The Palestine Chronology

IDF makes an air strike demolishing an AMB building in Gaza City; blows up a Palestinian home in Jenin that allegedly stored explosives; conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Jenin and in Bethlehem, Hebron, Tulkarm. Palestinians fire a rocket fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. Abbas dispatches mbrs. of Force 17, the presidential guard, to take control of PA operations at the Rafah crossing, relieving PA security forces controlled by the Interior Min. (MM 4/11; MM, NYT 4/12; PCHR 4/13)

Israel’s acting FM Tzipi Livni says that any Palestinian “fighting against Israeli soldiers is an enemy and we will fight back, but I believe that this is not under the definition of terrorism,” only those “who take the lives of civilians are terrorists.” Says that the international community should “stop calling terrorists those who are freedom fighters.” (AFP, IFM 4/11)

After Palestinians fire rockets fr. Gaza into Israel (causing no damage or injuries), the IDF launches Operation Southern Arrow (as warned on 3/30), making air strikes on a PA security compound (wounding 2 Palestinians; see 3/30) and Abbas’s helicopter pad in Gaza City, firing at least 30 shells at residential areas nr. the n. Gaza no-go zone (hitting 2 houses, killing 1 Palestinian and wounding at least 5), flying mock air raids over Gaza (repeatedly breaking the sound barrier), reducing the distance that artillery fire may be targeted nr. Palestinian homes fr. 300 m to 100 m. The IDF also recloses the Qarni commercial crossing; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Bethlehem, Dura, Nablus. (WP 4/5; VOP 4/5 in WNC 4/6; PCHR 4/6; HA 5/14)

According to the biography of fmr. Mossad chief Efraim Halevy, released today in Britain, just before Israel’s 1997 attempted assassination of Hamas political leader Khalid Mishal in Amman, King Hussein transmitted a message offering a 30-yr. cease-fire fr. Hamas to then Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu via a local Mossad rep. The message did not reach Netanyahu until after the hit was made. (JAZ 4/4)

A Palestinian hitchhiker dressed as an observant Jew detonates a bomb inside an Israeli car that picks him up outside Keddumim settlement, killing 4 Jewish settlers and himself; AMB–Nablus faction claims responsibility. PA FM Mahmud Zahhar (Change and Reform) defends the bombing as legitimate resistance, whereas Abbas denounces it; Israel accuses the PA of encouraging terror. Palestinians fire a rocket fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. The IDF responds by shelling n. Gaza fr. land and sea, causing no damage or injuries; makes 6 F-16 air strikes outside Bayt Hanun and Bayt Lahiya, damaging an electricity network, several roads; warns the PA that it will increase pressure on Palestinians firing rockets fr. Gaza, will fire on any place fr. which fire is directed at Israel, even if PA security forces are operating in the area. The IDF also closes the only checkpoints allowing Palestinian access to the n. Jordan Valley (at least through 4/5); closes all but 1 road leading into Tulkarm; erects a permanent observation post and tower on the Bethlehem– Hebron road into Hebron; issues military orders seizing part of a Palestinian home in Hebron nr. the Ibrahimi Mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs, 200 sq. m. of Palestinian land in al-Arub r.c. nr. Hebron to expand an IDF outpost; searches the offices of the Cultural Forum in Sur al-Bahir outside Jerusalem, confiscating files, damaging furniture; breaks up a Land Day rally in East Jerusalem, arresting 4 Palestinians, including 2 journalists; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Nablus, Tulkarm. Jewish settlers, escorted by IDF troops, attack Palestinian farmers, international peace activists planting trees on Palestinian land in Hebron. (IMEMC 3/30; MM, NYT, WP 3/31; NYT 4/1; PCHR 4/6)

Israel lifts the seal on the West Bank; partially reopens Qarni crossing for import and export of goods; continues to shell the n. Gaza no-go zone fr. land and sea, damaging several buildings but causing no injuries; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron, nr. Tulkarm, and in Jalazun r.c. nr. Ramallah, Jenin town and r.c., Nablus, Tulkarm r.c. In Silwan and al-Tur (Mount of Olives), East Jerusalem, 3 Palestinian families are evicted fr. their homes (30 Palestinians in 3 apartment buildings in Silwan; 2 apartment buildings in al-Tur), which they have lived in for at least 40 yrs., after an Israeli court rules that the buildings were legally acquired by the Jewish National Fund in 1923. Jewish settlers fr. Kefar Etzion uproot Palestinian olive trees nr. Bethlehem. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba, escorted by the IDF, vandalize an empty car belonging to the PA Education Min. (OCHA 3/29; DS, PCHR 3/30; IMEMC 3/31; HA 4/3; PCHR 4/6; HA 4/23)

Abbas swears in the new Palestinian cabinet. PM Haniyeh says his government will allow Abbas to pursue peace negotiations with Israel, will continue reform efforts. The U.S. orders its diplomats, contractors not to have any further contacts with PA ministries, though contacts with Abbas, his office would be allowed; presses the international community to do the same. (AP, Canada TV, REU 3/29; AFP, HA, MM, NYT, REU, WP 3/30; VOP 3/30 in WNC 3/31; HA 3/31)

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)

The IDF conducts late night arrest raids, house searches in Hebron. In retaliation for the killing of a Palestinian girl on 1/26, the AMB, PRCs fire 4 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba vandalize Palestinian homes in Hebron. Across Gaza, 1,000s of Hamas supporters hold peaceful rallies after midday prayers to celebrate Hamas’s election victory. Meanwhile, some 15,000 Fatah mbrs. carry out angry marches across Gaza, burning cars, firing in the air, demanding that the party’s leadership resign over the party’s failure in the 1/25 elections; more than 1,000 armed Fatah mbrs. protest outside Abbas’s Gaza residence alone (he is in Ramallah); in Khan Yunis, Hamas mbrs. trade fire with Fatah mbrs. tearing down Hamas campaign protesters and PA security forces in 2 incidents, leaving 6 Palestinians (including 1 Hamas mbr., 2 PA security officers) wounded. (IMEMC, NYT, REU, YA 1/27; NYT, WP, WT 1/28; PCHR 2/2)

The IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Tulkarm, nr. Hebron (occupying 1 house as an observation post), and in Bethlehem, Nablus. (IMEMC 1/25; PCHR 1/26, 2/2)

PA legislative elections are held. Hamas’s Change and Reform party wins a surprise majority, taking 74 seats. Fatah wins 45 seats, PFLP’s Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa wins 3, Independent Palestine wins 2, Third Way wins 2, Alternative wins 2; and independent candidates allied with Hamas win 4 seats. Hamas says it will meet with Abbas, as head of Fatah, and the smaller parties in several days to discuss formation of a unity government. (CSM, IMEMC, JT 1/25; AP, BBC, CSM, DS, HA, JAZ, NYT, PCHR, REU, WP, WT, XIN, YA 1/26; AP, CSM, DS, Financial Times, JT, JTA, NYT, WP, WT 1/27; al-Ayyam, VOI 1/27 in WNC 1/28; XIN 1/29; NYT, Palestine Center press release 1/30; see also Palestine Center information brief no. 125 12/14)