2.10.00 Demonstrations by Palestinian Israelis break out in various parts of the country in solidarity with the al-Aqsa Intifada and the Palestinian struggle, and for equality for Arab citizens of Israel. The Israeli police use live ammunition to disperse the demonstrations, killing thirteen in different shooting incidents. Facing massive protests at home and abroad against these unprecedented police actions against Israeli citizens, Ehud Barak finally agrees to appoint a State Commission of Inquiry into the events. Subsequently, most Palestinian citizens of Israel were to boycott the elections in February 2001.
4.10.00 Following the outbreak of the al-Aqsa Intifada, the United States announces it would oppose any official resolution in the UN Security Council condemning Israel, or even a symbolic declaration on responsibility for the wave of violence in the Palestinian occupied territories. The U.S. would agree to a statement that condemns Israel's "excessive use of force against Palestinian civilians," but would not accuse it of breaching the Fourth Geneva Convention. Palestinian UN observer Nasser al-Qidwa responded by saying that rather than this, the Palestinians preferred no statement at all.
7.10.00 While Israeli PM Ehud Barak dictates a 48-hour ultimatum to President Yasser Arafat to halt the "Palestinian violence," each side accuses the other over this whole period of responsibility for continuing the armed confrontation.
8.10.00 According to the Israeli peace movement Gush Shalom (the Peace Bloc), "a mob numbering 1,000 leave the Jewish town of Upper Nazareth, some holding clubs and firearms, and descend upon the nearby Arab town of Nazareth, hitting and shooting indiscriminately at its inhabitants."
8.10.00 UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan hurries to the region in an effort to ease the tension between Palestinians and Israelis.
11.10.00 Jordanian citizen Mohammad Odeh, 75, and his family are attacked by Israeli settlers of Shilo near Bethlehem. The settlers smashed his car and cursed King Abdullah II, telling Odeh to go back to his country.
11.10.00 PNA Presidential Secretary Tayyeb Abdel Rahim says that President Arafat commissioned Mayor Ghassan Shak'a of Nablus, now under full Palestinian sovereignty, to restore as soon as possible the site of Joseph's Tomb, destroyed on 7.10.2000, stressing that the Palestinian people respect holy sites and freedom of worship.
12.10.00 Israeli Deputy Defense Minister, Efraim Sneh, announces that he was commissioned to study the possibility of unilaterally demarcating Israel's borders with the Palestinian areas in the framework of a possible unilateral separation plan, excluding Jerusalem. He hinted that the plan would allow for the annexation of settlement concentrations within the separation borders.
12.10.00 Two Israelis are captured by the Palestinian police and killed by a Palestinian mob in Ramallah. The Israelis say the two reserve soldiers, who lost their way, were taken to Ramallah and lynched in the presence of a large Palestinian mob. The Palestinians claim that the Israelis were undercover agents and their presence enraged mourners at the funeral of a Palestinian victim of the Intifada.
13.10.00 In the biggest campaign in the Arab world entitled "For You, Jerusalem," Saudi Arabia donates over $40 million to the victims of the current Israeli aggression; Turkey $500,000 to the Ministry of Health; and PalTel $100,000 to injured Palestinians: in total $65 million.
14.10.00 The Israeli right-wing newspaper Makor Rishon publishes a call to all Jews to join the Temple Mount Faithful on October 16 at al-Aqsa Mosque to lay the cornerstone for the Third Temple.
16.10.00 U.S. President Bill Clinton, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Israeli PM Ehud Barak and Egyptian President Husni Mubarak hold talks in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm al-Sheikh. The parties agreed on four basic points: Israelis and Palestinians would publicly assure the halt of violence; Israel would redeploy its troops to their September 28 position; a U.S.-led fact-finding commission would be set up, and negotiations would resume within two or three weeks.
16.10.00 Amnesty International states that Israeli soldiers often open fire randomly at Palestinian demonstrators without due cause. According to Elizabeth Hodgkins, who works for Amnesty International in the Middle East, of the many cases examined, they found only two in which soldiers had reason to shoot.
17.10.00 Giorgio Giacomelli, the independent investigator sent by the UN Human Rights Commission to monitor the area, underscores in a report presented in Geneva that Israeli killings of Palestinians in the ongoing clashes since 28.9.00 exceeded the number of victims in the first four months of the 1987 Intifada. He called the settlers "paramilitaries" and urged for an objective inquiry.
