1 Palestinian killed.
In a surprise move, Barak announces he will resign on 12/10, call
elections for PM only within 2 mos. Barak thus triggers a law that restricts
candidates in a special election for PM to current MKs, thereby keeping Likud's
Netanyahu, who leads Barak's by 15 points in pubic opinion polls, out of
the race. Netanyahu would only be able to run if the Knesset dissolved
itself, forcing general elections. (MENA 12/9, AYM, MENA, RL 12/10 in WNC 12/13;
HA, MA [Internet], NYT, WP, WT, YA 12/10; HJ 12/10, al-Quds 12/11, DUS
12/12 in WNC 12/14; MM 12/11; WJW 12/14; JP 12/15; AYM 12/15 in WNC 12/21; MEI
12/22) (see 11/28)
Israeli-Palestinian clashes abate due to severe weather that keeps many
people indoors. 1 Palestinian dies of injuries received earlier. In
Hebron, 80 Jewish settlers, armed with machine guns and pistols, attempt
to take over 5 Palestinian homes, damage 11 homes, open fire on Palestinians,
seriously injuring 1 teenager. The IDF bulldozes 20 dunams of Palestinian
land nr. Netzarim Junction, 7 dunams (including 1 home) nr. Gush Katif
settlement. (LAW 12/9; NYT, WT 12/10; PCHR 12/18)
5 Palestinians killed.
During a predawn arrest raid in Anabta
that nets some 25 Islamic Jihad suspects, the IDF opens fire on 2
cars of PSF officers (1 marked, 1 civilian), killing 4 PSF officers,
wounding 2; blows up 1 Palestinian home. The IDF also fatally
shoots 1 Palestinian taxi driver at a crossing in Jinin; shells
residential areas of Khan Yunis, Rafah. (BBC, WP 12/9;
MENA 12/9 in WNC 12/11; NYT, WP, WT 12/10; AYM 12/10 in WNC 12/12; LAW 12/12)
In a signal to the Palestinians, Sharon convenes his
weekly cabinet mtg. at the IDF's West Bank headquarters. At his
request the inner cabinet approves an escalation of attacks on PA
security installations. (BBC, HA 12/9; WT 12/10; Guardian 12/19)
U.S. envoy Zinni convenes another unproductive
trilateral security comm. mtg.; warns Israel, the PA that if
they do not make serious efforts to implement a cease-fire within 48 hrs., he
will call off his mission. In Gaza, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (AMB),
Hamas, Islamic Jihad issue a signed statement offering to suspend
suicide bombings and gunfire inside Israel, if Israel stops assassinations,
bombardment of Palestinian areas. The IDF dismisses the offer. (BBC, HA
12/9; JP [Internet], MM, NYT, WP, WT 12/10; MM 12/11; AYM 12/11 in WNC 12/13;
al-Quds 12/13 in WNC 12/14; MEI 12/21)
Hamas suicide bomber detonates a device in a Haifa bus
station, lightly injuring 11 Israelis. Palestinian gunmen ambush a car
in the West Bank, seriously injuring a Jewish settler.
3 Palestinians killed.
The IDF fatally shoots a mentally disabled Palestinian riding a
donkey nr. Tulkarm when he refuses orders to halt; the man had been detained,
released by IDF soldiers in the area on numerous occasions. Asked why they fired
on someone known to be mentally handicapped, the soldier says, “That’s not our
problem. We told him to stop and he didn’t.” The IDF also fires on a taxi
driving nr. Nablus after dark, during a curfew, killing a Palestinian woman,
wounding her husband, 3d passenger; fires on an UNRWA school bus,
injuring 1 Palestinian student; fires rubber-coated steel bullets at
Palestinians waiting to cross the Qalandia checkpoint, the Abu Hualy roadblock;
demolishes 2 Palestinian homes in Rafah r.c; conducts arrest raids,
searches in Bayt Furik, Bayt Rima, Khan Yunis, al-Qarara, Tulkarm. A 3d
Palestinian dies of injuries received on 9/24/02. (NYT, WP 12/10; LAW, PCHR,
PR 12/11)
4 Palestinians killed.
The IDF captures an alleged Palestinian suicide bomber en route
to stage an attack; fatally shoots a stone-throwing Palestinian youth in
Qalandia; uncovers, destroys a smugglers’ tunnel to Egypt in Rafah; fires on
residential areas of Rafah. In Hebron, 3 Hamas mbrs. are killed in a
mysterious explosion; the IDF claims they were preparing a bomb, Hamas claims
they were assassinated. Palestinians toss grenades at an IDF
patrol in Rafah, causing no damage or injuries. Jewish settlers fr. Hagay
settlement in Hebron seize 10 dunams of land belonging to the Palestinian
village of Rihiyya. (JTA 12/9; VOI, VOP, YA 12/9 in WNC 12/11; HA 12/10; PR
12/10; VOP 12/10 in WNC 12/12; PCHR 12/11)
2 Palestinians killed.
The IDF attempts to assassinate wanted Palestinian Resistance Comm.
