The Palestine Chronology

As the quarter opens, Israel’s siege of Gaza continues, with Israel barring all exports, most imports except limited humanitarian and consumer goods and small amounts of construction materials for UN-supervised projects, and most crossborder transit by individuals (with very limited exceptions for extreme medical cases, VIPs, and international NGO workers). The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) enforces a 300-meter-deep no-go zone inside the full length of the Gaza border and limits the Palestinian fishing zone off Gaza to 500–1,000 m off the immediate Bayt Lahiya and Rafah coasts, and 3 nautical miles elsewhere. In the West Bank, the IDF raids Palestinian municipal inspector offices in al-Gazzazin in Hebron’s old city, sealing the office and evicting the staff (unarmed police who maintain public order); fires tear gas to disperse Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists conducting a nonviolent march to the separation wall outside Bayt Jala nr. Bethlehem, arresting 8 demonstrators. In Gaza, batonwielding, Hamas-affiliated police beat and evict Palestinians fr. at least 25 homes in s. Rafah before bulldozing the houses, saying they were built illegally on government land; 31 families (190 individuals) are rendered homeless. (WT 5/17; NYT 5/19; OCHA, PCHR 5/20)

Overnight, the IDF carries out 6 air strikes on smuggling tunnels on the Rafah border, 2 open areas nr. Khan Yunis, and a metal workshop in Gaza City in retaliation for the fatal 3/18 rocket strike; 2 Palestinian civilians are wounded in Rafah. After unidentified Palestinians fire another Qassam rocket into Israel during the day (causing no damage or injuries), the IDF carries out air strikes on a Hamas facility nr. Dahaniyya airport (11 Palestinians injured) and on smuggling tunnels on the Rafah border (injuring 14). In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists staging nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall in Bil‘in (10s suffer tear gas inhalation), Budrus village nr. Ramallah (1 Palestinian injured; 3 Palestinians, including 2 journalists arrested), Dayr Nizam/ al-Nabi Salih (11 Palestinians injured), and Ni‘lin (10s suffer tear gas inhalation); protesters in Ni‘lin throw stones at IDF troops, but the other demonstrations are nonviolent. Palestinians also demonstrate against the separation wall at the Qalandia checkpoint, setting fire to tires and throwing stones and bottles at IDF troops, who respond with rubber-coated steel-bullets, injuring 3 and arresting 1. The IDF also carries out late-night arrest raids, house searches in Qalandia r.c. nr. Ramallah. Jewish settlers burn a wooded area of Palestinian land nr. Bet Ayn settlement nr. Hebron. (JP, NYT, YA 3/19; HA, WP 3/20; OCHA, PCHR 3/25)

At a meeting in Moscow, the Quartet issues a strong statement “condemning” Israel’s Ramat Shlomo construction plan, “recalling that the annexation of East Jerusalem is not recognized by the international community,” and reiterating that Israel was obligated irrespective of Palestinian reciprocity to “freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth, dismantle outposts erected since March 2001; and to refrain from demolitions and evictions in East Jerusalem.” (WP 3/19, 3/20; NYT 3/21)

In Gaza, 2,000 Palestinians hold a peaceful demonstration at a sealed breach in the Rafah border to urge Egypt to keep the border open. Outside Rafah, 2 Palestinian teenagers are injured when they accidentally trigger unexploded IDF ordnance. In the West Bank, the IDF sets up a checkpoint outside a Bayt Umar cemetery to check the IDs of mourners attending the funeral of the 2d Kefar Etzion attacker (see 1/24); later fires percussion grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets at mourners, wounding 6; fires on residential areas of al-Khadir nr. Bethlehem, causing no injuries; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Jenin, northwest of Jerusalem; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, percussion grenades, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall in Bil‘in (injuring 2). Palestinian children throw stones at Jewish settler vehicles traveling on Route 55 nr. Azun and Route 60 nr. Hawara, damaging 2 but causing no injuries. Inside Israel, 20,000 Israeli Palestinians march in Sakhnin to protest a 1/27 government decision not to try police officers who fatally shot 13 Israeli Palestinians during 10/00 antigovernment demonstrations in Um al-Fahm in solidarity with the intifada. In Gaza City, Hamas-affiliated police release Fayyad adviser Ghul, arrested on 12/14. (AFP 2/1; NYT, WP 2/2; OCHA 2/6; PCHR 2/7)

With the legal mandate of the PA emergency cabinet set to expire on 6/14, Abbas dissolves Fayyad’s emergency government and quickly reappoints it, with 4 added ministers, as a “caretaker government” to rule indefinitely.The IDF sends troops in s. Gaza to reoccupy the Rafah airport site, firing on residential areas of nearby Shuka, wounding 1 Palestinian, withdrawing in the evening; Hamas fires 5 mortars at the troops during the day, causing no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, percussion grenades, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall in Bil‘in (injuring 2) and a similar protest in Wadi Nays nr. Bethlehem (injuring 4). (HA 7/13; NYT, WT 7/14; NYT, WP, WT 7/15; OCHA 7/18; PCHR 7/19)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids in al-Til and neighboring ‘Allar; fires live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets at stone-throwing Palestinians demonstrating against Israeli excavations at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount, wounding 2. In addition to the weekly nonviolent demonstration in Bil‘in, 100s of Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists take part in nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall nr. Bethlehem, Marda, Salfit, Tulkarm; in each case, the IDF fires tear gas, percussion grenades to disperse the demonstrators, injuring several. In an evacuated settlement site nr. Khan Yunis, 1 Hamas mbr. is killed, 9 are wounded when explosives they are handling during a training exercise accidentally detonate. Nr. Rafah, 3 Palestinians are injured when they accidentally trigger an unexploded IDF shell. Jewish settlers fr. Beit Hadasah in Hebron chase, severely beat 3 Palestinians (ages 10, 40, 55); the IDF intervenes, arrests 1 Palestinian. The bedouin residents of the unrecognized village of al-Nasara in the Negev report that over the past 3 wks., Israel has issued eviction orders to around 250 residents, declaring plans to build an IDF installation on the site of the village. (NYT 3/31; OCHA 4/4; PCHR 4/5)