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."