Chronology of Events in Israel and Palestine
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Chronologies Chronology of events in Israel and Palestine The following chronology assembles from United States president, George attackers are killed. The Emmanuel details of the most relevant events that W. Bush, from the general secretary of attack is followed by a double suicide Appendices have taken place in Israel and Pales- the UN, Kofi Annan, and from the pres- bombing in Tel Aviv on 17th July, tine in the period covered by this edi- ident of the Palestinian National Au- which kills three people. Responsibil- tion of the yearbook: between July thority (PNA), Yasser Arafat. The action ity is claimed by a group related to 2002 and June 2003. During these undermines the diplomatic advances Fatah. twelve months, the second Palestin- that have been produced in the meet- • The Israeli military responds to the ian intifada has continued, as has Is- ings held between the Israeli Minister attacks in Emmanuel and Tel Aviv by 2003 rael’s violent response. In Israel, Ariel of Foreign Affairs, Shimon Peres, and destroying the homes of Hamas and Sharon was re-elected. Some progress various Palestinian ministers. These Fatah leaders in Nablus, arresting Med. is made in the peace process, in proj- meetings have sought to alleviate con- some of their relatives and threatening ects such as the Road Map and the ditions in the occupied territories and massive deportations to Gaza. On 18th appointment of Abu Mazen as Pales- even to call for the Israeli army to with- July, the Israeli government freezes the tinian prime minister. However, peace draw from some of the occupied areas operations that were aimed at relaxing is constantly threatened by the un- of the West Bank, as well as to in- the curfew and other restrictions im- ceasing spiral of violence and the crease humanitarian access to the be- posed in the West Bank. inability for the two parts to come to sieged Palestinian areas and transfer • On 23rd July, an Israeli F-16 274-275 any stable agreement. funds collected by PNA taxes. Further- bombs a densely populated area of more, during the month of July, differ- the city of Gaza, killing twelve people ent Palestinian factions had been (including the leader of the military July 2002 drawn closer together, and efforts wing of Hamas, Salah Shihada), and were being made to reform the securi- injuring 140 people, sixteen critically. Israel ty structure of the PNA. Without delay, Palestinian demon- strators take to the streets of the • On 7th July, the government offers Violence between the two sides cities of Gaza, Rafah and Khan Yunis, its support to a private initiative that and the leader of the political wing of aims to prohibit Arabs from building • Israeli forces continue their severe Hamas, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, vows houses in the areas allocated to Jew- military siege of Palestinian settle- immediate revenge. ish communities. ments and refugee camps, cutting off • On 25th July, the al-Aqsa Martyrs access routes that link them together Brigades assassinate a Jewish rabbi, Report on human rights and and with the outside, and therefore Elimelech Safira, near the Alei Zahav diplomatic relations weakening their economic activity. settlement, in the West Bank. The Israeli military mobilises the army • On 26th July, the Israeli army re- • On 11th July, the international hu- reserves. turns to the Gaza Strip to destroy man rights organisation Amnesty In- • On 14th July, five people are buildings that according to reports are ternational publishes, for the first time, wounded when an Israeli F-16 fighter workshops dedicated to the manufac- a report dedicated exclusively to Pales- attacks the home of Hamas leader in ture of missiles. On the same day, a tinian violence. In the report, suicide the south of Gaza, Youssef Abed al- group of armed Palestinians assault bombings and other attacks against Wahab, who escapes seconds before two Israeli vehicles near the Carmel Israeli civilians are deemed crimes the Israeli missiles strike his house. settlement, southeast of Hebron, and against humanity. They would therefore • On 16th July, three members of kill four people. be included under the jurisdiction of the Hamas attack a bus on the outskirts • On 28th July, a Palestinian girl is new UN International Criminal Court. of the Israeli settlement Emmanuel, killed and nine people are wounded in • The 23rd July Israeli action men- near Nablus. Eight Israeli civilians, an an attack by Jewish settlers on Arab tioned below sparks harsh criticism Israeli military officer and one of the homes in Hebron. • On 30th July, another suicide bom- Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice, pany, killing a security guard and in- bing in East Jerusalem wounds five Is- meet in Washington with a delegation juring a driver. The police are able to raelis. On