The Palestine Chronology

The IDF makes a brief incursion into n. Gaza to level land and clear lines of sight along the border e. of Jabaliya town. In the West Bank, the IDF bulldozes Palestinian land in Azariyya (just outside Jerusalem) for construction of a “biblical garden”; patrols in 1 village nr. Jenin, firing tear gas and percussion grenades at stone-throwing youths who confront them; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron. Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists hold a nonviolent march fr. Jericho toward Ramallah to highlight freedom of movement issues; the IDF blocks the march just outside Jericho and arrests 5 Palestinians. (PCHR 1/12; OCHA 1/13)

Briefing the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Comm., IDF chief of staff Gantz says the IDF is preparing for a massive influx of refugees into the Golan Heights if Syrian pres. Bashar al-Asad falls, which in the IDF’s assessment is “inevitable.” He says Israel would try to keep the refugees in a strategic buffer zone between the Golan and Syria, and would likely move Alawite refugees to the divided Alawite city of Ghajar straddling the Lebanon-Israel border to prevent any conflict between Alawis and the Druze population of the Golan. (NYT, WT 1/11)

Meanwhile, the Knesset passes an amendment to an existing law to discourage infiltrators that makes it legal to detain illegal migrants and their children for up to 3 yrs. without trial. Though directed at African migrant workers attempting to enter Israel fr. Egypt, Israeli rights groups fear the measure could be used to detain refugees fleeing violence in Syria. (NYT 1/11)

Fearing an escalation of Israeli-Palestinian clashes because of a planned funeral march today fr. Jerusalem to a West Bank settlement for a Jewish settler killed 2/1, the IDF tightens the encirclement of all West Bank towns excluding Jericho and Qalqilya. 100s of Palestinians rally in Nablus to protest. The Israeli DMin. orders the IDF to identify roads that have been the target of frequent Palestinian attacks, allow Palestinians to travel those roads only by public transportation. The IDF also steps up patrols along roads during peak hrs. 1 Palestinian dies from injuries received earlier. (JP [Internet] 2/2; NYT 2/3; HA 2/4; LAW 2/8)

The IDF begins bulldozing an area outside Bayt Sahur in Jerusalem for work on a new road. In 1998, Israel's Jerusalem Municipality approved the site for one of the few new developments for Palestinians in the city, the 150-unit Mazmoriyya housing project. (Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People press release 2/2)

The UN reports that Israel appears to be extending its border fence into Lebanon beyond the divided border village of Ghajar, effectively annexing 400 m². Israel vows to halt the construction, move the fence. (HA 2/2; NYT 2/3; MEI 2/9) (see 1/19)