6 Palestinians killed. 2 Israelis killed.
Israeli-Palestinian clashes continue, leaving 5 Palestinian dead,
including senior DFLP mbr. Firas Qasim Saba'na, who is assasinated by IDF
troops in Jinin. A 6th Palestinian dies of injuries received earlier. The
IDF also shells a Palestinian hotel in Bethlehem "to flush out gunmen." The
IDF bulldozes 18 dunams of Palestinian land nr. Kefar Darom settlement,
35 dunams nr. Netzarim settlement. For the 7th straight wk., Israel bars
Palestinians under 45 fr. attending Friday prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque. The
IDF says that since 11/22, it has arrested 119 West Bank Palestinians suspected
of throwing stones, Molotov cocktails. (AP, LAW 11/24; LAW, NYT, WP, WT 11/25;
IsraelWire [Internet] 11/26; PCHR 12/18)
Arafat and Barak agree to resume security coordination during a
3-way phone conversation arranged by Russian pres. Vladimir Putin.
Arafat, who is in Moscow on a 1-day visit to meet with Putin, suggests Russia
convene a Madrid-style international conference on the peace process, but Barak
rejects the idea. (Interfax, ITAR-TASS 11/24, ITAR-TASS 11/25, HJ, SA 11/26 in
WNC 11/29; NYT, REU, WP, WT 11/25; AFP [Internet], MA [Internet] 11/26)
This evening, senior PA and Israeli security officials hold more
coordination talks, agree to allow PSF officers back into DCOs. (AYM 11/24, HJ
11/26 in WNC 11/29)
In Gaza, clashes erupt when the IDF attempts to remove a roadblock outside
Khan Yunis. When the IDF responds to stone throwers with heavy weapons, PA
police and Palestinian gunmen fire back, killing 1 IDF soldier.
Palestinian gunmen fatally shoot a Jewish settler in the West Bank.
Israel admits that 5 Palestinian boys killed by an
explosion on 11/22 accidentally triggered a bomb planted the IDF that was
for Palestinian gunmen. In response to 5 explosions along the Rafah-Egypt border, the IDF
shells Palestinian residential areas of Rafah. (MENA 11/24 in WNC 11/27; NYT,
WP, WT 11/25; NYT 11/26; PMC 11/28; MM 12/20; NYT 12/21)
In Nablus, 50,000 Palestinians attend the funeral
for Hamas's Abu Hanud. In retaliation for Abu Hanud's assassination,
Hamas fire mortars at Kefar Darom settlement, killing 1 IDF soldier,
wounding 2.
1 Palestinian killed.
The IDF fires on Palestinians waiting to cross an IDF checkpoint w. of
Nablus, killing 1 Palestinian; conducts house-to-house searches, arrests
in Aida r.c., Bayt Umar, Bethlehem, Jit, Tal, Tubas, Tulkarm; raids, fires on
residential areas of Rafah, Nablus, Nur al-Shams r.c., Tulkarm; bulldozes 14
dunams of land s. of Dayr al-Balah; raids the al-Ihsan charitable society,
Hebron University dean’s offices in Hebron, confiscating computers, files;
forces at gunpoint a 24-yr.-old Palestinian to undress in the main street of
Nablus, bark like a dog. Late in the evening, the IDF sends 10s of tanks,
armored personnel carriers (APCs) into Qalqilya, imposes a curfew, raids Waqf
offices, conducts arrest raids targeting Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP) mbrs. The UN sends an envoy to the West Bank to
investigate the 11/22 death of a UNRWA official, new charges (11/23) by Israel
that Palestinian gunmen were firing from inside the UNRWA’s Jenin r.c. compound,
prompting the IDF gunfire. (NYT, WT 11/25; WT 11//26; LAW, PCHR 11/27)
The IDF conducts arrest raids in Tubas; fires on
residential areas of Khan Yunis; bulldozes 39 dunams of land in al-Bureij r.c.
Shin Bet arrests
Palestinian hospital worker and chemist Rashid al-Nimr, cousin of PLO Exec.
Comm. mbr. Faruq al-Qaddumi, on charges of selling Hamas 6 containers of
hydrogen peroxide for use in building bombs, transporting the chemicals by
ambulance, evading the IDF by hiding in hospitals. (JP 11/25 in WNC 11/27; LAW,
PCHR 12/4; JP 12/11 in WNC 12/13)
The PSF raids a mosque in Aida r.c. nr. Bethlehem, arresting Hamas
mbrs. thought to be plotting a suicide bombing.
The IDF fires on stone-throwing Palestinians in Yatta, on residential
areas of Brazil r.c., Rafah; conducts arrest raids in Tulkarm. (XIN 11/24; VOP 11/24 in WNC 11/27; PCHR
11/25; JP 11/25 in WNC 11/27)
A Palestinian
sniper shoots, wounds an IDF soldier manning a post outside Dayr
al-Balah. Hamas fires mortars at a Jewish settlement in s. Gaza,
causing no damage or injuries.
