The Palestine Chronology

IDF troops on the Gaza border e. of Khan Yunis fire warning shots at Palestinian farmers nr. the border fence, causing no injuries. A Palestinian is moderately injured when he triggers Israeli unexploded ordnance nr. Rafah. In the West Bank, IDF troops violently disperse over 1,000 Palestinians, mostly women, demonstrating nr. Qalandia to mark International Women’s Day, moderately injuring 4. They also violently disperse Palestinian activists as they are removing a metal gate installed at the entrance to a village nr. Bethlehem and a group protesting land expropriation in a village nr. Hebron. Israeli soldiers accompanied by Israeli settlers violently disperse Palestinians nonviolently protesting s. of Hebron. The IDF conducts patrols and house searches in a village nr. Hebron, arresting 2 Palestinians. The PASF raids Balata r.c. nr. Nablus, sparking a brief firefight with the wanted Palestinian; 2 bystanders are injured. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces conduct house searches and raids nr. the Old City, arresting 8 Palestinians; disperse a group of Palestinian youth throwing stones at the Jerusalem Light Rail in Shu‘fat, arresting 2. Israeli settlers assault a Palestinian man in Silwan, moderately injuring him. (AP, JP, MNA, WAFA 3/7; MNA 3/8; PCHR 3/12)

In Cairo, Islamic Jihad’s delegation departs after 6 days of negotiations with the Egyptian authorities on opening the Rafah border crossing. According to sources close to the talks, the Egyptians have agreed in principle to completely open the crossing once the violence in the Sinai Peninsula subsides, the PA unity govt. has staffed the crossing, and Hamas commits to not to interfere in Egyptian affairs. Also, Egyptian officials announce that the Rafah crossing will open on 3/9–10. (AFP, MNA 3/7)

In Paris, French FM Laurent Fabius, U.S. Secy. of State Kerry, UK Foreign Secy. Philip Hammond, German FM Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini meet to review recent progress in their negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. (TOI 3/6, 3/7; DPA 3/8)

Hamas presses its offensive in Gaza, taking over all PA ministry offices in Gaza City, securing control of Rafah, forcing PSF officers to surrender their Gaza City headquarters (after destroying all equipment, computers, archives; eye-witness reports say Hamas mbrs. summarily execute at least 7 PSF mbrs.) and other main security compounds; capturing and executing Fatah’s n. Gaza cmdr. Samih al-Madhun. At least 27 Palestinians are killed (14 of them in the fight for the PSF headquarters), 70 wounded in fighting during the day. Nearly 100 senior Fatah security and admin. officials flee Gaza for Egypt by boat (Egypt has already returned the 40 PA presidential guards who fled on 6/13). At the same time, the IDF occupies hills outside Bayt Lahiya to prevent rocket fire into Israel. With Gaza under almost complete Hamas control, Abbas declares a state of emergency, fires Haniyeh, and dissolves the national unity government. He also for the first time orders PA/Fatah forces to take offensive action against Hamas. Late in the evening, Hamas gains control of Abbas’s Gaza City offices, the only remaining Gaza institution still in the hands of Fatah/the PA. In the West Bank, PA forces under Abbas’s control begin rounding up 10s of Hamas mbrs. In and around Nablus and in Jenin, Tulkarm, masked AMB mbrs. raid offices affiliated with Hamas, Change and Reform, looting and sometimes setting fire to them, exchanging fire with Hamas mbrs., leaving at least 13 Palestinians injured. The AMB also abducts 5 Hamas mbrs. in Jenin. Meanwhile, Abbas’s national security adviser Muhammad Dahlan (the U.S. and Israel’s hope for restoring order to Gaza) returns from an extended stay in Egypt, where he underwent minor surgery, going to Ramallah instead of Gaza to confer with Abbas. Meanwhile, the IDF sends an undercover unit into Saida nr. Tulkarm, driving a car with Palestinian license plates, assassinating wanted AMB mbr. Muhammad Twair in a driveby shooting, also wounding 2 bystanders; sends patrols in Ithna nr. Hebron, Kafr Dan and Kafr Ra’i nr. Jenin, firing on residential areas and on stone-throwing youths who confront them, seriously wounding 1 Palestinian. Jewish settlers burn 10s of olive trees nr. Tulkarm; the IDF bars firefighters fr. reaching the scene. In Gaza, 5 Palestinian children (ages 10–15) are killed and 4 (ages 9–16) are wounded by IDF UXO nr. Shuka while collecting scrap metal; the 8 children are from 3 families: 2 Mansour boys are killed, 2 Hessi boys are killed, and 1 Barbakh boy is killed and 4 are wounded. (AFP, Jerusalem Post, MENA, MNA 6/14 in WNC 6/15; AP, BBC, NYT, WP, WT 6/15; WP 6/18; PCHR 6/21)

The IDF conducts a predawn raid on Jenin, placing the town under curfew, prompting an exchange of gunfire in which 1 IDF soldier is wounded; fires on a Swiss envoy’s diplomatic vehicle at Erez crossing for no apparent reason, causing damage but no injuries (Switzerland files a formal protest.); fires on stone-throwing youths in Tulkarm, killing 1 Palestinian; demolishes 1 Palestinian home in Bayt Furik, 1 outside Hebron, 1 in al-Til; confiscates 7 dunams of land in Habla, nr. Qalqilya; fires on residential areas of Bayt Furik, Khan Yunis, Tulkarm r.c.; conducts arrest raids in Abu Dis, Balata r.c., Bethlehem, Kafr Dan, Qalqilya, Tubas, Yamun; tightens roadblocks around Ramallah. In Hebron, 5 Palestinian children are injured when they trigger unexploded munitions while playing. Palestinians fire 2 Qassam rockets at Sederot, causing no damage or injuries; detonate a roadside bomb underneath an IDF vehicle in Gaza, causing damage but no injuries. Extremist rightwing Jewish settlers affiliated with the “hilltop youth” and the outlawed Kach movement announce plans to launch a “personal incitement campaign” against Sharon in light of his approval of the road map. (HA 5/27; AFP 5/27 in WNC 5/28; NYT, WT 5/28; MA 5/28 in WNC 5/29; LAW, PCHR 5/29)