1 Palestinian killed. 6 Israelis killed.
In response to Gush Katif attack, the IDF
sends 16 tanks, heavy equipment deep into Rafah to bulldoze the PSF
headquarters, take over several small PSF posts, killing 1 PSF officer,
wounding 2 Palestinians; troops pull out after a few hrs. (BBC 8/25;
HA, JP [Internet], NYT, WP, WT 8/26; HA 8/27; SA 8/27 in WNC 8/28; MEI 8/31; JP
9/7)
Late this evening, 2 mbrs. of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (DFLP) infiltrate an IDF post nr. Gush Katif settlement in
Gaza, attack the barracks with hand grenades and automatic weapons fire, killing
3 IDF soldiers and wounding 7 before they are killed. Earlier, mbrs. of the
al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (AMB) open fire on a car outside Givat Ze'ev in
the West Bank, killing 3 Jewish settlers, wounding 2 children.
Israel says there will be no further IDF redeployments fr. PA
areas at least until late 9/02, after the Jewish holidays. The IDF raids
the home of, arrests PFLP politburo mbr. al-`Alim Yunis Da'na; conducts
arrest raids in Hebron, Salfit (demolishing several Palestinian homes);
fires on residential areas of Jenin, Khan Yunis; bulldozes 13 dunams of
agricultural land along the Shuhada Junction+nQarni settler bypass road. (XIN
8/25 in WNC 8/26; NYT 8/26; PCHR 8/28; MEI 8/30)
The IDF withdraws forces to the outskirts of Jenin, Nablus but
maintains closures on the cities; fires on residential areas of Khan Yunis,
wounding an 11-yr.old Palestinian girl; conducts arrest raids in Balata r.c.;
bulldozes 2 dunams of land in n. Gaza. (AP, PM 8/25; HA, MA, VOI, YA
8/25 in WNC 8/27; PCHR 8/28)
Palestinians fire 3 Qassam
rockets into Israel, fire on a Jewish settler convoy nr. Netzarim,
causing no damage or injuries in either incident.
The IDF demolishes 5 Palestinian homes, bulldozes 45 d. in
al-Mughraqa nr. Gaza City; blows up 1 Palestinian home nr. Nablus; fires
tear gas at Palestinians waiting to cross the al-Mawasi checkpoint; conducts
arrest raids, house searches in Abu Dis, Askar r.c., Bayt Laqia nr. Ramallah,
Bayt Jala and neighboring Bethlehem, al-Fara' r.c., Ramallah, Tubas nr. Jenin,
Yatta nr. Hebron. The IDF also captures 6 Egyptian students armed
with a toy gun, knives, binoculars, radios in the Negev, 6 mi inside Israel.
Unidentified gunmen fire on the car of PA General Intelligence Service
dep. chief Tariq Abu Rajab as he drives along the coastal road in Gaza,
seriously wounding him, killing 2 bodyguards, wounding 2 others; no group
claims responsibility. (BBC, HA, PR 8/25; NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 8/26; AYM 8/26 in
WNC 8/31; JAZ 8/30 in WNC 9/1; QA 8/31 in WNC 9/3; PR 9/1; PCHR 9/2; PR 9/15; MA
9/15 in WNC 9/21)
The IDF conducts arrest raids,
house searches nr. Nablus, in and around Hebron, and in al-Khadir nr. Bethlehem.
Jewish settlers rampage through a shopping district of East Jerusalem,
vandalizing Palestinian stores, chanting "We don't want Arabs," threatening to
expel Palestinians. Jewish settlers fr. Ramat Yishai in Hebron stone,
vandalize a Palestinian home, tear down a fence outside the home; the IDF
observes but does not intervene. (IMEMC 8/25; NYT 8/26; PCHR 9/1)
Following the 8/24 IDF assassinations, Gaza Palestinians fire
rockets at Sederot and the Negev for the 1st time since disengagement was
completed, causing no damage or injuries.
