1.10.04 Israel deploys over 200
tanks in an incursion in the Gaza Strip in response to al-Qassam
rockets launched by Palestinians into the Israeli town of Sderot.
Most of the fighting is concentrated in the Jabaliya refugee camp.
The Israeli government's intention: to create a nine-kilometer
"buffer zone," thought to be the range of the al-Qassam rockets, by
leveling land, demolishing houses and uprooting trees. In a week,
over 80 Palestinians are killed in the northern Gaza Strip in the
largest Israeli military operation in Palestinian territory since
2002.
1.10.04Five Israeli
settlers assault two members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams in
Hebron who were escorting Palestinian children to school near a
Jewish settlement in the area. According to members of the team,
the settlers beat their two colleagues with baseball clubs and
chains, inflicting grievous bodily harm on them.
3.10.04 The International Commission
of the Red Cross (ICRC) calls for a halt to the Israeli operation
in Gaza, as did UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, who also urged
the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to act to stop al-Qassam
rockets being fired at Israeli towns. 3.10.04 A Danish peace activist, member of the International
Solidarity Movement, and 14 Palestinians are injured by Israeli
soldiers during a demonstration against the separation wall in the
village of Beit Awwa in the southern West Bank.
4.10.04 Mayor of the Israeli town of
Sderot, Eli Moyal, says he wants to meet presidential advisor
Jibril Rjoub and Hamas leader Khalid Mash'al, preferably in a
European capital. Moyal said he would ask the two Palestinian
officials for "one year of quiet" during which negotiations would
continue in order to reach a solution.
4.10.04 The Israeli human-rights
organization B'Tselem issues a report on the Israeli operations in
the Gaza Strip in which it said that 41 percent of the fatalities
were civilians. According to the report, as of October 4, 75
Palestinians had been killed, 31 of whom were civilians who took no
part in the fighting. Nineteen of the casualties were children,
under the age of 17. The report noted that 55 houses had been
completely demolished in Jabaliya refugee camp and 50 severely
damaged.
5.10.04 A USAID-funded survey shows
that 22 percent of Palestinian children aged 12 - 59 months suffer
from Vitamin A deficiency. 6.10.04 Twelve United Nations organizations in the Gaza
Strip release a report in which they express their concern for the
deteriorating humanitarian situation there. The report said since
September 28, 82 Palestinians had been killed including 24 children
and poverty rates are predicted to rise to 72 percent.
6.10.04 Seven people are killed in the Gaza Strip,
including three men who died in an armed clash with the Israeli
army while attempting to infiltrate the Kfar Darom settlements east
of Deir al-Balah. One Thai worker was also killed in the exchange
of fire.
7.10.04 Scores of Israelis are killed when three
powerful bombs ripped through the Taba Hilton Hotel and the Shitani
and Tal al-Sultan resorts in Sinai, Egypt, packed with vacationing
Israelis. Israeli sources put the death toll to no less than 34,
including Israelis, Egyptians and other nationalities. An anonymous
caller told Agence France Press (AFP) that the bombs were carried
out by the International Islamic Group to "avenge Palestinian and
Arab martyrs in Palestine and Iraq."
7.10.04 Two al-Qassam rockets are fired into the Israeli
town of Sderot, causing no injuries.
9.10.04 The Jewish Agency announces on its website that it
plans to bring in 300,000 Jewish settlers to the Galilee by 2010 as
part of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to Judaize the
Negev and the Galilee.
9.10.04 Ministry of Health sources in the Gaza Strip
put the Palestinian death toll as a result of Israel's incursion at
111. Thirty percent of those killed were children as were 43
percent of the 425 injuries.
10.10.04 A group of Jewish settlers attack a religious
procession of the Orthodox Armenians between Jaffa Gate in the Old
City of Jerusalem and the Christian Quarter to observe mass at the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The settlers attacked the Armenian
archbishop, Nurhan, ripping the cross off his chest, and proceeded
to punch him in the face, tearing off his cap and raining religious
insults on him. 12.10.04 A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General, Kofi
Annan, criticizes the Israeli operation in Gaza, saying he was
concerned with the number of civilian casualties and reiterating
that there was no military solution to the problem.
