1.7.07 At its weekly meeting in Jerusalem, the Israeli cabinet agrees that four Jordanians jailed for life for the 1990 murder of two Israeli soldiers should be transferred to Jordanian custody for the remainder of their sentences.

1.7.07 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says that steps taken by the new Palestinian government, such as the ban on carrying arms in the West Bank, would benefit the diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinians.

3.7.07 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces arrest dozens of Hamas militants in the West Bank and confiscate a considerable amount of weapons, in efforts to dismantle a growing Hamas network in the area.

3.7.07 An agreement between Israel and Egypt to allow thousands of Palestinians left stranded in Egypt since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip to return through the Kerem Shalom crossing met with opposition from Hamas and other Palestinian groups. During the fighting between Hamas and Fateh, Kerem Shalom was the only crossing that Palestinians could use after the Rafah crossing was closed. About 4,000 Palestinians found themselves waiting on the Egyptian side of the border without adequate accommodations or facilities.

3.7.07 Palestinian workers employed in West Bank settlements and factories earn less than half the minimum wage stipulated by law, a Knesset study revealed. According to the data compiled ahead of a planned Committee on Foreign Workers meeting, many of the Palestinian workers receive no health insurance or are insufficiently insured for work-related accidents. Some 18,000 Palestinians are employed in the West Bank's settlements in the industrial, agricultural, construction and services sectors.

5.7.07 Four Hamas militants are killed in clashes with Israeli troops in the central Gaza Strip.

6.7.07 According to a Peace Now report, Israeli settlements in the West Bank use only 12% of the land allocated to them, but one-third of the territory they do use lies outside of their official jurisdictions. Ninety percent of the settlements sprawl beyond their official boundaries despite the large amount of unused land already allocated to them. More than 10% of the land included within the official jurisdiction of the settlements is owned privately by Palestinians, as is 70% of the land the settlements control outside of their official boundaries.

8.7.07 Five Qassam rockets land in the western Negev causing damage to a construction site on the campus of Sapir College, two days after Israeli forces completed an operation in Gaza in which 11 militants were killed and eight rockets seized. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.

9.7.07 The Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen warns a Rotterdam area construction company, Riwal, against continued involvement in work on the separation wall in the West Bank. He called Riwal's work on the wall "undesirable," citing the 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice that the wall was illegal. The United Civilians for Peace, an organization promoting peace in the Middle East, submitted evidence showing that Riwal was still providing equipment for the wall's contractors despite the company's agreement last year to end its involvement, following a request by the foreign ministry.

12.7.07 An Israeli soldier is killed and two are lightly wounded when a bomb exploded near them in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

12.7.07 Neither Israel nor Lebanon has investigated allegations of war crimes during last year's conflict, the human rights group Amnesty International charged in a statement calling for a United Nations inquiry. Amnesty has harshly criticized Hizbullah for firing nearly 4,000 rockets at Israeli cities and towns, and Israel for bombing civilian areas and using cluster bombs in South Lebanon.

15.7.07 In his first interview with Haaretz since his appointment as head of the Palestinian emergency government, following Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip a month ago, PM and Finance Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad says that Israel's removal of roadblocks and the transfer of funds won't achieve their goal unless negotiations over a permanent solution to end the occupation are held simultaneously.

16.7.07 PM Olmert and President Abbas meet at Olmert's Jerusalem residence for the first time since their summit meeting at Sharm el-Sheikh three weeks before. The two leaders discussed relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the wake of Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip and the establishment of the Fateh-dominated emergency government in the West Bank, under PM Fayyad.

16.7.07 PM Olmert welcomes U.S. President George W. Bush's announcement that an international conference would be convened later this year, including Israel, the PA and some Arab states. The conference is aimed at helping restart peace talks and review the progress in building democratic institutions in the Arab world. Hamas, however, accused Bush of planning a "crusade" with the Palestinians as its target.

18.7.07 In a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni says Israel will resist an attempt to institutionalize the status of the so-called "donor states" including 12 Western nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Since the Oslo Accords between Israel and the PA were signed in 1993, these donor states have transferred billions of dollars in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians and helped revive the ailing Palestinian economy.

22.7.07 Israeli soldiers shoot and kill two Hamas gunmen in the northern Gaza Strip.

23.7.07 Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the new Middle East envoy of the international Quartet, arrives in the region \
for a series of meetings in Jerusalem and Ramallah. Blair will focus on furthering the diplomatic process rather than "technical" matters - building institutions and mobilizing the support of donor countries.

24.7.07 President Bush meets privately with Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House. Abdullah pressed Bush to intensify U.S. efforts to jump-start peace negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. He also urged Israel to take steps to build confidence that it was serious about peace, including ending all settlement activities as well as relaxing restrictions on the movement of Palestinians.

25.7.07 Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdelelah al-Khatib arrive in Israel for a
"historic" visit to discuss peace on behalf of Arab states. The ministers were due to discuss the Arab peace initiative, which calls for Israel's withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders and an agreed solution to the refugee problem in exchange for full recognition by all Arab states.

