Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia proposed a Saudi peace initiative in March 2002 that formally changed the Arab world’s position on Israel. The proposal, endorsed by the Arab League, asked Israel to withdraw to the 1949 borders and establish an independent and sovereign state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital. It stipulated that displaced refugees should either be allowed to return to their homes or be compensated for their loss of property. In return, the Arab states would consider the Arab-Israeli conflict over, sign comprehensive peace treaties with Israel, and normalize relations. The proposal was received with skepticism by Israel and had little practical effect.

The U.S. pushes through the passage of U.N. Resolution 1397 by the Security Council, demanding an "immediate cessation of all acts of violence" and "affirming a vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side within secure and recognized borders".

Israeli forces continue the raid on Ramallah and other West Bank towns. A helicopter attack near Tulkarm kills Mutasen Hammad and two bystanders. A bomb in Gaza City destroys an Israeli tank which was escorting settlers, killing 3 soldiers and wounding 2. A taxi in Tulkarm explodes, killing 4 Palestinians. Palestinians execute two accused collaborators in Bethlehem, planning to hang one of the corpses near the Church of the Nativity until Palestinian police stop them.

Israeli forces begin Operation Defensive Shield, Israel's largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War. Within twenty-four hours, the Israel Defense Forces had issued emergency call-up notices for 30,000 reserve soldiers, the largest such call-up since the 1982 Lebanon War. The stated goals of the operation as claimed by Israelgovernment (as conveyed to the Israeli Knesset by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on April 8, 2002) were to "enter cities and villages which have become havens for terrorists; to catch and arrest terrorists and, primarily, their dispatchers and those who finance and support them; to confiscate weapons intended to be used against Israeli citizens; to expose and destroy terrorist facilities and explosives, laboratories, weapons production factories and secret installations. The orders are clear: target and paralyze anyone who takes up weapons and tries to oppose our troops, resists them or endanger them - and to avoid harming the civilian population."

By April 3, the IDF was conducting major military operations in all Palestinian cities with the exception of Hebron and Jericho. The major points of conflict were, Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah. During the operation, strict curfews were placed on at least six major Palestinian cities, resulting in complaints by human rights groups that essential medical attention was being denied to sick and elderly Palestinians, as well as complaints that Israel was practicing collective punishment, which is prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention. In some cities, there were scheduled breaks in the curfews. In others, curfews continued uninterrupted for a week or more.

Throughout the two weeks of fighting in Jenin and for a few days afterward, the city and its refugee camp were under curfew.

The city of Bethlehem and its environs remained under curfew for five weeks, though there were periodic breaks, until an impasse involving Palestinian gunmen who had held hostage the clergy in the Church of the Nativity was resolved. Most of the armed Palestinians in the Church of the Nativity agreed to go to the Gaza Strip. The rest were exiled to Cyprus.

Notable events were the battle of Jenin and the siege of Yasser Arafat's compound.

Israeli troops occupy Bethlehem. Dozens of armed Palestinian gunmen, occupy the Church of the Nativity and hold the church and its clergy. 200 Palestinians, including 50 armed militants, broke into it for 39 days. They were seeking refuge from an Israeli Defense Force incursion into Bethlehem. Israeli army snipers killed seven armed militants and wounded more than 40 people during the siege. A fire was started inside the church. Following extensive negotiations, the Israeli army lifted the siege on condition that 13 of the Palestinian militants be deported to Cyprus and another 26 transferred to the Gaza Strip.

The Battle of Jenin took place in April 2002 in Jenin's Palestinian refugee camp as part of Operation Defensive Shield, a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), the largest conducted in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War. The battle attracted widespread international attention because journalists, particularly in the UK, reported that a massacre of Palestinians had taken place during the fighting, and that hundreds, or even thousands, of bodies had been secretly buried in mass graves by the IDF.

The United Nations (UN) report said that the number of Palestinians killed was at least 52, 22 of whom were civilians, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). 23 Israeli soldiers were killed. A section of the camp was destroyed during the fighting.

Israel begins construction of the West Bank Wall. The Israeli West Bank barrier is a physical barrier being constructed by Israel consisting of a network of fences with vehicle-barrier trenches surrounded by an on average 60 meters wide exclusion area (90%) and up to 8 meters high concrete walls (10%). It is located within the West Bank.

The barrier is a very controversial project. Opponents claim the barrier (i) is an illegal attempt to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security (ii) violates international law (iii) has the intent or effect to pre-empt final status negotiations and (iv) severely restricts Palestinians who live nearby, particularly their ability to travel freely within the West Bank and to access work in Israel, thereby undermining their economy.

IDF assissinated a top Hamas leader Salah Shahade, 14 others were also killed in the missile strike on the appartment building, including 9 children.

03.01.2002, Israel withdrew from Palestinian autonomous areas in the West Bank, as the United States was set to resume its Middle East peace efforts with the arrival in the region of its envoy Anthony Zinni. Troops withdrew to the outskirts of Jenin and Ramallah, but remained deployed in one street near Palestinian President Yassir Arafat's headquarters in northern Ramallah. They also left territory near Nablus, restoring Palestinian control in all Palestinian autonomous areas, except for the Ramallah locality housing Arafat's office, and Beituniya to the south.