13.10.04 The EU Representative for Foreign Affairs, Javier
Solana, presents a new four-point plan to provide support to the
PNA. The four areas in which the EU would assist the PNA are
security, political reform, economic reform, and the electoral
process. On October 17, the PLO Executive Committee welcomed the EU
plan. 13.10.04 Palestinian sources confirm that UNRWA suspended a
number of its employees from their duties at the agency. The
suspensions came days after Israeli authorities announced they had
arrested these same UNRWA workers on charges of cooperation with
political groups, namely Hamas. 15.10.04 The Israeli army pulls out of Jabaliya and Beit
Lahiya proclaiming the end of "Operation Days of Penitence" after a
17-day incursion that killed over 130 Palestinians, left some 430
people injured, and scores of families homeless. 17.10.04 In a meeting between leaders of the settler's
movement and Israeli PM Ariel Sharon, the latter rejects requests
to put his "disengagement plan" to a national referendum. Settlers
are opposed to the dismantling of settlements in the Gaza Strip and
anywhere else.
18.10.04 Clashes in Gaza City between members of the
Preventive Security Apparatus and the Military Intelligence
Apparatus. The incident involved firearms and hand grenades and
Fateh officials initiate mediation efforts. 19.10.04 Some 60 rabbis publicly call on Israeli soldiers to
disobey any orders to dismantle any settlements. Israeli Defense
Minister, Shaul Mofaz, criticized the calls warning they
"constitute a terrible danger ... The IDF is what unites all the
different parts of this nation ... That is our greatness and the
source of our strength. Refusal to execute an order will rend the
nation ...." 19.10.04 An Israeli soldier is killed near the village of
Arrabeh, Jenin, which was put under a tight curfew. The shooting
was claimed by the Jenin al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades who called it
revenge for Israel's Gaza operation. 24.10.04 According to the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, a joint
Jordanian-Israeli committee convened to discuss the establishment
of the Bridging the Rift Center. The center will be built on the
border between Jordan and Israel on a 300-square meter area
allocated by the two countries. 25.10.04 Sixteen people are killed and 70 injured during an
Israeli shelling and shooting in Khan Yunis, while 15 homes are
demolished and a cemetery leveled. 25.10.04 In an interview with Der Spiegel, the EU
Representative for Foreign Affairs, Javier Solana, calls on Israeli
PM Sharon to withdraw from all the occupied territories and not
only the Gaza Strip, saying that if he believed the Gaza withdrawal
was the end, the EU would not support it: "That wouldn't be a dream
but a nightmare." 26.10.04 Israeli Knesset members vote 67 to 45 in favor of
Israeli PM Ariel Sharon's unilateral "disengagement" plan from the
Gaza Strip that could see all settlements there and four settlement
outposts in the West Bank evacuated. 27.10.04 A group of settlers from Shilo attack a number of
farmers while they were picking olives in the Mughayer village near
Ramallah forcing them to flee their land. 27.10.04 Israeli sources confirm that the West Jerusalem
municipality has completed plans for the construction of a new
settlement quarter in a part of Abu Dis, the separation wall in
that area. The settlement will include 280 housing units and is to
be named the "Footsteps of Zion." 29.10.04 Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is flown to
France after suffering from a stomach ailment for weeks. 1.11.04 Six Palestinians are killed. Three of them, members
of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, are assassinated in a coffee shop
in Nablus by Israeli undercover soldiers. 1.11.04 A 16-year-old suicide bomber from Nablus detonates a
bomb in a marketplace in Tel Aviv, killing himself and three
Israelis. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
claimed responsibility. 1.11.04 According to a senior officer in the Israeli army,
about 210 kilometers of Israel's separation wall has already been
built, more than one-third of its total length. He added that 6,000
dunums of Palestinian land have been confiscated for this
purpose. 2.11.04 Rabbi Menachem Froman from the settlement of Tekoa
near Bethlehem sent a get-well letter to President Yasser Arafat,
wishing him a speedy recovery. Froman, who met with Arafat in the
past, believes that peace is possible through closer religious
relations. 3.11.04 The Israeli parliament ratifies in its first reading
a compensation draft law for Jewish settlers who will evacuate
their settlements in any Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and
parts of the West Bank. According to the law, each settler family
will receive around $500,00v0. 7.11.04 According to Ha'aretz, Hizbullah sent an unmanned
drone equipped with a camera over northern Israel where it flew
over Nahariya and back to base. According to official Israeli
sources, the drone was Iranian-made and constitutes the first time
Hizbullah violates Israeli airspace. 8.11.04 The Israeli army announces that one Israeli soldier
is killed and three injured when their tank accidentally overturns
on Jabal al-Sheikh on the Syrian-Israeli border. 9.11.04 The spokesperson for British PM Tony Blair says it
is important for Britain and the world to support the Palestinian
security services to guarantee that no vacuum is created following
an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. 11.11.04 President Yasser Arafat dies at Percy Military
Hospital in France. Arafat's body was flown from Paris to Cairo,
where a ceremony was held in his honor attended by numerous foreign
dignitaries. Arafat's remains were then flown to Ramallah where he
was interred in a grave near his headquarters. The Palestinians had
wanted to bury him in Jerusalem, but the Israelis objected. 17.11.04 The Israeli police say they arrested 18 Israeli
youths who were planning to attack Palestinians picking olives near
the Jewish settlement of Itamar in the Nablus area. Around 70
