1 Palestinian killed.
Israeli-Palestinian clashes
continue, leaving 1 Palestinian dead. The IDF shells residential
areas of al-Bireh, Ramallah (damaging the PA Local Government Min., 3 homes, 1
apartment block). Israeli police tear down the Damascus Gate market in
East Jerusalem, run and frequented mostly by Palestinians. The PA
reports that the private office of PLO Executive Comm. secy.-gen. and PA
senior negotiator Mahmud Abbas has been hit repeatedly by Israeli gunfire
over the past few days. (SA 2/27 in WNC 2/28; LAW 3/1)
The IDF fatally shoots 3 armed infiltrators fr. Egypt in the s.
Negev. IDF soldiers fire on Palestinians outside al-Nur mosque in Brazil
for the 2d day, wounding 4. Late this evening, the IDF begins air strikes
on Balata. Jewish settlers bulldoze Palestinian land nr. Bracha
settlement, set up a caravan. The IDF bulldozes Palestinian land nr.
Jenin; reportedly spray range land with poison nr. Tubas, killing may goats,
sheep. (JP [Internet], al-Quds [Internet] 2/27; AP, NYT, WP, WT 2/28; MM,
NYT 3/1; AYM 3/2 in WNC 3/4; WP 3/7)
A female suicide bomber detonates a device at an IDF roadblock in
the West Bank, wounding 3 soldiers; 2 Israeli Arabs traveling with her
are arrested, 1 is shot and wounded. The woman, an al-Najah University student
originally affiliated with Hamas (see 1/27), 1st approached Hamas,
Islamic Jihad about staging a suicide bombing but was refused; the AMB
ultimately provided her with explosives. In E. Jerusalem, a Palestinian
fatally shoots his Jewish settler employer in a politically motivated
attack.
1 Palestinian killed.
The IDF raids a branch of the Arab Bank in Azariyya, East Jerusalem,
confiscates documents related to bank accounts belonging to Jerusalem
residents allegedly linked to Hamas. A Palestinian
dies of injuries received on 2/23. (HA, JTA 2/27; PCHR 3/6; LAW 3/13)
The Knesset approves (68-48) Israeli PM Ariel Sharon’s
(reelected on 1/28/03) new coalition government. The 68-seat coalition includes
the right-wing, pro-settler National Religious Party (6 seats), opposed
to creation of a Palestinian state; the right-wing, secular nationalist
Shinui (15 seats), which supports unilateral separation; and the
ultraright-wing National Union Party (7 seats), which represents Jewish
settlers, opposes talks with the Palestinians, and advocates expelling PA
head Yasir Arafat and Palestinians from the occupied territories and
annexing the land. Acting FM Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) becomes finance
minister, acting Finance M Silvan Shalom (Likud) becomes FM; Likud’s
Tshai Hanegbi (previously under criminal investigation by Israeli police)
becomes internal security minister; Mofaz remains DM. Sharon says that
the economy will be his 1st priority, the peace process his 2d; that the
Palestinians would have to give up the right of return, agree to Jerusalem
remaining the unified capital of Israel, and halt all violence if they want a
comprehensive peace. (HA, MM, NYT, WP 2/27; NYT, WP, WT 2/28; MA 2/28 in WNC
3/3; WT 3/1; MEI 3/7) (see Doc. C1)
A roadside bomb explodes nr. a
Jewish settler bus in the West Bank, causing no injuries.
2 Israelis killed.
The IDF storms the al-Aqsa Mosque compound after
Friday prayers, claiming to break up a demonstration there, firing rubber-coated
steel bullets and percussion grenades, lightly injuring several Palestinians and
sparking stone-throwing toward the Western Wall by Palestinian youths, which
causes no injuries. The IDF also demolishes 84 Palestinian shops
in Bayt Hanun, in an apparent move to expand the buffer zone around the Erez
crossing; raids Husan, imposes a curfew, surrounds 3 mosques, fires tear gas
inside, injuring 24 worshipers; fires on Palestinians who throw stones at
soldiers at the end of peaceful demonstrations against the separation wall
in Budrus, Qibya, causing no injuries; conducts arrest raids nr. Hebron,
Ramallah; fires on residential areas of Khan Yunis; withdraws troops fr. the
Palestinian Medical Relief offices in Ramallah, occupied on 2/26. (VOP 2/27 in WNC 3/2; NYT, PCHR, WT 2/28; PR 3/3; PCHR
3/4)
An Islamic Jihad suicide bomber on a bicycle detonates a device nr.