In Gaza, the IDF opens the Rafah crossing (closed almost continually since
6/25) in both directions; conducts air strikes destroying the home of a Hamas
mbr. in Jabaliya r.c. (residents are warned in advance to leave); opens fire on
a Palestinian fishing boat nr. the Gaza shore, destroying it but not harming the
owner. In the West Bank, the IDF temporarily occupies a Palestinian home in
Hebron as an observation post. Jewish settlers fr. Suissa nr. Hebron attack
local Palestinians, beating and injuring 2. (NYT 8/26; PCHR 8/31)
PA Interior M Said Siyam says
initial contacts with the Holy Jihad Brigade have been established to secure the
release of 2 Fox News journalists.
4 Palestinians killed.
The IDF
directs heavy machine gun fire at Palestinian homes in Shuka, makes several air strikes on the area during the day, wounding 1 Palestinian. In the West Bank, the IDF sends
undercover units into Jenin in cars with Palestinian license plates, ambushing and assassinating Islamic Jihad mbrs. Ala’ Sorour and Mustafa Atiq, wounding 3 other Islamic Jihad mbrs.; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around
Jenin town and r.c., nr. Hebron. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba in Hebron attack a Palestinian home in an area previously targeted by settlers for
confiscation. The IDF forcibly removes some 100 Jewish settlers
who reoccupied the vacant Homesh settlement site earlier in the day. (IFM, WT 8/26; OCHA 8/29; PCHR 8/30)
In Gaza, 2 armed Palestinians representing
the Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (AMB) and the Popular
Resistance Comms. (PRCs; an umbrella group including mbrs. of all factions)
infiltrate the Israeli border, open fire with automatic weapons at the IDF post
at Erez crossing, lightly wounding 2 soldiers before being shot dead. Hamas
mbrs. detonate a roadside bomb under an IDF vehicle patrolling the Gaza border nr. Shuka, causing no injuries.
Israeli troops arrested 10 Palestinian civilians in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jenin, Tubas and Hebron. (IMEMC)
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged it would be difficult to reach a year-end target for an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, but said the two sides and the United States remained committed to that goal. Flying into the region on her seventh trip since the goal was set nine months ago at the Annapolis Conference, Secretary Rice said she would press the parties to secure even small, incremental steps and not dwell on producing documents that demonstrate partial progress. "I think it's extremely important just to keep making forward progress, rather than trying prematurely to come to some set of conclusions. … We continue to have the same goal, which is to reach agreement by the end of the year. … [There is] a lot of work ahead to do that and obviously it's a complicated time, but it's always complicated out here," she told reporters aboard her plane. Ms. Rice was to hold two days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials as well as bring them together for three-way talks intended to help them bridge remaining gaps. (AP)
The spokesperson for Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that the Minister received a phone call from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, currently visiting the region. They discussed the developments in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. (www.mfa.gov.eg)
Israel freed 198 jailed Palestinians in a goodwill gesture made hours before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's latest peace mission to the region. Among the Palestinians freed was Said al-Atba, who served 31 years of a life sentence for masterminding a 1977 market bombing that killed a woman and wounded dozens of others in central Israel. Mr. Al-Atba, 57, was the longest serving Palestinian inmate in Israel. The prisoners received a hero's welcome upon their return to the West Bank, where thousands of people joined celebrations at the Ramallah headquarters of PA President Mahmoud Abbas and elsewhere throughout the West Bank. "We will not rest until the prisoners are freed and the jails are empty," Mr. Abbas told the cheering crowd. (AP)
A Qassam rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel, landing in an open area of the Negev and causing no damage. (Haaretz)
The leaders of Islamic Jihad, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine confirmed their participation in Egyptian-sponsored Palestinian national unity talks in Cairo. The Democratic Front was to meet with Egyptian mediators on 27 August, and the Popular Front was to send its leaders to Egypt on 30 August. Fatah had not sent a delegation, and Hamas said it had never been invited formally to the negotiations. (Ma'an News Agency)
UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories Richard Falk said that the landing of two wooden boats carrying 46 human rights activists in the Gaza Strip this past weekend was an important symbolic victory. This non-violent initiative of the Free Gaza Movement focused attention around the world on the stark reality that the 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip have endured a punitive siege for more than a year, a form of collective punishment that violated Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. (www.ohchr.org)