The Palestine Chronology

Meeting with Abbas in Jerusalem, Olmert pledges to release 150 Palestinian prisoners as a gesture to improve the climate of negotiations and support for Abbas; the release is tentatively set for 8/25. Today, Israel releases 6 Palestinian prisoners (fulfilling a requirement of the 7/16 prisoner release deal with Hizballah): the 6 include Hamas-affiliated Nablus mayor Adli Yaish (see 7/14) and 5 minors arrested for stone-throwing. Meanwhile, the IDF sends undercover units into Ramallah to arrest a wanted Palestinian; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, and in and around Jenin town and r.c., Tulkarm (breaking into a taxi company, stealing 3 cars). Armed Jewish settlers attempt to enter East Jerusalem’s Shu‘fat r.c. to establish an unauthorized outpost, claiming ownership of land inside the camp; the IDF bars their entry. (AFP, NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 8/7; OCHA 8/13; PCHR 8/14)

The IDF conducts major late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, firing on residential areas and stone-throwing youths who confront them wounding 2, arresting 30; also conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Jenin. (PCHR 7/17; OCHA 7/23; PCHR 7/24)

Israel, Hizballah implement a major prisoner exchange that includes Hizballah’s return of the bodies of the 2 IDF soldiers who were captured and killed on 7/06, sparking the 2006 Lebanon war, and Israel release of Samir Quntar (convicted by Israel in a 1979 attack that left 5 Israelis dead) (HA, IFM, MA, NYT, YA 7/16; AHR, IFM, NYT, WP, WT 7/17)

In Gaza, the IDF makes an air strike on an empty car in Jabaliya r.c. owned by a member of Hamas’s Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades (IQB) in an apparent assassination attempt, destroying the car, damaging surrounding homes, causing no reported injuries; sends tanks, troops into areas southeast of Gaza City to bulldozes 200 d. of olive groves. IDF troops on the n. Gaza border shell an alleged rocket-launching site w. of Bayt Lahiya in n. Gaza, injuring 2 Palestinian children (ages 4, 17) and damaging a house. IDF troops on the s. Gaza border direct heavy machine gun fire towards residential areas of Abasan, wounding 1 Palestinian inside his home. The Israeli navy fires on Palestinian fishing boats off the n. Gaza coast, causing no reported injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF raids, searches a store in Yatta nr. Hebron, arresting the owner and confiscating a computer; chases and detains 17 Palestinian children who throw stones at an IDF post outside al-Arub r.c. nr. Hebron, questioning and releasing 12, arresting 5; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Jenin. The IDF also demolishes a Palestinian home in East Jerusalem, displacing a family of 7. Jewish settlers fr. Itamar nr. Nablus seize an area of Palestinian land and begin leveling work for construction of a new settler-only bypass road. Jewish settlers angry over the removal of an IDF roadblock nr. Hebron demonstrate, block Palestinian traffic. Israel’s Housing min. issues tenders for construction of 286 new settlement housing units in Beitar Ilit nr. Bethlehem. A Palestinian teenager injured during the IDF’s 4/11/08 raid on al-Bureij r.c. dies (see Chronology in JPS 148). (PCHR 5/22; OCHA 5/28; PCHR 5/29)

Israeli police hold a press conference to announce serious new corruption and financial impropriety allegations against Israeli PM Ehud Olmert (see Quarterly Update for details). (NYT, WP, WT 5/22; NYT 5/23; MM 6/12; NYT, OCHA, WP, WT 5/28)

Israel, Syria, Turkey announce that Israel and Syria have been holding “serious and continuous” indirect peace talks through Turkish mediators since 2/07; high-level Israeli and Syrian negotiating teams are in Istanbul taking part in a preliminary round of indirect negotiations. (IFM 5/21; NYT, WP, WT 5/22; NYT 5/23; MM 6/12)

Lebanese political figures holding national unity talks in Doha formally announce that they have reached a comprehensive agmt. ending their 18-mo. political standoff and paving the way for Gen. Michel Suleiman’s election as pres, including agmts. on redistricting Beirut, an electoral law, and allotment of cabinet seats that will give Hizballah veto power over major decisions. (MM, NYT, WP 5/21; MM, NYT, WP, WT 5/22)

Gaza’s power plant shuts down completely for lack of fuel. A Palestinian teenager (brother of the teenager who died on 5/8) succumbs to injuries sustained during the IDF’s 5/7 raid on Abasan. In the West Bank, the IDF imposes a 1-day curfew on Azun nr. Qalqilya; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c., nr. Hebron. (WP 5/12; PCHR 5/15)

In Beirut, calm prevails but many roads remain closed and some Hizballah mbrs. continue to patrol streets. Hizballah and Jumblatt supporters exchange fire in the villages of Aley, Kayfun, and Shuwayfat s. of Beirut. Hizballah sends fighters convoys toward Druze leader Walid Jumblatt’s stronghold in the Chouf mountains, but they are ambushed en route by Druze militias fighters (some of whom had supported the opposition and stood with Hizballah until it moved deep into the Chouf, then switched sides to defend the Druze heartland), withdrawing with heavy casualties. (NYT, WP, WT 5/12; NYT 5/16; NYT, WP 5/18)

