Arafat, his security advisers meet with CIA Dir. Tenet
in Ramallah. Arafat then heads to Cairo for talks with Pres. Mubarak. (WT
9/3; MM 9/6)
The PA releases its 1st batch of new text books to
replace decades-old Egyptian, Jordanian texts. Israel complains that the
new books are biased. (WP 9/3)
2 Palestinians killed.
IDF troops fatally shoot 2 Palestinian gunmen during a 6-hr.
battle in PA-controlled Hebron. The IDF also demolishes a Palestinian
home in Khan Yunis; directs shells, heavy machine gun fire at residential
areas of Beitunia, Khan Yunis, Silat al-Tahir; seals Jinin. (AP, WP 9/2; PMC, WT
9/3)
1 Palestinian killed.
The IDF fatally shoots a Palestinian who throws a grenade at an
IDF checkpoint in Gaza, lightly injuring 1 soldier; sends tanks into Jenin,
firing on the central market, wounding 1 Swedish journalist; conducts
arrest raids in, around Jenin r.c.; demolishes 6 Palestinian homes in
Zayf, s. of Hebron, leaving 50 Palestinians, including 26 children, homeless;
opens a road nr. Netzarim, closed a wk. ago, to Palestinian traffic. (LAW, PR
9/3; LAW, PCHR 9/4)
Bush appoints the fmr. president of the Jewish Federation of
Greater Washington and past chair of Israel Bonds as chmn. of the
board of trustees of the Woodrow Wilson International Center. (WJW 9/12)
3 Palestinians killed.
The IDF fatally shoots an Islamic Jihad mbr. at a roadblock
when he allegedly emerges fr. his car with a gun; fires on Palestinians in Bayt
Furik (wounding 2), Rafah (wounding 1); demolishes a Palestinian home in
East Jerusalem, 1 in Rafah. A Hamas
mbr. dies of injuries received in the 9/1 IDF assassination of Husary. An
11-yr.-old Palestinian girl dies of injuries received in the 8/26 IDF
assassination attempt on Massud. (HA, WP, WT 9/3; PCHR 9/4)
Late in the evening, Palestinians fire 5
antitank rockets at Gush Katif settlement, damaging 1 building.
4 Palestinians killed.
The IDF makes a major raid on Dayr al-Balah, firing on stone-throwing
youths, searching homes, demolishing 1 Palestinian home, bulldozing 12 d.
of agricultural land, killing 4 Palestinians (including a 14-yr.-old
boy), wounding 52 Palestinians. The IDF also raids, searches several
kindergartens, schools run by the Muslim Youth Association in Hebron; conducts
arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, nr. Hebron, and in Ramallah
and Tulkarm r.c.; fires on residential areas nr. Nablus; burns 10 d. of olive
groves west of Hebron to create open space btwn. Nahal Negohot settlement and
settlements further west. (REU 9/2; MENA, VOI, VOP, YA 9/2 in WNC 9/4; MM, NYT, PCHR, WP, WT
9/3; VOP 9/3 in WNC 9/7; HJ, SA 9/7 in WNC 9/9; PR 9/8; PCHR 9/9)
Some 3,000 Palestinian prisoners end an 18-day
hunger strike, achieving few of their goals; prisoners acknowledge that their
strike was poorly timed, gained little international coverage, was slowly
dissolving.
The IDF raids, searches a house in Balata r.c. Some 50
Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba seize a strip of Palestinian land in
Hebron's Wad al-Nasara neighborhood, set up tents; the IDF observes but
does not intervene. (PCHR 9/8)
3 Palestinians killed.
In Gaza, the IDF conducts predawn arrest raids in Bayt Hanun, exchanging fire
with Palestinian gunmen, fatally shooting 2 Palestinian bystanders, wounding 6
others, demolishing 6 Palestinian homes, heavily damaging 3 others, arresting 2
wanted men; fatally shoots a 3d Palestinian who strays too close to the s. Gaza
border fence nr. al-Qarara; makes an air strike destroying a Palestinian home in
Jabaliya r.c. after warning residents to leave, also destroying 2 nearby homes,
wounding 1 Palestinian bystander; shells areas of Bayt Lahiya, wounding 3
Palestinians; bulldozes 50 d. of citrus groves in Jabaliya r.c. In the West
Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in Bethlehem, al-Fawar r.c.
