This day in the History of the 2nd Intifada

September 19 2000

Barak cancels a scheduled mtg. btwn the PA and Israeli peace teams, calls for a "time-out" in peace talks, saying the PA is inflexible and is increasing its demands. Arafat phones Clinton, Albright, Ross, and the leaders of Egypt, France, Jordan, Morocco to complain. By the end of the day, Barak agrees to resume mtgs. on 9/20. (MM 9/19; HA [Internet], JP [Internet], MM, NYT, WT 9/20; al-Quds 9/20, MENA, al-Quds 9/21 in WNC 9/26; MM, WJW 9/21)

In Washington, Pres. Clinton meets with the U.S. peace team to discuss how to proceed. (MM 9/19; HA [Internet] 9/21; SA 9/19, AYM, RMC 9/20, al-Quds 9/21 in WNC 9/26; HJ, SA 9/21 in WNC 9/27; WP 9/22)

In Paris, Israel's Ben-Ami briefs Pres. Chirac on the latest developments on final status talks. The 2 men meet in private with no aides; no details are released. (YA 9/19; AFP 9/19 in WNC 9/26; MM 9/20; HA [Internet] 9/21)

September 19 2001

2 Palestinians killed.

A Force 17 mbr. is shot dead in Hebron. A 2d Palestinian dies of injuries received earlier. (AP 9/19; MM, NYT, WP, WT 9/20; WP 9/21; NYT, WT 9/23; HP 9/24; LAW 9/29)

The Israeli-Palestinian temporary cease-fire generally holds, though scattered violence is reported. Despite personal appeals by Arafat envoys, Hamas and Islamic Jihad say that they will continue to target Israeli occupation forces (i.e., troops, settlers) in the territories, though they will halt attacks inside Israel as long as Israel continues to suspend its assassination policy.

Palestinian gunmen fire on the Jewish enclave in Hebron; in response the IDF shells a residential neighborhood in the Palestinian section of the city, injuring 9. Palestinians throw 6 hand-made grenades at an IDF post on the Rafah border causing no injuries; the IDF fires on residential areas of Rafah in response. A roadside bomb explodes outside Oranit settlement, injuring 2 settlement security guards.

September 19 2002

2 Palestinians killed. 5 Israelis killed.

After Tel Aviv bomb, Sharon convenes his cabinet, which unanimously decides to launch Operation Matter of Time to "isolate” Arafat, calls for the immediate extradition of around 20 wanted Palestinians (including Force 17 head Mahmud Damara, PA General Intelligence chief Tawfiq Tirawi) allegedly among the 200 Palestinians hiding in Arafat's offices (8 surrender in the evening). The IDF immediately reimposes 24-hr. curfews on all West Bank areas except Hebron; sends tanks into Ramallah to surround Arafat's offices (1 tank fatally shoots a 10-yr.-old Palestinian boy 6 times; troops shoot, wound 2 Arafat bodyguards in the PA headquarters compound); fires on "Palestinian schoolchildren challenging the army's attempt to impose a curfew" in Amari r.c., killing a 11-yr.-old Palestinian; shells residential areas of Rafah; conducts arrest raids in Bayt Hanun (where an IDF tank runs over a roadside bomb, injuring 2 soldiers), Jenin r.c. (blowing up 1 Palestinian home), Nablus, Qalqilya, the Tulkarm area; bulldozes 19 dunams of agricultural land nr. Kefar Darom settlement. Jewish settlers open fire on a Palestinian taxi nr. Tulkarm, seriously injuring the driver. (AP, HA, JTA, LAW, MM, PM 9/19; ATL, ITAR-TASS 9/19 in WNC 9/20; MM, NYT, WP, WT 9/20; Interfax, MA, Radio Monte Carlo 9/20 in WNC 9/23; MEZ, NYT 9/21; AYM 9/23 in WNC 9/25; LAW, PCHR, PR 9/25; MA 9/25 in WNC 9/26; WJW 9/26; MEI 9/27)

A Hamas suicide bomber detonates a device on a bus in Tel Aviv, killing 5 Israelis, injuring more than 50.