Gaza’s Kefar Darom settlement, killing only himself, causing no injuries.
Palestinian gunmen open fire on an Israeli vehicle just inside Israel nr.
Beersheba, killing 2 Israelis, escaping; the AMB, Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine–General Command (PFLP–GC) claim
responsibility.
Palestinians fire a Qassam rocket at Neve Dekalim settlement, causing
damage but no injuries.
The IDF steps up military actions in response to the 2/25 Tel Aviv
bombing, placing curfews on Alar, Saida villages nr. Tulkarm; conducts overnight
arrest raids, house searches nr. Tulkarm; conducts late night arrest raids,
house searches in al-Bireh, nr. Tulkarm. Jewish settlers fr. Gil'ad
uproot 25 olive trees belonging to Palestinians fr. nearby Jinsafut. (VOP
2/27; WT 2/28; OCHA 3/2; PCHR 3/3)
The Israel on Campus Coalition, an umbrella group of some 26 Jewish
organizations across the U.S., launches a free hotline for students who "feel
intimidated because of their pro-Israel views." The coalition will track
complaints across the country and "offer support teams of faculty, students, and
Jewish professionals for complainants who want further aid." (WJW 2/24)
The PA
arrests 2 Palestinians in connection with the 2/25 Tel Aviv bombing.
The IDF sends troops into Bani Na‘im, surrounds a house in search of a wanted
Palestinian who is not home, fires on stonethrowing Palestinians who confront
the troops, sparking several hrs. of clashes that leave 35 Palestinians wounded;
conducts overnight arrest raids in and around Jenin and in Askar r.c., Balata
r.c., Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus’s old city, Ramallah; uproots 10s of olive trees
and bulldozes 2 animal pens for construction of the separation wall nr. Jenin;
erects a metal gate, places barbed wire at the southern entrance to Jamayn nr.
Nablus, which faces a settler bypass road; installs metal gates at entrances to
Marda, facing Ariel settlement. The IDF also requests that the PA dig a trench
20 m long by 4 m deep near the Qarni crossing in a search for smugglers tunnels;
the PA complies but no tunnels are found. (XIN 2/27; PCHR 3/2; OCHA 3/23)
The IDF withdraws fr. Nablus, officially suspending (but not ending)
Operation Hot Winter, which has left 1 Palestinian dead, 5 wanted men (and 10s
of other Palestinians) arrested. The IDF also detains an Italian film crew in
Hebron making a documentary on Palestinian children in the city; conducts arrest
raids in and around Hebron, in Jenin, and nr. Bethlehem, Nablus, Qalqilya,
Tulkarm. IDF troops on the Gaza border e. of Rafah fire on farmers who stray nr.
the border fence, causing no injuries. The Israeli navy fires on Palestinian
fishing boats off the Gaza coast nr. Rafah, forcing them to return to shore,
causing no damage or injuries. (NYT, OCHA, WP 2/28; HA, PCHR 3/1)
Islamic Jihad mbrs. fire 6 rockets fr. al-Qarara
nr. Khan Yunis toward the IDF post at the Kissufim crossing; 2 rockets land
inside Gaza, damaging 2 Palestinian homes, killing some sheep; no damage is
reported at Kissufim.
