1.1.05 Ibtihal Abu Thaher, 10, is
killed in the Jabalyia refugee camp and her brother injured when an
Israeli tank shell hit them as they played outside their
home.
2.1.05 Thirty homes and shops are
destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in an ongoing
incursion into the Gaza Strip.
2.1.05 The Palestinian Central
Elections Committee condemns an Israeli attempt to place video
camera inside the five Palestinian polling stations in East
Jerusalem. It said the move is illegal and aims to intimidate
Palestinian residents of Jerusalem from voting.
4.1.05 In a press conference at UN
headquarters in New York, Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, expresses
concern for the civilian deaths in Gaza and calls upon "both
parties to follow their obligations under international law, in
particular to ensure the protection of the civilian
population."
4.1.05 Eight Palestinians, including
six children from the same family, are killed by Israeli tank
shells in Beit Lahyia, Gaza.
4.1.05 Al-Quds Brigades, the
military wing of the Islamic Jihad, fire a rocket at the Kfar Darom
and Kfar Azza settlements, while Hamas' Izzedin al-Qassam Brigades
fire a mortar shell into the Israeli town of Sderot.
5.1.05 Twelve Israeli soldiers are
injured when rockets fired by Izzedin al-Qassam operatives strike a
military post outside the Gaza-Israeli border.
5.1.05 Three Palestinian police
officers are wounded during an exchange of fire with Israeli
soldiers at the Erez Crossing. It came in the wake of the IDF
shooting dead an armed Palestinian who allegedly opened fire at the
troops and tried to plant explosives at the crossing.
5.1.05 During an Israeli military
incursion into Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, one al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades member and one al-Quds Brigade member are killed, while
three members of the Israeli security forces are injured.
5.1.05 Two mortar shells fired from
Gaza, injure 12 Israeli soldiers inside Gaza-Israeli border. As a
result, the Rafah Crossing is closed preventing pilgrims from
getting into Egypt on their way to the annual hajj in Mecca and
Medina.
7.1.05 Late
Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, is chosen as the most
important personality in the world for 2004 by the Chinese Press
Agency.
8.1.05 Two Spanish journalists are
released hours after being kidnapped in Khan Yunis thanks to the
intervention of the Preventive Security Services who denied the
kidnapping was politically motivated. The journalists had been
invited by three armed men to tour the Khan Yunis refugee camp who
later kidnapped them and demanded they be given jobs.
9.1.05 An Israeli soldier, a
Hizbullah guerilla and a French UN observer are killed during an
exchange of fire between Israeli soldiers and Hizbullah in the
Sheba'a Farms on the Israeli-Lebanese border. A Swedish soldier and
their Lebanese driver were also injured.
9.1.05 Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) head, Mahmoud Abbas, becomes the new president
of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) after winning 62.32
percent of the presidential votes.
10.1.05 Israel has a new government
with a coalition comprising the Likud, Labor and United Torah
parties. It was narrowly approved by the Israeli Knesset with a 58
- 56 vote.
10.1.05 New Israeli Deputy Prime
Minister Shimon Peres is the first Israeli official to congratulate
by phone Mahmoud Abbas on his victory in the elections, saying
"Israel will do all it can to help the Palestinians establish a
democratic government so we can live as two democracies side by
side."
11.1.05 Israel allegedly requests
the United States to help fund a $450-million proposal to set up
new crossing points and upgrade others along the separation wall.
Washington is asked to contribute an estimated $180 million while
Israel pays for the rest.
12.1.05 Israeli troops enter Qarawa
Bani Zeid village northwest of Ramallah and kill two wanted members
of Hamas.
12.1.05 A roadside bomb near the
Morag settlement in Gaza kills one Israeli civilian and wounds four
soldiers.
12.1.05 An Israeli is killed along
with two members of Islamic Jihad's armed wing, al- Quds Brigades,
during an armed clash near the Morag settlement in the Khan Yunis
district.
13.1.05 Three operatives from the
al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the Izzedin Qassam Brigades and the
Nasser Salah Eddin Brigades dynamite an entrance to the Mintar
(Karni) crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip and open fire at
Israeli civilians. Six Israelis are killed in addition to the three
Palestinian operatives.
15.1.05 Eight people are killed in
Gaza, including six during an Israeli army incursion into the
Zeitun Quarter east of Gaza City and two during shelling in
Rafah.
15.1.05 An al-Qassam rocket is fired
into the northern Israeli town of Sderot, injuring eight Israelis
and damaging several houses.
