The Palestine Chronology

The IDF sends troops, tanks, bulldozers into n. Gaza to occupy border areas nr. Bayt Hanun (the Shurrab Farm area), Bayt Lahiya to deter Palestinian rocket fire. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in, fires on residential areas of Tubas. In Gaza City, Fatah-led protests demanding that the Hamas-led government pay back salaries owed civil servants escalate dramatically, with some 3,000 Fatah-affiliated security forces attacking members of the predominantly Hamas ESF, sparking clashes that leave 6 Palestinians dead (3 bystanders, 1 Force 17 officer, 1 PSF officer, 1 ESF officer), around 61 wounded; the ESF reportedly uses grenades, antitank weapons, rifles to break up the demonstration and arrests 25 protesters. During the day, demonstrations spread to Khan Yunis (where Fatah-affiliated security officers clash with the ESF, leaving 26 wounded), al-Bureij r.c. (where Fatah, Hamas mbrs. exchange fire, killing 2 Palestinians), Ramallah (where AMB mbrs. demonstrate for the removal of the Hamasled government and vandalize, partially burn the empty PC building and adjacent building, vandalizing a Hamas newspaper office, temporarily occupying the PA Education Min.), as well as in Askar r.c. (where Fatah, Hamas mbrs. trade fire, wounding 1 Palestinian), Balata r.c. (where protesters attack a women’s center, a youth center), Hebron (where Fatah protesters ransack, set fire to offices of Hamas-affiliated PC mbrs.), Nablus (where Fatah mbrs. ransack, torch offices of Hamas-affiliated PC mbrs.; vandalize 2 Islamic private schools, wounding 2 Palestinians; fire on the home of an al-Jazeera TV reporter), and Salfit (where protesters attack the al-Nahda association offices). Late in the evening in Gaza City, suspected Hamas mbrs. throw grenades at a group of PSF protesters, killing 1 PSF mbr., wounding 30. Late in the evening, PA Interior M Siyam orders the ESF to return to barracks to reduce tensions. Abbas, Haniyeh appeal for calm. (AP, NYT, WP, WT 10/2; PCHR 10/5)

The IDF completes its withdrawal fr. Lebanon at 2:30 A.M. local time (8:30 P.M. 9/30 ET) but vows to continue surveillance overflights of Lebanon until UN Res. 1701 is implemented in full, including the release of 2 captured IDF soldiers and disarmament of Hizballah. The UN says that the overflights constitute violations of the cease-fire. (NYT, WP 10/1; NYT 10/2; see also NYT 9/27) (see 9/8, 9/19)

IDF troops and Shin Bet agents abduct Change and Reform Palestinian Council (PC) mbr. and PC secy. Mahmud Ramahi nr. Ramallah. Also in the West Bank, the IDF fires on a taxi attempting to bypass Hawara checkpoint nr. Nablus, killing 1 Palestinian, wounding 2; raids, searches an Islamist charity nr. Hebron, confiscating computers, a fax, some files; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Tulkarm r.c., nr. Nablus. In Gaza, the IDF shells residential areas nr. Dayr al-Balah, damaging a house and car, wounding 2 Palestinians; fires on Palestinians collecting scrap metal nr. Erez industrial zone, wounding 1; fires on Palestinian farmers working a field nr. al-Bureij r.c., wounding 2; bulldozes 20 d. of Palestinian olive groves in Rafah. A Palestinian is injured in an exchange of gunfire btwn. rival Fatah factions in Gaza’s al-Maghazi r.c. A Palestinian woman dies of injures received fr. IDF fire in al-Shuka on 8/5. (NYT, WP, WT 8/21; OCHA 8/23; PCHR 8/24)

The UN reports that Lebanon has deployed only about 3,000 troops to s. Lebanon (2,000 along the border with Syria, 1,000 along the coast). Israel continues daily overflights of Lebanon in violation of the 8/14 truce, IDF troops are still in s. Lebanon, and the Israeli air and naval blockade are still in place, but no new clashes btwn. IDF and Hizballah forces in Lebanon are reported. (AP, NYT, WP, WT 8/21)

