The Palestine Chronology

The IDF makes a brief incursion into s. Gaza to level lands and clear lines of sight along the border fence e. of al-Qarara. In the West Bank, the IDF begins leveling land for construction of a new segment of the separation wall nr. al-Walaja nr. Bethlehem; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Jenin r.c. Hamas authorities in Gaza hang 2 Palestinians convicted of collaborating with Israel; the father and son were arrested in 2003 and convicted and sentenced in 2004 by the Fatah-led PA. (WP 7/27; PCHR 7/28; OCHA 7/29)

The U.S. for the first time explicitly states that it would veto a UN resolution endorsing Palestinian statehood. (JAZ, NYT 7/27)

In Lebanon, unidentified assailants detonate a roadside bomb nr. a UNIFIL convoy outside Sidon, wounding 5 French soldiers. Hizballah condemns the attack. (AFP, DPA 7/26; WT 7/27; DPA 7/28) (see 5/27)

In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes 11 Palestinian homes (housing 50 individuals, including 30 children), 3 classrooms, 3 barnyards, and 2 tents deemed too close to the separation wall in Yatta village nr. Hebron; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Tulkarm r.c. In East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities arrest 3 Palestinian teenagers taking part in a sit-in protest against Israeli Judaization efforts in the al-Bustan quarter of Silwan; demolish a Palestinian vendor’s semipermanent stand (in place for 11 yrs.) on Sultan Suleiman Street nr. Damascus Gate, confiscating his goods. (PCHR 1/13; OCHA 1/14; PCHR 1/20; OCHA 1/21)

While Lebanese PM Sa‘ad Hariri is in Washington meeting with U.S. Pres. Barack Obama, 11 cabinet ministers representing Hizballah and its allies (the March 8 coalition) resign in protest over Hariri’s refusal to convene an emergency cabinet session to discuss pending indictments by the UN special tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of Hariri’s father, fmr. PM Rafiq Hariri, which are expected to be issued before the end of the month. They call on Pres. Michel Suleiman to form a new government headed by the March 8 alliance. The move plunges Lebanon into its worst political crisis since 5/2008 (when Qatar brokered an agreement to end sectarian clashes that killed 81 Lebanese). (NYT, WP, WT 1/13)