The Palestine Chronology

In the West Bank, the IDF issues 2 military orders confiscating 140 d. of Palestinian land in Bardala village in the Jordan Valley (reportedly for “settlement activities”) and 22 d. nr. Yatta outside Hebron (to build a wall near Miskadot Yehuda settlement); sends troops into Ramallah, where they occupy a previously abandoned observation post, withdrawing later in the afternoon; makes a rare daytime incursion into Dahaysha r.c. to arrest a Palestinian teenager; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Bethlehem, Jenin. Jewish settlers attack 2 Palestinian homes in Hebron, claiming that Palestinians threw stones fr. the area; the IDF, accompanied by settlers, evacuates and searches the homes. Some 20 masked, armed Jewish settlers fr. Talmon and Harsha settlements nr. Ramallah attack a Palestinian home and car, causing heavy damage. Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar stone Palestinian cars driving nr. the settlement, causing no reported injuries. Later in the day, the same settlers close the Nablus–Ramallah road to Palestinian traffic. (OCHA 9/24; PCHR 9/25) 

In Gaza, the IDF fatally shoots a deaf Palestinian working a field nr. the Gaza border e. of al-Bureij r.c.; shells residential areas of Bayt Hanun; conducts air strikes on a workshop in Gaza City, destroying it, damaging 2 nearby homes, wounding 2 bystanders. In the West Bank, the IDF issues military orders confiscating 10s of dunams (d.; 4 d. = 1 acre) of Palestinian land s. of Tulkarm. Late in the evening in the West Bank, the IDF closes all crossings to Jerusalem; raids al-Ubidiyya nr. Bethlehem, fatally shoots wanted Islamic Jihad mbrs. ‘Uqla Shanayta,Khalid Shanayta in an apparent assassination; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Askar r.c., neighboring Nablus, Yatta nr. Hebron. (PCHR 8/24)

Early in the morning, the IDF begins withdrawing fr. areas of s. Lebanon, giving UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) control. (The IDF does not confirm how many troops are in Lebanon, though at the peak, observers estimated there were as many as 30,000.) Soon after, the Lebanese army begins deploying troops s. of the Litani. In Naqura, 2 Lebanese children are killed when they accidentally detonate unexploded bomblets fr. an Israeli cluster bomb; UN deminers say they have identified 10 locations in s. Lebanon where the IDF used cluster bombs and may pose similar hazards for civilians, saying the 10 sites could be the “tip of the iceberg.” Beirut airport received its 1st commercial flight since it was bombed on 7/13; hopes to be able to resume normal service within a wk. (NYT, WP, WT 8/17; NYT, WP, WT 8/18)