15.1.05 A Tel Aviv court rules that
American peace activist, Kate Bandar, should be expelled from the
country after being held for five weeks in the Negev detention
center. Bandar was arrested December 14 while photographing the
separation wall and caught on camera an Israeli soldier beating a
Palestinian demonstrator before her arrest.
16.1.05 The PLO Executive Committee
calls on all factions to halt military actions that "harm national
interests" and give Israel excuses to continue its
aggression.
16.1.05 A mother and her son are
killed by Israeli gunfire inside their home in Khan Yunis.
17.1.05 Two Palestinians are killed
in a clash with Israeli soldiers on a settlement road in Deir
al-Balah, Gaza.
17.1.05 Five homes are demolished in
the West Bank town of Walajah, south of Bethlehem. According to
Palestinian sources, Israel and is clearing the area in preparation
for the building of a Jewish settlement there.
18.1.05 Hamas' Izzedin al-Qassam
Brigades launch a suicide-bomb attack at the Gush Katif settlement
bloc in the Gaza Strip, killing one Israeli and injuring
eight.
19.1.05 Israeli army troops invade
the West Bank city of Nablus, arresting 13 people and demolishing a
four-story building while another catches fire after being hit by a
tank shell.
26.1.05 Israeli and Palestinian
security sources claim that Jewish settlers threw stones and
punctured the tires of Palestinian police cars near the Tuffah
checkpoint in protest at a Palestinian-
Israeli security meeting that was taking place at the time.
26.1.05 A senior source in the
European Union (EU) announces that the EU would pledge 70 million
Euros to the PNA. The is to support President Mahmoud Abbas'
efforts in achieving peace and reform.
26.1.05 During a Palestinian-Israeli
meeting in Jerusalem, Israeli PM Advisor, Dov Weisglass, informs
the Palestinian delegation that West Bank general intelligence
director, Tawfiq Tirawi, and head of Preventive Security, Rashid
Abu Shbak, were both off Israel's wanted list. Nonetheless, the two
cannot travel freely or participate in joint Palestinian-Israeli
meetings.
27.1.05 Twenty-six-year-old Rassem
Ghneimat dies in the Israeli-run Meggido Prison when a fire breaks
out in tents in Section 4, which hold some 250 prisoners. The fire,
triggered by faulty electrical wiring, causes injuries to three
other prisoners
27.1.05 U.S. President George W.
Bush says a Palestinian state could be established in less than
four years, changing his earlier prediction of 2009.
27.1.05 Israeli PM Ariel Sharon
declares himself "very satisfied" with steps taken by Mahmoud Abbas
to calm the situation, and Israel is no longer demanding the
Palestinian side to arrest members of armed groups.
31.1.05 A ten-year-old girl is
struck by a bullet to the head and another girl is shot in the
shoulder in the yard of an UNRWA school in Rafah.
31.1.05 A meeting between former
Public Security Minister, Mohammad Dahlan, and Israeli Defense
Minister, Shaul Mofaz, fails to reach any substantive
agreements.
1.2.05 U.S. Secretary of State,
Condoleezza Rice, tells her staff that without a Palestinian state
there would be no Middle East peace and that Israel must yield
territory and create "conditions in which a new Palestinian state
could emerge."
1.2.05 Israeli Attorney General,
Meni Mazuz, says the Israeli government has no right to seize land
from owners who are absent from the land due toIsraeli security
measures.
2.2.05 According to the Israeli
daily Haaretz, an Arab student club at the University of Toronto is
holding a week-long series of lectures entitled "Israeli Apartheid
Week" which focuses on the origins of the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict and Israeli measures against the Palestinians. Jewish
groups have protested the lectures, dubbing it a "hate fest."
8.2.05 The Sharm el-Sheikh summit
between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli PM Ariel
Sharon is held.
8.2.05 The
Israeli Defense Ministry hands out a notice that it will confiscate
a 30- dunum plot of land at the entrance to Jerusalem's Shu'fat
refugee camp, in order to erect a permanent military checkpoint to
replace the current temporary one.
9.2.05 Jordanian Foreign Minister,
Hani Malki, sends a request to Israeli Foreign Minister, Silvan
Shalom, to approve the return of the Jordanian ambassador to
Israel.
12.2.05 NATO Secretary-General, Jaap
de Hoop Scheffer, in a conference on security held in Munich, says
NATO could play an important future role in the Middle East in
supporting any peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians
if this is what the two sides want.
13.2.05 According to the Israeli
daily, Yedioth Ahranot, Israeli PM Sharon has agreed in principle
for Israel to buy natural gas from the Palestinians in exchange for
providing them with water. The gas would be extracted mainly from
Gaza.
