajjar, Hebron (occupying 2 houses as observation posts), al-Til, Yatta; patrols in Bethlehem; arrests a PA security officer at a checkpoint outside Jerusalem. A Jewish settler fr. Neve Dekalim throws a Molotov cocktail at a Palestinian home in al-Mawasi, causing damage but no injuries. Israel announces plans to build 72 new housing units in Beitar Ilit settlement nr. Jerusalem. A Palestinian dies of injures received on 8/2 in Bayt Hanun. (IMEMC, HA, REU, YA 8/4; AFP, BBC, JAZ, MA, NYT, WP, WT, YA 8/5; VOP 8/5 in WNC 8/5; NYT, WP, WT 8/6; OCHA, PR 8/10; PCHR 8/11)

The BBC reports that papers in the British National Archives show that in 1958, Britain secretly sold Israel 20 tons of heavy water vital for production of plutonium and the manufacture of nuclear weapons at its Dimona reactor. No “peaceful use only” condition was placed on the sale. (BBC 8/4) The World Bank releases a report showing Israel to be 2d only to Italy as the most corrupt, least efficient of developed countries. The report states that “Israel is considered one of the riskiest places in the Western world, with an unstable, inefficient regime, low accountability, a relative high rate of state corruption, and poor law enforcement.” (HA 8/4)

As Israeli-Palestinian clashes continue, 2 Jewish settler teenagers (1 of whom is a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen) are found beaten to death in a cave nr. Bethlehem; the pair have been missing since 5/8. Sharon calls the murders a "new escalation," blames the PA. The IDF detains 15 Palestinians for questioning. YESHA settlers council says the proper response is to accelerate settlement construction, declare Arafat an enemy of the state, bring down the PA. The IDF makes 4 incursions into PA-controlled territory: sending bulldozers covered by tanks into Rafah to demolish a Palestinian home, shell a PSF post; bulldozing Palestinian land nr. Gaza City; twice entering Bayt Hanun to bulldoze land, a PSF post. Hamas claims responsiblity for a roadside bomb on the Egypt-Gaza border that kills 2 Rumanian migrant laborers, wounds 1. Palestinians fire 2 mortars at Nissanit settlement in Gaza, causing no damage. (AP, MM 5/9; MM, NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 5/10; LAW, MM, NYT, WP, WT 5/11; WJW 5/17; MEI 5/18)

For the 1st time in 3 yrs., the Israeli government demolishes 2 bedouin homes in the Negev. (Mossawa Center press release 5/17) (see 4/26)

Israeli-Palestinian clashes continue, leaving 1 Palestinian dead. A 2d, ailing Palestinian dies at an IDF checkpoint that she was barred fr. crossing to reach a hospital in Nablus. Palestinians detonate 2 roadside bombs nr. IDF convoys in Gaza, wounding 1 soldier. The IDF shells residential areas nr. Bayt Hanun; bulldozes Palestinian land nr. Khan Yunis, Netzarim Junction, Shaykh Ajlin. YESHA settlers council call on the government to assassinate or expel Arafat. (HP 2/26; NYT, WT 2/27; WT 2/28; WJW 3/1; AYM 3/3 in WNC 3/8; MEI 3/9)

The Labor party central comm. votes (67% to 32%, with more than half of the 1,675 mbrs. not voting) to join a unity government led by Likud's Sharon. Likud says it offered Labor 8 cabinet posts (including DM, FM), equal say in determining security and diplomatic policy. (MM 2/26; HA, MM, NYT, WP, WT 2/27; HA, MM 2/28; al-Ra'i 2/28 in WNC 3/2; MEI 3/9)

U.S. Secy. of State Powell stops in Saudi Arabia, then heads to Damascus to meet Pres. Hafiz al-Asad, who agrees to funnel Iraq's revenues oil transported through Syria's pipeline to the UN oil-for-food program. (MM 2/26; NYT, WP, WT 2/27; MM 2/28; SA 3/4 in WNC 3/5; MEI 3/9; JT 3/9 in WNC 3/11)

The State Dept.'s annual human rights report criticizes Israel for using "excessive force," committing "numerous serious human rights abuses" against Palestinians; faults PA forces for participating in, or at least failing to prevent, violence. (NYT, WP 2/26; WT 2/28; AYM 2/28 in WNC 3/5; WJW 3/1; MM 3/14)

In an off-the-record briefing, a U.S. official says that Pres. Clinton is prepared to reconvene the Camp David summit talks, but only if he is assured that Israel, the PA are ready to settle all outstanding issues, including Jerusalem. The official also says "the Egyptians have made it clear to us that they are prepared to be helpful" in persuading Arafat to compromise. (NYT 8/14)

The IDF, YESHA settlers council reach an agmt. to evacuate a number of illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank that have been set up since the Camp David talks ended in order to create facts on the ground in advance of any final status agmt. btwn. Israel, the PA. (YA [Internet] 8/14)

In Beirut, UN Secy.-Gen. Annan asks Pres. Lahoud to recognize the UN verification of Israel's withdrawal and send troops to help UNIFIL patrols, promising that the UN will quickly clear up Israel's minor violations. (MM, WP 6/20; NYT 6/21, 6/22; al-Safir 6/21 in WNC 6/27; MM 6/23; Le Monde 6/24 in WNC 6/29; JP 6/30)

Israel frees 3 Palestinian prisoners that Barak decided to release on 6/14. Arafat describes the release as "an insult." (NYT 6/20; WJW 6/22; MEI 6/30)