25.7.07 Israeli and Palestinian security sources confirm that Israel authorized the transfer of 1,000 rifles from Jordan to the security forces of the PA in the West Bank. It is meant to aid forces loyal to President Abbas in preventing the possibility of a Hamas challenge and possible takeover similar to that of the Gaza Strip.

30.7.07 An Israel Air Force strike on a car carrying members of the Islamic Jihad in the central Gaza Strip wounded at least three people.

30.7.07 Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa says that the league's members welcome the "positive elements" of a new Middle East initiative by President Bush, especially those related to "founding an independent Palestine state, his call for ending the Israelis settlements and ending the Israeli occupation."

31.7.07 On the first day of her Middle East tour, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signs a joint statement with Egypt, Jordan and six Gulf states, in Sharm el-Sheikh, endorsing the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative as one of the foundations for Middle East peace. The initiative offers Israel normalized relations with all Arab countries in return for full withdrawal from the territory Israel captured in 1967.

31.7.07 PM Olmert and President Abbas are engaged in secret talks on final status issues. Israel Radio quoted the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayyat. The two leaders agreed, during their meeting two weeks before, to open a secret channel to discuss the issues, which include such sticking points as refugees, Jerusalem and final borders.

1.8.07 PM Olmert proposes to Secretary of State Rice that Israel and the Palestinians draft "agreed principles" for establishing a Palestinian state as a basis for the international peace conference that the U.S. is hosting this fall. Olmert also urged Rice to include Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Morocco, Bahrain and other Gulf states in the conference.

2.8.07 Two Palestinians are killed in Gaza City as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad continue their violent clashes over the right to fire weapons in public. The clashes began two days ago when Islamic Jihad gunmen fired in the air in celebration during a wedding. Hamas, which overran the Gaza Strip in a lightning operation last month, has banned firing weapons in public.

4.8.07 Two Islamic Jihad members are killed and 15 others injured in an Israel Air Force strike south of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip.

6.8.07 Following their meeting in Jerusalem, PM Olmert and President Abbas agree that cooperation between Israel and the PA would be expanded, in an effort to expedite progress in their talks for the establishment of the Palestinian state.

7.8.07 Between 20 and 30 Israeli infantry troops refuse to participate in the planned evacuation of settlers from the Hebron wholesale market. The soldiers, who are mostly religious troops conscripted in accordance with the Hesder program, informed their commanders that they would not agree to take over positions from border police troops to allow them to remove the Hebron
settlers.

7.8.07 A Qassam rocket falling in the northern Gaza Strip kills an eight-year-old boy and his six-year-old sister, and injures five other children. The rocket, fired at Israel, fell instead onto the children's house in Beit Lahiya.

7.8.07 At least 11 policemen and five activists are injured as security forces evacuate more than 200 protesters and settlers from the wholesale market in Hebron. Hundreds of right-wing activists had barricaded themselves in three apartments in the market, and had encircled the market with barbed wire, oil drums, and burning tires. Teenagers, some wearing masks, took to the roofs from where they threw rocks, eggs and light bulbs at security forces.

7.8.07 Israeli human rights group B'Tselem says in its report that most of the 47 manned checkpoints and 455 physical roadblocks throughout the West Bank are "illegal" and constitute collective punishment.

8.8.07 Israeli soldiers from the Golani Brigade shoot and kill two members of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

8.8.07 Three hundred U.S. college and university heads sign a petition denouncing the call by Britain's University and College Union to consider a boycott of Israeli educational institutions in May. The UCU move has been criticized by faculty members throughout the world, as well as by British government institutions.

11.8.07 The Hamas militia policing Gaza, the Executive Force, announces the formation of its new coast guard unit - Marine Police. The new body consists of 150 members. The force's main functions will include preventing the smuggling of drugs into Gaza, protecting Gaza's fishermen and maintaining security for Gaza residents on the beach.

14.8.07 Israeli troops and aircraft attack Islamic militants in the southern Gaza Strip, killing two Hamas fighters and two civilians and wounding 15 people.

18.8.07 The opening of "Israel Week" at the Galeria Kaufhof department store in Berlin spurs demonstrations against Israeli food products originating in the West Bank settlements. Groups protesting including the Jewish Voice, a Jewish-German organization
opposed to the occupation, and Solidarity with Palestine, German teenagers affiliated with the radical left.

25.8.07 At a meeting with Hadash Chairman MK Mohammad Barakeh, President Abbas says he opposes the exchange of populated territory between Israel and the PA within the framework of a peace deal. The president was referring to a proposal which was formulated by Israeli President Shimon Peres while he was still vice premier, in which Israel would propose transferring to the Palestinian state areas equivalent to 100% of the territories conquered in 1967.

25.8.07 Israeli troops pursue and shoot dead two armed militants after the men got past the security fence around the Gaza Strip and opened fire on an Israeli Defense Force post. One soldier was lightly wounded in the shootout.

26.8.07 Gaza militants fire three Qassam rockets toward Israel. All three landed in open areas in the western Negev, causing no injuries or damage.

