The Palestine Chronology

The IDF makes a brief incursion into n. Gaza to level land and clear lines of sight along the border e. of Jabaliya town. In the West Bank, the IDF bulldozes Palestinian land in Azariyya (just outside Jerusalem) for construction of a “biblical garden”; patrols in 1 village nr. Jenin, firing tear gas and percussion grenades at stone-throwing youths who confront them; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron. Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists hold a nonviolent march fr. Jericho toward Ramallah to highlight freedom of movement issues; the IDF blocks the march just outside Jericho and arrests 5 Palestinians. (PCHR 1/12; OCHA 1/13)

Briefing the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Comm., IDF chief of staff Gantz says the IDF is preparing for a massive influx of refugees into the Golan Heights if Syrian pres. Bashar al-Asad falls, which in the IDF’s assessment is “inevitable.” He says Israel would try to keep the refugees in a strategic buffer zone between the Golan and Syria, and would likely move Alawite refugees to the divided Alawite city of Ghajar straddling the Lebanon-Israel border to prevent any conflict between Alawis and the Druze population of the Golan. (NYT, WT 1/11)

Meanwhile, the Knesset passes an amendment to an existing law to discourage infiltrators that makes it legal to detain illegal migrants and their children for up to 3 yrs. without trial. Though directed at African migrant workers attempting to enter Israel fr. Egypt, Israeli rights groups fear the measure could be used to detain refugees fleeing violence in Syria. (NYT 1/11)

In his first statement since the 10/8 Arab League decision, Netanyahu, at the opening of the fall session of the Knesset, publicly offers a “limited” extension of its partial settlement freeze if the Palestinians recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. Abbas rejects this as a key concession that Israel seeks as a basis to reject Palestinian refugees’ right of return to their homes in Israel, noting that the PLO formally recognized the State of Israel in an exchange of letters before signing the 1993 Oslo Accord. The State Dept. suggests that Abbas make a counter offer to keep the process going. (AFP, NYT, WP 10/11; AFP, HA 10/12)

Meanwhile, Israel’s ministerial comm. on legislation sends a bill to the Knesset for a second reading that would require a national referendum before any territory could be ceded in a peace agreement. (JTA, NYT 10/11)

Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the n. Gaza coast, forcing them to return to shore. In the West Bank, IDF undercover units make an incursion into Silwan in East Jerusalem, arresting 4 Palestinian boys (ages 12–13), firing rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades at stone-throwing youths who confront them, seriously wounding a 14-yr.-old Palestinian boy; all 4 boys arrested are released on 10/12. The IDF also conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Qalqilya. An Israeli military court sentences Abdullah Abu Rahma, head of the Popular Committee Against the Wall in the West Bank village of Bil‘in who organizes the weekly demonstrations against the separation wall, to 1 year in jail (including time served) and a $1,250 fine; Abu Rahma was arrested in 12/09 and convicted in 8/2010 of incitement and participating in illegal demonstrations. PA PM Salam Fayyad holds a groundbreaking ceremony to inaugurate a new agroindustrial park in the Jordan Valley, which is expected to create 10,000 new Palestinian jobs. (JTA 10/12; Israel National News, WT 10/13; PCHR 10/14; OCHA 10/15; Irish Times 10/21; UNSCO 10/22)

Israel allows 2,597 Palestinians to transit through the Rafah crossing (870 going into Egypt, 1,727 returning to Gaza). In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in Sa‘ir village nr. Hebron in the evening; conducts late-night house searches in Dura nr. Hebron, making no arrests. The Knesset passes (61–45) an Israel Land Administration Law allowing for the privatization of 93% of land inside Israel controlled by the Israeli government, including “state land” and land claimed by Palestinian refugees and held by Israel’s Custodian of Absentee Property. (Adalah 8/3; JTA 8/5; OCHA, PCHR 8/6; PCHR 8/13)