14.2.05 As part of the Sharm
el-Sheikh Understanding, Israel is to return the bodies of 15
Palestinians who died during operations against settlements and
other Israeli targets in the Gaza Strip. The slain are from the
various armed wings and were killed during the past year.
14.2.05 Israel puts back the release
of 550 Palestinian prisoners from the Negev Prison.
15.1.05 A Gaza settlement resident,
Avi Farhan, tells Israeli television that he would accept
Palestinian citizenship in order to remain in his Gaza Strip
home.
15.2.05 Two al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
members are killed in Kufur Qalleel, in an Israeli raid in
Nablus-area villages.
15.2.05 An Israeli Defense Ministry
official says Israel was preparing to build 24-28 "hi-tech"
crossing points in the separation wall to facilitate the movement
of Palestinians in the West Bank.
15.2.05 Israeli PM Ariel Sharon
announces that some of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank are
to eventually be annexed to Israel, and the right of return for
Palestinian refugees will be only to a future Palestinian
state.
16.2.05 At a press conference to
announce the building of a new settlement in the Gush Etzion bloc
in the Hebron area to be called G'baot, Israeli Housing Minister,
Yitzhak Herzog, says settlers moved from the Gaza Strip could wind
up in West Bank settlements. Provisions were made for them to go to
Israeli towns and villages in the Negev desert, but "nothing could
prevent them from going to Gush Etzion if they so wished."
17.2.05 Head of the European
Commission's Humanitarian Aid Department, Cees Wittebrood,
criticizes the separation wall and warns against ignoring the
humanitarian situation in the occupied territories saying, "as
construction of the wall continues apace, increasing numbers of
Palestinians are being deprived of access to healthcare, education,
water, and job opportunities.
17.2.05 According to Israeli TV
Channel 2, during a meeting in West Jerusalem, a United Arab
Emirate businessman offered Israeli PM Ariel Sharon $56 million to
buy the buildings, factories and greenhouses of Jewish settlements
in the Gaza Strip instead of destroying them after Israel's
withdrawal. Israeli media sources later reported that Sharon
rejected the offer.
19.2.05 Residents of the East
Jerusalem suburb of Ezarriyeh receive warning letters that 252
dunums of their land are to be confiscated for the construction of
the separation wall. The wall will effectively cut off Ezarriyeh
residents from Jerusalem.
20.2.05 The Israeli Cabinet approves
an amended route to the wall that will leave some seven percent of
West Bank land, including the Ma'aleh Adumim settlement bloc, the
biggest in the West Bank, on the Israeli side.
21.2.05 Five hundred prisoners are
released from Israeli jails. According to the Palestinian daily
al-Quds, 382 of them had short sentences and none were incarcerated
before the Oslo Accords were signed, nor were any from
Jerusalem.
21.2.05 U.S. President Bush calls
for the establishment of a democratic Palestinian state with
territorial contiguity in the West Bank. "A state on scattered
territories will not work." Bush called on Israel to end its
settlement activity and said a peace based on a two-state solution
is now within reach.
22.2.05 The World Council of
Churches (WCC), the main global body uniting non-Catholic
Christians, encourages members to sell off investments in companies
profiting from Israeli control of the West Bank and Gaza.
23.2.05 Israeli PM Ariel Sharon
announces that Israel and the Palestinians are discussing a
security plan based on the principles of the Tenet Plan for a
ceasefire. The Tenet Plan calls on Palestinians to put an end to
resistance activities, to halt arms smuggling, to gather illegal
weapons, and close weapon-manufacturing workshops.
25.2.05 A suicide bomber from the
Tulkarem village of Deir al-Ghusun blows himself up outside a
nightclub in Tel Aviv, killing five Israelis and injuring dozens
others. Al- Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad
claimed responsibility.
25.2.05 The Israeli government
announces plans to build a further 6,400 settlement units in West
Bank settlements around Jerusalem.
26.2.05 As a result of the suicide
operation, Israel suspends the transfer of security
responsibilities to the Palestinians and postpones the release of
400 prisoners as part of the Sharm el-Sheikh prisoner release
agreement.
27.2.05 According to Haaretz, the
Israeli army announces it would distribute "resident" car stickers
to West Bank Jewish settlers so their drivers could easily pass
army checkpoints across the Green Line without being stopped. The
move came following several complaints by settlers regarding delays
at checkpoints.
