1 Palestinian killed. 1 Israeli killed.
Israeli-Palestinian clashes continue, dimming hopes that
a cease-fire will take hold. The worst fighting is around Nablus, where the
IDF escorts a group of 40 Jewish settlers on a hike nr. Aksar
al-Balad refugee camp to view, among other things, the remains of
Joseph's Tomb (see 10/7). 4 of the settlers reportedly open fire on the
camp, prompting PA police to fire back, sparking an exchange of gunfire.
The IDF warns Palestinians to evacuate areas of Nablus, then sends attack
helicopters to cover and extract the settlers. During the 7-hr. exchange, 1
settler, 1 Palestinian are killed and 3 settlers, 15 Palestinians
injured. In Bethlehem, an explosion at a Force 17 building, apparently caused by
a gas leak, kills 3 Palestinians, injures several others. Around Gush
Katif settlement, the IDF bulldozes 72 dunams of land, 2 walls
surrounding Palestinian homes. Under heavy IDF guard, Israeli mayor of
Jerusalem Ehud Olmert, along with New York City council mbr. Noach Dear,
attends a house warming celebration for a Jewish settler family that just
acquired property in Palestinian East Jerusalem. (AP 10/19; MM, NYT, WP,
WT 10/20; NYT 10/21; Globes [Internet] 10/25; JP 10/27; MM, WJW 11/16)
Protests against Israeli actions are held in Boston,
Ottawa, Washington. (al-Awda Internet news group 10/19)
The UN Human Rights Commission approves (19-16, with
17 abstentions) a resolution condemning Israel for the indiscriminate and
disproportionate use of force and calling for an international inquiry into the
violation of human rights during the clashes. (BDL 10/20; MEI 10/27) (see Peace
Monitor)
6 Palestinians killed.
In response to the mortar attack on Gilo on 10/18, the IDF sends
tanks, bulldozers into Bethlehem, Bayt Jala; occupies 10
Palestinian buildings in Bethlehem (including 2 hotels to house troops),
several in Bayt Jala. The incursions spark clashes, which leave 3
Palestinians dead and at least 16 Palestinians, 1 IDF soldier injured. In
Ramallah, 2 Palestinians are killed by IDF shelling; a 6th
Palestinian is killed in Gaza. IDF tanks completely surround Bayt
Sahur, Nablus, Qalqilya. The IDF also directs shells, heavy machine gun fire at
Bayt Hanina, Hebron, Jinin, Khan Yunis, Tulkarm; occupies a Palestinian home nr.
Qarni crossing. Churches in Jerusalem issue a statement calling on Israel
to pull back, deescalate tensions, especially in Bethlehem. (BBC, HP, MM, REU
10/19; AP, NYT, WP, WT 10/20; PCHR 10/24)
The IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in Jenin, Nablus;
bulldozes 35 dunams of land in Bayt Hanun. As IDF troops enter Jenin,
Palestinians detonate roadside bombs, causing no injuries. At Havat Gilad,
IDF soldiers continue dismantlement work, scuffle with Jewish settlers,
leaving 30 settlers, 12 soldiers lightly injured; after dark, settlers begin
re-erecting trailers on the site. Jewish settlers fire in the air in an
attempt to scare off Palestinians, Israeli peace activists harvesting olives nr.
Aqraba; the IDF intervenes, forcing the olive pickers to move to another
grove to "reduce tensions." (GS 10/19; NYT, WP 10/20; al-Quds 10/20 in WNC 10/21; MM, WP
10/21; AYM 10/21 in WNC 10/23; LAW, PCHR 10/23; WJW 10/24; JPI 11/8)
A PA security court sentences a 2d
Palestinian, also a fmr. Hamas mbr., to death for collaborating with Israel
(see 10/17).
1 Palestinian killed. 3 Israelis killed.
The IDF lifts restrictions on West Bank Palestinian vehicular traffic;
continues operations in Rafah, demolishing several more Palestinian homes,
crushing a 14-yr.-old Palestinian boy to death, wounding 3 other boys.
