The Palestine Chronology

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces conduct a limited incursion along the border fence nr. Khan Yunis to level land. In the West Bank, over 10,000 people attend a funeral procession in Ramallah for the Palestinian killed by Israeli soldiers on 12/15, and a general strike is held in the surrounding villages. IDF troops clash with stone-throwing Palestinians during a raid of a village w. of Jenin, and several Palestinians suffer from tear gas inhalation. Israeli soldiers later detain a Palestinian at a mobile checkpoint nr. Jenin. Separately, Israeli forces deliver stopwork orders to 4 homes under construction nr. Bethlehem and patrol nr. Tulkarm. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces arrest 6 Palestinians in Silwan during raids and house searches, as well as 2 Palestinian youths on their way home from school. After the 12/15 killing of a Palestinian in Qalandia, right-wing Jewish activists enter Haram al-Sharif early in the morning. Also, clashes break out in various neighborhoods around East Jerusalem and 3 Palestinians are arrested. (MNA, WAFA 12/16; IMEMC 12/17; PCHR 12/18)

A day ahead of the Palestinians’ promised submission of their draft res. to the UNSC, various Palestinian, U.S., EU, Arab, and Israeli officials meet to discuss their options. PA FM al-Maliki meets with French FM Fabius, and he offers to back the French draft UNSC res. if a couple of critical amendments are made. Separately, U.S. Secy. of State Kerry flies to London to hold talks with senior PLO official Saeb Erakat and PA intelligence chief Majid Faraj, and later with an Arab League delegation. Kerry asks the Palestinians to delay submitting their draft so he can conduct further meetings with PA Pres. Abbas. Russian Dep. FM Mikhail Bogdanov reiterates Russia’s support for the Palestinian UNSC res. during a meeting with Palestine’s Amb. to Russia Fayed Mustafa in Moscow. (AFP, HA, MNA, NYT, TOI, WAFA 12/16)

The Israeli Defense Ministry and the U.S. military conduct a 2d test of the Arrow-3 antiballistic missile system, designed to defend Israel from hypothetical Iranian nuclear weapons, but the test fails. (HA, TOI 12/16; AFP 12/17)

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces open fire on Palestinians collecting scrap metal close to the border fence nr. Bayt Hanun, wounding 1. In the West Bank, the IDF wound 1 Palestinian during clashes in Nablus during a patrol designed to protect the movement of Jewish settlers. IDF troops demolish 2 houses in al- ‘Arub r.c. nr. Hebron, prompting clashes with residents. Three are injured by rubber-coated metal bullets. IDF troops also fire tear gas into the grounds of 2 schools in al-Khadir, nr. Bethlehem. The IDF conducts house searches and arrest raids in Hebron and 2 nearby villages, and in 1 village nr. Jenin at night; patrols in 2 villages nr. Hebron, in Tulkarm and 1 nearby village, and 1 village nr. Jericho at night. In Israel, a car owned by a Palestinian citizen is vandalized, the 6th such hate crime in the town over the last mo. Meanwhile, residents of Furaydis hold a general strike to protest the “price tag” attack on 4/29, where racist graffiti was sprayed on a mosque. Israeli PM Netanyahu condemns the attack and says that the govt. is tackling those responsible. (HA, MNA, WAFA 4/30; PCHR 5/8)

Senior Palestinian official Shaath says that the Palestinian leadership will look to take action at the international level, in light of the breakdown in negotiations he says were foiled by Israel. (WAFA 4/30)

Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad says that PA Pres. Abbas will issue a presidential decree to convene the Palestinian Legislative Council— which has not convened since 2007—while elections will not take place for another 6 mos. Hamas and Fatah officials reactivate a subcmte. on civil liberties, as part of the implementation of the reconciliation agreement. Topics for the new subcmte. to deal with include the end of a ban on West Bank newspapers in Gaza. Meanwhile, around 1,000 Hamas supporters march through Ramallah, marking the return of the remains of 2 Hamas fighters killed by Israel in 1998. Speaking to mourners by telephone, Hamas leader Khalid Mish‘al affirms that the organization’s “path is resistance and the rifle,” and that Palestinians were in need of a joint, unified strategy to secure the “liberation of our lands and holy sites.” (AFP, JP, MEMO, MNA, REU 4/30)