The Palestine Chronology

Overnight, the IDF arrests 52 Islamic Jihad mbrs. in the largest raids against the group in the West Bank since 3/05; half of the mbrs. are arrested in Hebron, others in Jenin, Qalqilya, Ramallah. Minutes before Sharon and Abbas hold their 1st mtg. since the 2/8 Sharm al-Shaykh summit to coordinate disengagement, IDF aircraft fires 2 missiles at a group of Islamic Jihad mbrs. in Bayt Lahiya in what Israeli officials say is a failed attempt to assassinate a wanted Islamic Jihad mbr. The Israel FMin. says that “the message was very clear—that Israel cannot accept the fact that Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and the alAqsa Brigades have weapons.” The PA urges Islamic Jihad, the AMB to abide by the cease-fire. Palestinians fire a mortar at a Jewish settlement in s. Gaza, causing no damage or injuries. The IDF also conducts arrest raids, house searches in Nablus, Qalqilya and around Bethlehem, Hebron, Tulkarm. (AFP, HA, JAZ 6/21; VOP 6/21 in WNC 6/21; Daily Star, HA, NYT, PR, WP, WT 6/22; PCHR, WP, WT 6/23; VOI 6/23 in WNC 6/24; QA 6/27 in WNC 6/28; Jordan Times 7/1)

The Knesset Interior Comm. discusses the civilian aspects of the Or Commission’s 9/1/03 report into the 10/00 riots during which 13 Israeli Palestinians were killed by police (see Peace Monitor in JPS 118; Chronology in JPS 130). Fmr. High Court Justice Theodore Or says that the government has done nothing to implement his comm.’s recommendations (particularly for achieving equal rights for Israeli Palestinians), address the issues raised in the report. (YA 6/21)

Israel releases the last 398 Palestinian prisoners of 900 that Sharon promised to free in his 2/8 mtg. with PA Pres. Mahmud Abbas in Sharm al-Shaykh; 2 prisoners refuse release (1 to stay in prison with his brother, 1 to take the Palestinian high school matriculation exams [tawjihi] slated to be given to prisoners shortly). The IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Bethlehem, Hebron, Tulkarm and in Azariyya, Balata r.c., Nablus; searches, temporarily occupies a flour mill in Gaza’s al-Qarara for use as an observation tower to protect Jewish settlers traveling btwn. Gush Katif and Israel; begins work on a new segment of the separation wall s. of Nablus. Palestinian residents of Dayr al-Hatab nr. Nablus report that the IDF has for 3 wks. been bulldozing Palestinian land around Elon Moreh to create a buffer around the settlement. Israel issues tenders for the construction of 22 new housing units in Ma’ale Adumim settlement, despite U.S President George W. Bush’s calls to stop all settlement expansion. A Jewish settler injures a Palestinian girl in a hit-andrun incident n. of Ramallah. In Gaza City, 100s of armed Palestinians (mbrs. of PA military intelligence, the AMB, Fatah) protest the PA’s decision to dismantle the military intelligence service, merge it with the PA security forces, and retire a number of officers; some demonstrators fire in the air. (IMEMC, JP, JTA, WAFA 6/2; VOI 6/2 in WNC 6/3; WP, WT 6/3; IMEMC 6/4; OCHA, PR 6/8; PCHR 6/9)

The IDF fires on stone-throwing Palestinians nr. Ramallah; shoots, wounds a Palestinian who strays too close to Rafiah Yam settlement in s. Gaza; conducts arrest raids, house searches in the Wadi al-Husayn area of s. Hebron, rounding up all men and holding them for 5 hrs. of interrogation; places temporary curfews on Bardala and Kardala e. of Jenin, orders all Palestinian males ages 15– 60 to surrender for ID checks; also conducts arrest raids in al-Mawasi nr. Khan Yunis. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba beat a Palestinian in Hebron; the IDF observes but does not intervene. (HA 3/18; JP 3/28; OCHA, PR 3/23; PCHR 3/24)

Palestinian factions meeting in Cairo pledge to extend the unofficial truce until the end of 2005, provided that the lull in violence continues and that Israel follows through on its Sharm al-Shaykh pledges to turn over security control of West Bank cities and release a significant number of Palestinian prisoners.Abbas and the factions agree to form a comm. to study rebuilding the PLO on new foundations that would allow Hamas, Islamic Jihad to join. (Daily Star, MM, REU 3/17; BBC, HA, MM, NYT, VOP, WP, WT 3/18; JAZ 3/19; AP, JAZ 3/21; PR 3/23; MEI 4/1)

Abbas, Sharon hold their 1st talks in Sharm al-Shaykh, then each meets separately with Mubarak, King Abdallah of Jordan. Afterward, Abbas announces that “Palestinian will stop all acts of violence against all Israelis everywhere,” Sharon vows to “cease all military activity against all Palestinians anywhere,” including assassinations, to the extent that the Palestinians halt violence. Sharon announces a package of gestures to be implemented if quiet is maintained, including Israel’s turnover of security control for 5 West Bank cities, a prisoner release, easing restriction on Palestinian movement. Hamas, Islamic Jihad say that they will not officially sign onto the cease-fire, but will not abrogate it. (BBC, HA, MM, NYT, REU, WP, WT 2/8; AFP, ATL, AYM, HJ, ITAR-TASS, JAZ, MENA, QA, VOI, VOP 2/8, XIN 2/9 in WNC 2/9; CSM, MM, NYT, WP, WT 2/9; al-Quds 2/12 in WNC 2/13; PR 2/16; MEI 2/18)

The IDF reopens Qarni commercial crossing after a 4-wk. closure, allowing only about one-third of normal traffic through, limiting imports to basic goods and exports to flowers, tomatoes; raids, searches a secondary school in al-Khadir; conducts arrest raids in al-Mawasi; confiscates a strip of land 2 d. long and 350 m. wide to create a corridor linking Hebron’s Tal Rumayda settlement with Shuhada Street. Late in the evening, after the Sharm al-Shaykh summit, AMB gunmen fire on a Jewish settler vehicle in the West Bank, throw Molotov cocktails at IDF jeeps that arrive on the scene, causing no injuries. PA security forces find, seal 2 smugglers’ tunnels in Rafah. The NIHC protests the PA security forces’ arrest of 3 DFLP central comm. mbrs. on 2/5; demands the immediate release of Issam Abu Duqqah, who is still in custody. (HJ, VOI, YA 2/8 in WNC 2/9; WT 2/9; PCHR 2/10; PR 2/16)