The Palestine Chronology

Overnight, unidentified Palestinians fire 3 Qassam rockets and 1 manufactured Grad rocket fr. Gaza into Israel; the Qassams land harmlessly (1 inside Gaza, 2 in Israel), while the Grad strikes nr. a cattle farm, causing damage and injuring some livestock. In the afternoon, unidentified Palestinians fire 3 mortars into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. Later in the afternoon, the Popular Resistance Comms. (PRCs; an umbrella group comprising all Gaza factions) fire another 4 mortars into Israel containing white phosphorous scavenged fr. unexploded IDF ordnance (UXO), causing no damage or injuries. Israel files an official complaint with the UN over the serious escalation and retaliates in the evening with 4 air strikes in and around Bani Suhayla village s. of Khan Yunis, targeting and destroying an Islamic Jihad training site, 1 Palestinian home, and an agricultural storehouse, causing heavy collateral damage to another 2d home, and injuring 6 Palestinian civilians (including children ages 2 and 14). Late at night, 2 more air strikes destroy a smuggling tunnel on the Rafah border. Meanwhile, in the morning, IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction materials in the abandoned settlement sites nr. the border, wounding 1. Late at night, IDF troops make an incursion 1,500 m into al-Shuka in s. Gaza, firing on residential areas to keep Palestinians in their homes, monitoring the area, and withdrawing after 3 hrs.; IDF troops on the s. Gaza border open heavy fire on the demolished Dahaniyya airport site, causing no reported injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Nablus. Palestinians (sometimes accompanied by Israeli and international activists) hold weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall, land confiscations, and settlement expansion in Bil‘in, Ni‘lin, Nabi Salih/Dayr Nizam nr. Ramallah. IDF soldiers fire rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades at the protesters, leaving 5 Palestinians lightly injured (3 by tear gas canisters, 1 by a rubber-coated steel bullet) and 10s suffering tear gas inhalation. (JP, REU, YA 11/19; WP, YA 11/20; PCHR 11/25; OCHA 11/26)

Abbas, Netanyahu, Clinton, and Mitchell continue direct talks at Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, meeting for 2 hrs. They allow a joint photo opportunity but do not address the press. (WP 9/15; NYT, WP, WT 9/16; PCHR 9/23; OCHA 9/24)

Just as the Jerusalem talks begin, Gaza’s PRCs fire 1 rocket and 9 mortars fr. Gaza into Israel (the highest 1-day total since 3/09), causing no damage or injuries. Israeli police claim 2 of the mortars contained white phosphorous and that the rocket, which landed in Ashkelon, appeared to be a manufactured Grad type, rather than a homemade Qassam; the IDF, however, calls the rocket a Qassam. (Ashkelon is in range of both Qassams and Grads.) The Israeli daily Yedi’ot Aharonot (9/16) cites an unidentified mbr. of an unnamed Gaza militant group as confirming that 2 mortars contained white phosphorous taken from unexploded IDF ordnance (UXO) from Operation Cast Lead, saying the Gaza factions are experimenting with modifying Israeli UXO for use against Israel. The IDF retaliates with air strikes on a smuggling tunnel on the Rafah border (killing 1 Palestinian civilian, wounding 3), a factory n. of Khan Yunis (destroying it and damaging several surrounding homes, greenhouses, and businesses, but causing no reported injuries), and a vacant home southwest of Khan Yunis (destroying it). IDF troops also make a brief morning incursion 400 m. into s. Gaza e. of Khan Yunis to level land to clear lines of sight. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts separate synchronized late-night patrols in 2 villages e. of Qalqilya and 2 villages nr. Ramallah, making no arrests; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Hebron, nr. Jenin. (HA, JP, YA 9/15; CNN, JP, PCHR, WT, YA 9/16)

Israeli naval vessels approach within 500 m of Rafah beach, arrest 2 fishermen on 1 of 12 small boats in the area. The UN reports that in the previous wk. an 8-yr.- old Palestinian boy in Gaza was injured by unexploded IDF ordnance (UXO); 7 Palestinians were killed in tunnel-related incidents (6 in collapses, 1 electrocuted); and unidentified Palestinians fired “several” rockets and mortars into Israel causing no damage or injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night patrols in 4 villages nr. Jenin; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c., Balata r.c., in Nablus, and nr. Bethlehem and Hebron. A Jewish settler violently beats a Palestinian woman waiting for a taxi nr. Zatara checkpoint outside Nablus; IDF soldiers manning the checkpoint observe the beating for 15 min. before intervening and ordering the settler to leave the area. (OCHA, PCHR 5/28)

The IDF resumes air strikes on rocketlaunching sites in Gaza, citing the need to respond to 15 rockets, 10 mortars fired by Islamic Jihad fr. Gaza into Israel (causing light damage but no injuries) since the IDF assassinations on 3/12. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts daytime arrest raids, house searches in and around Qalqilya and in Tulkarm and neighboring Nur al-Shams r.c.; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin. In Bethlehem, 1,000s of Palestinians from all factions observe a general strike and attend the funeral for 4 Islamic Jihad and AMB mbrs. assassinated on 3/12 in a massive show of unity and protest against Israel’s ongoing attacks since the 11/07 Annapolis conference. A Palestinian shepherd is critically injured when he accidentally triggers IDF UXO nr. Jericho. Jewish settlers fr. Beit Hadasah in Hebron attack a Palestinian elementary school, demolishing a wall and several structures for the ongoing expansion of the school, attempt to occupy the school, beat a Palestinian security guard; the IDF removes the settlers. Israel’s Jerusalem Planning Comm. gives preliminary approval for construction of 2,200 Jewish settler housing units in Givat Hamatos in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Bayt Safafa. In al-Bureij r.c., unidentified assailants kidnap an Islamic Jihad mbr. (BBC 3/13; NYT 3/14; OCHA, PCHR 3/19)