1.3.05 The one-day London conference
to support the PNA concludes by reiterating the Quartet's call for
a Palestinian state and with donor nations pledging $1.2 billion to
the PNA for 2005. The conference, attended by British PM Tony
Blair, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan along with other regional leaders,
focused on jumpstarting the peace process through encouraging the
Palestinian leadership to move forward with reforms and security
issues. Israel decided not to attend.
5.3.05 Jewish settlers from the
Soussiya settlement east of Yatta, Hebron, seize 40 dunums of land
belonging to the town's citizens. Eyewitnesses claim the settlers
fenced off the area and prohibited the land owners from reaching
their land.
8.3.05 A meeting between President
Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz at the Erez
Crossing ends in agreement on handing over Jericho as well as
Tulkarem to the PNA in the coming days.
10.3.05 A UN International Meeting
on the Question of Palestine ends in Geneva, calling on the
international community to adopt measures to persuade Israel to
dismantle the separation wall being built on West Bank land. The
meeting also called on Israel to abide by the Israeli Court of
Justice (ICJ)'s ruling that the wall was illegal where it runs
through occupied territory.
13.3.05 UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan arrives in the region to participate in the inauguration of a
new Holocaust Museum at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
14.3.05 UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan meets with President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and visits the
mausoleum of President Yasser Arafat.
15.3.05 President Mahmoud Abbas
meets with the leaders of 13 Palestinian factions to hammer out a
ceasefire deal between them and Israel.
15.3.05 The parents of Rachel
Corrie, who was killed while trying to prevent the demolition of a
Palestinian home in Gaza, are suing Caterpillar Inc., the company
of the bulldozer the Israeli army used to kill her. The federal
lawsuit alleges that Caterpillar violated international and state
law by providing specially designed bulldozers to the Israeli army
that it knew would be used to demolish homes and endanger
people.
16.3.05 Jericho is handed back to
Palestinian security control by Israel.
17.3.05 Palestinian factions meet in
Cairo and announce they would adhere to a calm at least for the
rest of 2005. A joint statement reiterated that the Palestinian
people have a right to resist occupation.
17.3.05 A European Union
investigation into Israeli allegations that EU aid was diverted to
fund Palestinian attacks against Israelis finds no conclusive
evidence and has been closed.
20.3.05 The Israeli government
approves a proposal to build 3,500 new housing units in its largest
West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim.
20.3.05 Greek Orthodox officials
deny that the reported sale of a large plot of land in Jerusalem's
Old City had been authorized by Greek Patriarch Ireneos I. The
Israeli daily Maariv reported that the land had been sold to two
foreign Jewish investors to eventually be transferred to Israeli
ownership. The plot of land, inside the Old City's Jaffa Gate
comprises several buildings and cafés as well as two
hotels.
21.3.05 Two hundred fifty Israeli
high school students facing compulsory military service sign a
petition addressed to the Israeli PM Sharon and other top leaders,
informing them of their decision to refuse to serve in the army.
The youths said they will not be part of a policy of occupation and
repression, and they want to live in a society whose people live
"pursuing justice, and upholding equality for every person and
citizen."
22.3.05 Israel hands back security
control over Tulkarem to the PNA. 23.3.05 According to a report
released by the Israeli human-rights organization, B'Tselem,
approximately half a million Palestinians in West Bank towns and
villages will be negatively affected by the separation wall.
According to the report, 14 villages and towns inhabited by over
24,000 people will find themselves west of the wall between it and
the Green Line. Fifty-three towns and villages with over 230,000
people will be surrounded from three sides by the wall, and 18
towns in East Jerusalem, with 220,000 people, will be isolated from
their city.
24.3.05 During a meeting with U.S.
envoys, Israeli PM Sharon says that the possibility of freezing
Israel's settlement expansion in unlikely, and the green light
given by the Israeli army is "final."
26.3.05 Four foreign peace activists
are beaten by Jewish settlers while clearing out agricultural lands
in the Masafer village east of Yatta. The activists were there to
clean up the farmland after settlers from Ma'on put poisoned feed
on the land aimed at killing off the herds of sheep that graze
there.
27.3.05 U.S. President Bush sends a
letter to Israeli PM Sharon praising his disengagement plan from
Gaza and outlining his "vision" of two states. He called Israel's
settlement expansion, "new realities on the ground," saying any
final-status agreement would only be achieved on the basis of
"mutually agreed changes that reflect these realities."
30.3.05 PNA security officials meet
with armed members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades who are on
Israel's list of wanted men to persuade them to disarm. The latter
refuse, saying they want assurances for their safety.
30.3.05 At the closing of a
human-rights conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, over 300
human-rights organizations from 34 countries call for a boycott to
Israeli products.
