Some 150 Lebanese residents of Kafr Shuba cross the
blue line into Israeli-controlled territory to protest the occupation of
their farm lands, which are part of the Shaba` Farms area. They are halted by
the IDF, escorted back to Lebanon without incident. (MEI 9/29)
In Jerusalem, PA, Israeli teams resume informal
talks but make no progress. Talks are expected to continue for 4+n5 wks.,
without U.S. participation. (WT 9/18; CSM 9/19)
In London, 2,000 supporters of the Palestinian
refugees' right of return stage a rally like that held in Washington on
9/16. (FOFOGNET Digest [Internet] 9/16; Jewish Chronicle [Internet] 9/22)
3 Palestinians killed.
The IDF directs shells, heavy machine gun fire at residential areas of
Bayt Hanun, Dayr al-Balah, Hebron, Jinin, Rafah, and Ramallah, killing 1
Palestinian, damaging several homes. 2 Palestinians die of injuries
received earlier. Palestinians reportedly throw hand grenades at an
IDF post on the Rafah border, causing no injuries. Late this evening, IDF
troops evacuate 118 bedouin fr. their tents and cave dwellings in the
Hebron Hills. (AP, HP 9/17; NYT, WT 9/18; GS 9/23; LAW 9/29)
1 Palestinian killed.
In Nablus, 9 schools hold classes in violation of the ongoing curfew; the IDF
blocks 3 other schools fr. opening. In Yatta, a nail bomb explodes in the
courtyard of an elementary school while classes are in session, lightly injuring
8 Palestinian children; a 2d bomb is found, defused by the IDF; the
IDF believes Jewish settlers staged the attack. In Tulkarm, a
14-yr.-old Palestinian is killed in a mysterious explosion; the IDF
claims he was making a bomb. The IDF demolishes 9 Palestinian foundries
in Khan Yunis allegedly used to manufacture mortars; demolishes 1 Palestinian
home in Rafah; conducts arrest raids in Khan Yunis, Nablus; fires on a group
of Palestinian children in Askar r.c., wounding 3 teenagers. (HA, REU 9/17; AP,
JP, LAW, NYT, PCHR, PM, PR, WP, WT 9/18; AYM 9/20 in WNC 9/23)
The Quartet (the European Union [EU], Russia, UN, U.S.), reps. of
Israel and the PA meet in New York on the sidelines of the UN General
Assembly opening session. The EU presents the Quartet with a draft “road
map” for creation of a Palestinian state with provisional borders in 2003 and
full Palestinian statehood by 6/05, the plausible target date mentioned by Bush
in his 6/24/02 speech. (REU 9/17; MM, PR, WT 9/18; WJW 9/19; AYM, al-Quds
9/19 in WNC 9/20; AYM 9/20 in WNC 9/23; JT 9/24 in WNC 9/24; MEI 9/27)
1 Palestinian killed.
The IDF fatally shoots AMB mbr. Fadi Abu Zant in Nablus;
conducts arrest raids in Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah; fires on residential areas of
Khan Yunis; conducts arrest raids, bulldozes some telephone, water, electricity
networks in Rafah. An Israeli court in Jerusalem convicts 3 Jewish settlers fr. Bayt
Ayin of attempted murder and illegal weapons possession in connection with a
4/02 attempt to blow up a Palestinian girls’ school in al-Tur. (JTA, REU 9/17;
HA, PCHR 9/18; JP 9/21 in WNC 9/23; PR 9/24)
Palestinians detonate a roadside bomb nr. an IDF
patrol in Rafah, wounding 1 IDF soldier. In Shati` r.c., armed Hamas
mbrs. kidnap a PSF officer whom they accuse of being a collaborator
for participating in the recent arrest of a senior Hamas activist in Gaza City.
1 Palestinian killed.
The IDF clashes with Palestinians in Nablus, fatally shooting a
17-yr.-old Palestinian girl standing on the roof of her home; fires on
residential areas of Khan Yunis, Rafah. British MP Ian Gibson suffers a
mild stroke while on a tour of Gaza with a medical charity; the IDF bars
a Palestinian ambulance fr. taking him across the al-Ram checkpoint into East
Jerusalem, forcing him to wait 90 mins. for an Israeli ambulance, which at 1st
refuses to take him to nearby Makassid Hospital, favoring an Israeli hospital
farther away; Gibson is stabilized in satisfactory condition at Makassid, but
Britain lodges a formal complaint. (HA 9/19; PR 9/22; Guardian, PCHR
IDF occupies 2 Palestinian homes
in Hebron as military posts; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around
Hebron, Ramallah. Some 50 Jewish settlers fr. Efrat burn Palestinian
grape vines, poison a cow nr. Bethlehem. (AFP, IMEMC 9/17; NYT, WP, WT 9/18; AP
9/19; PCHR 9/22)
750 Egyptian border guards, some 2,500 PA security forces
shut the Rafah crossing, patch breeches in the border walls, ending 5 days of
cross-border celebrations; 8 Palestinians, including 3 PA policemen are injured
when PA forces open fire to enforce the closure; Israel demands the
border be sealed for at least 6 mos.; meanwhile, all people, goods to or fr.