settler youths were ready to assault the olive pickers but were
confronted by some 50 policemen. 18.11.04 The Israeli human-rights organization B'Tselem,
releases a report on Israeli house demolitions. It finds that in
the past four years, 628 housing units, home to 3,983 people were
demolished by the Israeli army. Forty-seven percent of the houses
demolished were not home to anyone suspected of involvement in
attacks on Israelis and in less than three percent of cases were
occupants given advance notice. 18.11.04 Three Egyptian soldiers are shot and killed by
Israeli gunfire near the Egyptian-Gaza border in Rafah. According
to Egyptian police, an Israeli tank shell was fired at the Tal
Sultan neighborhood in Rafah, followed by random fire at the
Egyptian side of the border that led to the deaths of the three
soldiers. 22.11.04 U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, meets PLO
Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, interim PNA President, Rawhi Fattouh, and
Finance Minister, Salam Fayyad, in Jericho. The Palestinians urged
Powell to pressure Israel to take measures to ensure that January
9, PNA elections would be logistically feasible as well as
comprehensive. 24.11.04 Israeli troops bar 140 Egyptian food trucks from
entering Gaza through the Rafah crossing. Official Israeli army
sources claimed that the electronic gate at the crossing was out of
order. 24.11.04 The Israeli and Palestinian tourism ministers sign
an agreement to promote tourism in the country. The signing took
place during the first meeting in a year of Mitri Abu Eita and
Gideon Ezra in Jerusalem. One clause of the agreement includes a
provision for tourism promotion in Bethlehem. 24.11.04 Israeli police sources in Jerusalem say they
arrested four American Jewish youths, all Talmud students, in the
Old City on suspicion of throwing a Molotov cocktail at a group of
Palestinians near a phone booth in the Jewish Quarter. 28.11.04 UN Coordinator for Peace in the Middle East,Terje
Larsen, says during a meeting with Egyptian President, Husni
Mubarak, that the Palestinians are in need of $650 million for
their budget by June 2005. 28.11.04 The Israeli army confiscates ten dunums of olive
groves in the village of Deir al-Asal near Hebron to make way for
the separation wall. 28.11.04 Ten women prisoners and two Israeli guards are
injured when prison authorities clashed with inmates at the
Hasharon security prison inside Israel. The women held a
demonstration after one prisoner refused to be strip-searched. When
the prison guards tried to forcefully break up the demonstrations
the women threw hot oil at the guards, injuring two. 29.11.04 Israeli PM Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul
Mofaz approve a blueprint for a modified route of the separation
wall. The new course will see the wall cut off some 400,000 dunums
of West Bank land, rather than the original 700,000 dunums. The new
route needs Israeli government approval. 30.11.04 A report in Ha'aretz claims that the Israeli
government plans for an extended network of bypass roads in the
West Bank, creating two different road networks, one Palestinian
and one Israeli. The aim of the project would be to ensure that
settlements can be seamlessly connected to Israel, but it would
also mean that for Palestinians there would be no transportation
continuity between the various areas. 5.12.04 Egypt releases Azzam Azzam after serving 15 years in
prison on charges of spying for Israel, in exchange for six
Egyptian students who had infiltrated into Israel and were arrested
at the border. 6.12.04 During a meeting of the Constitution Law and
Judiciary Committee in the Israeli parliament, head of the Human
Resources Department in the Israeli army, Eliezer Stern, says that
at least 20 percent of Israeli soldiers at checkpoints in the West
Bank and Gaza "belittle the lives of Arabs" because they believe
that their lives are not equal to Jewish ones. 6.12.04 Hamas set a trap for Israeli soldiers in the Gaza
Strip with an explosives-rigged chicken coop. One Israeli soldier
is killed and four others wounded. 7.12.04 Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian PM, Ahmad Qrei', visit
Damascus where they held "successful talks" with Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad. They also met the leaders abroad of Hamas, Islamic
Jihad and the PFLP General Command. Abbas asked the leaders to
support his call for a ceasefire. 8.12.04 According to a report published in Ha'aretz, the
Israeli army admits to the killing of 29 innocent Palestinians
since the start of 2004 out of a total of 148 civilians in the West
Bank. Among the "non-innocents" the Israeli army included those who
were armed, throwing Molotov cocktails or stones. The army report
also said that 52 Israelis died this year in attacks by
Palestinians in comparison to 167 in 2003. The army's figures are
disputed by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, who say 187
Palestinians were killed in 2004, 11 of whom were not involved in
any fighting. 12.12.04 Four Israeli soldiers are killed and six others
wounded when members of Hamas' Izzedin al-Qassam Brigades and
Fateh's Black Hawks dynamited a tunnel beneath a military post at
the Rafah Crossing. 13.12.04 Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz tells the
Herzliya Conference that Israel was looking for a long-term interim
agreement since "there is no possibility at the present time for a
permanent one." This was after Israel said it would withdraw its
forces from Palestinian cities or a period of 72 hours one day
before elections are to take place. 15.12.04 Israeli military authorities issue an order to
confiscate 600 dunums of land from the villages of Surif and Jabba,
north of Hebron in order to continue the construction of the
separation wall. According to residents, the military order gave
them 10 days to appeal the decision, but was dated two weeks
before. 15.12.04 According to the Israeli daily Ma'ariv, a Knesset
committee approved the allocation of NIS 2 million to settlements
in the West Bank and Gaza for the renovation of "tourist projects."
