The Palestine Chronology

The IDF patrols in 2 villages nr. Tulkarm (synchronized) and 1 nr. Ramallah during the day; patrols in Jenin, Jericho and 2 villages nr. Jericho and Ramallah late at night; and conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. Hamas authorities in Gaza hang 3 Palestinian prisoners (all convicted of murder in 2004, 2009, and 2010). (PCHR 7/19; OCHA 7/20)

The Knesset education comm. votes to grant full university status to an academic center in Ariel settlement, deep in the West Bank, making it the first accredited Israeli university in occupied Palestinian territory. The decision comes as Palestinian medical students from al-Quds University in Abu Dis, just outside East Jerusalem, await a verdict on their appeal of a 2/2012 Israeli ruling that denied their request to be allowed to sit for Israeli exams that would certify them to practice in East Jerusalem or Israel. The Israeli government had denied the students permission to sit for the exams on the grounds that al-Quds was not an accredited Israeli university and could not gain accreditation because it was a Palestinian entity located in the West Bank. When they then sought permission to take the tests as foreigners, the Israeli court denied permission on the grounds that al-Quds could not be considered a foreign university, since it also has a campus in East Jerusalem. There has long been a shortage of doctors to treat Palestinians in East Jerusalem, where most Palestinian doctors are forced to work without licenses. (HA 2/13/12)

After 2 weeks of unsuccessful efforts to draft plans that would integrate ultraOrthodox Jews and Palestinian citizens of Israel into the Israeli military, Kadima head Shaul Mofaz quits PM Netanyahu’s governing coalition; Netanyahu does not try to dissuade him. Analysts believed the decision (e.g., NYT 7/19) hurts both Kadima and Likud, and might hasten early elections. (NYT 7/18, 7/19)

Fmr. Israeli government attorney David Scharia is named the UNSC’s chief counterterrorism lawyer, marking the first time that an Israeli has been appointed to a security post within the UN Secretariat. (WP 7/18)

Israel approves construction of 277 new apartments in Ariel settlement deep in the West Bank, which Israel seeks to retain under final status. The Quartet condemns the decision, stating that “unilateral action by either party will not be recognized by the international community.” During the day, IDF troops on the Gaza border fire on Palestinian fishermen on the beach nr. Bayt Lahiya (wounding 1) and on farmers who stray too nr. the border fence e. of Khuza in s. Gaza (wounding 1). Late in the evening, unidentified Palestinians fire 2 Grad rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. Late at night, the IDF retaliates with 9 air strikes on 3 Hamas training facilities (Gaza City, Khan Yunis, Rafah) and a smuggling tunnel on the Rafah border, wounding a 7-yr.-old boy outside his home. Separately, the IDF makes an air strike on 3 armed Palestinians preparing to fire another rocket into Israel, killing 1 Hamas mbr. and seriously wounding 2. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in 4 villages nr. Jericho, Qalqilya, Ramallah, and Tulkarm. (HA, JTA, MNA 8/15; AP, JP, NYT, REU, WP 8/16; MNA, WP 8/17; PCHR 8/18; OCHA 8/19)

After PRC members fire more than 20 rockets into Israel (causing no damage or injuries) to protest the 10/23 assassination of PRC head Hasanat, Israeli DM Barak authorizes the IDF to cut electricity for several hrs. to parts of Gaza fr. which rockets were fired.; Dep. DM Matan Vilnai says that targeted power cuts will increasingly be used to punish the Palestinians as long as rocket fire continues and that he expects electricity to be cut by two-thirds in the coming weeks. In the evening, IDF fires a surface-to-surface missile at a suspected rocket-launching site e. of Gaza City, killing 2 Palestinian boys (ages 14, 17), wounding 2 other Palestinians; sends troops into Abasan, where they clash with armed Palestinians, wounding 2. A Hamas mbr. is killed when a smuggling tunnel on the Rafah border collapses. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Bethlehem and Hebron, and in Jenin r.c. Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar nr. Nablus prevent local Palestinians fr. harvesting their olive groves. Armed Palestinians fire on a bus stop outside Ariel settlement, wounding 3 Jewish settlers. ESF officers storm and occupy a Fatah office in central Gaza; no injuries or arrests are reported. Some 5,000 Hamas supporters stage marches in n. Gaza camps in support of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. (PCHR, WT 10/25; OCHA 10/31; PCHR 11/1)