7.10.02 The Israeli army entered
Khan Younis in Gaza, backed by tanks and air support, killing 16
Palestinians and injuring 80. One of the dead was a health worker
who was shot in the head when Israeli troops opened fire on a
Palestinian hospital.
7.10.02 A freelance cameraman
working in the West Bank for the Associated Press was injured when
Israeli tanks fired down a Jenin street. Samir Abu Rob suffered
cuts on his legs and back after debris fell from a building above
him in the hail of bullets.
8.10.02 According to Haaretz, in
July, the settlement council removed some 20 uninhabited outposts,
of its own accord, but research by Peace Now showed that some of
these were re-established once media attention turned elsewhere.
Surveys showed there are as many as 100 of these sparsely inhabited
outposts throughout the West Bank, established by settlers to gain
a foothold on new land.
8.10.02 Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat held official meetings conferring with the Palestine
Liberation Organization Executive Committee and Fateh Central
Committee, as well as the Palestinian cabinet. Discussion centered
on the Gaza events and presidential ratification of a law declaring
Jerusalem the capital of Palestine. The law was signed after the
White House signed into law a bill requiring the administration to
treat Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
9.10.02 According to Haaretz, a
group of Israeli academics published a letter in Britain's Guardian
newspaper warning of possible war crimes to be committed under the
guise of any US attack on Iraq. "We, members of Israeli academia,
are horrified by the US buildup of aggression toward Iraq and by
the Israeli political leadership's enthusiastic support of it,"
said the group of professors, including Avraham Oz, Linda Ben-Zvi,
Daniel Boyarin, Rene Levy, Ilan Pappe and 94 others. "We are deeply
worried by indications that the 'fog of war' could be exploited by
the Israeli government to take further action against the
Palestinian people, up to full-fledged ethnic cleansing."
9.10.02 Heads of Christian churches
in Jerusalem sent a letter to US President George W. Bush
expressing resentment over new legislation that requires official
acceptance of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The leaders said that
they felt angered that the US Congress was attempting to inflame
the political situation. The head of the churches said the city is
holy to Christians, Muslims and Jews and that free access should be
maintained for all worshippers.
10.10.02 Nine people were injured
when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up next to a bus
south of Tel Aviv after the driver prevented him from
boarding.
11.10.02 Two Palestinian children
are killed in Rafah, Gaza, when tanks entered the area and fired
their guns. The deaths marked another night of shelling in the
Rafah area.
14.10.02 An Israeli bomb placed in a
telephone booth detonated and killed 27-year-old Muhammad Ubeyyat.
Palestinians believe the bomb was intended for his brother,
commander of armed Fateh groups in the Bethlehem area. The two
brothers had accompanied their mother to hospital, where Muhammad
then used the telephone.
14.10.02 Israeli forces invaded Bir
Zeit village, near Ramallah and besieged a building that houses Bir
Zeit university students. Over loudspeakers, the Israeli forces
demanded that the students turn themselves in and threatened to
blow up the building if they failed to respond.
14.10.02 Palestinian Minister of
Finance Salam Fayyad met Israeli officials in the presence of US
Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer to discuss fund transfers, which the US
has recently been pressuring Israel to complete. Israel has stopped
transferring tax revenues collected from Palestinians at the
Israeli entry ports since the beginning of the Intifada, claiming
the money is funding attacks against Israelis.
16.10.02 Chief Palestinian
negotiator and Minister of Local Government, Saeb Erekat, and
Minister of Economy and Trade, Maher al-Masri, met with Israeli
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in an undisclosed location in West
Jerusalem. They discussed the worsening humanitarian situation in
the territories, as well as the transfer of funds.
16.10.02 In an interview with Yediot
Ahronot online, Israeli army sources admitted that army
investigations failed to establish links between nine victims of
the recent attack in Khan Younis and any militant operations
against Israel. In addition to the mother of a Hamas activist who
was "accidentally" killed, seven other Palestinians killed in the
al-Amal neighborhood were neither armed militants nor activists in
Palestinian factions, despite the claims of Israeli Defense
Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer.
16.10.02 The Israeli Knesset signed
off on an additional NIS 5 million for the protection of Israeli
settlers in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem's Old City and the Ras
al-Amoud neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The bonus brought the
total cost of guarding 3,000 settlers in East Jerusalem to NIS 27
million per year.
18.10.02 According to Yediot
Ahronot, the British ambassador to Israel, Sherard Cowper-Coles,
told Israel that the Palestinian territories are the world's
largest jail, where harassment and humiliation are rife. He was
also quoted as saying that Israel was "in violation of the Geneva
Convention" and accused Israeli forces of displaying "instances of
a lack of professionalism" amid reports about soldiers looting
property in the territories.
21.10.02 Fourteen Israelis were
killed and some 50 others were injured when a jeep plowed into a
bus traveling near the northern Israeli town of Hadera and
exploded. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
21.10.02The European Commission (EC)
criticized Israel's insistence on exporting products made in
illegal Israeli settlements, at the third meeting of the
Association Council EU-Israel held in Luxembourg. The European
Union is Israel's major trading partner and ranks first for
Israel's imports and second in export.
