2.1.01 A car full of explosives blows up in the Israeli town of Netanya, north of Tel Aviv, injuring 54 Israelis. No organization declared responsibility for the explosion.
2.1.01 President Yasser Arafat meets with President Bill Clinton at the White House in Washington to discuss the Palestinian clarifications concerning Clinton's peace suggestions. A spokesperson on behalf of the White House said that President Clinton ;.s "making all possible efforts to bridge the gaps in the Palestinian and Israeli positions with regard to core issues."
3.1.01 Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert temporarily moves his office to a building overlooking the al-Aqsa Compound, as a statement against the possibility of giving up Israel's control over the Temple Mount. Justice Minister Yossi Beilin said that this was an illegal way of struggling to keep the Temple Mount under Israeli sovereignty.
3.1.01 According to Israeli researcher Yossi Alpher, the land slated for swapping in a final solution with the Palestinians is unlivable. The area, southeast of the Gaza Strip, is made of quicksand, has no contiguity with the Strip, and has been used by the Israeli government for military purposes.
3.1.01 Israel in forms Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs, Jamil Tarifi, the VIP cards issued to senior Palestinian Authority officials have been cancelled. The cards grant the officials freedom of movement through Israeli checkpoints.
4.1.01 Likud leader Ariel Sharon tells Israeli military radio that he would not agree to the dismantling of any settlements in the West Bank or Gaza Strip should he be elected Israel's next prime minister in May.
7.1.01 A high-level, trilateral Palestinian-Israeli-American security meeting takes place in Cairo to discuss means of alleviating tension and confrontations in the Palestinian territories. The meeting is attended by representatives of the CIA.
9.1.01 Palestinian Minister of Culture and Information, Yasser Abed Rabbo, says that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is working to bring members of the Israeli government before international tribunals to be tried as war criminals. The measure follows the policy of assassination of Palestinian activists during the Intifada.
10.1.01 The Israeli daily Ma'ariv accuses Fateh of cooperating with the Islamic resistance movement in the latter's participation in armed operations in Israel, alleging the PNA gave Islamic movements the green light to carry out armed attacks.
13.1.01 The future of Palestinians and Israelis lies in the mutual respect for each other's rights and traditions, says Pope John Paul II in a speech to Vatican ambassadors, adding "it is time to return to the principles of international legitimacy."
14.1.01 President Arafat meets with Labor party veteran and Israeli Minister of Regional Cooperation Shimon Peres. "The gaps still remain wide," reports Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat.
15.1.01 The siege on Palestinians is re-imposed following the discovery of the body of a settler from the Kfar Yam settlement near Khan Younis. Gaza International Airport is closed, as are the Beit Hanoun and Mintar crossings.
15.1.01 The PNA announces it is giving collaborators 45 days to hand themselves in. If they confess and repent, they would be saved from execution.
15.1.01 Five Palestinian houses and a mosque are burnt to the ground by Jewish settlers in the Mawasi region of Khan Younis.
17.1.01 The Israeli army has allowed settlers in Hebron to form armed civilian guard units. According to the Israeli daily Ma' ariv, the settlers will wear military uniforms and have the authority to conduct armed patrols and arrest Palestinians in the Hebron region.
17.1.01 The body of a 16-year-old Israeli from Ashkelon is found in the Ramallah area, where it was taken after the youngster had been shot dead. The young Israeli was allegedly lured in a chat on the Internet by 25-year-old Amneh Jawad, from Bir Nabala, urging him to visit her in Ramallah, where an ambush was set for him. Amneh was arrested by Israeli troops.
17.1.01 President Yasser Arafat meets with Israeli foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami in Cairo. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak attended part of the two-hour meeting.
19.1.01 Outgoing V.S. president Bill Clinton bids farewell to the American people. In a letter published in Arabic newspapers, Clinton called on the Palestinians to move away from war and violence and to take the path of peace, mentioning the Palestinians' right to self-determination, but not to statehood.
21.1.01 The Israeli Supreme Court sentences settler Nahum Korman to six months public service and a $17,000 fine for the kicking to death of the Palestinian boy Hilmi Shusha in 1996. Although Korman was originally convicted of second-degree manslaughter, he was later acquitted for what the judge called "apparent inconsistencies" in testimonies of the witnesses and the inconclusive autopsy finding. Shusha's father said the sentence was a "license to kill" for settlers.
23.1.01 Two Israelis from Tel Aviv are killed in Tulkarem. Both restaurant owners, they had come to buy pottery for their restaurant. The military wing of Hamas Izzedin al-Qassam claimed responsibility for the killing. In response, Israel suspended indefinitely the Taba talks with the Palestinians.