the same day two Israeli of ministers from the Palestinian cabi- shoot the boy down but a bystander civilians are killed by armed Palestini- net. The two parties discuss Palestin- also dies in the crossfire. Israel tight- ans when they enter Jamain, in the ian civil reform efforts and security co- ens restrictions on Palestinians and West Bank. operation. During the meeting, Powell declares the complete closure of the • On 31st July, seven people die, five reaffirms US support for the creation largest part of the West Bank. In fur- of whom are foreigners, when a bomb of a Palestinian state in three years. He ther action, Israeli helicopters launch explodes in the cafeteria of the He- side steps, however, the call for a new missiles at suspected weapons fac- brew University of Jerusalem. Hamas Palestinian leader that George W. tories in the city of Gaza, injuring four claims responsibility for the attack as Bush made in June. people. reprisal for the killing of Shihada on • On 7th August, Israeli forces inter- 23rd July. UN Report vene in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, killing six Palestinians, including • On 1st August, the UN releases a two activists. August 2002 long-awaited report on the Israeli re- • On 14th August, Israeli forces occupation of Jenin in April, which has launch a missile attack on a house in Israel had to be written using secondary Tubas, near Nablus, killing Nasr Jarrar, sources, since Israel prevented inves- leader of the Izz al-Din al-Qassamn • On 6th August, the Israeli Minister tigators from entering the region. The battalion in Jenin, and another Pales- of Internal Affairs announces plans to report sustains that no massacre took tinian. revoke the citizenship of two Arab Is- place and that more people died dur- • Reports are released of the pre- raelis, accused of helping Palestinian ing the Israeli incursion in Nablus, sumed suicide of Abu Nidal, leader activists. which took place at around the same of the radical Palestinian guerrilla • On 13th August, the Israeli Su- time. The report severely criticises Is- group, the Revolutionary Council of preme Court orders the army to stop rael for destroying the Palestinian ter- Fatah, before he could be arrested, in the unjustified deportation to the Gaza ritory and preventing humanitarian aid Baghdad, Iraq, on 16th August. Mem- Strip of three relatives of West Bank workers from helping the four thou- bers of his group deny the Israeli ver- Palestinians suspected of organising sand refugees there once the attack sion and say he was murdered by Israeli suicide bombings in Israel. If the expul- was over. The report also addresses intelligence services. sions were carried out, they would be the Israeli reoccupation of the West • On 20th August, in the operation of the first since 1992. Bank where, according to the study, withdrawing troops from Bethlehem, • On 14th August, Marwan Barghouti, 497 Palestinians were killed between Israel defies the «Gaza First» security general secretary of Fatah in the West 1st March and 7th May of 2002. On a plan by ordering its commanders in Bank, appears before the District Court separate issue, the account also re- Ramallah to assassinate Mohamed in Tel Aviv to be formally accused of ports that during the same period Is- Saadat, brother of the secretary gen- various crimes that range from assas- rael suffered sixteen bombings, most eral of the Popular Front for the Liber- sination to terrorism. His arrest and of them suicide attacks, which result- ation of Palestine, Ahmed Saadat, who transfer to a prison in Israel during Op- ed in over a hundred deaths. was incarcerated in a Palestine prison eration «Defensive Shield» in April is a in Jericho in May as part of the treaty controversial issue, as it infringed up- Violence between the two sides that led to the end of Arafat’s siege of on the terms of the Oslo accords Ramallah. Meanwhile, in Gaza, an Is- signed in 1993. • The Israeli army intensifies its cam- raeli soldier is killed near a Jewish set- paign of demolishing the homes of the tlement by a Hamas sniper and a fif- Diplomatic Negotiations families of suicide bombers, a form of teen year old boy is killed by Israeli fire. collective punishment that is con- In Tulkarm, an armed Palestinian dies • Palestinian and Israeli authorities demned by the UN. during an army raid in a refugee camp. reach a stalemate in the August nego- • On 4th August, nine Israelis, in- • On 21st August, the Israeli internal tiations aimed at achieving a gradual cluding six soldiers, are killed, and security force announces the arrest of withdrawal of troops from Israel, be- more than fifty people are wounded in five members of Hamas in Jerusalem, ginning with the Gaza Strip, the «Gaza the suicide bombing of a bus near accused of planning some of the most First Plan», and Bethlehem, in the Safed, in northern Israel close to the violent of the recent attacks.