1.4.05 According to the Israeli
daily Yedioth Ahronot, the Israeli army will soon be incorporating
the Skylark airplane into their "war with Palestinian
organizations." The Skylark, manufactured by an Israeli company, is
a lightweight portable plane that can be carried on soldiers' backs
and used by a hand-held remote control, and will allow the army to
monitor "the enemy" without the latter's knowledge.
2.4.05 Jordanian Foreign Minister,
Hani Mulki, says that part of King Abdullah's campaign to provide a
solution to the Palestinian problem is to regain Jordanian property
in Jerusalem. Mulki mentioned the Seven Arches Hotel as one piece
of state property that would be regained in addition to the return
of absentee properties, "no matter the circumstances."
2.4.05 Hebron governor, Oreif
al-Ja'bari, says that Israel is planning to erect a wall in the
center of the city in order to create a buffer zone around the
Jewish settlements of Kiryat Arba' and Kharasina. The wall would
swallow up 7,000 dunums of the city lands in addition to 5,000
other dunums east and north of Hebron that are being isolated for
the same purpose.
3.4.05 UN Secretary-General, Kofi
Annan, appoints Karen Koning Abu-Zayd as acting UNRWA commissioner
general until the post of her predecessor, Peter Hansen, is
permanently filled. Abu-Zayd has been UNRWA's deputy commissioner
general since August 2000.
4.4.05 Israel announces it would
transfer garbage from Israel and dump it in a new site near Nablus,
just across the Green Line. According to Haaretz, the dumpsite will
be in an old quarry between Nablus and the Jewish settlement of
Kedumim. Palestinians say this will seriously affect the
environment in the area, especially the groundwater.
6.4.05 Nine people are injured in
the villages of Deir Ballout, Salfeet and Bal'een during
demonstrations against the separation wall.
6.4.05 A United Nations report
reveals that over half the Palestinian population in the West Bank
and Gaza is living under the poverty line of $2.10 per day, double
the number of 2000. Unemployment has also increased.
7.4.05 According to Haaretz, 57
percent of Jewish settlers in the West Bank will continue to live
inside major settlement blocs, which will be annexed to Israel
following the completion of the separation wall.
9.4.05 Three 14-year-old
Palestinians are killed by Israeli soldiers while playing soccer in
an open field near the border strip with Egypt.
11.4.05 A meeting between U.S.
President George W. Bush and Israeli PM Ariel Sharon is held in
Crawford, Texas. The meeting focused on Israel's settlement
expansions in the West Bank, namely the slated expansion of the
major East Jerusalem settlement of Ma'ale Adumim. Bush stressed to
the Israeli premier that the U.S. expects Israel to abide by its
commitments to the Roadmap, halting settlement expansion in
particular.
11.4.05 The Palestinian Cabinet
condemns and rejects statements made by Israeli President Moshe
Katsav in which he called for the division of the al-Aqsa Mosque.
Katsav had earlier suggested that the al-Aqsa be divided like the
Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, where part of it would be exclusively
for Jewish prayer.
13.4.05 According to Peace Now,
construction work has begun in Ma'ale Adumim settlement to open and
light roads as part of the settlement's expansion. The new quarter
to be established will accommodate 28,000 people. Knesset member
Ran Cohen said construction work is also underway in the eastern
part of the settlement bloc towards the Dead Sea, adding that the
new homes will cost half the price of those in central
Jerusalem.
13.4.05 Using bulldozers, Israeli
military forces evacuate more than 30 families from their homes in
Anata village east of Jerusalem in preparation for their
demolition. The army forced the residents to leave their homes
under the claim that they are too close to the Anatot military
camp. The Israeli authorities said some of the land was being
cleared for the construction of the separation wall.
14.4.05 U.S. Secretary of State,
Condoleezza Rice, announces that former President of the World
Bank, James Wolfensohn, is appointed as the Quartet Committee's
Special Envoy to assist in coordinating the economic and political
aspects of the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Rice and
Wolfensohn are to be responsible for reviving the Palestinian
economy and dealing with the evacuated Israeli housing units in the
settlements.
14.4.05 A member of al-Aqsa Martyrs'
Brigades is killed during an Israeli raid into the Balata refugee
camp in Nablus.
14.4.05 A Palestinian is lightly
wounded when Jewish settlers shoot at his car near Hebron.
16.4.05 The National Christian
Coalition (NCC) asks the Palestinian Authority (PA) to withdraw its
recognition of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Ireneos I. The
Patriarch has come under fire for allegedly approving the sale of
Greek Orthodox properties and lands inside Jerusalem's Old City to
foreign Jewish investors. The PA has created a commission to look
into the alleged sale, but the NCC said the community has lost
faith in its spiritual leader, and the PA should recognize this and
act accordingly.