27.8.07 Israeli troops shoot and kill an unarmed Palestinian near the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

27.8.07 FM Livni and PM Fayyad agree at their meeting in Jerusalem to strengthen civilian and economic ties between Israel and the PA. They resolved to establish committees for economics, social affairs and the environment.

28.8.07 Israel is considering the construction of a border fence in cooperation with Egypt to prevent the passage of terrorists, smugglers and asylum-seekers between the two countries, Ra'anan Dinur, director general of the PM's office, told the Knesset Committee on Foreign Workers. A unilateral construction of the fence by Israel would cost NIS 2.5-3 billion.

29.8.07 Members of the Palestinian security forces in Jenin save an Israeli officer from being lynched after he accidentally drove into the city.

29.8.07 Three young Palestinian cousins are killed in northern Gaza when Israeli forces attacked rocket launchers aimed at southern Israel.

3.9.07 The EU's foreign policy chief Solana meets with Jordan's FM Al-Khatib to discuss ongoing efforts to bring the Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table. The two agreed that the upcoming international Middle East peace conference proposed by President Bush "should be preceded by good preparations."

5.9.07 After years of continued struggle and resistance to the illegal confiscation of Bil'in's village lands to build the separation wall, the supreme court rules that the military is obliged to plan and implement a new route for the wall. The new route must allow for all Palestinian agricultural land to be on the Palestinian side. The court stated that with regard to security considerations, the current route runs along a topographically inferior path, indicating that it had been laid out with the planned expansion of the settlement, rather than security, as the primary consideration.

5.9.07 A senior Hamas official says that European officials from more than one country recently began mediating between Israel and Hamas over kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The chief European mediator is working according to the same guidelines that a German intelligence official is using, in his efforts to mediate between Israel and Hizbullah over the two soldiers that Hizbullah kidnapped last summer.

8.9.07 A senior Hamas militant is seized by an Israeli undercover unit in the Gaza Strip.

9.9.07 Fateh and other factions belonging to the Palestine Liberation Organization call a general strike in the Gaza Strip in the wake of fighting with Hamas security forces two days earlier. Hamas men beat protesters and fired into the air to disperse open-air
prayer meetings held by Fateh in defiance of a Hamas ban on such gatherings.

11.9.07 At least 69 Israeli soldiers are wounded when a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a non-combat Israeli Defense Forces basic training base near Kibbutz Zikkim, about 1 kilometer inside Israeli territory.

12.9.07 Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal says his country may not attend the Middle East peace conference called by President Bush if it doesn't address issues of real substance. Saudi Arabia had requested to see the summit's agenda, but hadn't yet received a response.

16.9.07 Israel has asked the German government to fund NIS 150 million annually in stipends for about 8,000 Holocaust survivors. Representatives of the prime minister provided survivor organizations with a summary of their negotiations, including a few new details. Israel will provide NIS 100 million for medical and nursing services for Holocaust survivors, a sum that will double to NIS 200 million in 2009. Most of the money will be distributed through the Holocaust Survivors Welfare Fund.

17.9.07 An unarmed 16-year-old Palestinian youth is shot and killed during clashes with the Israeli forces in Ramallah. Israeli troops also arrested 13 wanted Palestinians.

18.9.07 Two Israeli soldiers are wounded in an exchange of fire with Palestinian militants during a raid in Ein Beit Ilmeh refugee camp near Nablus. During the clashes, a Palestinian was killed.

18.9.07 According to a new World Bank report, to be presented at a gathering of donor states on September 24 in New York, that unless the flow of funds from donor nations to the PA is accompanied by a long-term economic program including the Gaza Strip, it won't be able to bring about real changes in and the growth of the Palestinian economy. The economic situation in the territories continues to deteriorate rapidly. The increasingly rapid rate of aid transferred since the start of 2007 ($450 million) has not managed to slow the Palestinian economy's decline.

18.9.07 In an indirect reference to the Israeli air incursion over Syria on September 6, Israeli President Shimon Peres says that tensions between Syria and Israel have subsided and that Israel is ready for direct peace negotiations with Syria. Peres made the comments at an event at the president's residence marking the 50th anniversary of Israel's Foreign Press Association.

19.9.07 An unarmed disabled Palestinian man is killed in Nablus, as Israeli forces continue their hunt for a local Hamas-led cell.

19.9.07 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urges Israel to reconsider its decision to declare the Gaza Strip a hostile territory, warning that any cutoff of vital services would violate international law and punish the already suffering civilian population.

23.9.07 The Israel cabinet approves the release of 90 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture for the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The prisoners slated to be released are members of the Palestinian factions Fateh, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and are all considered without "blood on their hands" - meaning they were not directly involved in the killing of Israelis.

24.9.07 Prominent Israeli authors, including Amos Oz and David Grossman, signed a petition calling for PM Olmert to negotiate a ceasefire with Hamas. The petition, organized by the sponsors of the Geneva Initiative and titled "Agreement with Abbas, ceasefire with Hamas," reads: "Israel has in the past negotiated with its worst enemies … Now, the appropriate course of action is to negotiate with Hamas to reach a general ceasefire to prevent further suffering for both sides."