1 Palestinian killed. 1 Israeli killed.
The IDF assassinates Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(PFLP) leader Abu Ali Mustafa (Mustafa Zibri), the most prominent
Palestinian leader targeted to date, firing missiles at his office in al-Bireh.
(22 U.S. citizens also live in the building where Mustafa worked; 3 are
lightly injured in the attack.) In response, 1,000s of Palestinians take
to the streets in Bethlehem, Gaza City, Jinin, Nablus, Tulkarm to protest. The
U.S. criticizes Israel for "inflaming an already volatile situation and
making it much harder to restore calm" says Israel must also take economic,
security steps to alleviate pressure on the Palestinians. Also in response to
the Mustafa killing, Palestinian gunmen fire on Gilo settlement; the
IDF then sends tanks into neighboring Bayt Jala (area A). The IDF
also sends tanks, bulldozers into Rafah in response to Palestinian
gunfire; destroys 3 Palestinian houses, sparking a fierce gun battle.
(AP, CNN 8/27; AFP, Interfax, MENA 8/27 in WNC 8/28; BDL, LAW, MM, NYT, REU, WT
8/28; MA, XIN 8/28 in WNC 8/29; MM 8/29; AYM 8/28, ATL, IRNA, JT 8/29 in WNC
8/30; al-Ra'i 8/29, MENA, al-Quds, SA 8/30 in WNC 8/31; PMC 8/30;
MEI, MM 8/31; AYM 8/31 in WNC 9/10; HA 9/1; JP 9/7; MEI 9/14)
Palestinians ambush a settler vehicle nr. Nablus, kill 1 Jewish settler.
The IDF conducts arrest raids in Ramallah, detaining PFLP politburo
mbrs. Bashir Khayri and Ali Jaradat, PFLP activist Sakir Hanacha (see
8/25); temporarily lifts the curfew on Hebron. Jewish settlers establish a new settlement
enclave nr. Eli settlement. (PCHR, WT 8/28; JP 8/29; AFP, Peace Now press
release 9/2)
Late in the evening,
Palestinians fire a mortar at a Jewish settlement in Gaza, causing light
damage but no injuries.
The IDF eases the closures on Bethlehem and Jericho, allowing goods in
and out; continues operations in Nablus; continues curfews on Hebron, Jenin,
Nablus; fatally shoots a Palestinian who allegedly attempts to stab a
soldier in Bethlehem; conducts arrest raids in Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Qalqilya,
Ramallah (searching Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [PFLP]
offices); demolishes 1 Palestinian home nr. Jenin. Israeli police
arrest 4 bedouin, 1 Palestinian laborer fr. Hebron in a village in
the Negev on charges of setting up a Hamas cell. (HA, MM 8/27; HA, PCHR 8/28)
In Ramallah, 100s of
Palestinians protest against PA PM Mahmud Abbas’s government.
Palestinians fire a Qassam rocket into the Negev, causing no damage
or injuries. Late in the evening, Palestinians fire 13 mortars, 2
anti-tank rockets at Jewish settlements, IDF posts in Gaza, causing no
damage or injuries.
The IDF enters, fires on residential areas of Askar r.c., Balata r.c.,
Nablus. (HA, MM 8/27; VOP 8/27, HA 8/28 in WNC
8/31; PCHR 9/2)
Palestinians fire a mortar at Gush Katif, damaging 1
house. While Palestinians across the territories observe a day of solidarity
with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners by fasting, staging sit-ins, and
demonstrating, some 800 Palestinian prisoners at Israel’s Ashkelon
prison, 350 administrative detainees in Shiqma prison temporarily suspend
their strike after Israeli officials agree to halt strip searches, allow some
physical contact during family visits.
The IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches, interrogations in
Hebron, al-Ma'ni in Gaza; occupies a Palestinian home nr. the Kissufim settler
bypass road as an observation post. (PCHR 9/1)