18.4.05 The Israeli government
announces a tender for the building of 50 houses in the West Bank
settlement of Elkana.
18.4.05 Two Israelis, one a soldier,
are wounded by Palestinian sniper fire in the southern Gaza Strip
near the border with Egypt. The Popular Resistance Committees
claimed responsibility.
19.4.05 Hamas politburo head, Mousa
Abu-Marzouq, does not deny a report in Haaretz that Hamas would be
willing to hold dialogue with Israel if the latter withdraws from
all the Palestinian territories without setting final
borders.
20.4.05 Russia offers the PA two
M-17 helicopters, similar to those destroyed by the Israeli army in
2001, and 50 armored vehicles. Russian ambassador to Palestine,
Khayri Arbadi, says the vehicles are ready for shipment but are
waiting coordination with Israel.
21.4.05 According to Yedioth
Ahranot, Israeli PM Sharon is not willing to resume negotiations
with the Palestinians over the Roadmap until they fulfill certain
conditions. The PA would have to fight what he called terrorism and
dismantle armed groups. "I also want to save as many settlement
blocs as possible," he said.
21.4.05 Two meetings take place
between Palestinian PM Ahmad Qurei' and Israeli deputy PM Shimon
Peres, and between Palestinian Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat and
Israeli Government Advisor Dov Weisglass. The two sides spoke about
activating the prisoners and wanted men files and also about
coordinating economic issues pertaining to the separation
plan.
22.4.05 According to the Guardian,
the Association of University Teachers (AUT) in Britain decides to
impose an academic boycott on Bar Ilan and Haifa University for
their "collaboration with the crimes of the occupation." The union
has 48,000 members, most of whom lecture at leading British
universities. On April 23, the Israeli Foreign Ministry condemned
the AUT decision, calling it "biased."
25.4.05 According to Palestinian
Civil Affairs Minister, Mohammad Dahlan, 95 percent of the lands to
be evacuated by Israel are state lands while the remaining 5
percent will be returned to their rightful owners once they prove
ownership.
28.4.05 Russian President, Vladimir
Putin, pays an historic two-day visit to both the Palestinian
territories and Israel, the first time a Kremlin leader makes such
a trip. Putin pledged to help the PA with military equipment. A
U.S. State Department spokesman said the Russian proposal was
"cause for concern … Such weapons might fall into the hands
of terrorists or those who want to kill the peace process."
28.4.05 Arab Knesset member,
Mohammad Barakeh, is injured along with 22 others during a march
against the separation wall in the Ramallah-area village of
Bal'een. Israeli troops used rubber-coated metal bullets, tear gas
canisters and stun guns to disperse the demonstrators. Israeli and
foreign peace activists, journalists and Knesset members were among
the demonstrators and injured in the confrontations.
28.4.05 According to Haaretz, Israel
rejects a request made by the United States to supply Palestinian
police officers in the West Bank with weapons in order to better
help them carry out their duties.
2.5.05 During the visit to Israel of
Turkish PM, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, PM Sharon says President Mahmoud
Abbas must choose between the Roadmap and negotiations with terror
organizations."
2.5.05 Nine Palestinians and one
American peace activist are injured by rubber bullets and tear gas
during a protest near Ramallah against the leveling of farmland to
make way for the Israeli separation wall.
3.5.05 The Israeli army enters
Tulkarem in an incursion that resulted in the killing of one
Islamic Jihad member and the injury of nine bystanders. One Israeli
soldier is killed in the shoot-out.
4.5.05 Israeli soldiers shoot dead
two boys in the village of Beit Liqya west of Ramallah. The boys,
who were playing soccer near soldiers guarding the separation wall,
threw stones at an army jeep and ran; they were pursued by the
soldiers who shot them before they could escape.
7.5.05 Israeli authorities deport 16
detainees with Jordanian citizenship to Jordan and Jericho. The
Jordanian authorities accepted 12 and turned back 4. They were left
by the Israeli authorities in Jericho.
8.5.05 Thousands of Palestinians
from Jerusalem and inside the Green Line gather at al-Aqsa Mosque
in response to threats by the extremist Jewish group Revava to raid
the compound and perform prayers on its grounds. Israeli police and
border guards closed off the streets to the compound, guarding its
gates, to bar the Jewish settlers from entering.
