3.10.07 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the PM's residence in Jerusalem. They agreed to begin negotiations over a final status agreement after the U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland in November.

3.10.07 The Palestinian Monetary Authority's governor says that some Palestinian banks could be forced to shut their Gaza branches by year-end because of Israel's financial clampdown on the Hamas-controlled territory. George Abed said Gaza's supply of Israeli shekels could begin to run out in November and that Gazans could have trouble receiving funds from family members abroad.

4.10.07 A bomb explodes near a vehicle carrying members of a Hamas security force in the Gaza Strip, wounding three members of Hamas' Executive Force, amid growing factional tensions. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that it was not involved in the incident.

4.10.07 Five former U.S. State Department and Pentagon officials are proposing establishing Israeli and Palestinian capitals in Jerusalem and preventing Palestinian refugees from returning to Israel as part of a Middle East accord. In a policy statement submitted to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, they also suggested a series of peace conferences following the one in Annapolis.

8.10.07 During a meeting with visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, PM Ehud Olmert says that the fate of the Golan Heights will not be raised at the Annapolis conference and that only Palestinian issues will be on the agenda.

8.10.07 Most of the Jewish National Fund's (JNF) leadership is against a law that would allow it to continue leasing land only to Jews, Deputy Chairman Menachem Leibovitz tells Haaretz. "We want to reach an arrangement with the state within three months and there is no reason, no justification and no wisdom in enacting a JNF law. I imagine that is the position of most of the JNF leadership," he said.

9.10.07 The IDF issues an order expropriating over 1,100 dunums (275 acres) of land from four Arab villages located between East Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim. The land is slated to be used for a new Palestinian road that would connect East Jerusalem with Jericho. That would "free up" the E-1 area between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim - through which the current Jerusalem - Jericho road runs - for a long-planned Jewish development of 3,500 apartments and an industrial park.

15.10.07 Israel releases a Hizbullah man and the bodies of two others in exchange for the body of an Israeli civilian and some information on missing airman Ron Arad. According to Haaretz, the information offered nothing new on the fate of Arad, whose plane went down over Lebanon 21 years ago.

16.10.07 One Palestinian civilian and one militant are shot and killed during an Israeli raid in Nablus.

17.10.07 According to the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan, Israel and Hizbullah have agreed on a mechanism for a prisoner exchange involving abducted Israel forces troops Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. Sources close to the negotiations said Israel would free nine Lebanese held in Israeli jails, along with an undetermined number of Palestinian and Arab prisoners.

20.10.07 Two Islamic Jihad members are killed in an Israeli missile strike on a fishing boat off the coast of the Gaza Strip. Earlier, Israeli troops fired a missile at a group of Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip, wounding two.

22.10.07 Evangelical Christians in the U.S. have brought dozens of Iranian Jews to Israel in recent months, claiming that Iran's tiny Jewish community is in grave danger and offering cash incentives. The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, a charity that funnels millions of dollars in donations to Israel every year, is promising $10,000 to every Iranian Jew who comes to Israel, said the group's director, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.

22.10.07 Israeli Finance Minister Roni Bar-On meets in Washington with World Bank President Robert Zoellick, and urges him not to cooperate in any manner with Hamas or economic projects in the Gaza Strip.

22.10.07 While hosting PM Olmert at the Elysée Palace, French President Nicolas Sarkozy says that Palestinian refugees should be resettled in a Palestinian state, not in Israel. He expressed strong support for Israel, describing its establishment as a "miracle" and "the most significant event of the 20th century."

23.10.07 Two Islamic Jihad militants are killed and an Israeli officer lightly wounded during a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin.

26.10.07 During a meeting with PM Olmert, President Abbas demands that Israel remove 16 roadblocks in the West Bank as part of the implementation of the first stage of the Road Map.

28.10.07 Israeli author Amos Oz says that he does not trust the country's current political leadership and that it does not have the courage to reach an agreement with the Palestinians. Oz refused to comment on his recent meeting with PM Olmert, which was brokered by MK Haim Oron of Meretz, but he praised Olmert for publicly advocating a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

28.10.07 Israel begins to decrease its fuel supply to the Gaza Strip as part of its policy to intensify sanctions against the Hamas government.