The paper reported that part of the funds were to be used to build
a new entrance to the Gaza settlement of Gush Katif. 16.12.04 Twenty-Five Catholic bishops in the Middle East and
Africa call for a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Palestine
and Israel on December 22. Lutheran Church Bishop Munib Younan also
called on the Lutheran world to join in the day of prayer, urging
all Christian denominations to come together and "recognize their
duty towards the Holy Land." 19.12.04 A senior official in the Israeli PM's office says
that Israel would not participate in the upcoming Middle East
conference to be held in London at the beginning of next year. The
spokesperson said Israel wanted to make it clear that it would not
be part of an international conference. 19.12.04 The Yesha Council, which represents settlements in
the West Bank and Gaza, urges its supporters to engage in
"nonviolent civil disobedience" in an effort to foil the evacuation
of settlements from Gaza. 20.12.04 Israeli Police Inspector General Moshe Karadi warns
of the ramifications if public opposition should prevent the
evacuation of Gush Katif. 20.12.04 World Bank president, James Wolfensohn, warns that
simply pulling out of Gaza is "insufficient" if it does not also
offer hope of a better future for the Palestinians. 20.12.04 After protracted negotiations, Israeli PM Sharon
receives support for his unilateral "disengagement plan" when the
Israeli Labor party agreed to enter into a coalition government
with Sharon's Likud party. 22.12.04 Four Palestinians are killed during an Israeli
incursion into Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. 22.12.04 An Israeli army incursion into Khan Yunis, Gaza
Strip, leaves 11 dead and 55 injured. Israeli army bulldozers
demolish a number of houses near the Jewish settlement of Neve
Dekalim. 23.12.04 Israel and Jordan sign an agreement to promote
bilateral economic and trade cooperation, to allow the products of
both countries to reach European markets without paying custom
taxes. The agreement was criticized by Jordanian labor unions, who
said it showed support for Sharon "to continue massacring our
people." 23.12.04 Twelve right-wing and ultra right-wing members of
the Israeli Knesset, including National Religious Party head, Efi
Eitan, sign a petition in which they pledged to support settlers'
calls for civil disobedience against any withdrawal from the Gaza
Strip. The petition said the signatories would form a human chain
between the soldiers and settlers in Gaza to "nonviolently" prevent
any withdrawal from these areas. 23.12.04 Peace Now launches a petition calling for
volunteers to take the place of soldiers who refuse to take part in
evacuating settlers from the Gaza Strip as part of the
disengagement plan. 24.12.04 Three members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades,
Fateh's military wing, are killed in the Tulkarem refugee
camp. 25.12.04 Seventy settlers attack the homes of Palestinians
living east of Deir al-Balah near the Kfar Darom settlement,
forcing them out with clubs and guns. 26.12.04 Two members of Hamas' military wing, the Izzedin
al-Qassam Brigades, are killed in Gaza while setting a booby trap
for Israeli tanks passing near the Bureij refugee camp. 28.12.04 The U.S. government transfers $20 million to the
PNA saying that the payment was a confidence-building measure to
boost the Palestinian reform program.
During this period, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, 240
Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces, 38 under the
age of 18. One Palestinian was killed by Israeli civilians. One
Israeli civilian and 9 Israeli security forces personnel were
killed by Palestinians. Within the Green Line, 6 Palestinians were
killed by Israeli security forces. Four Israeli civilians were
killed by Palestinians.