The Palestine Chronology

El Salvador recognizes Palestine as an independent state. (REU 8/25)

Israel carries out 3 air strikes (drone and warplanes) targeting Palestinian rocket-launching teams and smuggling tunnels on the Rafah border, killing 1 armed Palestinian and 1 tunnel worker and wounding 6 Palestinians (including 1 child). Islamic Jihad mbrs. fire at least 20 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, injuring an Israeli child. (PCHR, UPI, YA 8/25; PCHR 9/8; OCHA 9/9)

AOI mbrs. fire a Qassam rocket fr. Gaza into Israel that lands nr. an empty school nr. Ashqelon, causing light damage and injuring 1 Israeli. In the afternoon, an IDF drone makes a missile strike on a Hamas building in Rafah, injuring 2 IQB mbrs.; an hr. later, Israeli war planes make 3 air strikes on the same site, destroying it but causing no further injuries. IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi warns that the tension along the Gaza border is “fragile and explosive,” adding that while small Palestinian groups seem to be behind the recent rocket fire, Israel will hold Hamas responsible. Meanwhile, IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction materials in the fmr. settlement sites, wounding 1. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes a Palestinian home in al-Nu‘man village nr. East Jerusalem’s Har Homa settlement (Jabal Abu Ghunaym), firing tear gas and beating Palestinians who attempt to stop the demolition, moderately injuring 1; the family had already been fined more than $13,500 for building without a permit. IDF troops also patrol in Silat al-Harithiyya nr. Jenin in the afternoon, firing tear gas at stone-throwing Palestinians who confront them and then raiding several Palestinian homes, summoning 1 Palestinian for questioning. The IDF also conducts latenight arrest raids, house searches in Nur Shams r.c. nr. Tulkarm and nr. Hebron. In East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities force a Palestinian to demolish his own home in Ras al-Amud or pay the government nearly $5,500 for doing the job. Israeli authorities demolish a 2d Palestinian home in Sur Bahir, southeast of Jerusalem; the family had already paid nearly $1,750 for building without a permit. (JP, REU, UPI, YA 12/21; NYT 12/22; OCHA, PCHR 12/23)

IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction materials in the fmr. Jewish settlement sites, wounding 1. During the day, the PRCs fire 10 mortars fr. Gaza toward Israel, with at least 9 landing inside Israel, causing no damage or injuries. Late at night, in response to the recent increase in Palestinian rocket fire, the IDF makes an air strike on a manned Hamas facility in Khan Yunis, injuring 2 IQB mbrs., marking Israel’s 1st targeting of an occupied Hamas facility since OCL ended in 1/2009. Hrs. later, the IDF carries out 6 more air strikes targeting 2 suspected tunnels nr. the border. Targets include Bayt Lahiya and Jabaliya in n. Gaza (hitting a poultry farm, killing 1,800 chickens), 3 smuggling tunnels on the Rafah border, and 2 alleged Hamas military sites in s. Gaza (an empty house in Shuka, also destroying a grocery store next door and damaging 2 nearby homes; and an abandoned dairy factory); no injuries are reported. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes 4 Palestinian agricultural storehouses nr. Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron; conducts morning patrols in 2 villages nr. Jenin and 2 nr. Tulkarm; conducts synchronized late-night patrols in 2 villages nr. Jenin. (AFP, JP, MNA 12/20; AFP, UPI 12/21; NYT 12/22; OCHA, PCHR 12/23)

Israeli-Palestinian clashes continue, killing 5 Palestinians. A car bomb explodes in the Israeli town of Netanya, lightly injuring 39, seriously injuring 1 (the suspected perpetrator); Hamas claims responsibility. Israel shuts Gaza airport completely, tightens the internal closure on the West Bank, Gaza. The IDF demolishes 3 Palestinian homes nr. Kefar Darom settlement as part of work on a new settler bypass road; bulldozes agricultural land nr. Morag settlement; fires on residential areas of al-Matahin Junction, Rafah. 1,500 Jewish settlers blockade several West Bank roads, occupy a hilltop nr. where Kahane's car was ambushed on 12/31 to set up a "protest encampment." (AP, HA, JP [Internet], MA [Internet], UPI 1/1; LAW, NYT, WP, WT 1/2; PCHR 1/6; WT 1/10)

The White House announces that Arafat, Clinton will meet in Washington on 1/2 to discuss Clinton's parameters. (MENA 1/1 in WNC 1/2; NYT, WP, WT 1/2; AYM, SA 1/2 in WNC 1/3)

According to British government files made public today, on 9/19/70, King Hussein of Jordan asked, through Britain and the U.S., for Israeli air raids on the Syrian army, which was supporting Palestinian factions during the Black September revolt. Israeli PM Golda Meir's response is not noted, but intervention by the Israelis was ultimately unnecessary, when Jordanian forces defeated the Palestinians. (NYT 1/2; WT 1/3; WJW 1/4)