Overnight, the IDF stages scores of arrest raids across the West Bank detaining 64 senior Hamas political officials, including 8 PA cabinet mbrs. and 26 PC mbrs., plus 23 senior Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades mbrs. Haniyeh, Siyam, PA FM Mahmud Zahhar remain free. (100s of Palestinians in Jenin, Ramallah, Tulkarm hold marches, sit-ins to protest the Israeli arrest of PA legislators.) Israel says the arrest campaign has been planned for wks., with the government securing Atty. Gen. Menachem Mazuz’s authorization and arrest warrants far in advance of the Kerem Shalom attack on 6/25. In Gaza, the IDF shells 2 electricity transformers and open areas of n. Gaza, cutting all electricity to n. Gaza and wounding 1 Palestinian civilian; makes air strikes on 2 electrical shops in Khan Yunis, a Hamas training camp outside Khan Yunis, a car carrying 4 Islamic Jihad mbrs. in Gaza City, wounding 3 bystanders in the Gaza City incident; fires at least 30 shells at areas around Khan Yunis, wounding 1 Palestinian farmer; conducts house searches in al-Shuka nr. Rafah; intermittently breaks the sound barrier to harass the Gaza population. In response to Israel’s military escalation, the PRC mbrs. overnight kill a Jewish settler teenager they reported they kidnapped on 6/27; the IDF finds his body buried nr. Ramallah. During the day, the IDF makes an air strikes on targets in s. Gaza and on a car driving in Gaza City in an attempt to assassinate an Islamic Jihad mbr., who escapes lightly wounded; shells n. and s. Gaza, lightly wounding at least 3 Palestinians. AMB, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) mbrs. also fire at least 6 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing light damage to a farm. Palestinian militants (thought to be Hamas) blow a hole in the Gaza-Egypt border fence; cordons of PA security forces,Egyptian border guards prevent most Palestinians fr. crossing through, though the militants who set the bomb reportedly escape into Egypt. In the evening, Olmert, Peretz order the IDF to suspend plans to send the Givati Brigade into n. Gaza overnight as planned in light of requests fr. Egypt to allow its envoys in Gaza more time to secure Shalit’s release. Meanwhile in the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches (unrelated to the arrest of PA officials) in Hebron, and in and around Ramallah, Salfit; raids 6 Islamic charities and schools nr. Hebron, Jenin and in Bethlehem, Tulkarm, confiscating computers, files; issues military orders confiscating 25 d. of Palestinian land nr. Hebron for construction of the separation wall. (HA, IFM, IMEMC, JAZ, MM, NYT, WP, WT, YA 6/29; AFP, MENA, OSC, PSCT, VOI, VOP 6/29 in WNC 6/30; CSM, HA, MM, NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 6/30; OSC, PSCT, YA 6/30 in WNC 7/1; al-Ayyam 7/1 in WNC 7/2; HA, PCHR 7/6; PCHR 7/27) 

The IDF sends undercover units into Tulkarm in a car with Palestinian license plates to arrest a wanted Palestinian; later sends a 2d undercover unit into Tulkarm that is intercepted by PA security forces, withdraws after an exchange of fire, causing no injuries; sends undercover units into Jenin, who exchange fire with local gunmen, withdraw under IDF support, without making any arrests; demolishes a Palestinian home nr. Jenin next to the separation wall; patrols in Tubas, firing on residential areas; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, Tulkarm and in Aida r.c., al-Fara‘a r.c. (firing on stone-throwing youths who confront the troops). In Rafah, at least 100 Fatah, Hamas gunmen clash, leaving 1 Hamas mbr. and 1 Palestinian bystander dead and 15 Palestinians wounded, with Hamas firing antitank weapons and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at the local PSF headquarters. (Hamas says that Fatah gunmen fired on a Hamas funeral procession, precipitating the clash, while Fatah says that Hamas mbrs. in the procession fired first on the PSF headquarters along the route.) Soon after, 100s of Fatah-dominated PA security forces and AMB mbrs. reacting to the Gaza violence rampage through Ramallah, raiding, firing on, vandalizing, setting fire to the PC building and the cabinet headquarters in a show of force against Hamas. Later, Fatah gunmen kidnap Change and Reform PC mbr. Khalil Rabei, set fire to his Ramallah office; Rabei is freed hrs. later at Abbas’s intervention; 7 other Change and Reform PC mbrs. take refuge in the Muqata‘a under Abbas’s protection. Abbas declares a state of emergency and curfew. Inside Israel, Israeli police arrest 7 Palestinians in Shafa ‘Amr suspected in the 8/4/05 killing of an IDF soldier who boarded a bus in the town and opened fire, killing 4 Palestinians before being beaten to death. In addition, unknown assailants vandalize the Orthodox Christian Church in Majdal nr. Nazareth; the recently refurbished church, which tends to a growing Russian Orthodox population, has been threatened on several occasions by local right-wing Jews. (MM, NYT, WP, WT 6/13; PCHR 6/15)

The IDF seals crossings into the West Bank and Gaza through 3/15 for the Purim holidays; tightens restrictions on Palestinian movement btwn. Hebron and Bethlehem; shells the n. Gaza no-go zone in response to Palestinians firing a rocket fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries; bars PC secy. Mahmud al-Ramahi (Change and Reform) fr. traveling to Jordan to attend a conference on the role of parliament mbrs. in democratic government; raids al-Shayukh nr. Hebron, searching homes, forcing 10s of stores to close, firing on stone-throwing Palestinians who confront the troops (injuring 6); conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Tulkarm and in Hebron (severely beating 2 Palestinians) and nearby Yatta (occupying 4 homes as observation posts); bans the call to prayer fr. the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. Jewish settlers fr. Beit Ein nr. Hebron uproot 10s of grape vines, demolish fences surrounding Palestinian agricultural land (IMEMC 3/11; YA 3/12; PCHR 3/16)

The IDF tightens restrictions on Palestinian movement around Ramallah in the morning, coinciding with the convening of the new Palestinian Council (PC) session (see below); sends troops back into al-Khadir (see 2/17), sets up roadblocks, conducts ID checks looking for youths who threw stones at Israeli cars on Route 60, arresting 2; raids, searches a Palestinian home in Hebron, severely beating but not arresting 1 resident; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Aida r.c., arresting 2 15- yr.-old Palestinian boys. A Jewish settler is stabbed, wounded apparently by a Palestinian nr. Ma’ale Adumim. (HA 2/20; PCHR 2/23)

The new Palestinian Council (the second elected since the PC was formed in 1995) is sworn in in Ramallah, with Gazan reps. participating by video link, since Israel barred their passage to the West Bank. PA Pres. Mahmud Abbas invites the Hama-saffiliated Change and Reform party to form a cabinet. (WT 2/18; NYT, WP, WT 2/19; al-Hayat al-Jadida 2/19 in WNC 2/20; MM 2/20)