The IDF sends troops back into Jenin (see 11/23) to blow up a
Palestinian home that allegedly was a bomb-making factory, also damaging 3
stores, firing rubber bullets at stone-throwing youths who confront them,
injuring 1 Palestinian; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Bethlehem; for
the first time since 1967, orders Hebron's Waqf authorities to close the
Ibrahimi Mosque for 3 days so that Jewish settlers can celebrate a holy
day; orders 50 Palestinian shops nr. Kiryat Arba settlement to be closed for 6
mos. “to keep public order and protect the security” of the IDF. (PCHR 12/1)
4 Palestinians killed.
The IDF continues operations in n. Gaza, fatally shooting an armed
Palestinian, a Palestinian cameraman filming nr. Jabaliya, and a 10-yr.-old
Palestinian boy, wounding at least 7 civilians; 2 IDF soldiers are injured by a
roadside bomb nr. Bayt Lahiya. The IDF also sends bulldozers into the Khan Yunis
area to level land. In the West Bank, the IDF sends troops into ‘Askar r.c.,
fires on stone-throwing Palestinian youths who confront them, wounding 2 with
live ammunition; patrols in Salfit, firing on stone- throwing Palestinian youths
who confront them, wounding 1 with live ammunition; conducts arrest raids, house
searches in and around Nablus, Tulkarm and nr. Hebron; raids a clinic in Nablus,
confiscating medical files, computers. A Palestinian dies of injuries received
during an 11/3 IDF attack on Bayt Hanun. (NYT 11/25; OCHA 11/29; PCHR 11/30)
The IDF fires on a Palestinian
fisherman nr. the n. Gaza border, wounding him; fires a missile at armed
Palestinians nr. Khan Yunis, missing them. In the West Bank. 7 Jewish
settlers fr. Keddumim, angry over the AMB shooting of a settler on 11/19,
rampage through the nearby Palestinian village of Funduk, vandalizing houses
and cars; the IDF observes but does not intervene. Several Jewish
settlers occupying the Homesh settlement site in the n.-central West Bank (evacuated
under the 2005 disengagement) ambush a Palestinian minibus, beat the 12
passengers (including 5 children ages 18 mos.–7 yrs.). (OCHA 11/28; PCHR 11/29;
NYT 12/8)
1 Palestinian killed.
Palestinian police were expected to assume security duties in the Bethlehem area by 25 December, but the overall responsibility would remain Israel's, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said. "If the Palestinian forces were proven successful in Bethlehem as well, Israel would consider expanding their authority to additional cities," said Israeli defense officials. (Ynetnews)
Israel's Defense Minister Barak told the Knesset that "during the months before the truce, there were 500 incidents of Qassam rockets and mortar shells fired every month and after the lull went into effect, the number was reduced to about 10 incidents a month." (Ynetnews)
Israeli defence officials, after consultations, agreed that some 44 trucks with basic goods could enter through the Kerem Shalom crossings with the southern Gaza Strip. Head of the Products Coordination Committee for the Gaza Strip Ra'ed Fattouh said that 30 trucks carrying food were allowed into the Strip through the Kerem Shalom border crossing. Twenty of the trucks were sent by international organizations, including the UN, another 10 trucks containing dairy products were sent by private firms. Also entering the Strip were 230,000 litres of industrial-grade diesel fuel through the Nahal Oz terminal, destined for Gaza's power plant. At the Karni crossing, 20 truckloads of feed for animals as well as wheat for flower mills were shipped. (Haaretz, Ma'an News Agency)
Humanitarian aid convoys destined for the Gaza Strip left Jordan upon the directives of King Abdullah II. (Petra)
International journalists based in Israel appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn a Government decision banning journalists from entering the Gaza Strip. The Foreign Press Association filed the court petition after a letter signed by the heads of the world's biggest news organizations and sent to Israel's Prime Minister failed to persuade the Government to lift the ban. (AP)
Hard-line Israeli settlers, reinforced by about 150 Israeli youths, barricaded themselves in a house in Hebron, vowing to resist a court order to vacate the property they insist they had bought from a Palestinian. They warned of violence if Israel attempted to force them out of the building. Right-wing activists and settler leaders announced plans to hold a mass march to the house on 25 November in an effort to block its evacuation. (Reuters)
The Israeli authorities reached an agreement with the Yesha Council of settlers to relocate the recently dismantled West Bank outpost of "Migron" to the nearby "Adam" settlement. (Haaretz)
PA President Abbas said Israel would free 250 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture before the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. (AP)
An activist in the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees died of the wounds he had sustained in an Israeli raid on Gaza on 15 November, medical sources said. Medical sources also said that Israeli forces shot a Palestinian civilian in the leg near the northern border of the Gaza Strip. (Ma'an News Agency)
Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, a top Hamas leader in Gaza, told reporters that "[PA President] Abbas has no right to decide a new date for holding the elections and he has no right to extend his presidential term." Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoom said: "They [PLO Central Council members] were never elected by the Palestinian people, and those who were not elected have no right to elect others." (Xinhua)
Local banks in Gaza, under pressure from Israeli sanctions, were running out of cash as Palestinians lined up at branches hoping to withdraw money from frozen accounts. Economists and bank officials were warning that tens of thousands of civil servants would not be able to cash their pay checks in December. (Ma'an News Agency)
The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People was observed at United Nations Headquarters in New York and at United Nations offices at Geneva and Vienna, in accordance with the provisions of General Assembly resolution 32/40 B of 2 December 1977. At Headquarters, a special meeting of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People was held in observance of the Day. Statements were made, inter alia, by the Chairman of the Committee, the President of the General Assembly, the Secretary-General, the President of the Security Council and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Palestinian Authority (on behalf of PA President Abbas). (UN press release GA/PAL/1102)
During the General Assembly's annual debate on the question of Palestine, General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann said he believed that the failure to create a Palestinian State was the single greatest failure in the history of the United Nations. Speaking about the Israeli violations on the ground, he said that the situation in the West Bank was often overshadowed by the humanitarian crisis facing Gaza. He said, "We cannot overlook, however, checkpoints, house demolitions during the cold months, the settlers' violence and the unabated settlement expansion that was still being officially authorized," adding, "what is being done against the Palestinian people seems to me to be a version of the hideous policy of apartheid." (UN News Centre)