The Palestine Chronology

In the West Bank, IDF troops shoot and kill a Palestinian at a checkpoint s. of Nablus. According to the Israeli military, the man 1st opened fire on soldiers, wounding 1, but his family denies the claim. IDF troops demolish a car wash in Hizma village nr. Jerusalem, and barns in Silwan, East Jerusalem. They also demolish a small house nr. Bethlehem. The IDF conducts house searches and arrest raids in Jenin and in 2 villages nr. Tulkarm. In the Gaza Strip, IDF troops target 2 military training sites, one nr. Gaza City and the other nr. Khan Yunis, causing no injuries. (HA, MNA, REU, WAFA 6/2; PCHR 6/5)

PA Pres. Abbas swears in the new national unity govt. in Ramallah, after final disagreements between Fatah and Hamas are resolved. The 18 ministers, including a secy. with ministerial rank but no portfolio, take an oath of office in a televised ceremony, though 4 are participating via teleconference from the Gaza Strip because Israel denied their entry into the West Bank. Abbas announces that the govt.’s principal task is to organize elections within 6 mos., and that preparations will begin immediately. Following a meeting of Israel’s security cabinet, which was called to coordinate a response, Netanyahu’s office issues a statement that says Israel will work against the inclusion of Hamas candidates in the planned Palestinian elections, while refusing to negotiate with the Palestinians as long as a Hamas-backed unity govt. is in power. U.S. State Dept. spokesperson Psaki announces that the Obama administration intends to work with the new PA unity govt. She cites a phone call between U.S. Secy. of State Kerry and Abbas over the weekend, in which Abbas assured Kerry that the new govt. would be committed to the principles of nonviolence, recognition of the state of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements. (AFP, HA, JP, MNA, REU, YA 6/2)

A mortar shell fired from Syria lands in the occupied Golan Heights, causing no injuries. In response, IDF troops fire an antitank missile back into Syrian territory. No damage or casualties are reported. (AP, HA, MNA 6/2)

Fatah PA pres. Abbas and Hamas leader Mishal end 2 days of talks in Qatar on forming by Fatah-Hamas consensus a transitional government of independent technocrats with a limited mandate to take the Palestinians to new presidential and parliamentary elections and to lead reconstruction of Gaza, as agreed under the 5/2011 national unity deal. To overcome international concerns about Hamas’s participation and differences between Fatah and Hamas regarding who should serve as PM (Hamas strongly opposed current PA PM Salam al-Fayyad), the sides agree that Abbas would lead the transitional government, serving as both pres. and PM. They stress that the new government “will be a technical one more than a political one” and that diplomacy will rest with the PLO. A meeting of all Palestinian factions is set for 2/18 to endorse the plan. Israeli PM Netanyahu immediately denounces Abbas for “joining forces with the enemies of peace.” The EU and U.S. say they look forward to continuing their support of the PA, provided the new government is committed to the Quartet principles of nonviolence, recognition of Israel, and adherence to existing peace agreements. (NYT, WP 2/6; AP, NYT, WP 2/7; see also MNA 2/5)

Unidentified Palestinians fire a Qassam rocket fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. In response, Israeli warplanes make late-night air strikes on open areas nr. the Gaza border n. of Bayt Hanun, causing no reported injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in 2 villages nr. Ramallah and 1 nr. Salfit; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Tulkarm and nr. Jenin and Nablus. Just outside East Jerusalem nr. al-Tur, Israeli border police and an undercover unit bulldoze 20 d. of Palestinian land, demolishing 2 walls, 3 natural caves, and a water network supplying several Palestinian homes. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron escorted by IDF troops begin planting trees on 150 d. of nearby Palestinian agricultural land that the IDF previously declared a closed military zone. (PCHR 2/9; OCHA 2/10)

Israel releases 165 Fatah-affiliated prisoners as a goodwill gesture to mark Ramadan (see 9/4); none are fr. Gaza. In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international peace activists taking part in a nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Ni‘lin, injuring 1; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, in Jenin town and r.c. A Palestinian woman sprays an acid-like substance on 2 IDF soldiers checking IDs at Hawara checkpoint nr. Nablus, lightly injuring them; the soldiers open fire, causing no injuries, but the woman escapes. (MNA, OCHA 9/10; PCHR 9/11)

Israel releases 4 Fatah-affiliated political prisoners as a goodwill gesture to Abbas, marking the start of Ramadan; none are fr. Gaza. In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international peace activists taking part in a nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Ni‘lin, injuring 1; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Nablus and neighboring Balata r.c., nr. Hebron and Jenin. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba stone a Palestinian teenager, vandalize several homes nearby. (OCHA 9/10; PCHR 9/11; AIC 11/9)

IDF troops inside Israel fatally shoot an armed Palestinian who approaches the s. Gaza border. The IDF also bulldozes 5 d. of Palestinian land inside the border fence nr. Wadi al-Silqa; later conducts arrest raids, house searches in Wadi al-Silqa, detaining 3 Palestinians. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night house searches in and around Nablus but makes no arrests; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, percussion grenades, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Bil‘in (injuring 8, including 3 children). Jewish settlers fr. Efrat uproot 100 Palestinian olive trees to make way for new construction begun on 3/23. Palestinians stone Jewish settler vehicles nr. Ramallah, causing no injuries. In n. Gaza, 50,000 Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah al-Yasir (an AMB offshoot) supporters hold a peaceful demonstration calling on the Arab League summit assembling in Damascus to find a way to break Israel’s siege of Gaza. In Jabaliya r.c., 2,000 Palestinians attend a rally organized by Islamic Jihad to call on Fatah and Hamas to form a unity government. (OCHA 4/2; PCHR 4/3)

The IDF makes an air strike on a car in Gaza City suspected to be carrying wanted Palestinians, missing the target and hitting a nearby home, causing heavy damage but no injuries. Islamic Jihad fires 10 mortars at the IDF base at Kissufim crossing, causing no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, nr. Hebron, and in Bethlehem, Qalqilya, nr. Hebron and Nablus; raids the offices of a children’s charity in Jenin, confiscating documents. For a 2d day in Jerusalem, Israeli police escort a group of Jewish settlers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound to mark the Tisha B’Av holiday. A Jewish settler fr. Kiryat Arba seriously injures a 10-yr.-old Palestinian boy in a deliberate hit-and-run in Hebron. Jewish settlers severely beat a Palestinian teenager nr. Nablus. In Ramallah, PA presidential guardsmen halt a car carrying the son and daughter of jailed Fatah tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti (seen as a potential challenger to Abbas), harass them both, detain and beat the son at the PA headquarters. Pro-Fatah students at al-Najah University in Nablus attack, beat pro-Hamas students protesting Abbas’s ouster of the Haniyeh government, leading to police intervention and an exchange of fire that leaves 3 students wounded, 1 critically. In Gaza City, 10,000 Hamas supporters stage a nonviolent march to PC headquarters to protest PA attacks on Hamas activists and institutions in the West Bank. (OCHA, WP 7/25; PCHR 7/26)

As daily clashes continue at Nahr al-Barid r.c., FI kills 3 Lebanese soldiers—2 by a mortar, 1 by a booby-trapped device. The estimated death toll to date is 120 soldiers, 81 FI members, 41 civilians. (WT 7/25)