2.2.01 Israel has placed new military roadblocks and cement and sand barriers on roads connecting Palestinian cities, especially in the West Bank. Outgoing Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, decided on these steps following the increase in shooting incidents against Israelis in the occupied territories.
4.2.01 Shadi al-Kahlout, 24, from the Sheikh Radwan quarter in Gaza, is killed at dawn by the Israeli military, which held the corpse for over 15 hours. Palestinian medical sources said that Kahlout was shot several times in the stomach and was subjected to torture before his death.
4.2.01 The al-Barazil quarter in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, is shelled by Israeli tanks, which inflicted material damage to several homes and the town mosque. Many Palestinians fled their homes and sought refuge.
5.2.01 A Palestinian sniper kills an Israeli soldier at the Salah Eddin Gate between Palestine and Egypt in Rafah. Following the incident, Israeli forces bombed residential areas in Rafah and closed Gaza International Airport and the Rafah passage.
5.2.01 Israeli occupation forces shell Hebron residential areas, allegedly in retaliation for gunshots directed at the Israeli settlement bloc near the local vegetable market.
5.2.01 The Women's Coalition for a Just Peace, which consists of several Israeli peace movements, organizes a demonstTation in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv to protest the severe closure imposed on the Palestinian areas for the last four months.
6.2.01 Israeli elections for a new prime minister show Ariel Sharon of the Likud taking 60 percent of the vote. Conceding his loss, Barak announces his resignation from the Labor party leadership and from the Knesset.
6.2.01 Khadra Shtiwi, 65, dies at an Israeli military roadblock after being prevented from crossing it for hospital treatment for a heart attack. Shtiwi had traversed fields and unpaved roads for two hours, but was not allowed to pass due to tightened closure on Palestinian towns.
7.2.01 Israeli prime minister-elect, Ariel Sharon, prays at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. He stated that he came to "visit Jerusalem, the unified capital of the Jewish people for the last 3,000 years," and that he planned to form a national unity government.
8.2.01 Ten Israelis are injured in a car bomb explosion in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea She'arim in West Jerusalem.
10.2.01 An explosion near the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip is followed by extensive shooting. Israeli troops then closed off all roads between the northern and southern parts of the Gaza Strip.
11.2.01 A Palestinian military court in Hebron sentences Hasan Msallam, 53, a Palestinian national security captain, to death by firing squad on charges of collaboration with Israel.
11.2.01 Israel fires tanks and guns into Bethlehem's residential areas, unsuccessfully seeking out Palestinian gunmen who had shot and killed a Jewish settler.
13.2.01 Israel kills Force 17 Colonel Masoud Hassan Ayyad, 57, in Gaza, when two Israeli Apache helicopters fired four missiles at his car near the Jabalia refugee camp, north of Gaza.
14.2.01 In his annual report on U.s. national security, Central Intelligence Agency director George Tenet says that the increase in popular anger in Arab countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan is making people more frustTated and angry over recent Israeli¬Palestinian violence.
14.2.01 KhaIil Abu Olbah, 36, from Gaza, who drives an Egged bus in Israel, deliberately runs over 8 Israeli soldiers near Tel Aviv, killing them and injuring another 18. Following the attack, Israel tightens the closure on the West Bank and Gaza.
20.2.01 An Israeli army unit stationed in Gilo, the Jewish settlement (neighborhood) near Bethlehem, shells Beit Jala reportedly to preempt shooting from Palestinian gunmen. Similar incidents, usually without fatal casualties, took place from time to time in the period ahead.
25.2.01 U.5. Secretary of State Colin Powell ends his first official visit to the Palestinian areas. In a joint press conference with Arafat, Powell reaffirms the U.S. commitment to bringing a lasting peace to the Middle East based on UN resolutions 242 and 338.
25.2.01 One Palestinian is killed in Tulkarem and others wounded in clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank. One Jewish settler is seriously injured in a Palestinian shooting attack near Ramallah.
26.2.01 Israel's Labor party votes to join the Likud in a national unity government in which it will hold several important cabinet seats.
27.2.01 The Council of Jewish Settlements requests that Israeli PM Ariel Sharon allow the Israeli army to liquidate Palestinian President Arafat. In a press statement, they called on Sharon to "enable the IDF to employ its full capabilities in order to put an end to the terror, its perpetrators and its head, Arafat."