13 Palestinians killed. 1 Israeli killed.
In the morning, the IDF makes an air
strike on a minivan nr. Khan Yunis, assassinating 5 Hamas mbrs. and wounding
1 allegedly responsible for the Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades’ rocket program;
makes air strikes on a 2d Hamas vehicle, missing it, allowing the targets to
escape. Also in the morning, IDF troops on the Gaza border nr. al-Bureij
r.c. fire on a group of Palestinian children who stray nr. the border fence,
wounding 1. In the evening, IDF
warplanes drop 3 guided missiles on Gaza’s Interior Min. building (empty at the
time), destroying it, killing a 6-mo.-old Palestinian baby, wounding
more than 25 Palestinians; also launch air strikes on at least 4 other sites in
Gaza City and Khan Yunis suspected of manufacturing rockets, causing no
reported injuries. In
the West Bank, the IDF sends undercover units into Nablus, where they
ambush and fatally shoot wanted al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (AMB) mbr. Ibrahim Masimi
in an apparent assassination, wounding and arresting 4 AMB mbrs. and a
construction worker nearby; Masimi and 2 of the wounded AMB mbrs. were among
those granted amnesty by Israel in 7/07. The IDF also patrols in, fires
on residential areas of Balata r.c., exchanging fire with local gunmen, killing
2 armed Palestinians, wounding 2; conducts late-night arrest raids,
house searches in and around Hebron, and nr. Jenin, Ramallah, Tulkarm. (BBC
2/27; NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 2/28; PCHR 3/6; WP 4/10)
In response to the air strikes, Hamas fires 25 rockets
fr. Gaza into Israel, killing 1 Israeli, wounding 2, and damaging
a home and factory in Sederot. The IDF responds with air and artillery strikes
on suspected rocket-launching sites nr. Jabaliya r.c. and Gaza City, killing 1
Islamic Jihad mbr., 3 Palestinian civilians (including boys ages 12,
13), wounding 12 (including 5 children ages 8–14); fires across the border,
wounding a Palestinian in al-Shuka. In response, Palestinians fire
another 15 rockets, causing no damage or injuries.
An Islamic Jihad mbr. dies when a roadside bomb he is
laying nr. the border fence e. of al-Bureij r.c. explodes prematurely. Gaza
municipal authorities warn all Gazans to boil their water to prevent
disease, reporting that waterworks still receiving electricity have run out of
chlorine to treat sewage; Israel last allowed the import of chlorine on 1/21.
Four protesters against the separation wall in Ni’lin were injured by Israeli rubber-coated metal bullets. Dozens choked on tear gas during the protest. (Ma’an News Agency)
Human rights organization B'Tselem had obtained details of plans, yet to be approved by the Israeli Government, which envisage the initial construction of 550 apartments in the settlement of “Gva’ot”, located in the “Gush Etzion” settlement block, followed by construction of another 4,450 units at a later stage. At present, “Gva'ot” is inhabited by 12 families. The neighbouring settlement of “Bat Ayin”, which has about 120 families, is slated to receive another 2,000 apartments, according to the plans. “Rimonim” will get another 254 apartments if the plans are approved, and expansion plans are also in the works for “Enav” and “Mevo Dotan”. (Haaretz)
Spanish judge Fernando Andreu would pursue his probe into a 2002 Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip, which killed Hamas leader Salah Shehade and 14 others, including several children, because Israel itself did not investigate the attack, judicial sources said. (DPA)
Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, expressed support for the Palestinian unity talks: "Let's see what's at the end and we will talk when it comes to an end, but in principle we are supporting them," he said. (Reuters)
Mr. Solana toured the Gaza Strip, his first such trip since June 2007. "I came to Gaza to see by myself the situation and the destruction and to show the solidarity to the good people of Gaza who have suffered so much," he said at a news conference. "I wanted to see with my eyes the level of destruction," he said. "I hope the [International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Economy for the Reconstruction of Gaza], that will take place on Monday, will be a good meeting with good consequences for people here," said Mr. Solana. (AFP, AP)
Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Střre toured areas in Gaza hard hit by the Israeli offensive. "This is senseless destruction, destroying the lives of ordinary people, creating misery and not creating peace and not creating security," he said. (AFP, Reuters)
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations and Neighbourhood Policy, will pledge on 2 March in Sharm el-Sheikh €436 million ($554 million) to the Palestinian people for 2009 at the Conference in Support of the Palestinian Economy for the Reconstruction of Gaza. The Commission’s pledge will be dedicated to humanitarian aid and early recovery of the Gaza Strip. (www.europa.eu)
Fatah leaders urged Palestinians to participate in a PLO-led strike in protest of reported Israeli plans to demolish Palestinian houses in the Al-Bustan area of the Silwan neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. The protest actions were slated for 28 February. Israeli police imposed tight restrictions on entry to Jerusalem and on worship at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. (Ma’an News Agency)
UNRWA Commissioner-General Karen AbuZayd indicated she "deeply regrets any awkwardness" the transmission of a letter from Hamas may have caused for the US Government. UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said the incident did not detract from UNRWA’s neutrality. (The Independent)