23.10.02 US envoy William Burns
arrived in the region to promote what is being called a "Road Map"
to peace, the plan drafted by the EU, US, UN and Russia to bring
Palestinians and Israelis to a final peace agreement.
27.10.02 Three Israeli military
personnel were killed and 20 others injured when soldiers
intercepted a Palestinian suicide bomber at the entrance to the
Ariel settlement in the northern West Bank. Israeli military
sources reported that one soldier shot and killed the bomber and
another bullet blew up his explosives belt, killing the officers
who were holding him. The armed wing of Hamas claimed
responsibility.
29.10.02 An armed Palestinian opened
fire on settlers in the Hermesh settlement north of Tulkarm. One
woman and two 14-year-olds were killed, and three others sustained
injuries. An armed Israeli bystander shot and killed the
Palestinian.
30.10.02 According to Haaretz,
Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Transportation
Minister Efraim Sneh gave orders to begin construction of five
crossing points near the West Bank seam line. The Israeli Airports
Authority began planning the project in 2002, on the assumption
that a complete separation line would be established between Israel
and the West Bank. The plan is estimated to cost the equivalent of
some $130 million.
31.10.02 The Israeli government
collapsed when the Labor party ministers resigned in protest over
the 2003 budget. Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, head of the
Labor Party, demanded that $147 million be cut from settlement
funding and transferred to pensioners and low-income development
towns.
31.10.02 A special Israeli military
unit assassinated Palestinian intelligence officer Ayed Baker
Mansour, 35, in Kafr Qaleel, Nablus. Witnesses reported that
Mansour was getting out of his car in front of his home when he was
shot in the stomach and killed.
3.11.02 Ahmad al-Tibi, Arab Knesset
member, is put on trial. The charges against him included entering
Jenin refugee camp while the Israeli army was carrying out its
military operations, attempting to attack Israeli soldiers during
incidents in Ramallah, Jerusalem and Jenin, making statements
supporting the Palestinian resistance.
5.11.02 Israeli Prime Minister (PM)
Ariel Sharon called for new elections. Former PM Benyamin Netanyahu
accepted the post of Israeli foreign minister and decided to run
against Sharon in the upcoming Likud party elections.
5.11.02 Haaretz newspaper reported
that the PNA issued a ceasefire directive to Fateh that read, "all
activists who belong to the Fateh movement, politicians and
military personnel, are strictly forbidden to open fire for any
reason whatsoever."
6.11.02 Amnesty International
published a new report called "Shielded from Scrutiny: IDF
violations in Jenin and Nablus." The report concluded that the
Israeli army committed war crimes during its spring 2002 operation,
and called on the international community to conduct an
investigation and find those responsible.
10.11.02 The two leading Palestinian
factions - Fateh and Hamas met in Cairo at the invitation of the
Egyptian government to hammer out understandings over Hamas'
relationship with the PNA, which is dominated by Fateh.
10.11.02 Israeli tanks aided by
armored bulldozers invaded Rafah, in Gaza, under heavy shooting and
bombardment to the residential area. The bulldozers demolished nine
houses.
11.11.02 The Israeli parliament's
financial committee ratified the transfer of NIS 24 million from
funds confiscated from the PNA to funds that will be used for
building the "separation fence" between Israel and the West Bank
and to the Israeli police. Israel owes the PNA the money for
customs taxes collected on its borders, as per Palestinian-Israeli
agreements, but has been holding it since the start of the
Palestinian Intifada.
13.11.02 A new report issued by the
Israeli Ministry of Finance disclosed that Israeli settlers in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip received $34 million in tax breaks during
2001. There are approximately 200,000 settlers in the West Bank,
excluding East Jerusalem, and another 6,000 living in the Gaza
Strip.
13.11.02 Israel took complete
control of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. More than 150
armored vehicles, backed by helicopter gun-ships, entered Nablus
and fired, without meeting any resistance. Soldiers stormed dozens
of homes, ordering residents to line up in the dawn chill as tanks
blocked roads and helicopters hovered above. Several explosions
were heard; 35 Palestinians were arrested.
13.11.02 Palestinian officials met
with the US State Department envoy David Satterfield in Jericho and
gave him the official response of the PNA on the US Road Map plan
for peace. The plan calls for sweeping Palestinian reforms, an end
to armed attacks, an Israeli troop pullback to positions held
before the start of the Intifada, a freeze in Jewish settlement
construction and a provisional Palestinian state by 2003, followed
by full independence in 2005.
15.11.02 Nine Israeli soldiers,
including Hebron brigade commander, Col. Dror Weinberg, and three
armed settlement security guards were killed in an ambush near the
Hebron settlement of Kiryat Arba. Fourteen more soldiers were
injured. Three Palestinians were killed. Islamic Jihad claimed
responsibility.