17.10.00 Settlers of the Itamar settlement open fire without provocation at villagers picking their olives in Beit Fourik, in the Nablus area, killing Fareed Nasasrah, 28, and wounding three others.
18.10.00 According to Israeli military sources in the West Bank, an emergency program has been set up to further protect settlements in the West Bank, and $6 million have been allocated for digging trenches and setting up surveillance equipment.
19.10.00 The UN Human Rights Commission approves an Arab and Islamic resolution condemning Israel for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the occupied Palestinian territories. Nineteen countries voted in favor of the resolution, 16 opposed and 17 abstained. The committee decided to form an international commission of inquiry to look into the Israeli violations of human rights in the Palestinian territories.
19.10.00 The United Nations General Assembly condemns Israel, reconfirming the illegitimacy of settlements in Jerusalem and the occupied territories. The resolution was opposed by only six member countries, including Israel and the United States.
21.10.00 The Union of Israeli Industrialists voices its opposition to total separation between the Israeli and Palestinian economies, which had been proposed as a result of the current uprising in the Palestinian areas.
21.10.00 PM Ehud Barak confirms his intention to freeze the peace negotiations. Israeli government spokesperson, Nahman Shai, explains it by saying it is "regretful that the Arab summit didn't call on Palestinians to halt the acts of violence."
21-22.10.00 An emergency session of the Arab League held in Cairo blames Israel for reverting the region to violence, but fails to impose sanctions on Israel. Three of the 22 member states decide to sever relations with Israel: Oman, Morocco and Tunisia. The summit approved a Saudi Arabian proposal to establish two Arab treasuries: $200 million as support for the al-Aqsa Intifada, and $800 million to fund al-Haram al-Sharif itself.
22.10.00 Israel closes the Rafah crossing at the Egyptian border and the Karameh crossing with Jordan.
22.10.00 In response to Palestinian gunfire on the Jewish settlement of Gilo near Bethlehem, Israeli heavy artillery, including tanks and combat helicopters, shell the Palestinian town of Beit Jala, near Bethlehem. These exchanges of fire continued over the period.
23.10.00 The Vatican's permanent observer at the United Nations, Bishop Giuseppe Bertello, relays a critical message from the Pope to Israel, stating that the Holy See deplores "the absence of respect for certain fundamental human rights, such as the right to have a state and an independent government."
24.10.00 The "March of Return" begins from Jordanian cities heading towards the Jordanian border with the West Bank. The march, organized by Jordanian trade unions, was intended to rally half a million people, but the Jordanian authorities allowed only 10,000 to participate. The police dispersed the crowd using water cannons, clubs and tear gas.
24.10.00 Israeli tanks take up position in defense of the Jewish settlement of Psagot, near Ramallah, one of the isolated settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which is the target of Palestinian attacks.
25.10.00 A non-binding resolution passed by 365 votes against 30 in the U.S. Congress expresses its support for Israel and condemns the Palestinians in the current confrontations. The resolution also condemned Palestinian President Yasser Arafat for encouraging violence.
29.10.00 The Israeli police call in for interrogation Arab members of Knesset Mohammad Barakeh and Azmi Bishara. Barakeh was called to the Haifa police station for interrogation about his alleged "incitement" against police during a house demolition in Nahef in July; Bishara for aiding an Arab students' demonstration at al-Quds University last May. Both said that the interrogation summons were an attack against Arab citizens in Israel.
30.10.00 As the Intifada escalates, Israeli helicopters shell Fateh's Force 17 and Tanzim headquarters in Gaza, Ramallah and Nablus.
30.10.00 An unidentified gunman shoots and kills one Israeli guard at the National Insurance Agency in East Jerusalem and seriously wounds another.
30.10.00 Israeli Chief of Staff, General Shaul Mofaz, states that Israel would no longer "respond" to Palestinian "acts of violence," but would begin to take the initiative.