28.2.01 According to data released by Meretz Member of Knesset Mossi Raz, the Barak government began construction of 1,943 housing units in West Bank Jewish settlements last year. This is the largest number of housing units in any single year since 1992. The data, based on official figures from the Housing Ministry, also showed that this construction has not stopped since the al-Aqsa Intifada began in September, 2000. In the last quarter of 2000, work was begun on 654 housing units.
28.2.01 Israeli army Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz announces in a press conference that the PNA has become a "terrorist" entity and that the Israeli military "would use extreme power to fight terrorism and violence."
28.2.01 The Israeli soldier who shot and killed 14-year-old Issa al-Ammour in Gaza is sentenced to 49 days in prison for violating military instructions. Al-Ammour was apparently passing a Palestinian school near the Kfar Darom Jewish settlement and was shot in the abdomen by a sniper bullet.
4.3.01 In a crowded Netanya street, three Israelis are killed and 93 others injured in a bomb attack that also took the life of the suicide bomber. One Arab working nearby the explosion was attacked and badly wounded by Israelis.
14.3.01 The International Committee of the Red Cross extends assistance to 117 families whose homes have been destroyed by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip. The now¬homeless families are being provided with tents, blankets and other household essentials.
14.3.01 Jewish settlers occupy a Palestinian house in Sheikh Jarrah, an East Jerusalem neighborhood. The settlers claimed ownership of the house, but Palestinian sources stressed that the status of the land on which the house is built is still a matter to be decided by the court.
15.3.01 East Jerusalem goes on a one-day strike in protest against Sharon's policy towards the Palestinians and the position taken by the U.5. administration on transferring the U.5. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. A statement issued by the Unified National Command declares that the Sharon government is exercising a policy of ethnic cleansing, reinforcing Jewish settlements and Judaizing the city.
17.3.01 Palestinian intelligence head al-Hindi meets with his Israeli counterpart, Avi Dichter, at the Erez crossing in Gaza.
21.3.01 The European Union has vowed to freeze major agreements with Israel if the latter does not put an end to human-rights violations and the siege imposed on Palestinians, reports the British newspaper The Guardian, adding that EU governments, France in particular, are considering taking punitive measures against Israel in protest against the new policies adopted by Israeli PM Ariel Sharon.
21.3.01 According to the Yesh Gvul movement, a number of soldiers refusing to serve in the West Bank and Gaza since the outbreak of the al-Agsa Intifada, for reasons of conscience, have been tried and jailed, but the IDF is not interested in giving publicity to these and other cases.
21.3.01 Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert approves the construction of another 2,800 housing units in the Har Homa Oabal Abu Ghnaim) Jewish settlement south of Jerusalem.
21.3.01 Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres blames Palestinian President Yasser Arafat for recent attacks on Israelis, saying that the operations would not be left without retaliation, and he expects the PNA to take steps to prevent such attacks in the future.
21.3.01 Israeli academics and students from various Israeli universities send a letter of solidarity to Palestinian universities in the occupied territories. The academics calIed for the self-determination of the Palestinian people and the establishment of a Palestinian state. They also called for cooperation with Palestinian university academics to oppose the Israeli policies of siege, closure and curfew.
27.3.01 Latif Dori, the secretary of the Committee for Israeli-Palestinian Dialogue founded by Israelis of Oriental origin, announces the participation by Israeli peace activists in this year's Land Day activities and reiterates the importance of a shared Arab-Jewish struggle to end Israel's policy of discrimination against Arabs and land confiscation.
28.3.01 A two-day Arab summit ends in Amman, Jordan, with a resolution supporting the al-Agsa Intifada, at the same time warning Israel of the results of further escalation of violence and aggression against the Palestinian people. The Arab summit took a decision to support the PNA to the amount of $US 240 million over six months.
28.3.01 Israeli helicopter gunships fire missiles at Force 17 targets in RamalIah and the Gaza Strip. Two Palestinians are killed in the strike and over 40 injured.
30.3.01 Six Palestinians are killed in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during a demonstration marking the 25th anniversary of Land Day, when, in 1976, six Arabs inside Israel were killed by Israeli troops.
30.3.01 Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer declares on TV Channel Two that the army would continue confronting the Palestinians and that the Israeli policy of self¬restraint had ended.
In this period in the occupied territories, 55 Palestinians and 10 Palestinian children under the age of 17 were killed by Israeli security forces. Eleven Israeli civilians and 1 security forces personnel were killed by Palestinians. Nine Palestinian security forces personnel were kilIed by Israeli security forces. Within the Green Line, 7 Israeli civilians and 8 Israeli security forces personnel were killed by Palestinians.
Above figures from B'Tselem