The Palestine Chronology

Israel allows the 1st shipment of construction material for private rebuilding projects in Gaza, to be used to reconstruct 10 factories destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during Operation Cast Lead (OCL) in 2008– 9. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in al-Azariyya outside Jerusalem, and nr. Bethlehem and Qalqilya (arresting 4 children ages 13–17); conducts latenight patrols in 3 villages nr. Jenin. (NYT, PCHR, WP 11/17; PCHR 11/24; OCHA 11/25)

In s. Lebanon, a bomb explodes at a hotel in Tyre that is frequented by UN employees, causing damage but no injuries. Minutes later another bomb damages a liquor store in the city, causing no injuries. The UN says it does not believe its employees were targets. (NYT 11/17)

The IDF continues heavy air strikes (including 1 missile dropped fr. a war plane and 13 missiles fired fr. helicopters and drones) and artillery attacks (more than a dozen) hitting at least 19 targets across Gaza, killing another 11 Palestinians (5 civilians and 6 militants), wounding 20 (19 civilians and 1 militant), and damaging a commercial building and several homes. Israeli DM Barak stresses that the assaults are in response to the bus attack on 4/7 and not the start of a major offensive. Palestinians fire another 24 mortars and 6 rockets, causing damage in 2 incidents but no injuries. Various factions claim responsibility for firing, including the AMB, DFLP, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the PRCs. Israel’s new Iron Dome system intercepts 3 of the rockets. In addition, IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fired warning shots at Palestinian farmers nr. the border fence, forcing them to flee. Israeli naval vessels fired toward the Gaza City beach and at Palestinian fishermen off the coast w. of Nussayrat r.c., causing no injuries. With the past 24 hrs. marking the worst flare-up in crossborder violence since OCL, UN Secy.-Gen. Ban calls on both sides to observe a ceasefire immediately. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in Jericho and 2 villages nr. Ramallah (firing rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades at stone-throwing youths who confront them, causing no serious injuries); conducts morning arrest raids, house searches nr. Jericho. 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, and Nabi Salih/Dayr Nizam. IDF soldiers fire rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades at the protesters, causing no serious injuries; 5 Palestinians are arrested. (IsRN, JP, MNA 4/8; JP, MNA, NYT, WP 4/9; IFM 4/10; PCHR 4/14; OCHA 4/15)

Israel makes an air strike on a car in Gaza City, assassinating 3 senior Hamas mbrs. (Muhammad Mahdi al-Dayah, Abdullah Lobbad, and Isma‘il Lobbad) and injuring 1 bystander. Israel claims the Hamas mbrs. were plotting to kidnap Israelis in Israel and Egypt during Passover later in 4/2011; Hamas denies that it operates outside the borders of historic Palestine but says the 3 were senior weapons developers. The DFLP says it will no longer observe a cease-fire toward Israel. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night searches in Qalqilya, summoning 1 Palestinian for questioning. 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, and Nabi Salih. IDF soldiers fire rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades at the protesters, causing no serious injuries; 3 Palestinians (including 2 children) are arrested. Jewish settlers fr. Beit Hadassah settlement in Hebron set fire to the awnings of several Palestinian stores. (NYT 4/2, 4/3; JTA 4/4; PCHR 4/7; OCHA 4/15)

In a Washington Post op-ed online (in print on 4/3), South African judge Richard Goldstone, head of the UN committee that investigated possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during OCL, says that “if I had known then what I know now,” he would have concluded that Gazan “civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of [Israeli] policy” and would have given more weight to crimes perpetrated by Hamas. (WP 4/1; IFM, NYT, WP 4/3; NYT 4/6; JTA, NYT, YA 4/7; NYT, 4/20)

Palestinians fire 2 rockets (including 1 Grad) and 54 mortars fr. Gaza into Israel within 15 mins., lightly injuring 2 Israelis, damaging an empty kindergarten, and marking the largest barrage since OCL in 1/2009. Hamas acknowledges it fired 33 of the mortars, targeting IDF bases along the border in retaliation for a 3/16 Israeli air strike that killed 2 Hamas mbrs. Israel retaliates with heavy air strikes and tank fire on Hamas facility e. of Gaza City, killing a Hamas official and wounding at least 5 Palestinians (including at least 2 civilians); artillery fire throughout the morning directed at villages on the s. Gaza border with Israel, damaging a mosque in Abassan but causing no injuries; 4 air strikes on rocket-launching sites in s. Gaza, causing no reported injuries; and, late at night, artillery fire directed at suspicious movement nr. the s. Gaza border, killing 2 16-yr.-old Palestinians, allegedly armed. Meanwhile, a group of 10 armed, plain-clothed Palestinians claiming to be Hamas-affiliated security forces raid the Gaza City bureaus of CNN, NHK news channel, and Reuters, attacking journalists, destroying cameras, and confiscating tapes to punish them for filming Hamas police dispersing a 3/17 Palestinian rally. Hamas’s interior M Fathi Hamad denies the men were connected to Hamas, and Reuters confirms that the men did not show identification. In the West Bank, Jewish settlers fr. Dolev settlement nr. Ramallah set up a tent and hold Purim services on a nearby plot of Palestinian land; the IDF observes but does not intervene, and the settlers leave on their own the next morning (3/20). Jewish settlers attack Palestinians and international activists working an olive grove nr. Hebron; the IDF intervenes to remove the settlers. Jewish settlers fr. Suissa settlement nr. Hebron raid a nearby Palestinian farm, releasing 100s of sheep into crop fields; the IDF observes but does not intervene. Jewish settlers stone Palestinian cars driving nr. Hebron and Qalqilya. (AP, JP 3/19; JP, NYT, WP 3/20; PCHR 3/24; OCHA 4/1)

U.S., British, and French forces begin strikes (fr. planes and warships) on Libya. The forces target radar and antimissile batteries to enforce a no-fly zone against Qaddafi’s forces. (NYT, WP 3/20)

When protests in Dara’a resume today, Syrian security forces seal off the city and clash with the demonstrators. Violence in Dara’a continues through 3/22. (NYT, WP 3/20; NYT, WP 3/21)

In response to the cross-border exchange on 2/23, Palestinians fire 3 manufactured Grad rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, striking Beersheba for the 1st time since Operation Cast Lead (OCL; 12/27/08–1/18/09), damaging a house but causing no injuries. The IDF retaliates with multiple air strikes on Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets, killing 2 Hamas mbrs. in Rafah and wounding 3 Islamic Jihad mbrs. elsewhere. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in Qalqilya and 4 nearby villages, in Jericho and 1 nearby village, as well as in 2 villages nr. Salfit and Tulkarm. In Ramallah, up to 1,500 Palestinians rally in support of national unity and an end to the Hamas-Fatah divide, which they say “opens the door for the occupiers to do whatever they want”; though representing Fatah, Hamas, and leftist factions, they show only the Palestinian flag—a rare gesture in recent years. Hamas authorities in Gaza ban a similar planned rally. (HA, JP, MNA 2/24; WP 2/25; PCHR 3/3; OCHA 3/4)