29.10.07 Israel agrees to allow a shipment of funds into Gaza via the Erez crossing despite increased sanctions, including fuel reductions, on the Strip. The money was intended for salaries that President Abbas has committed to paying.

30.10.07 According to Jacob Walles, the American consul general in Jerusalem, American firms selected by the U.S. administration will advise the PA on the organization, training and equipment of its security forces.

30.10.07 An emerging agreement between the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) and the Jewish National Fund will likely involve swapping 60,000 dunums (15,000 acres) of JNF development land for 60,000 dunums of ILA open space. The deal is designed to render redundant the controversial JNF bill which would allow the organization to continue leasing its lands only to Jews.

30.10.07 Four Hamas policemen are killed when the Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas police position in the southern Gaza Strip. The IDF said that the attack followed the firing of mortar shells by Hamas at Netiv Haasara, near the Gaza border.

30.10.07 Settlers from the Kfar Tapuah settlement near Jama'een village in the Nablus area trespassed on the Palestinians' land 2 kilometers from the village, burning 30 dunums (7.5 acres) of vital agricultural land with olive groves.

31.10.07 Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni meets privately in Jerusalem with the head of the Palestinian negotiating team, Ahmad Qurei', as part of ongoing bilateral talks in preparation for the Annapolis conference.

4.11.07 Israeli soldiers kill four Palestinians in two separate incidents in the Gaza Strip, hours after militants in Gaza launched three rockets at the western Negev.

4.11.07 Israeli FM Livni meets with U.S. Secretary of State Rice in Jerusalem for talks aimed at overcoming the impasse between Israel and the Palestinians ahead of the Annapolis conference.

4.11.07 Haaretz reports that Turkey wants to build a monument to those who died fighting for the Ottoman Empire at the foot of the Haram el-Sharif's (Temple Mount) eastern wall. The proposal, which the Israeli PM's Office supports, was submitted to the Jerusalem Municipality for approval. The Waqf, the Islamic religious trust, which controls the Haram el-Sharif, has already given Turkey land for the monument, which would be about 3 meters high and would fly a Turkish flag.

6.11.07 Israel will not grant the Palestinians a direct territorial passage between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak says. The passage - which may be worked out in the framework of a permanent agreement with the Palestinians - will remain under Israeli control and will either run underground or through bridges, he said.

6.11.07 Israel's ambassador to the United Nations harshly criticizes the UN Human Rights Council, saying its repeated focus on Israel had rendered it "morally bankrupt." Dan Gillerman lashed out at the Human Rights Council's "ongoing practice of singling out Israel" while ignoring human rights violations in other countries.

7.11.07 Egypt and Jordan should no longer be defined as "dangerous countries" in the infiltration prevention law, several Israeli government ministries have decided. Haaretz reported that the law is due to be amended in the following weeks. The infiltration prevention law states that people entering Israel without authorization from dangerous countries such as Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran risk a jail term of seven years instead of the five-year maximum for infiltrators from non-dangerous countries.

12.11.07 Israeli forces arrest two Hamas lawmakers, including the first female legislator to be rounded up, Hamas officials said. The arrests brought the number of detained Hamas legislators to 41. Most were rounded up in mid-2006, following the capture of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas in Gaza.

12.11.07 "I believe, we can make peace now with [the] Palestinians," Israeli President Shimon Peres told a joint news conference in Turkey with Turkish President Abdullah Gul. "It takes time to make peace," Peres said.

12.11.07 Turkish President Gul raises the issue of opening a Turkish Cypriot representative office in Tel Aviv in his meeting with Israeli President Peres. Peres said he would have to discuss the matter with Israel's Foreign Ministry.

12.11.07 Hamas forces arrest Fateh activists involved in planning a major Gaza rally honoring Arafat, according to Fateh officials, hours after Hamas troops opened fire on the rally, leaving seven people dead. Fifty-five people were wounded in clashes between Hamas forces and Fateh supporters.