1.11.00 President Yasser Arafat meets with Israeli Minister for Regional Cooperation, Shimon Peres, in Gaza. The two leaders discuss ways to implement the Sharm al-Sheikh accords, which were to include a cease-fire and a withdrawal by the Israeli forces to their original positions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
1.11.00 Following his meeting with German Chancellor Gerhard Shroeder in Gaza, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat calls for a more active European role in the Middle East peace process. The German chancellor reiterated the European Union's favorable position regarding the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
1.11.00 According to the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot, there have been 3,200 "acts of violence" in the West Bank, 600 incidents of gunfire, 1,397 firebombs and 26 explosive devices. Ten thousand Israeli soldiers have been deployed throughout the West Bank.
2.11.00 For the third time since the beginning of the al-Aqsa Intifada, Israeli authorities close down Gaza International Airport.
2.11.00 A bomb planted in a car in Mahane Yehuda in West Jerusalem kills two Israelis.
7.11.00 Responding to shooting at Gilo, the town of Beit Jala falls under heavy Israeli
shooting and shelling; a school and a church are hit.
7.11.00 Peace Now announces that the Israeli government headed by Ehud Barak has allocated $300 million for settlers in the West Bank and Gaza in the draft budget for 2001. The money is to support the 160 settlements in the Palestinian areas.
7.11.00 The Vatican calls on Israelis and Palestinians to return to the negotiating table, saying that neither has an absolute right to Jerusalem.
8.11.00 The Council of Giza Governorate in Egypt decides to change the name of the street on which the Israeli Embassy is located to Mohammad al-Durra street. The Israeli Embassy had no comment.
9.11.00 The first assassination of a Fateh activist by Israeli helicopter missiles takes place. Thirty-seven-year-old Hussein Ubeyyat is killed in Beit Sahour near Bethlehem, along with two women passers-by. The IDF says it will kill the person targeted on proof he has personally participated in attacks against Israel. Other assassinations follow.
9.11.00 President Arafat meets with U.S. President Bill Clinton in the White House to ask for the deployment of an international force between Israeli and Palestinian areas, and for the establishment of an international commission of inquiry to investigate events on the ground.
12.11.00 The reportedly Fateh-oriented Salah Eddin brigades claim responsibility for the killing of Qasem Khleif of Beit Safafa near A-Ram checkpoint for regularly collaborating with Israel. He was accused of leaking information about the whereabouts of Fateh cadre Hussein Ubeyyat, assassinated by Israeli helicopter fire on November 9.
12.11.00 The convoy of the High Commissioner of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, Mary Robinson, comes under fire while visiting the Jewish settlement enclave of Tel Rumeideh in Hebron. Robinson publicly held the Jewish settlers here and the Israeli army responsible for the attack.
12.11.00 Fifty-five Islamic leaders meet in Qatar for a special session of the Islamic Summit, focusing on the Palestinian Intifada and attended by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. The Doha statement condemned Israel for its aggression against the Palestinian people and issued a non-binding resolution calling on its members to sever ties with Israel. It also stated that Islamic countries would confront any attempt by the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem.
18.11.00 Israeli troops prevent the entry of fuel into Gaza, causing crises in bakeries, gas stations, etc. This is considered part and parcel of Israel's economic war against the Palestinians, which is causing increasing hardship to the population.
19.11.00 The Israeli vice consul in Jordan is moderately injured when unidentified gunmen shoot at his car in Amman. The Jordanian Islamic Jihad Resistance movement claimed responsibility for the attack.
19.11.00 One Israeli soldier is killed and two others wounded by a Force 17 member who infiltrated the Kfar Darom settlement and opened fire. He was later killed by Israeli soldiers.
20.11.00 In retaliation for a Palestinian attack, Israeli helicopter gunships and artillery tanks pound Gaza districts, targeting 15 PNA locations, including Fateh headquarters, the presidential security headquarters, the police, the national security forces, the preventive security apparatuses, the intelligence services, the power station and Palestine satellite television offices.
20.11.00 An unidentified Palestinian gunman detonates a roadside bomb near a school bus traveling out of the Kfar Darom settlement. The bomb killed two Israeli settlers and wounded nine people, including five children.
20.11.00 Right-wing Israeli Likud leader Ariel Sharon calls on Israeli PM Ehud Barak to assassinate Mohammad Dahlan, head of the Palestinian Preventive Security Apparatus in Gaza, following the attack on an Israeli school bus.