September 19 2003

The IDF demolishes 2 Palestinian homes in Rafah, 1 in Jenin; bulldozes 12 dunams of land in al-Maghazi r.c.; conducts arrest raids in Hebron, Khan Yunis; fires on residential areas of Khan Yunis. (WT 9/20; HA, VOI, YA 9/20 in WNC 9/23; PCHR 9/25)

Palestinians fire at Gush Katif settlement, causing no damage or injuries.

September 19 2004

3 Palestinians killed.

The IDF assassinates senior Hamas cmdr. Khalid Abu Silmiyya by firing a missile at his car as he drives in Gaza City, wounding 8 bystanders; fatally shoots a Palestinian who crosses fr. Gaza into Israel nr. Kissufim crossing; fatally shoots a mentally handicapped Palestinian who strays too nr. Gush Katif; fires live ammunition, rubber bullets, tear gas at Palestinian, international peace activists demonstrating against the separation wall nr. Hebron; fires tear gas, stun grenades outside 2 girls’ schools in Beitunia while classes are in session, seriously wounding 1 student in her classroom; fires on stone-throwing youths in Aida r.c. nr. Bethlehem; fires on residential areas of Rafah; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Bir Basha nr. Jenin, Dahaysha r.c., Duha, Qalqilya; tightens access to Tulkarm and places a curfew on nearby Bayt Awa. (VOI, VOP 9/19 in WNC 9/21; AP, PCHR, WP, WT 9/20; JAZ, VOI, VOP, YA 9/20 in WNC 9/22; PCHR 9/23)

September 19 2005

The IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron, in villages around Qalqilya. The IDF bulldozes a 450-m strip of Palestinian land in Hebron for construction of a settlers-only bypass road linking Kiryat Arba to an IDF post. (HA 9/20; PCHR 9/22)

In Gaza City, Hamas holds what it claims is its largest ever armed demonstration to celebrate disengagement.

September 19 2006

In Gaza, the IDF makes 3 air strikes destroying a Palestinian home in al-Shuka, after warning residents and neighbors to leave; later sends troops into al-Shuka, firing on residential areas, rounding up all males over age 13 for ID checks, searching homes, holding 50 Palestinians for several hrs. of interrogation, eventually arresting 3 before withdrawing. In the West Bank, the IDF sends undercover units into Burkin nr. Jenin in a car with Palestinian license plates, arresting a wanted Islamic Jihad mbr.; patrols, searches businesses, conducts random ID checks in various areas of Hebron and nearby Halhul; patrols in, fires percussion grenades, tear gas, and rifles on residential areas of al-Zababda; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Dahaysha r.c. nr. Bethlehem, nr. Jenin. Armed, masked Jewish settlers fr. Suissa severely beat a 79-yr.-old Palestinian outside Hebron. (NYT, OCHA 9/20; PCHR 9/21)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz acknowledges that Hizballah has fully abided by the cease-fire and that Israel had detected no significant resupplying of weapons and missiles fr. Iran, Syria. By this date, 4,950 new UNIFIL soldiers fr. France, Italy, Spain and 10,000 Lebanese troops have been deployed in s. Lebanon. Meanwhile, UN relief coordinator in Lebanon David Shearer says that Israel left behind at least 350,000 unexploded cluster bomblets in s. Lebanon, stating that “the outrageous fact is that nearly all of these munitions were fired in the last three to four days of the war.” (NYT, WP, WT 9/20)

Palestinian gunmen raid WAFA press agency offices in Gaza City, beating a reporter, vandalizing equipment, accusing WAFA of biased news coverage in favor of Abbas, Fatah; no group takes responsibility.