(PRC) leader Jamal Abu Samhadana, firing a missile at his car as he drives
in Gaza, wounding him, 2 bodyguards, 1 bystander; fatally shoots a
Palestinian who enters a closed military zone nr. the Gaza-Egypt border;
fires a missile at the Bayt Lahiya home of AMB cmdr. Mahmud al-Madhun in
an attempt to assassinate him; bulldozes 50 d. of land in Khan Yunis; conducts
arrest raids, house searches in Kafr Khalil nr. Qalqilya, Nablus, Tulkarm r.c.;
sends troops into al-Qarara to patrol; temporarily detains PA presidential
candidate Bassam Salhi at a checkpoint into Jerusalem, saying he does not
have a permit to enter the city to campaign. Israeli contractors guarded
by Jewish settlers fr. Tzofim nr. Qalqilya uproot 117 olive trees in
nearby Jayyus for creation of a new settlement enclave to be called North
Tzofim. A Palestinian dies of injuries received in a 4/21/04 IDF raid on
Gaza City. (HA, JAZ 12/9; JAZ, VOP 12/9 in WNC 12/11; HA, JAZ, NYT, WP 12/10;
VOP, YA 12/10 in WNC 12/14; PRCS 12/15; PCHR 12/16; MEI 12/17)
2 Palestinians killed.
In the 2d such incident in a wk. (see 12/2), an IDF naval patrol fires
on a Palestinian boat nr. the Egyptian border, suspecting it of being involved
in smuggling arms; 1 Palestinian is killed, 1 is missing. The IDF
fires tear gas, rubber bullets at the car of UN special rapporteur on human
rights Jon Dugard when he visits Bilin villages to observe the weekly
nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall; conducts arrest
raids, house searches in Hebron, Nablus and nr. Qalqilya, Tulkarm; enters, fires
on residential areas of Jenin; issue confiscation orders for Palestinian land
west of Dura for construction of 5 observation towers surrounding Nahal Negohot
settlement. (YA 12/9; AP, HA, IMEMC 12/10; NYT 12/11; PCHR 12/15)
A 17-yr.-old Palestinian girl attempts to stab an IDF soldier
in Hebron, is arrested.
2 Palestinians killed.
In
Bureij r.c., ESF, Fatah mbrs. exchange fire, leaving 1 bystander wounded. PA
security forces in Jenin protest the Hamas-led government’s failure to pay back
salaries. Some 1,000 PA security forces protest on the same issue in Gaza, where
demonstrators storm the PC building, fire in the air, exchange fire with PC
security guards and the ESF.
In
Bureij r.c., ESF, Fatah mbrs. exchange fire, leaving 1 bystander wounded. PA
security forces in Jenin protest the Hamas-led government’s failure to pay back
salaries. Some 1,000 PA security forces protest on the same issue in Gaza, where
demonstrators storm the PC building, fire in the air, exchange fire with PC
security guards and the ESF.
In the West Bank, the IDF conducts
arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c., Nablus, and nr.
Hebron, Tulkarm. (OCHA 12/12; PCHR 12/13)
In Gaza City, unidentified assailants shoot, wound a Hamas-affiliated
security force mbr.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni warned that the consequences of renewed Palestinian rockets into Israeli territory might be much tougher than yet another closure. She said, "A (military) response is important; even if it doesn't automatically end the Palestinian rocket fire, there is something important in the impression, and Israel's deterrence ability." She also said she was "ashamed to call what is currently happening [in Gaza] a ceasefire." (The Jerusalem Post, Ynetnews)
Israel temporarily reopened some border crossings with the Gaza Strip to allow in minimum shipments of humanitarian aid. The shipments included diesel fuel for Gaza's only power plant. The military said cargo and passenger crossings were reopened because of a lull in attacks by Gaza militants the day earlier. (AP, BBC, Ma'an News Agency, Ynetnews)
Israel released a 47-year-old member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Nizar Abdel Aziz Ramadan who had been held in prison for three years, following a court ruling which acquitted him of all charges. Forty other members of the PLC remained in Israeli prisons. (Ma'an News Agency)
The UN Human Rights Council adopted, by consensus, a list of 99 recommendations to Israel, at the end of a two-day review of Israel's human rights records, from lifting its blockade on Gaza to releasing Palestinian prisoners. (Haaretz, The Jerusalem Post, Ynetnews)
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territory Richard Falk, in a statement, called on the United Nations to make an "urgent effort to implement the agreed norms of responsibility to protect a civilian populations being collectively punished by the policies that amount to a Crime Against Humanity … In a similar vein, it would be mandatory for the International Criminal Court to investigate the situation, and determine whether the Israeli civilian leaders and military commanders responsible for the Gaza siege should be indicted and prosecuted for violations of international criminal law." He also said that "such a flurry of denunciations by normally cautious UN officials has not occurred on the global level since on a heyday of South African apartheid … and still Israel maintains its Gaza siege in its full fury, allowing only barely enough food and fuel to enter to stave off mass famine and disease." (AFP, Haaretz, Ma'an News Agency, Reuters, www.unog.ch)