20.11.00 Thousands of Israeli high-school and yeshiva students demonstrate in Jerusalem in protest against what they call the Israeli government's "policy of restraint." The settlers' slogan is "Let the IDF win."
21.11.00 In protest against the Israeli air and sea raids on Gaza, Egypt recalls Mohammad Bassiouni, its ambassador to Israel. Bassiouni has been ambassador to Israel for the last 18 years.
22.11.00 Israeli PM Ehud Barak allocates $2.75 million to the Jewish settlement of Gilo, near Bethlehem.
22.11.00 In an interview published in the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, an Israeli sharpshooter admits that army orders allow the killing of Palestinians 12 years old and above, saying the IDF does not consider anyone of that age who is "life-threatening" to be a child.
22.11.00 A secret poll conducted by a United States commission reveals that 78 percent of Jordanians oppose the peace treaty between Jordan and Israel and that 79 percent of Egyptians demand the cancellation of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.
25.11.00 At Jerusalem's Orient House, a joint document between Faisal Husseini, PLO executive committee member, and Uri Avnery, head of Gush Shalom, calls for a complete Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders; a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital; the evacuation of all Jewish settlers; and an agreement to solve the problem of the Palestinian refugees in negotiations, based on international law, UN Resolution 194, and on the fundamentals of justice, humanity and realism.
26.11.00 Mohammad Dahlan, Palestinian Preventive Security Chief in Gaza, meets in Cairo with Avraham Dichter, head of the Israeli secret service Shin Bet. The purpose of the meeting was to revive security coordination between Palestinians and Israelis.
26.11.00 The Israeli Knesset approves a bill against the Right of Return of Palestinian refugees inside the Green Line. The first reading, passed with 90 votes (out of 120), says that refugees may be allowed within the Green Line only with the approval of at least 61 Knesset members.
29.11.00 A report issued by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) criticizes Israel for increasingly using live ammunition against the Palestinians. The report said that Israeli soldiers aimed and fired their guns at the upper parts of the body, adding that most injuries were sustained in the head, neck and abdomen.
5.12.00 An employee of the Israeli Embassy in Amman, Jordan, is lightly wounded by unidentified gunmen who shot at his car in the early evening hours.
5.12.00 The Israeli Peace Now movement holds a press conference calling for the immediate evacuation of all Gaza Jewish settlements, and for negotiations with the Palestinians to begin the evacuation of some West Bank settlements.
7.12.00 PNA Finance Minister Zuhdi al-Nashashibi announces that the European Union is offering urgent financial assistance to the PNA, staggered over a three-month period beginning this month.
12.12.00 Israeli PM Ehud Barak hands in his resignation to President Moshe Katzav. He admits he was unlikely to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians before U.S. President Bill Clinton leaves the White House on January 20. The PM's resignation means that elections will be held for PM only and not for the Knesset.
13.12.00 UNRWA accuses Israel of obstructing the arrival of its supplies into Gaza over the past two and a half months.
13.12.00 Palestinians call sexist an IDF order issued by Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz banning Palestinian men from traveling in private vehicles on West Bank roads. Senior IDF officers also criticized the order, reportedly issued at the demand of the Yesha council of Jewish settlements, as impossible to implement.
14.12.00 The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces the donation of $3 million in humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.
19.12.00 Talks focused on the possibility of resuming the Middle East peace process begin in Washington between the PNA and Israel. The Palestinian delegation is headed by Minister of Culture and Information Yasser Abed Rabbo, the Israeli by Acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, who said that Israel will withdraw its forces from Palestinian cities in order to restore calm to the Palestinian territories and end the wave of violence.
In this period, in the Palestinian territories, 225 Palestinians and 55 Palestinian children under the age of 17 were killed by Israeli security forces. Six Palestinians were killed by Israeli civilians, 13 Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinians, 5 Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinian security forces, 11 Israeli security forces personnel were killed by Palestinians, 7 Israeli security forces personnel were killed by Palestinian security forces, and 37 Palestinian security personnel were killed by Israeli security forces. Within the Green Line, 1 Palestinian was killed by Israeli security forces and 4 Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinians.
Note: These figures do not include the 13 Palestinian Israelis killed by Israeli police at the outset of the al-Aqsa Intifada.
Above figures from B'Tselem