9.5.05 Jordan, Israel and the PA
sign a document approving a feasibility study on the "Two Seas
Canal" between the Red and the Dead seas. Palestinian Planning
Minister, Ghassan Khatib, says such a project ensures Palestinian
rights o the Dead Sea, as a shoreline country.
10.5.05 The European Commission
announces it would allocate 28.3 million euro in humanitarian aid
to one million Palestinians in the occupied territories and in
Lebanon to be channeled through ECHO, the commission's humanitarian
aid department. The aid package includes food aid for 730,000
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
11.5.05 According to Maariv, the
Israeli army is setting up a plan by which its soldiers would be
replaced by guards hired by a private security company to protect
Jewish settlers in Hebron. The decision came after Israeli soldiers
complained to the regional command about the behavior of settlers,
especially following the government's announcement of it
disengagement plan from Gaza.
15.5.05 The Israeli government votes
16-2 to extend its temporary citizenship law of 2003, which froze
naturalization proceedings for Palestinians married to Israelis,
overwhelmingly Arab Israelis, thus barring Palestinians from moving
to Israel to join their families.
15.5.05 According to Haaretz,
Mattityahu Dan, an activist in the settlers group Ateret Cohanim,
is the person behind the purchase of Greek Orthodox lands inside
Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem. The settlers association, which operates
in the Old City of Jerusalem, is mostly supported by public and
government money.
17.5.05 Protests against Israeli
disengagement from Gaza. Israeli right activists block major roads
and cause huge delays into major Israeli cities for a second
day.
19.5.05 Israeli Defense Minister,
Shaul Mofaz, orders the army to use "all necessary means" to strike
at armed groups that fire rockets into Israeli territory or Jewish
settlements.
22.5.05 The General Union of
Palestinian Teachers condemns al-Quds University president, Sari
Nusseibeh, for signing an agreement of cooperation with the Hebrew
University. The union's statement said Nusseibeh's actions were a
"blow to the national consensus against normalization."
22.5.05 U.S. First Lady, Laura Bush,
makes a one-day visit to Jericho and Jerusalem on a tour of holy
sites, which she called "very emotional." Bush met with a women's
delegation in Jericho before visiting the al-Aqsa Mosque and the
Western Wall.
24.5.05 Palestinian President,
Mahmoud Abbas, arrives in Washington to meet with President George
W. Bush and other American officials in a bid to achieve political
and economic goals. This visit marks the first by a Palestinian
leader since 2000.
26.5.05 Spanish authorities arrest a
Spaniard of Palestinian origin on charges of sending rocket designs
to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The 51-year-old engineer sent the
designs by fax to Lebanon and was arrested after a tip from Israeli
intelligence.
26.5.05 According to a B'Tselem
report entitled "Take No Prisoners," since the start of 2004,
Israeli security forces killed 89 Palestinians in so-called arrest
operations who were either not wanted by Israeli forces, were
unarmed or who were not attempting to use their arms at the time
they were killed. The report cites four cases in which Palestinians
were killed during arrests. None of the cases have been
investigated by the Israeli military police.
27.5.05 Israel closes voter
registration offices in East Jerusalem for the upcoming Legislative
Council elections. This move denies 250,000 Palestinians their
right to vote.
1.6.05 Four Israeli policemen are
arrested on charges of selling firearms to Palestinian residents of
East Jerusalem. The four are also charged with transporting
Palestinians without permits to reside in Israel. Two were later
released under house arrest.
2.6.05 According to Peace Now, the
Israeli government is currently building homes for 30,000 settlers
in West Bank settlements under the cover of evacuating 7,500
settlers from the Gaza Strip. The movement said the construction is
a confirmation of Israeli PM Sharon's intention to withdraw from
Gaza as a way of consolidating West Bank settlements.
5.6.05 A report published in Haaretz
says "illegal" settlement outposts were continuing to grow despite
a government "freeze" three months ago and an Israeli commitment to
the United States to dismantle them.
7.6.05 In Qabatiya near Jenin, a
commander of al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad
is killed during a gun battle when Israeli troops ambushed his
home.
7.6.05 Four al-Qassam rockets are
fired into the Israeli town of Sderot and into the Ganei Tal
settlement in the Gaza Strip.
7.6.05 British Foreign Minister,
Jack Straw, meets his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom. Straw who
is on a two-day trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories,
told Shalom that Hamas would remain "diplomatically
isolated."
9.6.05 In a published report, the
World Health Organization says that 69 Palestinian women have
delivered their babies at Israeli checkpoints since the start of
the intifada, adding that checkpoints and other restrictions on
movement lead to delays in providing health care to pregnant
women.
