The Palestine Chronology

The IDF beats, fatally shoots a 16-yr.- old Palestinian allegedly wielding a knife in Hebron (Palestinian witnesses deny he was armed); conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Ramallah, Qalqilya, and in Dura, Nablus, Yatta; demolishes 2 Palestinian homes in Bayt Hanina; orders 3 Palestinian families to leave their Yatta homes and property or be expelled; begins construction of a new segment of the separation wall in Hazma, Anata villages northeast of Jerusalem. A Jewish settler fr. Keddumim verbally abuses, attempts to attack several Palestinians waiting to be allowed to cross an IDF gate into nearby Kafr Qadim; Palestinians fend him off, the IDF does not intervene. Unidentified gunmen fire on the Gaza City home of Fatah Revolutionary Council mbr. Sakhr Bseiso, causing damage but no injuries; Bseiso is head of the Fatah comm. charged with investigating corruption. (WP 2/15; NYT, OCHA, PR 2/16; PCHR, PM 2/17)

Fmr. Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri is assassinated in a major car bombing in Beirut; 7 bodyguards, 6 passers-by are also killed, more than 100 are wounded (3 of whom later die). A previously unknown group called Victory and Jihad in Greater Syria claims responsibility. (BBC, al-Hayat, JAZ, MM 2/14; MM, NYT, WP, WT 2/15; Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, al-Quds, VOI, XIN 2/15, JAZ, QA 2/16, AFP, Le Monde 2/17 in WNC 2/18; MEI 2/18)

The IDF assassinates an Islamic Jihad military cmdr. Aziz Shami, firing a missile at his car as he drives through Gaza City, also killing a 12-yr.-old Palestinian walking to school, wounding 2 passengers in Shami’s car, 7 bystanders on the street. The IDF also fires on a group of Palestinians allegedly attempting to infiltrate Israel fr. Gaza nr. Bureij r.c., mortally wounding a Palestinian teenager, allowing him to bleed to death. Palestinians detonate a roadside bomb nr. an IDF convoy in Gaza, causing no damage or injuries. Hebron Jewish settlers attack local Palestinians with iron bars (seriously injuring 1), break the windows of 4 Palestinian homes to deter them fr. using a road linking al-Ibrahimi Mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs and Kiryat Arba settlement. (PCHR 2/7; VOP 2/7, MENA, VOP 2/8 in WNC 2/10; HA, NYT, WP, WT 2/8; PR 2/11; PCHR 2/12)

The PA hastily convenes a military tribunal to arraign 4 Palestinians in connection with the 10/15/03 Erez roadside bombing that killed 4 American security officers, charging them with possessing explosives and weapons, planting mines nr. the area of the bombing, but not charging them with the specific bombing that led to those deaths. (JP 2/7; HA, NYT, WP, WT 2/8; al-Quds 2/11 in WNC 2/13)

More than 350 Fatah mbrs. resign to protest corruption, mismanagement, lack of political direction within the movement. (REU 2/7; NYT, WP, WT 2/8; VOP 2/8 in WNC 2/10; MM 2/9, 2/10; NYT, WJW 2/12; SA 2/13 in WNC 2/18)

Senior Fatah mbr. Imad Assaf is seriously injured in a mysterious explosion in Dahaysha; the PA accuses Israel of attempting to assassination him. Palestinians fire 2 mortars at a Jewish settlement in Gaza, causing no damage. In response, the IDF directs heavy machine gun fire on residential areas of Khan Yunis, Rafah (leaving 1 Palestinian clinically dead). The IDF also fires tear gas, concussion grenades to disperse a peaceful protest by Palestinians, international peace activists in Ramallah; conducts arrest raids in Osrin, firing on Palestinian homes; bulldozes Palestinian agricultural land along secondary roads in the Bethlehem, Jenin areas; imposes closures on 10 villages around Ramallah. (HP 2/3; AFP 2/3 in WNC 2/4; NYT, PCHR, WT 2/4; LAW 2/6)

In a New York Times op-ed, Arafat outlines the Palestinians' vision of peace as a 2-state solution, with an independent Palestinian state in all of the West Bank and Gaza, and a secure Israel within its 1967 borders. He also affirms that any solution to the refugee issue must consider Israel's demographic concerns and denounces "attacks carried out by terrorist groups against Israeli civilians." (HA, JP [Internet], NYT 2/3; AP, HA, NYT, WT 2/4; JT, MA, MM, QA, al-Quds 2/5 in WNC 2/6; PR 2/6; MEI 2/8)