The Palestine Chronology

In East Jerusalem, some 200 Palestinians protesting the settler incident in Silwan on 6/26 and the Jerusalem Planning Commission’s 6/21 preliminary approval for the rezoning and demolition of 22 Palestinian homes demonstrate outside the settlers’ Beit Yonatan apartment building. The Palestinians throw stones, bricks, and Molotov cocktails at Israeli police who attempt to disperse them, leaving 6 policemen injured. In the evening, 10s of Jewish settlers break into the al-Rajabi quarter of Silwan, clashing with local Palestinians and opening fire indiscriminately, causing no serious injuries; IDF troops intervene, firing rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas at the Palestinians, seriously injuring 1 and lightly injuring 10. Meanwhile, Israel begins construction of 20 new housing units for Jews at the Shepherd Hotel site in East Jerusalem’s Shaykh Jarrah neighborhood. In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinians and international activists staging a weekly nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall nr. Bethlehem (10s suffer tear gas inhalation); conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Hebron, nr. Nablus. In the 2d such incident in Gaza since 3/2010 (see Quarterly Update in JPS 156), Hamas-affiliated police raid the Palestine Islamic Bank, presenting a warrant for the seizure of all the money ($16,000) fr. the account of a Hamas-affiliated educational organization whose assets had been frozen by the PA, taking the money at gunpoint when the teller refuses. Officials of the acting Hamas government say a court had ruled that the PA action freezing the organization’s assets was illegal. (ITV 6/27; NYT 6/28; PCHR 7/1; OCHA 7/2; JPI 7/9)

IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction materials in the fmr. settlement sites nr. the border, wounding 1 Palestinian teenager. A Palestinian is electrocuted in a smuggling tunnel under the Rafah border; 2 Palestinians are injured in a separate tunnel collapse. (PCHR 6/24; OCHA 6/25; PCHR 7/1)

In 2 separate incidents (in the fmr. n. Gaza settlement sites and the Erez industrial zone), IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction materials nr. the border, wounding 2 Palestinians. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Nablus. (PCHR 6/24; OCHA 6/25)

IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction goods in the fmr. settlement sites nr. the border, causing no injuries. Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the n. Gaza coast, forcing them to return to shore. In the West Bank, Palestinians (sometimes accompanied by Israeli and international activists) hold weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall and land confiscations in Bil‘in, Ni‘lin, and Dayr Nizam/al-Nabi Salih. IDF soldiers fire rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades at the protesters, leaving 10s suffering tear gas inhalation, 3 Palestinians injured, 6 Palestinians (including 1 journalist) and 3 Israelis under arrest (all are released by 6/20). A Jewish settler driving nr. Hebron stops his car and beats a Palestinian teenager unconscious with an iron bar, leaving him on the side of the road, where he is found and transported to a hospital by a passing Palestinian. (PCHR 6/24; OCHA 6/25)

After 2 days of heated debate, Netanyahu’s security cabinet, under heavy international pressure to ease restrictions on Gaza, agrees to increase the amounts of goods already allowed for import and to add some new items to the permitted import list, including allowing import of all foodstuffs and increasing imports of building materials for construction overseen by credible third parties, such as the UN. The strict naval blockade would remain in place. (IFM 6/17; NYT, OCHA, WP 6/18)

IDF troops on the s. Gaza border fire on armed Palestinians operating nr. the border fence, wounding 1. In 2 separate incidents (in the fmr. n. Gaza settlement sites and the Erez industrial zone), IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction goods nr. the border, causing no injuries. In a 3d incident later in the day, IDF troops make an incursion into n. Gaza nr. Bayt Lahiya and stay there most of the day to prevent Palestinians fr. entering the area to look for construction materials. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts synchronized late-night house searches in villages s. and w. of Jenin, making no arrests; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Ramallah. (PCHR 6/24; OCHA 6/25)

IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction materials in the former settlement sites nr. the border, wounding 1. (PCHR 6/17; OCHA 6/18)

Unidentified Palestinians fire 4 Qassam rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. In the West Bank, a Jewish settler opens fire on Palestinian school children picnicking outside the entrance to al-‘Arub r.c., wounding 2. Israeli security forces raid and search without warrant the Bayt Hanina Club in East Jerusalem; Israeli authorities have repeatedly tried to close the club, claiming it hosts official PA meetings. (Israel prohibits the PA and PLO fr. conducting political activities in East Jerusalem.) (YA 6/3; PCHR 6/10; OCHA 6/11)

As announced on 6/1, Egypt opens its side of the Rafah border in both directions to Palestinian medical cases, students, other humanitarian cases with proper travel documents, as well as to foreign passport holders; 1,000s of Gazans stream to the border crossing in hopes of reaching stores in Egyptian Rafah, but Hamas and Egyptian officials allow fewer than 500 out and fewer than 600 in the first day. (The crossing remains open continuously through the end of the quarter, but average daily numbers allowed to cross are slightly lower than these, with Egypt denying entry to a significant number of Palestinians approved for exit by Hamas.) Twice during the day, IDF troops on the Israeli side of the Erez crossing fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging construction materials inside the Erez industrial zone, wounding 1 Palestinian. Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the n. Gaza coast, forcing them to return to shore. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts evening arrest raids in al-Ma‘sara. Jewish settlers set fire to crop land in 4 Palestinian village nr. Nablus, destroying 450 olive trees and 300 almond trees. (PCHR 6/3; OCHA 6/4)