The Palestine Chronology

The Hebron area is hit hard throughout the day, as IDF troops shoot and injure a Palestinian at the entrance to al-Fawar r.c. after he stabs and seriously injures an Israeli soldier (the Palestinian will succumb to his injuries later in the day); Israeli forces place a closure on the camp. IDF troops are heavily deployed across Hebron, after a Palestinian gunman allegedly shot at an Israeli settler’s vehicle in the Old City. Israeli forces conduct raids in al-‘Arub r.c. and patrol throughout the Hebron area, arresting 10 Palestinians total. Elsewhere in the West Bank, a Palestinian youth succumbs to injuries sustained in clashes with the IDF nr. Ramallah 2 weeks ago, on 11/11. IDF troops violently clash with protesters at Palestine Technical University in Tulkarm for the 2d day, injuring 4 Palestinians; patrol nr. Tulkarm. The IDF conducts raids and house searches in Jenin and 4 villages nearby, and in 1 village nr. Ramallah, arresting 6 Palestinians. Israeli forces demolish a road in a bedouin community in the Jordan Valley; confiscate stonecutting equipment from a quarry nr. Bethlehem. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces raid a sports club in al-Tur, confiscating data from surveillance cameras. A number of right-wing Jewish activists tour Haram al-Sharif in the morning. Off Gaza’s n. coast, Israeli naval forces open fire on Palestinian fishing boats, causing no damage or injuries. Along Gaza’s border, Israeli forces conduct a limited incursion nr. Jabaliya to level land and build up earth mounds that will obstruct Palestinian farmers; open fire on Palestinian lands along the border fence e. of Khan Yunis. (HA, MNA, TOI, WAFA, YA 11/25; PCHR 11/26, 12/3)

In the Gaza Strip, the Union of Civil Servants announces that all govt. employees will go on strike on 12/11, and that school workers will strike on 12/14, in protest of the PA unity govt.’s failure to pay civil servants in Gaza who were hired after Hamas came to power in 2007. An IDF tank stationed along the border e. of al-Bureij r.c. fires on agricultural land, causing damage. Hours later, 4 IDF tanks and 3 armored bulldozers cross the border fence in e. Gaza, leveling land and firing live ammunition toward Palestinian property. In the West Bank, IDF troops detain 2 Palestinians as they approach the Tekoa settlement nr. Bethlehem. Israeli forces confiscate 3 Palestinian-owned tractors while patrolling in a bedouin village in the n. Jordan Valley. They also stop work on a UN Development Program project nr. Salfit, detain 2 Palestinian workers, and confiscate 1 tractor. The IDF conducts house searches and arrest raids nr. Ramallah, Hebron, Tulkarm, and Jenin. Israeli settlers cut the wires to 4 electricity poles and chop down several olive trees nr. Burin village s. of Nablus, clearing the area for the expansion of 2 nearby settlements. In East Jerusalem, Israeli police raid the Silwan home of Ahmad al-Ghoul, head of the Fatah Youth Movement in Jerusalem, and arrest him. He was recently attacked by Israeli settlers on 11/21. Israeli authorities deliver demolition notices to several residences and commercial buildings in Silwan, al-Tur, Issawiyya, and Jabal Mukabir. Israeli police detain 2 Palestinian women at Haram al-Sharif. They also conduct arrest raids around East Jerusalem; deliver demolition notices in Silwan, al-Tur, Issawiyya, and Jabal Mukabir. (IMEMC, JP, MNA, WAFA 12/9; PCHR 12/10)

After threatening a mass action on 12/6, 70 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons launch a hunger strike in protest of Israel’s treatment of a fellow prisoner and its use of solitary confinement. (MNA 12/9; WAFA 12/10)

The Knesset Finance Comm. approves a series of public funds transfers, including PM Netanyahu’s 12/8 request for around $20 m. to support the West Bank settlements. (AFP, TOI, YA 12/9)

The Lower House of the Irish Parliament unanimously passes a nonbinding res. calling on the Irish govt. to recognize Palestinian statehood, similar to the 1 passed by the Upper House on 10/23. (REU 12/9; HA 12/11)

In Washington, U.S. Secy. of State John Kerry and VP Joe Biden meet with senior Arab officials including the Bahraini, Egyptian, Jordanian and Qatari FMs, and representatives from the PA, Arab League, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia for talks on the peace process. Qatari PM Shaykh Hamad Bin Jassem al-Thani, speaking on behalf of the Arab League delegation, cites the possibility of a border agreement that includes mutually agree and minor land swaps between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Kerry affirms the importance of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative that promised full normalization for Israel’s complete withdrawal from the occupied territories (including the Golan). (AP, REU 29/4)

Unidentified Palestinians fire 1 rocket from Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. In response to recent rocket fire (see also 4/27), Israel closes the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing, further restricts movement through the Erez crossing to ‘‘humanitarian cases,’’ though it cancels visits for Gazan families of Palestinians jailed in Israel (VIPs were the only others allowed to cross Gaza). Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishermen off the south Gaza coast east of Rafah, causing no damage or injuries. In the West Bank, IDF soldiers evict several hundred Bedouin from Wadi al-Malih village in the Jordan Valley after declaring the area a live fire training zone (see 4/24). Meanwhile, Israel demolishes 4 Palestinian apartments in the al-Tur neighborhood of East Jerusalem, as well as a water well and utility room in the al-Fawar r.c. in Hebron. The IDF patrols in 3 villages nr. Tulkarm in the morning, in 2 villages nr. Jenin in the afternoon. At night, IDF troops conduct house searches and arrest raids in Dahaysha r.c. in Bethlehem, in Hebron, in 5 villages nr. Hebron, in Nablus, and in 1 village nr. Ramallah. Jewish settlers attack Palestinians in Bayt Furik village nr. Nablus, injuring 2. (AFP, MNA REU 4/29; PCHR 5/2)

UN Secy.-Gen. Ban Ki-moon urges the Syrian government to allow experts into the country to investigate reports of alleged use of chemical weapons. Damascus wants any investigation limited to a 3/2013 incident nr. Aleppo while Ban wants to also include a 12/2012 incident in Homs. (see 4/24) (AP 4/29)

David Makovsky, director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, leaks details of the significant inducements currently offered by the White House to Israel if it would extend its partial settlement freeze for 60 days (to avoid a crisis before U.S. midterm elections). The U.S. goal would be to reach an agreement on borders within the 60-day time period. (NYT, WP 10/1; al-Sharq al-Awsat 10/4; JAZ, NYT 10/7; WT 10/13; JPI 10/22)

Mitchell returns to the region for meetings with Abbas and Netanyahu. (NYT, WP 10/1)

For the 2d day in a row, IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction materials in evacuated settlement sites nr. the border, wounding 1. In the West Bank, the IDF raids several Palestinian homes in the bedouin community of al-Hadidiyya in the Jordan Valley after complaints by local Jewish settlers that the bedouin were stealing water from Ro’i settlement. (PCHR 9/30; OCHA 10/1; PCHR 10/7; OCHA 10/8)