Chronology: October 16, 2016 – January15, 2017

ABBREVIATIONS

AA

Asharq Al-Awsat

AFP

Agence France-Presse

AJA

Al Jazeera Arabic

AJE

Al Jazeera English

Al

Arabiya

AP

The Associated Press

BBC

Bloomberg

CNN

Daily Star (Lebanon)

Dawn

Forbes

FP

Foreign Policy

The Guardian

Haaretz

JP

Jerusalem Post

JT

The Jordan Times

NPR

National Public Radio

NYT

The New York Times

RFE/RL

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Reuters

VOA

Voice of America

WP

The Washington Post

WSJ

The Wall Street Journal

Arab-Israeli Conflict

See also Jordan

Oct. 20: Four Palestinians were arrested by the Palestinian Authority (PA) for attending a celebration of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot in the West Bank settlement of Efrat. According to the Efrat Regional Council, the Palestinians had been invited as a gesture of peace, but the visit had breached the PA’s boycott of settlements. They were released three days later. [Haaretz, 10/23]

Oct. 25: An Egyptian soldier fatally shot a 15-year-old Israeli teenager on the Israel-Egypt border near the Negev Mountains after being mistaken for a smuggler. The teenager was shot while assisting civilian contractors tasked with border fence repairs and died while being evacuated to the hospital. In an attempt to redirect culpability, Egypt accused Israel of failing to inform the Egyptian army of the scheduled repairs. [Haaretz, 10/25]

Nov. 8: The Palestinians’ request for membership in the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) was blocked by Israel, which had swayed members to vote against addressing the bid at the organization’s general assembly in Bali, Indonesia. Israel had expressed concern that Palestinian pursuit of Interpol membership was part of a larger effort to indirectly gain the benefits of statehood, circumventing potential peace negotiations. [Reuters, 11/8]

Nov. 18: A 26-year-old was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers on the border of the Gaza Strip during a protest. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the soldiers were attempting to keep protesters from breaching the border fence near the Burayj refugee camp, which had been the site of frequent protests against Israel’s blockade of Gaza for more than a year. [Haaretz, 11/18]

Dec. 8: A bill that would legalize Israeli settlements outposts in the West Bank passed its first reading in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Earlier drafts of the bill awarded Israeli settlers land ownership of the areas around outposts, but the revised version would only allow them usage rights. The bill did not apply to ‘Amonah, a contentious West Bank settlement, because of its scheduled December 25 evacuation. [Haaretz, 12/8]

Dec. 9: A day after passing its first reading, Israeli prime minister Netanyahu froze the so-called settlement regulation bill, which would legalize Jewish settlements in the Area C — the Israeli-controlled areas of the West Bank. He did so at the request of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, who asked to slow the legislative process until after the inauguration of American president-elect Donald Trump. [JP, 12/9]

Dec. 16: The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) accused the Israeli foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, of assassinating Mohamed Zouari, a Hamas operative and the group’s lead drone developer. Zouari was shot and killed in Sfax, Tunisia, but Israel neither confirmed nor denied involvement. Following the assassination, Hamas released a statement that mourned Zouari’s death and promised retaliation against Israel. [BBC, 12/17]

Dec. 18: Residents of the West Bank settlement of ‘Amona accepted a proposal from the Israeli government that would move 24 of the 40 families to an adjacent plot of land and the remainder to the nearby settlement of ‘Ofrah. The cabinet-approved agreement included a total of $45 million to go toward compensation for settlers and construction of a government-established settlement on a nearby 12-acre plot that authorities had deemed abandoned. ‘Amonah, which Israel’s High Court of Justice had deemed illegal due to its location on private Palestinian land, was set to be evacuated and razed by December 25. [JP, 12/18]

Dec. 23: The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously, with the United States abstaining, to pass Resolution 2334. The measure renewed the demand for halting Israeli settlement activity in the...