13.11.07 Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to begin talks on a final status agreement before the implementation of the first stage of the Road Map - eliminating terror and dismantling the settlements -according to PM Olmert, in his appearance before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

13.11.07 Presidents Peres and Abbas meet in Ankara, Turkey, in the company of their host, Turkish President Gul, and the two leaders addressed the Turkish Parliament.

14.11.07 The Israeli state is refusing to hand over the list of properties belonging to the Waqf in Tel Aviv and Jaffa, claiming that revealing such information could possibly damage Israel's foreign relations. The statement was in response to a suit filed in February in Tel Aviv District Court demanding the list of assets belonging to the Muslim religious trust, by a Jaffa human rights organization and four Muslim community activists.

16.11.07 The German government rejects a request by Israeli Pensioners Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan to reopen the reparations agreement for discussion. The announcement comes a few days before the visit to Israel of Germany's Federal Minister of Finance Peer Steinbruck. The government's deputy spokesman said the German government would open talks with the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, but only on "amendments in the existing framework."

19.11.07 A 20-year-old Gaza resident dies from cancer while awaiting approval to enter Israel for medical treatment. Despite numerous requests by Physicians for Human Rights since July, the Shin Bet security service denied his entrance citing security reasons.

19.11.07 President Abbas and PM Olmert meet in Jerusalem to discuss obstacles to negotiations. The two hope to reach an agreement on a Palestinian state before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009, though Israel insists that implementation not begin until the Palestinians dismantle militant groups.

20.11.07 PM Olmert and Egyptian President Mubarak meet in Sharm el-Sheikh in an effort to boost Arab participation in the Annapolis conference.

21.11.07 According to an Israeli official, PM Olmert agrees to permit the transfer of 25 armored vehicles from Russia to PA security forces in the West Bank, reversing two years of opposition.

22.11.07 In an interview with Japan's Tokyo Shimbun, President Peres says that a final Middle East peace accord will be impossible to reach before U.S. President Bush leaves office.

25.11.07 Israeli troops kill two Palestinian militants during a raid in the central Gaza Strip.

27.11.07 Israeli troops kill two Hamas militants near Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

27.11.07 Senior officials from nearly 50 countries and international organizations gather in Annapolis, Maryland, near Washington, for a conference aimed at launching final?status peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. U.S., Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed at the conference to start work immediately on reaching a peace treaty within 13 months that would create a Palestinian state. Participation by Saudi Arabia and Syria gave it a strong Arab presence, including the first involvement in peace talks with Israel by the entire 22-member Arab League.

28.11.07 The Annapolis conference ends in an agreement to try to reach a Middle East peace settlement by the end of 2008.

29.11.07 Four Hamas militants are killed in two separate Israeli Air Force strikes near Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

28.11.07 "If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights (also for the Palestinians in the territories), then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished," PM Olmert tells Haaretz.

1.12.07 Israel Radio reports President Abbas reiterating his refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. "Historically, there are two states - Israel and Palestine. Israel has Jews and other people and this we are ready to recognize, but nothing else," it quoted Abbas as saying shortly after he landed in Saudi Arabia.

1.12.07 An Israeli Air Force strike kills five Hamas members near Khan Younis, prompting threats from Gaza militants to fire longer-range rockets at Israeli border towns. Eight people were wounded, including one critically.

2.12.07 Three hundred Palestinian police officers who underwent advanced training in Jericho are deployed to patrol the embattled city of Nablus. The deployment of the specially trained police came as part of an agreement brokered between Israeli DM Barak and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and is meant to combat armed militant groups operating in the city.

3.12.07 Israel releases 429 Palestinian prisoners, a gesture meant to strengthen President Abbas after both sides decided at the Annapolis conference to try to reach a peace deal by the end of 2008.

3.12.07 Four Hamas gunmen are killed in clashes with Israeli troops in the northern Gaza Strip near the border fence with Israel.

3.12.07 Israel delays a planned transfer of 25 armored personnel carriers from Russia to the PA, planned for this week in Nablus, because the Palestinians want to have them mounted with machine guns.