YESHA settlers council organizes a rally of 40,000 Jewish settlers outside the Knesset, followed by a march to PM Barak's residence to protest any further transfers of land to PA control. The 40,000 figure includes 10,000 children bused in fr. their schools in the West Bank. (MM, NYT 6/20)

Jordan's new PM Abu Raghib forms a new 29-mbr. cabinet, including 9 Palestinians and 1 mbr. of the Muslim Brotherhood's (MB) Islamic Action front (IAF). The cabinet is heavy with technocrats and businessmen, emphasizing its economic reform agenda. (MM 6/20; MM, WT 6/21; MM 6/22; JT, SA 6/22 in WNC 6/27; MEI 6/30)

The donors' Joint Liaison Comm. and Local Aid Coordination Comm. both meet in Gaza. (World Bank press release 4/19, 5/4)

Israel releases Ghassan Dirani, nephew of Mustafa Dirani (see 3/13), to the Red Cross for repatriation to Lebanon. Lebanese Christian militia men kidnapped Dirani in 1986, hoping to could trade him to Israel, who they thought would want him as a bargaining chip in its efforts to find out what happened to IDF airman Ron Arad, who was downed over Lebanon earlier in 1986, allegedly by mbrs. of Mustafa Dirani's group. Israel took custody of Ghassan in 1990 and had since held him without charge. (NYT, WP 4/6; WT 4/20)

To protest the Israeli High Court's 3/29 decision allowing Palestinians to return to their homes nr. Yatta, Jewish settlers reoccupy the West Bank hilltop where the illegal outpost Havat Maon was dismantled in 11/99 as part of an agmt. btwn. PM Barak and the YESHA settlers council. (NYT 4/6)

The Jordanian air force intercepts the Italian plane that defied UN sanctions on Iraq on 4/3 on its return trip and forces it to land. The plane is impounded, the pilot arrested, and the EU official and Italian filmmaker deported. (MM 4/6, 4/7; JT 4/7 in WNC 4/11; DUS 4/23 in WNC 4/24) (see 4/4)

Russian FM Primakov arrives in Israel for 2-day visit, meets with PM Netanyahu, FM Levy. (IDF Radio, ITAR-TASS [Moscow], QY 10/26, Interfax [Moscow], ITV 10/27, YA 10/28 in WNC 10/29)

PA's Arafat, Egypt's Pres. Mubarak, Yemen's Pres. Ali `Abdallah Salih hold talks on peace process in Cairo. (MENA 10/26, RE 10/27 in WNC 10/29)

YESHA settlers council decides to build a new settlment west of Gush Etzion settlement nr. Bethlehem if Isarael accepts any sort of settlement freeze at the upcoming Washington talks; says general plan for the new settlement was approved in the 1970s by PM Golda Meir, but  exact location would be kept secret until the government's stand on settlements is clarified. (MM 10/27; JP 11/8)

PA Preventive Security Force arrests journalist and human rights worker Khalid al-Amayreh following the publication in an Israeli Arab newspaper of his report on the torture of Hamas activists arrested by the PA over the past few mos. (Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group press release 10/27)

Israel commutes to 24 yrs. the life sentence Alan Goodman, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen found guilty of killing 2 Palestinians, wounding 9 at al-Aqsa Mosque on 4/11/82; releases him after he agrees to spend the remaining 8 yrs. of his sentence in the U.S. (WT 10/27; WP 10/30)

IDF shells strike medical center affliated with PFLP-GC in s. Lebanon, killing a nurse. (MM 10/27; RL 10/27 in WNC 10/29)

7 of the 23 local council heads making up the YESHA settlers' council break away to form their own group. The 7 are Likud mbrs., representing settlements close to the Israeli-West Bank border (or 60% of the West Bank settler population), who are considered more likely than other YESHA mbrs. to accept a permanent agmt. with the PA that would annex to Israel those settlements nr. the Green Line. (MM 7/23)

Spokesman for the U.S. delegation to the UN, James Rubin, says the U.S. is concerned by signs that some UN officials are working to promote Butros-Ghali's reelection as secy. gen.; U.S. intends to look into "how UN personnel are being used by the sec. gen. for this purpose." (WP 7/24) (see 7/15)

CIA accuses Chinese manufacturer of M-11 missiles of sending a shipment of military cargo to Syria in 6/96, contravening China's 1994 pledge to the U.S. not to export missiles, missile components that violate the Missile Technology Control Regime. (WT 7/23)

5,000 Palestinians march in Khan Yunis funeral of Ahmad Abu al-Rish. 1 Palestinian wounded by IDF gunfire in clashes in Gaza City. (WT 11/30)

Fateh hawks cmdr. Taysir Bardini, 26, captured by IDF after gun, grenade battle in Rafah camp, Gaza Strip. Hawks announce "resumption of intensive military action" against Israeli targets. (AFP 11/29 in FBIS 11/30; MM, NYT 11/30)

PLO-Israel talks in Cairo, al-Arish resume. PLO official Nabil Shaath reports progress on release of Palestinian prisoners, but PM Rabin refuses to give details. Environment M. Yossi Sarid says "it's obvious more Palestinian prisoners will be released gradually." (MM 11/29, 11/30; WT 11/30)

Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza ("Yesha") announces formation of "Hashomer" volunteer guard units to defend settlements. Also, "Irgun Yehudi Leumi" (IYAL- Jewish Nationalist Organization) issues leaflets in settlements calling on settlers to refuse mandatory IDF service. (MM 11/30)

Hadashot publisher Amos Schocken tells IDF radio afternoon tabloid will close due to low circulation and falling advertising revenues. (MM 11/29; WT 12/1)