The Palestine Chronology

Israel's air, land, and sea assaults continue, leaving at least 16 Palestinians dead, more than 70 injured. The IDF enters Tulkarm r.c. and Nur al-Shams r.c., meeting fierce resistance. In Tulkarm r.c., IDF fire kills 2 Palestinian ambulance workers, wounds 4 others, plus 10s of Palestinians. IDF soldiers halt an ambulance in Salem, abduct a wounded Palestinian. After a Hamas gunman sneaks into a Atzmona settlement in Gaza and opens fire, killing 5 Jewish settlers and wounding 23 before being shot dead, the IDF sends 10s of tanks and armored personnel carriers (APCs) into Aida, Bethlehem, Dahaysha, 2 neighboring villages, meeting little resistance; soldiers cut electricity, conduct house-to-house searches, occupy numerous homes and schools as observation and staging posts. F-16s bomb PA security offices in Bethlehem, destroying the Force 17 headquarters, a clinic. A PFLP suicide bomber detonates a device in Ariel settlement, lightly injuring 5 settlers; another Palestinian with a large bomb in a backpack is captured, disarmed in a Jerusalem cafe. A Palestinian gunman seriously wounds a Jewish settler nr. Nablus. IDF gunboats shell PA government buildings, political offices, intelligence headquarters, and a PSF compound in Gaza City, injuring 13 PSF officers and leaving only 2 of 25 buildings in the compound standing. The IDF also sends tanks into Jenin; shells PSF offices in Halhul, Hebron, Yatta; shells, destroys the PFLP headquarters in Bayt Hanun; invades the Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce, confiscating files related to Palestinian land, property ownership; demolish 2 Palestinian homes in Tayasir, Jenin; fire on a Palestinian school in Hawara. Some 150 Israeli intelligence officers, border police, troops seal off the Jabal Mukabir section of East Jerusalem, where they surround the home of human rights activist Khader Shkirat, briefly take him into custody, search his home. (AP, CNN, HP, LAW, NYT, WP 3/7; AFP 3/7 in WNC 3/8, 3/11; LAW, MM, NYT, WP 3/8; MA 3/8 in WNC 3/11; LAW 3/13, 3/20; MEI 3/22)

U.S. Pres. George W. Bush orders U.S. special envoy Anthony Zinni back to the region to attempt to secure an Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire. (AP 3/7; NYT, WP, WT 3/8; MM 3/11; AYM 3/12 in WNC 3/14; MEI 3/22)

The IDF eases the closures on Bethlehem, Hebron, Jinin, Nablus, Qalqilya, Tulkarm; arrests 5 Palestinians in Hebron, a 6th in Kfar Ruman; fires on residential areas of Tal al-Sultan. The PSF arrested 3 Islamic Jihad mbrs. for alleging plotting an attack during Zinni's visit, which begins today. The IDF turns over the bodies of 3 Palestinian teenagers killed on 12/30; photos of the corpses clearly show that autopsies were performed on the bodies, prompting protests, accusations of mistreatment fr. the PA. (PCHR, MM 1/3; JP [Internet], MM, NYT, WP 1/4; AYM 1/4, al-Quds 1/5 in WNC 1/7; LAW, PCHR, PR 1/9)

U.S. special envoy Zinni meets with Sharon, urges Israel to freeze expansion of settlements in light of sharply reduces Palestinian violence. Sharon claims that the PA's crackdown has been superficial, demands that PA take harsher action against militant groups. (MM 1/3; AYM, al-Quds 1/3 in WNC 1/4; JP [Internet], MM, WP 1/4; QA, al-Quds 1/4 in WNC 1/7; MEI 1/11)

The IDF cuts electricity to Gaza City, Ramallah; sends tanks and F-16s to shell the control tower at Gaza airport, the PA headquarters in Gaza City and Ramallah (Arafat is unharmed), the PA naval police offices in Bayt Lahia, and PSF and Fatah offices nr. Gaza City, Ramallah, and Jinin; blows up the main radio, TV transmitters in Ramallah; bulldozes the Palestinian Media Center offices in Ramallah; occupies the home of Fatah tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti (who is not there at the time); makes incursions into PA-controlled areas of Bayt Hanun, Bayt Lahia, Beitunia, Jinin, Nablus, Ramallah, Sudaniyya, Tulkarm, al-Zahra; bulldozes Palestinian land in Rafah. A total of 4 Palestinians are killed during the day; shells strike the Friends Boys School, damaging 3 classrooms. In Gaza City, 2 Israeli missiles land nr. a mosque while Hamas spiritual leader Shaykh Yasin, Hamas spokesman Mahmud Zahar are inside. Israel declares that the Zinni cease-fire talks are over, though Zinni had already planned to leave on 12/14 for Jordan and Egypt, then return to Washington. (AP, HP, MM, NYT, WP 12/13; MENA 12/13 in WNC 12/14; JP, HA, HP, NYT, WP, WT 12/14; HA 12/16; LAW, PCHR 12/19; MEI 12/21)