September 19 2007

1 Palestinian killed.

Olmert convenes his security cabinet, which declares Gaza “hostile territory” controlled by a “terrorist organization” (Hamas); imposes additional sanctions on Gaza with the stated aim of reducing Palestinian rocket fire, including cutting back fuel and electricity services to the Strip, further reducing imports to and travel from Gaza. Early in the morning, the IDF sends troops into Shuka to raid and search homes. The IDF also makes an air strike on a PRC training camp e. of Bayt Lahiya, causing no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF continues operations in `Ayn Bayt al-Ma’a for a 2d day, raiding and searching homes, fatally shooting a mentally handicapped Palestinian who steps onto his balcony, firing on stone-throwing youths who confront the troops, wounding 8; conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Tulkarm and in Jenin, Qalqilya, Ramallah. Jewish settlers fr. Karmiel settlement nr. Hebron vandalize a nearby, fenced-in crop area planted by local bedouin to feed their herds. (IFM 9/19; NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 9/20; NYT 9/22; IFM 9/24; OCHA 9/26; PCHR 9/27)

In Beirut, unidentified assailants detonate a car bomb assassinating Christian Phalange party MP Antoine Ghanem (the 8th anti-Syrian figure killed in the past 3 yrs.), reducing the governing coalition’s parliamentary majority to 67 of 128 seats only 6 days before parliament is to convene to elect a new pres. by simple majority. Ghanem’s bodyguard and 5 bystanders are also killed; 56 are wounded (19 seriously). (REU 9/19; NYT, WP, WT 9/20; NYT, WT 9/21).

Suspected Fatah mbrs. fire on an ESF patrol nr. Shati’ r.c. in Gaza, injuring 2 ESF officers. Nr. Gaza City, the ESF intervenes to prevent a group of Islamic Jihad mbrs. fr. firing rockets into Israel, sparking an exchange of gunfire that leaves no reported injuries. In Rafah, unidentified gunmen shoot, wound a Hamas mbr.

September 19 2008

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and sound bomb canisters injuring dozens of Palestinians at their Friday demonstration in Bil'in, spraying water mixed with blue dye and tear gas that is absorbed by the skin. (Ma'an News Agency)

A report issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory said Israel took steps aimed at easing internal movement for Palestinians in the West Bank. While these actions were positive and welcomed, the impact was limited geographically. Overall, the freedom of movement of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem remained highly constrained and neither territorial contiguity nor pre-2000 status quo was restored. (www.ochaopt.org)

The Wall Street Journal published an Op-Ed page by PA President Abbas entitled "Israel and Palestine Can Still Achieve Peace." President Abbas wrote, "I continue to believe that we can achieve a lasting peace, with the Israeli and Palestinian peoples living as neighbours in two independent states. But if we do not succeed, and succeed soon, the parameters of debate are apt to shift dramatically. Israel's continued settlement expansion and land confiscation in the West Bank makes physical separation of our two peoples increasingly impossible. The number of settlers grew by approximately 85 per cent after the Oslo agreement were signed ... We are impatient for our freedom. Yet, partial peace, as proposed again by my current interlocutors, is not the way forward. Partial freedom is a contradiction in terms. Either a Palestinian lives free or continues to live under the yoke of Israeli military occupation … Israeli leaders insist that Jerusalem not be physically divided. I agree. Although Jerusalem's sovereignty must be divided, the city itself can be shared as the capital of two States – east for Palestine and west for Israel. While claiming to abhor dividing the city in half, Israel nonetheless splits the city through its complex of walls, tunnels and laws that segregate and discriminate between Muslim and Christian Palestinians and Israeli Jews. Israel continues to encircle the holy city with exclusively Jewish settlements that server it from the rest of the occupied West Bank… Rather than a partial outcome, we seek an agreement resulting in two viable and sovereign States based on 1967 borders, including a Jerusalem that is the capital of two States and a just resolution that honours the rights of the Palestinian refugees." (The Wall Street Journal)

Hamas would not renew negotiations for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit unless Israel met its preconditions, the London-based newspaper Asharq Alawsat quoted a senior official of the group as saying. According to the report, Hamas had laid out three conditions for the renewal of negotiations with Israel: the release of all Palestinian prisoners whose name appear on the list that had been given to Israel via Egyptian mediation; the implementation of all Israeli commitments in the framework of the ceasefire agreement, including the reopening of Gaza Strip crossings for the passage of goods; and the reopening of Rafah crossing. (Haaretz)

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