Overnight, the IDF sends troops, bulldozers into Khuza, exchanging fire with local gunmen (wounding 1) and bulldozing 62 d. of agricultural land, 20 greenhouses before withdrawing in the early morning. Palestinians shut down 2 of 3 turbines at Gaza’s power plant for lack of fuel. Hamas mbrs. fire 15 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing damage but no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in, fires on residential areas of Jaba’ nr. Jenin, firing on stonethrowing youths who then confront the troops, wounding 6; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, and international peace activists holding a nonviolent demonstration nr. Tulkarm against Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement, injuring 2 demonstrators and 2 journalists covering the event; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. (NYT, WT 5/11; PCHR 5/15)

Hizballah begins to pull back from areas captured on 5/9. Army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman orders all gunmen to leave the street, but some Future Movement supporters angry over their perceived loss in Beirut attack Hizballah and SSNP offices in n. Lebanon and the Biqa‘ Valley, leaving 12 Lebanese dead (at least 11 of them SSNP mbrs.), 20 wounded; heavy clashes are also reported in Tripoli (btwn. supporters of Future Movement and Alawi mbrs. of the Arab Democratic Party seeking to settle Sunni-Alawi scores fr. the 1980s). (WT 5/10; NYT, WP 5/11; see also REU 5/8)

In Gaza, a Palestinian teenager shot by the IDF during its 5/7 Abasan raid dies. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts latenight arrest raids, house searches in Hebron. As has occurred on numerous occasions since Israel’s 2005 disengagement, 100s of Jewish settlers temporarily set up tents at the site of the evacuated Homesh settlement in the c. West Bank, vowing to rebuild the settlement and challenge any government efforts to remove additional settlements; the IDF closes off Palestinian traffic to the area and observes but does not intervene. (PCHR 5/15)

Hizballah leader Hasan Nasrallah makes a speech accusing Lebanese PM Fuad Siniora’s government of launching a war against Hizballah, warning of increased conflict if the 5/6 decisions are not reversed. Soon after, Hizballah sends more gunmen into Beirut’s streets and clashes intensify, especially in the mixed Sunni-Shi‘i neighborhoods of Mazra‘a and Ras al-Naba’a, and include machine gun and RPG fire, leaving 6 Lebanese dead, 8 wounded. (BBC 5/8; NYT, WP, WT 5/9; Asia Times 5/13)

Israel begins wk.-long celebrations leading up to its 60th anniversary on 5/14, while Palestinians solemnly prepare to mark the Nakba; more than a dozen foreign heads of state, including U.S. Pres. George W. Bush, plan to make official visits to Israel in the next wk. Overnight, in Gaza, IDF tanks and troops raid Abasan under cover of air support, cutting electricity to the area, exchanging heavy fire with Palestinian gunmen, making numerous air strikes and firing tank shells in the densely populated residential area, killing 1 armed Palestinian and 1 Palestinian civilian (a woman killed when soldiers detonate explosives outside her door and storm her home, detaining her children, ages 2–12, in a room for 6 hrs. before releasing them), wounding 19 armed men and 4 civilians (including 1 woman, 2 children), arresting 60 Palestinians (55 are released on 5/8), demolishing 2 Palestinian homes, and bulldozing large areas of agricultural land before withdrawing late in the evening. The IDF also makes an air strike on a group of armed Palestinians in Jabaliya r.c., killing 1 Palestinian resistance mbr., seriously wounding a 2d. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. (PCHR, WP 5/8; PCHR 5/15)

Hizballah mbrs. and their supporters in Amal and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) set up roadblocks leading to Beirut International Airport, other major roads in an effort to press the government to reverse its 5/6 decisions. They clash with gunmen affiliated with Saad Hariri’s Future Movement, leaving 5 civilians, 2 soldiers wounded. (NYT, WP 5/8)

In the West Bank, the IDF sends an undercover unit into Nablus in cars with Palestinian license plates to arrest 2 Palestinians drinking tea outside a home; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron, in Jenin town and r.c. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba beat a local Palestinian. Meanwhile, the PA’s new Jenin security force makes a predawn incursion into Qabatya, an Islamic Jihad stronghold, clashing with local gunmen, critically wounding a Palestinian student with a gunshot to the head and shooting 2 Islamic Jihad mbrs. in the legs. (OCHA, WP, WT 5/7; PCHR 5/8)

The Lebanese government declares illegal a private telephone network covering s. and e. Lebanon run by Hizballah, calling it a threat to national security; also removes Brig. Gen. Wafiq Shuqeir as security chief at Beirut International Airport for his alleged Hizballah sympathies. (BBC 5/7; Independent 5/8; Paul Salem, “Hizbollah Attempts Coup D’Etat,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, May 2008; Hizballah spokesman Haj Hussein Khalil press conference, al-Manar TV [Beirut] 5/12; Asia Times 5/13)

Overnight, the IDF sends 20 armored vehicles with helicopter support into Gaza City, clashing with local gunmen, wounding 7 Palestinians (including at least 2 bystanders). In the West Bank, the IDF sends undercover units in a car with Palestinian license plates into Kafr Qaddum nr. Qalqilya to raid a store, arrest a wanted Palestinian; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, in Azun and Jenin town and r.c., and nr. Bethlehem, Hebron. (OCHA, WT 2/13; PCHR 2/14)

A car bomb explodes in Damascus, assassinating Hizballah intelligence and external operations head Imad Mughniyah, injuring 2 others. No group takes responsibility. Hizballah blames Israel, which hails his death and distances itself from the attack but does not explicitly deny involvement. (WP 2/13; NYT, WP, WT 2/14)