4.12.07 According to Peace Now, the Israel Defense Forces' Civil Administration carried out only 3% of its own demolition orders for illegal construction in the West Bank settlements over the past 10 years.

4.12.07 An Israeli Air Force air strike kills two Hamas militants and wounds two others in the Gaza Strip.

5.12.07 Israel Radio reports that U.S. President Bush will make his first presidential visit to Israel for two days starting January 10.

5.12.07 An Israeli undercover border police unit kills a Palestinian police officer during an arrest raid after refusing to stop at a Palestinian security forces roadblock near al-Khader, south of Bethlehem.

6.12.07 Israeli Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter cancels a trip to the United Kingdom over concerns that he would be arrested because of his involvement in the decision to assassinate the head of Hamas' military wing in July 2002. Fifteen people were killed in the bombing of Salah Shehade's house in Gaza, among them his wife and three children, when Dichter was head of the Shin Bet security service. He is the first minister to have to deal with a possible arrest.

9.12.07 In response to U.S. criticism of plans to build homes on occupied land in the Jerusalem area, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon says that parts of the city must be given to the Palestinians to avoid losing U.S. support.

9.12.07 Israeli police officers remove 60 right-wing activists who tried to erect a new outpost near Hebron. One man, who tried to attack the police, was detained.

11.12.07 Eight Palestinian militants are killed and four Israeli soldiers are lightly wounded after dozens of Israeli tanks and armored vehicles moved into Gaza, setting off clashes with Palestinian militants firing rocket-propelled grenades and mortar rounds.

12.12.07 A group of Israeli and Palestinian industrialists establish the Palestine International Business Forum, in order to promote projects in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The group's board of directors held its first meeting in Bethlehem.

12.12.07 Fifteen Qassam rockets are launched into the western Negev, most of them landing in open fields. Five people were lightly wounded. The Islamic Jihad took responsibility for firing 11 of the rockets.

12.12.07 The Quartet's Middle East envoy Tony Blair tells the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that he understands Israel's doubts regarding negotiations with the Palestinians, but urged the lawmakers to proceed in talks.

12.12.07 Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, led by Israeli FM Livni and PA negotiator Qurei', are renewed in a tense atmosphere, after a seven-year hiatus following the failure of Camp David, the Taba talks and the fall of the government headed by then-PM Barak.

13.12.07 The Jerusalem municipality is discriminating against East Jerusalem students by not providing places of study for everyone, and is thereby contravening its legal obligation, the municipality's own legal counsel says in a letter addressed to the mayor and all senior City Hall officials.

13.12.07 A World Bank report warns that even if the donor countries meet all of the PA's demands for aid, the Palestinian economy will continue to deteriorate if Israel does not ease mobility and trade restrictions in the West Bank.

15.12.07 More than 200,000 Palestinians rally in the Gaza Strip to mark the Hamas movement's 20th anniversary, where dismissed Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said that whoever declares he will never recognize Israel earns "the people's love." The crowd chanted: "We will never recognize Israel."

16.12.07 Israeli forces arrest 25 Hamas members, including a legislator in Nablus.

17.12.07 Using the high-profile platform of an international donors conference in Paris, President Abbas calls on Israel to freeze West Bank settlements without excuses. Delegations were expected to offer around $5.6 billion to help lift the Palestinian economy and underpin the renewed Middle East peace talks.

17.12.07 Israeli forces launch an assault on Islamic Jihad, killing nine of the group's men in the Gaza Strip and another top commander in the West Bank.

23.12.07 As PM Fayyad's forces continue their drive to take charge of West Bank cities, five hundred security officers deploy in Bethlehem to beef up a force of about 1,000, Reuters reports.

24.12.07 Israel launches an air strike in the Gaza Strip, killing two Hamas militants and wounding two.

25.12.07 Masked Jewish settlers beat and injure Palestinian farmers in a field near Nablus. The settlers sprayed four Palestinians who were planting wheat with pepper gas and then beat them with sticks. Two were injured, one moderately, and treated at a local hospital. <