Later, IDF troops pull out of al-Brazil r.c. (where 15 Palestinian homes
have been demolished since 10/15), Rafah, to “regroup and refresh” before
resuming operations. After the AMB attack against Ofre, the
IDF places curfews on Ramallah and surrounding villages to search for the
gunmen. The IDF also fires on Palestinians violating curfew in Jenin,
seriously wounding 2. (HA, MM, NYT, WP 10/20; al-Quds
10/21 in WNC 10/23; PR 10/22; PCHR 10/23; MEI 10/24; MM 10/27; AYM 10/28 in WNC
10/30)
AMB gunmen ambush an IDF patrol outside the
West Bank settlement of Ofra, killing 3 IDF soldiers, wounding 1. Hamas mbrs. fire 8 Qassam rockets at
Sederot, causing no damage or injuries.
3 Palestinians killed. 1 Israeli killed.
The IDF fatally shoots 2 Hamas mbrs. planting a roadside bomb
nr. the security fence of a Jewish settlement in n. Gaza; fires on residential
areas of Rafah; conducts predawn arrest raids in `Azun, Burkin nr. Jenin,
Dahaysha r.c., Dura, Hebron, Jenin r.c., Tulkarm. A Palestinian
wounded in the IDF’s 10/11 attempted assassination of Khalil dies of his
injuries. (BBC, HA, XIN 10/19; VOP 10/19 in WNC
10/21; PR 10/20; QA 10/20 in WNC 10/23; PCHR 10/21)
The Jenin AMB takes
responsibility for the fatal shooting of an IDF soldier sitting inside
his tent at an IDF base outside nearby Mevo Dotan settlement. Palestinians
fire 4 mortars at Morag, causing no damage or injuries. AMB mbrs. in Jenin temporarily take over the local Palestinian
Council (PC) and PA tax offices, demanding pay raises, pensions for the children
Palestinians killed during the intifada; after several hrs., they agree to
leave, but the offices remain locked.
A team of Egyptian doctors visits Arafat, who has been
suffering severe flulike symptoms since 10/12, in his Ramallah compound,
sparking rumors that he is serious ill. The doctors conclude that he is
suffering from an intestinal virus and gallstones. Arafat suffered a similar
bout of gallstones in 2003. (WT 10/19)
Israel says it is weighing a plan to bar private Palestinian vehicles
fr. using all main roads in the West Bank "to protect Israeli motorists from
roadside shootings," drastically to expand the system of settler-only bypass
roads and bridges to completely separate Palestinian and Israeli transportation
networks within 2 yrs., and to bar all Palestinian workers' entry into Israel
within 3 yrs. The IDF sends troops
backed by tanks, armored personnel carriers into Jenin town and r.c. to conduct
arrest raids, house searches; also conducts arrest raids, house searches in and
around Hebron. Jewish settlers fr. Ma'on vandalizes Palestinian homes in
Yatta. (AFP, HA, IMEMC, REU 10/19; HA, NYT, PCHR, WT 10/20; HA 10/24; PCHR
10/27)
In Gaza, the IDF continues operations along the Rafah border, reportedly
uncovering another 8 smugglers tunnels, also making an air strike destroying a
house in Rafah after warning the residents to leave; sends troops into the Erez
industrial zone to demolish a Palestinian factory; sends troops into Jabaliya
r.c. to bulldoze Palestinian land. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest
raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Jenin; fires on residential areas of Hebron,
wounding 3 Palestinian children. Jewish settlers fr. Gil’ad outpost nr. Qalqilya
beat 4 Palestinians. (WP 10/20; PCHR 11/2)
In Gaza, the IDF sends tanks, a bulldozer into the Gaza airport site, exchanging heavy fire (heavy machine guns, mortars) with Hamas mbrs., causing no reported injuries; occupies a strip of
land in the al-Hawouz area northeast of Bayt Lahiya. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in Mas’ha nr. Salfit, firing percussion grenades and live ammunition in
residential areas, causing no reported injuries; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin, Nablus; begins bulldozing confiscated land nr. Salfit for
the expansion of the Burkin industrial zone; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, percussion grenades, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in
nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall in Bil`in (injuring
5, including a journalist covering the demonstration) and al-Ma`sara nr. Bethlehem (lightly injuring 3). (OCHA 10/24; PCHR 10/25)
Hamas, Islamic Jihad mbrs. exchange fire in
Khan Yunis’s al-Rihab Mosque, wounding 3 Palestinians, after Hamas allegedly
attempts to seize control of the building.
