The Palestine Chronology

In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in Jenin, searching several stores; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron; demolishes a new addition to a Palestinian home nr. Hebron. In a predawn raid on a Force 17 training camp in Gaza, suspected Hamas gunmen kill a Force 17 officer. In Gaza City, suspected Fatah gunmen fire on PA FM Mahmud Zahhar’s motorcade in an apparent assassination attempt, causing no injuries. Hrs. later, suspected Hamas mbrs. direct gunfire, several mortars at the presidential compound in Gaza City (Abbas is not there), hitting inside the compound and a nearby home, wounding 5 Palestinians; in response, PA security forces under Abbas’s control take over the Agriculture and Transportation Mins. to “secure the area.” Fatah-Hamas clashes continue in Gaza City and Jabaliya, leaving at least 3 Palestinians dead (a PSF colonel, a Presidential Guard mbr., a female bystander), at least 24 wounded. After nightfall, senior PA security officer and Fatah mbr. Col. Adnan Rahmi is found shot dead in n. Gaza. Fatah mbrs. kidnap several Hamas mbrs. in n. Gaza. In the evening, Fatah, Hamas agree on a cease-fire, removing armed mbrs. fr. the streets. (NYT, WP, WT 12/17; OCHA 12/20; PCHR 12/21)

In Gaza, the IDF makes an air strike on a car driving nr. Gaza City, killing 1 Hamas mbr., wounding a bystander; fatally shoots a Palestinian nr. Bayt Lahiya attempting to fire a rocket into Israel, also wounding 8 bystanders; shells a group of armed Hamas mbrs. nr. the Qarni crossing, killing 1 Hamas mbr., a PA Preventive Security Forces (PSF) officer at a post nearby; fires into al-Qarara, wounding 1 Palestinian farmer; shells the PA Education Min. offices nr. Bayt Lahiya; directs shells, air strikes on Bayt Hanun and Jabaliya, severely damaging 1 Palestinian home, an UNRWA clinic, a PA school; warns residents of a pending air strike on another Palestinian home nr. Jabaliya, but 10s of neighbors gather in the home, forcing the IDF to call off the operation. Palestinians fire 1 rocket fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. PA Pres. Mahmud Abbas phones Israeli PM Ehud Olmert to offer a total cease-fire in Gaza (including halts to rocket fire, digging of tunnels) in exchange for a halt to IDF operations in the Strip. Olmert agrees that if Palestinians halt actions first at 6:00 A.M. local time on 11/26, the IDF would halt operations, quickly withdraw troops fr. Gaza if the truce holds. Some Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades factions say they will not adhere to the truce until Israel halts actions first. Meanwhile, in the West Bank, IDF troops patrolling in Abu Dis chase a group of Palestinian children who throw stones at their vehicles, firing into the air and firing percussion grenades, detaining 4 children ages 11–13 for questioning; demolishes 4 shops nr. Salfit. PA security forces demonstrate in Gaza City against the Hamas-led government’s failure to pay back salaries. (IFM, NYT, WP, WT 11/26; OCHA 11/29; PCHR 11/30)

In Gaza, the IDF makes predawn artillery strikes on Bayt Hanun in retaliation for 11/7 rocket fire, hitting a residential area, killing 19 Palestinian civilians (17 in 1 family, including 8 children, 6 women), wounding 60–80 (including at least 26 children) in what the army says is a regrettable error; Israel suspends artillery fire on n. and e. Gaza pending an investigation. The IDF also fatally shoots 2 Palestinians (at least 1 armed), wounding 6 in Jabaliya; makes an air strike demolishing 1 Palestinian home in Gaza City after warning residents to leave. By nightfall, the IDF completes withdrawal of its forces fr. n. Gaza population centers into the border area btwn. the Strip and Israel officially ending Operation Autumn Clouds, leaving a total of 78 Palestinians dead (including 1 PSF officer and 50 civilians, including 16 children, 10 women), 262 wounded (including at least 67 children, 58 women), 250 d. of land razed, at least 16 homes and a mosque demolished, some 120 homes, 3 mosques, several schools, a hospital severely damaged Palestinians fire 13 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel in retaliation, causing no damage or injuries. In Damascus, Hamas leader Mishal calls on all factions to retaliate; a n. Gaza faction of Hamas’s Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades issues a statement blaming the U.S. for the casualties for its support of Israel and calls for attacks on U.S. targets worldwide, but a spokesman for Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades rejects the call, saying Hamas’s only theater of operations is Palestine. Bush sends his condolences, calls on all sides for restraint. The IDF also makes an air strike on a car in Gaza City, assassinating Hamas mbrs. Ahmad Awad (reportedly a chief rocket maker and son-in-law of PA FM Mahmud Zahhar), Ramzi Shuhaybir. In the West Bank, the IDF fires on Palestinians demonstrating against Operation Autumn Clouds, wounding 5; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin and Nablus, nr. Bethlehem and Jerusalem; orders 71 bedouin to evacuate land nr. Ramallah on the grounds that it is “state land.” (BBC, HA, IFM, al-Mezan Center for Human Rights 11/8; NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 11/9; OCHA 11/15; PCHR 11/16)

Overnight, 10,000s of Hamas supporters rally outside the PC building in Ramallah in solidarity with the Hamas-led government. During the day, the IDF launches an air strike at a minibus traveling in downtown Gaza City, assassinating 2 Islamic Jihad mbrs. (Shawqi al-Saiqali, Hamad Wadiya); 7 minutes later, as medics and crowds gather at the scene, the IDF makes a 2d air strike on the site, killing 4 Palestinian medics, 5 Palestinian bystanders, wounding 32; IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz says, “We are saddened by the deaths of these innocent Palestinians but hold absolutely no responsibility for them.” The IDF also occupies a Palestinian home in Jenin as a sniper post, then assassinates AMB mbr. Muhammad al-Wahish with a bullet to the chest (the target of an assassination attempt earlier in 2006); fires across the border on a funeral procession in Jabaliya r.c., wounding 3 Palestinian teenagers; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin and nr. Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus. In addition, the IDF claims that its investigation of the 6/9 explosion on the Bayt Lahiya beach that killed 8 Palestinians was not caused by Israeli fire but by a Palestinian land mine; Palestinians and a Human Rights Watch senior military analyst dispute this based on the crater pattern, shrapnel at the scene, injuries of the wounded. Jewish settlers fr. Avraham Avino settlement vandalize several Palestinian homes in Hebron. Jewish settlers fr. Ma’on settlement beat several Palestinian farmers working their fields in Yatta, outside Hebron, pouring toxic substances onto their agricultural land, setting fire to 1,500 sq. m. of crops. In Nablus, Hamas mbrs. rally against Fatah rampages in Ramallah on 6/12. (MM, NYT, PCHR 6/13; IFM, NYT, WP, WT 6/14; PCHR 6/15; MM 6/16; Guardian, HA, Independent 6/17; OCHA, REU 6/21)

A Lebanese, Mahmud Rafih, confesses to running a network for Mossad, killing asenior Islamic Jihad mbr. on 5/26. (WP 6/14; MM 6/16; XIN 6/17; MM 6/20; SFR 6/21)