The Palestine Chronology

In the West Bank, Israeli settlers attacked 1 Palestinian minor and his father in Hebron. Israeli settlers also set up tents in Battir near Bethlehem. Israeli forces delivered demolition orders for 1 residential structure and 1 garden in Sabastiyya, 1 pool used for irrigation in Bayt Dajan, and a number of structures east of Yatta. Israeli forces also demolished 1 residential structure near Tubas and dismantled and seized 1 wooden shed in Umm al-Jamal. Israeli forces also shot and injured 6 Palestinians using rubber-coated bullets during raids in Qalandia refugee camp; 1 Israeli soldier was also injured during the clashes, which lasted some 2 hours; 9 Palestinian-owned vehicles were damaged. 12 Palestinians were arrested during raids in and around Nablus, Birzeit, Bayt Umar, Qalandia, Hebron, and Jenin. 7 Palestinians were arrested in the Old City and Issawiyya. In Gaza, Israeli forces made incursions and razed farmland east of Khan Yunis. (WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 11/17, PCHR 11/19)

The PA civil affairs minister Hussein al-Sheikh announced that the PA would resume coordination with Israel, including security coordination, after suspending ties in May. Civil Affairs Minister al-Sheikh said that Israel had promised to respect its agreements with the PA during “international negotiations conducted by the president [Mahmoud Abbas].” Hamas and Islamic Jihad condemned the PA’s move, saying it undermines reconciliation efforts. PA prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said during a Zoom conference organized by the Council of Foreign Relations that the COVID-19 pandemic played a part in the decision as the PA have struggled to find the resources to fight it. (AJ, HA, HA, REU, TOI, WAFA 11/17; HA, TOI 11/18; HA 11/19)

Israeli said it defused explosive devices in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights near the de facto border of Syria. Israel later attacked Syria, striking 8 targets. According to the Syrian state media SANA, 3 were killed, 1 wounded, and Syria intercepted Israeli missiles over Damascus. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 people were killed in the strikes. Israel acknowledged to have attacked Syria, saying it was responding to the explosive devices and claiming that it had hit Iranian and Syrian forces in Syria. (HA, REU 11/17; AJ, HA 11/18; BBC 11/19)

Both Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and president Reuven Rivlin congratulated U.S. president-elect Joe Biden via phone. (HA 11/17)

1 Jewish-Israeli was given a 7-year prison sentence for smuggling metals into Gaza and selling them to Hamas. He was also fined $60,000. (TOI, HA 11/17)

41 Democrats in congress cosigned a letter to U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo, expressing concern about Israel’s demolition of the village Khirbet Humsa on 11/3, demanding that Secretary Pompeo condemn Israel’s actions. (Mark Pocan’s Office 11/17; HA, WAFA 11/18)

In the West Bank, IDF troops arrest 21 Palestinians during late-night raids near Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, Qalqilya, and Tulkarm; and patrol near Ramallah, Hebron, Tulkarm, and Qalqilya. Israeli settlers cut down 2 olive trees in a Palestinian grove near Hebron. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces arrest 4 Palestinians during a raid in Silwan. Along Gaza’s coast, IDF troops violently disperse a few hundred Palestinians gathering near al-Bureij refugee camp to continue the Great March of Return for a 3d day in a row; 1 Palestinian minor is injured. Off Gaza’s coast, Israeli naval forces open fire on Palestinian fishing boats near Jabaliya refugee camp, causing no damage or injuries (1 fisherman is arrested). In Israel, Israeli forces demolish a Palestinian home for the 2d time in Lod. (MNA, WAFA 1/20; MNA, MNA 1/21; PCHR 1/24)

A Qatari diplomat says that the $15 million that was supposed to be transferred to Gaza last week is set to go through this week, following a relatively quiet day of protests on 1/18. “Due to the violence on the border, the Israeli government postponed it,” he says. “The agreement is subject to there not being too much violence, so last Friday they approved to do the third tranche.” (HA, JP, REU, TOI, YA 1/20)

YNet reports that PA prime minister Rami Hamdallah formally informed U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo that the Palestinians have decided to reject future U.S. financial assistance, including that which supports the PA security forces, in response to the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act, which the U.S. passed into law in 10/2018 (see *S. 2946 of 5/24/18 at congressionalmonitor.org for details). That law, which is set to go into effect at the end of the month, forced the Palestinians to either accept future U.S. aid or open themselves up to terrorism lawsuits from individual U.S. citizens, inter alia. (JP, TOI, YA 1/20)

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu lands in Chad to renew the diplomatic ties between Israel and Chad that were severed in 1972. At a joint press conference with Netanyahu, Chad’s President Idriss Déby says, ‘The purpose of your visit is to bring our two countries closer and to cooperate.” Netanyahu calls it the renewal of ties a “breakthrough” and a sign of Israel’s “rising standing” in the Muslim world. (HA, JP, TOI, TOI 1/20)

After unverified reports of Syrian air defenses intercepting an Israeli air strike near Damascus, several ground-to-ground projectiles are fired from Syria into northern Israel. They are all intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. Late at night, Israeli forces strike approximately 10 government weapons depots, intelligence sites, and other targets in Syria, killing 21 people, including 12 member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. An IDF spokesperson says that Iranian forces were responsible for the projectile launched into Israel earlier in the day. “This was planned in advance as an attempt to deter us from continuing to act against them,” he says. (HA, JP, TOI, YA, YA 1/20; JP, TOI 1/21; HA 1/22)