The Palestine Chronology

The IDF sends troops into Rafah to search for smugglers’ tunnels, completely demolishes 22 Palestinian homes, a mosque along the Rafah border with Egypt, heavily damages another 16 homes, leaving 400 Palestinians homeless; raids 2 Palestinian charities in Ramallah, confiscating computers, files; fires stun grenades, tear gas into a high school in Nablus; fires on residential areas of Rafah, wounding 3. The IDF also expels a West Bank Palestinian administrative detainee to Gaza; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Askar r.c., Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus, Salfit, Ramallah; bulldozes 5 dunams of land in Bayt Lahia, 2 dunams nr. Kefar Darom; arrests 4 herders nr. Bayt Hanun. IDF soldiers scuffle with Jewish settlers who protest the removal of a synagogue built by supporters of deceased right-wing Rabbi Meir Kahane, the only permanent structure at the unauthorized settlement outpost of West Tapuach; soldiers do not attempt to remove trailer homes at the site. Palestinians fire 3 mortars at a Jewish settlement in Gaza, causing no damage or injuries. (AP, HA, MM, PCHR, PRCS 1/20; NYT, PR, WP 1/21; LAW, MM, PCHR 1/22; JPI 1/30)

Israel retaliates for Hizballah’s 1/19 shelling of an IDF bulldozer inside s. Lebanon by sending warplanes to strike Hizballah targets in s. Lebanon. In Washington, U.S. Secy. of State Colin Powell accuses Hizballah of deliberately taking action to escalate hostilities with Israel. (HA 1/20; LBC, MNR 1/20 in WNC 1/22; NYT, PR, WP, WT 1/21; WJW 1/22; MNR 1/22 in WNC 1/24)

The IDF issues confiscation orders for 700 dunams of Palestinian land (including 10 Palestinian homes) in Dayr al-Balah nr. Kefar Darom settlement; for no apparent reason, fires on Palestinians waiting to go through the Erez crossing, wounding 25; fires on residential areas of Rafah, seriously injuring 1 woman outside her home; fires on, seriously wounds a deaf-mute Palestinian woman who strays too close to the separation wall nr. Qalqilya; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Hebron, Nablus, Qalqilya, Tulkarm. (PCHR 1/20; VOI, VOP, YA 1/20 in WNC 1/22; LAW, PCHR 1/22)

The IDF sends a bulldozer into Lebanese territory to clear mines laid by Hizballah along the de facto border. Hizballah shells the bulldozer when it crosses the demarcation fence into Lebanon, killing 1 IDF soldier, wounding 2. (HA 1/19; LBC, MNR 1/19 in WNC 1/21; HA, MM, NYT, WP, WT 1/20; IDF Radio, MNR 1/20 in WNC 1/22; MM 1/21; IRNA 1/21 in WNC 1/23; MM 1/22, 1/23; NYT 1/29)