17.11.02 PNA condemned Israel's PM
Ariel Sharon's comments considering the Hebron Protocols cancelled.
Under the Hebron Protocols, signed in 1997, Israel withdrew from
most of the city leaving only small enclaves in the center of the
town in the hands of the Israeli army.
20.11.02 During its reoccupation of
Hebron, the Israeli army entered the grounds of Hebron Polytechnic
University, confiscating papers, documents and files. Two of the
young men who carried out the attack on Israeli soldiers guarding
the city's 400 Israeli settlers were students at the
university.
21.11.02 Palestinian suicide bomber
explodes himself on a crowded bus in West Jerusalem. Eleven
Israelis were killed and 47 others were injured. Israeli forces
demolished the suicide bomber's home near Bethlehem on November
22.
22.11.02 Bethlehem was re-occupied,
declared a closed military zone until December 30, and placed under
a tight curfew. More than 40 Palestinian policemen stationed in
Bethlehem were arrested.
22.11.02 Iain Hook, a British
citizen and UN Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) official, was shot in
the back with Israeli bullets that lodged in his heart inside the
UNRWA compound in Jenin refugee camp.
26.11.02 Israeli forces assassinated
Ala' Sabbagh of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Imad al-Nasharti,
a local Hamas leader in Jenin refugee camp. Israeli aircraft fired
a missile into the building where they were staying.
27.11.02 Israeli troops killed Jihad
al-Natour, 24, in the Askar refugee camp east of Nablus. Al-Natour
was making the rounds with a drum, calling on the devout to rise
for the pre-dawn meal before beginning that day's Ramadan
fast.
28.11.02 Six Israelis were killed in
a shooting attack on a Likud party headquarters in the northern
town of Bisan on primary day of the elections.
29.11.02 The Peace Now movement was
barred by the Israeli army from visiting an area in the West Bank
city of Hebron where Jewish settlers are building new
outposts.
30.11.02 The UN-administered World
Food Program protested the Israeli army's destruction of 413 metric
tons of flour, 107 metric tons of rice and 17 metric tons of
vegetable oil in a warehouse in Jabalia in the Gaza Strip.
2.12.02 Maher Saqallah, 19, was
killed and 12 others injured when an Israeli special unit entered
Tulkarm's market.
2.12.02 In Jenin, Mu'taz Kamal Odeh,
16, was killed by a bullet in the back during Israeli gunfire in
the town.
3.12.02 Sixty-four international
employees of the UN working in the West Bank and Gaza Strip signed
a petition condemning the Israeli army's violence, which led to the
killing of UN employee Iain Hook in the Jenin refugee camp on
November 22.
4.12.02 The Israeli government was
finalizing its plans to expand a settlement area in Hebron, causing
the demolition of 16 Palestinian houses, including 100 living
spaces. The buildings that will be leveled to make room for a
widened roadway between Kiryat Arba' and the small settlement in
Hebron's heart are all historic structures, dating back decades.
Sixty-one plots of Palestinian land will be confiscated for an
avenue 730 meters long that is to be lit with floodlights and
outfitted with cameras.
9.12.02 The Israeli army opened fire
on a marked UNRWA vehicle traveling in southern Gaza. One boy was
injured in the back by gunfire.
13.12.02 The Central Court in Tel
Aviv announced that it has the jurisdiction to try Marwan
Barghouthi. Barghouthi, West Bank secretary of Fateh has repeatedly
rejected the legitimacy of his arrest and trial. The judge rejected
his request to be considered a prisoner of war, and stated that
Israel has the right to arrest and try him to defend itself. "I am
not a murderer, I am fighting for my freedom and the freedom of my
people," Barghouthi said in court on December 12.
14.12.02 The Israeli army raided
Nablus' al-Najah University, forcing employees to evacuate under
gunpoint. The next day, the Arab American University in Jenin was
also raided by Israeli troops. The Fourth Geneva Convention
prohibits raids on educational institutions, particularly schools
and universities.
16.12.02 A new settlement road was
being constructed on land south of al-Bireh, northwest of
Jerusalem. The bulldozers tore up more than four kilometers of
land, a strip more than 25 meters wide.
20.12.02 Former US President Jimmy
Carter offered, during a speech to students at the University of
Uppsala, Sweden, to mediate talks between Israelis and Palestinians
as violence flared in the occupied territories. Carter asserted
that US President George W. Bush was not impartial about the
issue.
30.12.02 Foreign peace activists
demonstrated outside the UN Special Coordinator for the peace
process in Gaza City demanding international protection for the
Palestinian people.
In this period, in the Palestinian territories, 168 Palestinians
were killed by Israeli security forces, 44 of whom were under the
age of 18. Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli civilians.
Thirteen Israeli civilians were killed and 18 Israeli security
forces personnel were killed by Palestinians. Within the Green
Line, five Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces.
Thirty-one Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinians. Seven
Israeli security forces personnel were killed by
Palestinians.