Backed by Israeli police, a Jewish group tried to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque esplanade in East Jerusalem. Israeli police attempted to arrest three guards from the Mosque when they tried to prevent the Jewish group from forcefully entering the Mosque in order to perform religious rituals at the religious site. Jerusalem Governor Adnan Husseini called on Jerusalemites to concentrate their presence in the Al-Aqsa esplanade to prevent such incidents. (WAFA)
About 10 settlers from the "Alon Moreh" settlement attacked Palestinian olive harvesters in the West Bank village of Azmut, near Nablus. Settlers from the "Mabodothan" settlement, south of Jenin, also physically assaulted a Palestinian farmer from the village of Arraba. They also prevented his family from entering their land and collecting their olives. (WAFA)
The Palestinian Journalists' Committee condemned the previous day's attack by Israeli settlers against a group of Palestinians and a journalist who were collecting olives in an olive grove in Hebron. (Ma'an News Agency)
About 3,000 Israeli protestors rallied at the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, near the IDF post where Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit had been captured in 2006. The protestors blocked the entry of goods into the Gaza Strip as they set fire to rubber tires outside the crossing point, at the southernmost tip of Gaza. The rally, according to the Israeli press, was a demand for information on the whereabouts and condition of Mr. Shalit. "This is our condition for opening the crossing," said Yoel Marshak, the event organizer. (Ma'an News Agency)
Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the former Director-General of the Saudi General Intelligence Directorate, presented a proposal for Israeli-Palestinian peace at a conference attended by Arab, Palestinian and Israeli political figures and organized by the Oxford Research Group, which sought to promote the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002. Mr. Al-Faisal, who heads the King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies, said that both sides must condemn violence and called on Israel to stop targeted assassination and arrests, the construction of the West Bank wall and the expansion of settlements and separate roads. The Palestinians, he said, must stop all suicide bombings and rocket fire at Israel. He also called on Israel to release all Palestinian prisoners, and for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit to be released from the Gaza Strip. (Ha'aretz)
Israeli Defense Minister Barak told Army Radio that Israeli leaders had been discussing the Arab Peace Initiative. Mr. Barak said that with individual negotiations with Syria and the Palestinians making little headway, it may be time to pursue an overall peace deal for the region. "There is room in the Israeli coalition for the Saudi [Arab Peace] initiative," he said, adding, "We have a mutual interest with moderate Arab elements on the issues of Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas." (Haaretz)
Senior Israeli officials downplayed the rising interest in the Arab Peace Initiative, saying it was a function of both a diplomatic process that had stalled and the transition periods in Israel, the US and the Palestinian Authority. "Whenever the process stalls, there will be those who will pull out the Saudi plan," one senior official said. The official warned against expecting to see any new diplomatic initiatives launched or picked up at this time ─ Arab League initiatives or otherwise ─ because it was not clear what the next Israeli Government would look like, or when it would be sworn in. (The Jerusalem post)
An Israeli was wounded when a fire bomb was thrown at his car near the West Bank settlement of "Barkan". Earlier in the day, six fire bombs were hurled at Israeli drivers in two separate incidents near Nablus. There were no casualties in these attacks. (Haaretz)
Egypt delivered invitations to Palestinian officials to a summit meeting of all Palestinian factions, along with a draft plan for ending the political crisis between Hamas and Fatah, high-ranking sources said. The "comprehensive national dialogue" meeting was set for 9 November in Cairo. Palestinian officials, who spoke anonymously, said that the Egyptian draft called for the creation of a new Palestinian unity government. Specifically, the plan was said to include four main points: The new government's tasks are to end the blockade (of the Gaza Strip), ease daily life, prepare for presidential and legislative elections, and reform the security Palestinian in order to "defend land and civilians;" simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections; reform of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in accordance with the 2005 Cairo agreement; PLO would be empowered to "conduct negotiations in adherence with national goals," a reference to the Palestinian-Israeli final status negotiations. (Ma'an News Agency)
Responding to the demonstrations at the Kerem Shalom crossing, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that Hamas refused to bow to Israeli pressures to release the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, particularly not to the tactics of Israeli demonstrators who closed the crossing into Gaza. "The Shalit case is dependent on a prisoners swap," Mr. Abu Zuhri explained, adding, "He will never be released if the Israeli occupation does not release Palestinian prisoners whom Hamas wants free, whatever the consequence might be." (Haaretz, Ma'an News Agency)