Egypt will pass through an Israeli-monitored crossing at Kerem Shalom, where
Gaza, Egypt, Israel meet.
The IDF prevents EU monitors fr. reaching the Rafah crossing, forcing it to
close. In the West Bank, the IDF sends undercover units in cars with Palestinian
license plates into Tanfar nr. Hebron (arresting a PA General Intelligence
Service officer, a PA police officer), Tulkarm r.c. (firing on residential
areas, wounding 2 stone- throwing youths, but failing to arrest the target of
the raid); raids several greenhouses in Qalqilya, briefly detaining 2
Palestinians; patrols, searches cars in al-Zababda nr. Jenin; conducts arrest
raids, house searches in and around Nablus, nr. Hebron (also raiding, searching
a PA police station, detaining 2 PA police officers); begins bulldozing
Palestinian land outside Hebron nr. Tenei settlement for construction of a
settler-only bypass road. (AFP 9/17; AP, NYT 9/18; PCHR 9/21)
Palestinians set fire to 2 more churches (1 in Nablus,
1 in Gaza City) to protest Pope Benedict’s 9/12 statements; Haniyeh denounces
the attacks “against our Christian brothers as totally unacceptable”; PC mbrs.,
100s of Palestinian Muslims rally in Nablus in solidarity with the churches,
denounce the attacks.
IDF soldiers, Palestinian gunmen
exchange fire across the border nr. the Erez crossing, causing no damage or
injuries. The IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Qalqilya. A Jewish settler kills a 14-yr.-old Palestinian in a
deliberate hit-and-run nr. Salfit. (OCHA 9/19; PCHR 9/20)
In Gaza, an IDF tank operating
inside Gaza nr. the Nahal Oz crossing triggers a roadside bomb, causing damage but no injuries. Palestinians fire 2 RPGs at an IDF patrol inside
Israel e. of al-Qarara; the IDF then sends undercover units, a tank into al-Qarara to search for the assailants, exchanging fire with Hamas mbrs.;
no injuries are reported. Palestinians fire 2 mortars fr. the Bayt Hanun area
toward Israel, but both land inside Palestinian territory, causing no damage or
injuries.
In Gaza, the Palestinian Union of Medical
Professions ends the work slowdown started on 8/26.
Two Palestinians were injured when they were attacked by Israeli settlers near Nablus. They were taken to a hospital in Israel for treatment. (Ma'an News Agency)
Israeli forces arrested 18 Palestinians in Bethlehem, Qalqilya, Nablus and Hebron. (Ma'an News Agency)
Two Israeli soldiers were lightly injured during clashes with settlers in the West Bank. The first incident took place at the "Yad Yair" outpost where one settler unleashed his dog on a soldier. In the evening, some 40 settlers arrived at an IDF position near the "Talmon" settlement, west of Ramallah, and assaulted reservists manning the post. Settlers torched fields belonging to Palestinian villages in response to the forced evacuation of the "Yad Yair" outpost by the IDF and police. Israeli police detained two settlers from the "Yitzhar" settlement on suspicion that they had set on fire farmland belonging to the Palestinian villages of Ma'adama and Burin (Nablus area) and to fields belonging to the Kfar Sara village near the "Havat Gilad" settlement south-east of "Kedumim." Villagers from Ma'adama in the northern West Bank said some 200 trees had been set on fire. (Haaretz, The Jerusalem Post, Ynetnews)
Ynet reported that Israel was examining the possibility of expanding the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority's security forces to include Hebron, following a request made by the PA. (Ynetnews)
Hamas said that a large delegation representing the group would head to Cairo on 8 October to take part in Palestinian reconciliation talks. (Ma'an News Agency)
In a report prepared for a meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee on 22 September, the World Bank said that the Palestinians were becoming more dependent on foreign aid, mainly owing to a sluggish economy stifled by continued Israeli restrictions on trade and movement. The Bank said that while the Palestinians had moved forward with reform and donors had delivered significant sums of aid, Israel had only removed a few obstacles and its economic restrictions on the Palestinians had increased. "Aid and reform without access are unlikely to revive the Palestinian economy. As such, international manifestations of support toward a viable Palestinian State and institutions are incomplete insofar as they do not tackle Israeli economic restrictions in parallel," the World Bank said in the report. (AP, www.worldbank.org)