nr Hebron, Jenin town and r.c., Tulkarm. Settler or IDF arsonists set fire to
467 Palestinian citrus trees on land nr. Qalqilya isolated behind the separation
wall. (NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 9/3; PCHR 9/7; WP 9/13)
The Fatah-aligned PA Government Employees Union (comprising some 80,000
mbrs., around half of public workers, including 25,000 health workers, 37,000
teachers) begins an open- ended strike to protest the PA’s failure to pay
salaries.
In Gaza, the IDF makes an air strike
targeting a car in n. Gaza carrying 3 Islamic Jihad mbrs. allegedly
coming fr. a rocket-launching site, hitting the car after the men escape; sends
troops into Bayt Hanun and makes 2 air strikes on agricultural lands in the
area, causing no reported injuries, withdrawing troops in the afternoon; makes
a helicopter air strike on a Hamas training base nr. Dayr al-Balah, missing the target, hitting an open area, causing no damage or injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, in Hebron and Jenin town and r.c., and nr. Bethlehem, Ramallah, Tulkarm. (NYT 9/4; OCHA 9/5; PCHR 9/6)
After a week of increased Lebanese army
shelling of Nahr al-Barid and reinforcing of positions surrounding the camp, the remaining FI mbrs. holed up in the r.c. make a last-ditch, predawn effort to flee, clashing with soldiers who kill more than 50 FI mbrs., capture 32, and take control of the camp; 5 Lebanese soldiers are also killed, bringing the toll
since the crisis began on 5/20/07 to at least 163 soldiers, 222 FI mbrs., 42 civilians. The army says it must conduct demining operations in the camp before
refugees may return; Lebanese PM Fuad Siniora vows to repair all damage.
(NYT, WP, WT 9/3; WT 9/4, 9/16)
In Rafah, the ESF attempts to arrest an Islamic Jihad mbr. violating the acting
Hamas government’s ban on carrying weapons in public, sparking an exchange of
fire that causes no injuries; the Islamic Jihad mbr. escapes.
Two Israeli border policemen were convicted of manslaughter for their part in the kidnapping and wrongful death of a Palestinian teenager from Hebron in 2002. The two, Shahar Botbeka and Denis Alhazov, had been posted in Hebron in 2002, when they, along with two other patrolmen, abducted several Hebron residents. They abused the men and beat them with truncheons and rifles. They threw Abu Hamadiya, 17, out of a moving vehicle, causing his death. (Haaretz)
Shin Bet Head Yuval Diskin said that the PA security forces in the West Bank had improved, thanks to Israeli and US pressure. (Haaretz)
Workers at Palestinian universities went on strike, demanding increased pay. The strike by the General Union of University Employees would affect nine universities in the West Bank and two in the Gaza Strip. The workers were demanding a unified salary system and pay increases. (Ma'an News Agency)
On the first day of Ramadan, 200,000 students returned to schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). UNRWA had offered 100 shekels to each student returning to school and had also promised to provide 120,000 students with lunchtime meals at school for the academic year. Some 8,500 teachers would start in 200 schools in the Gaza Strip. (Ma'an News Agency)
A new public opinion poll, conducted in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip from 28 to 30 August, showed the popularity of Hamas retreating in favour of Fatah. The poll, conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), said that PA President Abbas would win 53 per cent of the vote if the presidential election were held today, compared to 30 per cent for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. (Xinhua, www.pcpsr.org)
The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People held its 311th meeting. The Committee heard a briefing on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, agreed to forward to the General Assembly Nicaragua's request for membership, and approved the provisional programme for the United Nations Latin American and Caribbean Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace, to be held in Santiago, from 11 to 13 December 2008. (UN News Centre)