10.6.05 Dozens of Palestinian,
Israeli and international demonstrators are injured by rubber
bullets, clubs and tear gas during a protest against the building
of Israel's West Bank separation wall near Salfit.
11.6.05 In its annual report, the
Israeli women's organization, Machsom Watch, says there has been no
improvement in terms of Palestinian freedom of movement within the
Palestinian territories, despite Israeli army claims that measures
to restrict movement had been eased. The organization, which
monitors Israeli military checkpoints, said the army has not
removed any checkpoints but only moved them from one place to
another.
12.6.05 The first summit between
President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli PM Sharon since Sharm el-Sheikh
is held in the Israeli premier's home in West Jerusalem. According
to a Palestinian official, the summit was disappointing.
13.6.05 Lutheran Bishop, Munib
Younan, denounces the U.S. and Israeli desecration of the Qur'an at
the Guantanamo detention facility and several Israeli prisons.
Younan called the acts against the Muslim Holy Book "a red line
that should never be crossed," adding that despite the differences
in faiths, "Jerusalem has taught us to respect and coexist with all
three monotheistic religions, to be tolerant and to accept one
another."
15.6.05 Jewish settlers from the
Kadumim settlement in the northern West Bank set fire to land
belonging to Jet village, destroying over 100 olive trees.
18.6.05 U.S. Secretary of State,
Condoleezza Rice, meets with Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas,
and calls on the PA to implement more reforms in the security
services and use these forces in an "effective way to fight chaos
and terrorism."
18.6.05 Two members of al-Quds
Brigades, the Islamic Jihad's military wing, break into a military
post near the Kfar Darom settlement in Gaza and are killed in the
clashes.
20.6.05 Eight people are injured
east of Yatta in the Hebron area when Israeli troops fired into a
peaceful demonstration against the separation wall, which is being
built there across agricultural land.
20.6.05 One Israeli settler is
killed and another injured when armed men open fire at their car
near the Baqa Sharqiyyeh town in the northern West Bank.
22.6.05 Two Israeli boys are killed
as a result of a drive-by-shooting near the entrance of the
Hebron-area settlement Beit Haggai. Two other Israelis are wounded
during the attack.
22.6.05 An Israeli plane launches
two rockets on a group of Palestinian political activists in Beit
Lahiya. On the same day, Israel issues new threats to launch air
raids on Gaza, risking civilian lives, if Palestinian activists try
to hinder the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip.
22.6.05 British peace activist, Lucy
Ashklin, 24, is taken to the Hebron Government Hospital with severe
bruises and lacerations after being attacked by Israeli troops in
the old city of Hebron.
23.6.05 After a meeting with U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in London, French Foreign
Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, warns that if the Israeli
disengagement from the Gaza Strip is not linked to a political
process, a third intifada may break out. The number of additional
settlers moving to the West Bank is not a "reassuring" sign, he
added.
23.6.05 U.S. Secretary of State,
Condoleezza Rice, announces that the Quartet committee would soon
be expanded into a seven-member committee with the participation of
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. She said that the countries in the
region would have to support any solution reached on the sensitive
issues of a final- status negotiations.
23.6.05 Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak warns that the Israeli withdrawal cannot be limited to
Gaza, and that terrorism won't end until the people's rights are
fulfilled.
24.6.05 According to Yedioth
Ahronot, Israeli Agriculture Minister, Israel Katz, is proposing a
plan to expand Israeli settlement in the Jordan Valley by building
50 new housing units each year. Katz said the plan was a "political
response to the Palestinians' demands."
25.6.05 According to the Guardian,
the Anglican Church's advisory board unanimously votes on a memo
calling for exerting more pressure on companies involved in Israeli
activities in the Gaza Strip and West Bank to end their investments
in order not discourage any support of the Israeli occupation.
Britain-based Rabbi Barry Marcus said the measure was
"inappropriate and disastrous."
30.6.05 Israeli PM Sharon says the
attempted lynching of a 16-year-old Palestinian boy by extremist
Israeli settlers in Muwasi, Gaza, was "barbaric," calling for an
immediate investigation into the incident. The boy was taken to
hospital in serious condition after being rescued from the mob by a
Yedioth Ahronot reporter. The settlers, part of the
anti-disengagement movement in Gaza, pelted the boy with large
stones, which was caught on tape by Israeli television and
broadcast across Israel.
During this period, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, 86
Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces, 28 under the
age of 18. One Palestinian was killed by Israeli civilians. Ten
Israeli civilians and 4 Israeli security forces personnel were
killed by Palestinians. Within the Green Line, 8 Israeli civilians
were killed by Palestinians.