5 Palestinians killed.
Overnight, the IDF launches a major raid into eastern neighborhoods of Gaza
City to look for “terrorist infrastructure,” sending in troops, tanks,
bulldozers, accompanied by helicopters; making an air strike on a clearly marked
Reuters TV truck covering the incursion, saying it was “acting suspiciously,”
seriously wounding 2 Reuters journalists; during the day, the IDF fires on
residential areas, warns residents to leave, exchanges fire with and conducts
air strikes on Palestinian gunmen (killing 3 Palestinian gunmen, 1 Palestinian
civilian; wounding 2 Palestinian militants, 10 civilians), occupies houses as
observation posts. Also in Gaza, the IDF closes the Rafah crossing, Nahal Oz
pipeline. In the West Bank, the IDF fatally shoots a Palestinian guard outside a
school in Jenin, claiming he was acting suspiciously; raids, searches the
Ramallah home of Hamas-affiliated PC mbr. Mahmud Muslih, arresting him; patrols
in Jenin town and r.c., Nablus (firing on residential areas in both cases,
causing no injuries); conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron
and nr. Bethlehem, Jenin, Qalqilya. Jewish settlers in Hebron break into the
Ibrahimi Mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs, violating agreements that this day is
reserved for Muslims to pray there. (AFP, HA 8/27;
NYT, WP, WT 8/28; PCHR 8/31; PMG 9/1)
After 13 days, the Holy Jihad Brigade
releases unharmed 2 Fox News Journalists; the PA says that none of the group’s
8/23 demands were met, the group is not linked to al-Qa‘ida but is a group of
“young men who carried out the action out of private beliefs.”
2 Palestinians killed.
IDF troops
stationed on the Gaza border fatally shoot a Palestinian shepherd who
strays nr. the border fence nr. Juhur al-Dik; troops conduct bulldozing
operations in the area. The IDF makes an air strike on a suspected rocket-launching
site nr. Bayt Hanun, causing no injuries. The Israeli navy fires on
Palestinian fishing vessels off the Bayt Lahiya coast, forcing them to return
to shore. In the West Bank, the IDF arrests Palestinian Awad Abu Suway, head of a Bethlehem group that organizes local nonviolent protests against the separation
wall, and his 65-yr.-old father; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c. and in Hebron, Nablus, and neighboring Balata
r.c. (AP 8/27;
WP 8/28; OCHA 8/29; PCHR 8/30)
PA police rescue an IDF soldier who mistakenly drives into
Jenin and is surrounded by an angry mob; police safely turn over the soldier to
the IDF, but the crowd burns his vehicle; Israel praises the PA police, saying their actions are a sign of PA Pres. Mahmud Abbas’s growing authority. A Palestinian
civilian injured in an 8/14 IDF air strike on Khan Yunis dies.
Israel said that it would keep its crossings with the Gaza Strip closed for a second consecutive day in response to a rocket attack by Palestinian militants earlier this week. Israel's Defence Ministry would not say when the crossings into the Strip would be reopened. (AP)
Israel's National Broadcast Authority rejected radio advertisements criticizing the Israeli Government for stranding Palestinian university students in the Gaza Strip, a broadcasting official said, calling them too controversial. The group which submitted them, Gisha, was appealing the decision. The advertisements featured two prominent Israeli authors and a former cabinet minister calling on the Government to let the students out. According to Gisha's Director Sari Bashi around 1,000 students left Gaza to study abroad every year before the blockade, but today Israel allowed out only several dozens who had scholarships at Western universities. The majority of the students who would study in Asia and the Middle East were not allowed to leave, she said. (AP)
Jeff Halper of the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions, who had sailed to the Gaza Strip with a group of pro-Palestinian activists, was still in Israeli police custody after being detained the previous day upon returning to Israel. Mr. Halper was being held in Ashkelon ahead of an appearance before a magistrate. (AFP)
King Abdullah II of Jordan and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France voiced support for a Palestinian statehood solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In a joint communiqué issued after their talks held at the Élysée Palace, the two leaders stressed the importance of advancing the Middle East peace process towards an independent Palestinian State. They also reaffirmed the centrality of the role of the EU in Middle East peacemaking. (The Jordan Times, Xinhua)
Efforts to resume inter-Palestinian dialogue were still in early phases of coordinating the stances of the Palestinian groups, said former PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. He also ruled out a speedy solution for the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. "I can't promise the Palestinian people and we still call on Egypt to urgently open the crossing," he said. (Xinhua)
Hamas replaced hundreds of striking teachers in Gaza with its own supporters, purging Gaza's schools of political rivals. Labour strife had disrupted the public school system at the start of the academic year. The local teachers' union had called the strike to protest the transfers of teachers, saying Hamas had enforced the transfers to give its supporters key posts. (AP)
PA President Abbas told reporters in Lebanon that he rejected the idea that Palestine refugees might be forced to stay in Lebanon permanently. He said all Palestinians should be given the right to return home. Mr. Abbas also said that he supported all decisions made by the Lebanese Government on how to deal with Palestinian militants outside the refugee camps. About 400,000 Palestinian refugees and their descendants live in 12 refugee camps throughout Lebanon. (Haaretz)