10.01.2002, Israel struck with bulldozers leveling two Palestinian police posts in the southern Gaza Strip just hours after four Israeli soldiers were killed nearby in a predawn raid by Hamas gunmen. The four Israeli soldiers were killed when eight Palestinian gunmen stormed the army post. Two of the Palestinians also were killed.

11.01.2002, Israeli bulldozers ripped up the runway of the Palestinian-run Gaza Airport in retaliation for the killings of four Israeli soldiers two days ago. A total of 21 tanks, armoured vehicles and bulldozers broke through Gaza Airport's fence in the small hours of Friday and tore up its entire 3.5-kilometre-long runway, which was being repaired after a similar Israeli raid last December.

14.01.2002, In a further escalation of violence, a suspected top Palestinian militant was killed when a powerful roadside bomb exploded as he was driving in the West Bank city of Tulkarm. They confirmed that Raed Karmi, 30, was the Tulkarm leader of the "al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades".

20.01.2002, Israeli tanks and troops took over Tulkarm in the West Bank, killing one Palestinian, in the deepest incursion into a Palestinian-ruled city during 16 months of bloodshed. The Israeli raid, which was met by sporadic resistance from Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank city, was launched in reprisal for Palestinian attack in northern Israel and signaled a further setback to U.S. peace efforts.

22.01.2002, Israeli troops early killed four suspected Hamas members in a house used as a bomb factory near the West Bank city of Nablus. The raid took place as Israeli troops completed their withdrawal from Tulkarm, north of Nablus, after a 30-hour stay during which they arrested some 50 Palestinians.

24.01.2002, An Israeli tank shell killed two Palestinians east of the Jewish Kfar Darom settlement in the central Gaza Strip. The two were farmers working in their field. An Israeli army unit, meanwhile, entered the Palestinian a-Sheikh neighbourhood in the divided city of Hebron, also on the West Bank, Palestinians said.

25.01.2002, Israeli helicopter crews killed a Hamas member and two others in the Gaza Strip. Ali Daker Hamdan was north of Khan Yunis when the choppers caught up with him. The chopper crews killed Hamdan and another two Hamas members.

29.01.2002, Israeli troops backed by tanks raided this Palestinian village in the West Bank, arresting three Palestinians. Six Palestinians were hurt in clashes. The wounded Palestinians including four with bullet wounds, but their lives were not in danger. One was a pregnant woman who was hit in the leg while she was sleeping, but the baby was unharmed.

08.02.2002, A Palestinian gunman entered an isolated Jewish settlement, killing an Israeli soldier and holeding up in a house that came under fire. An Israeli woman and her daughter were killed in the gunbattle. In retaliation, Israeli F-16 warplanes fired two missiles at a prison and government complex in the West Bank town of Nablus wounding 11 Palestinians.

11.02.2002, Two Palestinian gunmen sprang from a car and sprayed automatic gunfire at Israelis outside a military base in the southern city of Beersheba, killing two soldiers and seriously wounding five people before they were shot dead by the troops. In retaliation, Israeli F16 jets dropped two bombs on the main Palestinian security installation near the Mediterranean coast in Gaza City and helicopters fired missiles at a foundry and other targets in the Jabalya area, in the northern Gaza Strip. The warplanes bombed a Palestinian security complex a few hundred metres from offices of the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. The complex was already badly damaged by previous attacks. The planes had circled overhead for several minutes before striking, and Palestinian security officials dashed out of the complex before the bombing.

12.02.2002, Israeli troops raided a West Bank town, killing a Palestinian and destroying a house before withdrawing five hours later. sraeli army bulldozers also destroyed a house. A second building was damaged, with the wall on the first floor smashed in and closets and furniture visible from the street.

13.02.2002, Israeli forces killed five Palestinian policemen in the Gaza Strip after threatening to carve "security zones" in Palestinian areas to protect Israeli cities vulnerable to attack by a new missile. The army said that raids on Palestinian-ruled Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, and Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya further north, were a response to Sunday's launch of two Qassam-2 rockets by the militant group Hamas.

20.02.2002, Israeli forces attach West Bank village, killing a Palestinian, hours after Palestinians set off a huge bomb in Gaza, destroying a tank and killing three soldiers.

23.02.2002, A missile fired from an Israeli helicopter slammed into Yasser Arafat's West Bank compound - but the PLO leader was unhurt. The missile hit the Palestinians' military intelligence office in the Ramallah compound. Arafat and his aides weren't hurt. The attack came hours after Palestinian gunmen killed six Israeli soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint. Thirteen Palestinians also died in the bloody day and night of attack.

24.02.2002, Israeli helicopters again blasted targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while missiles struck metres away from Palestinian President Yassir Arafat's bedroom and ground troops entered Gaza City for the first time in 17 months. Five Palestinians were killed and 50 injured, 15 of them seriously, during the widespread Israeli army incursions into the eastern and southern Gaza Strip. A Palestinian gunman and an Israeli were killed during an attack on a checkpoint on the border between Israel and the northern West Bank.

01.03.2002, Israeli troops launched a major assault on two West Bank refugee camps, Balata and Jenin camps. Eight Palestinians were killed, and more than 90 Palestinians were wounded. The military strike came just hours after a Palestinian woman Dareen Abu Aisheh, a 21-year-old with an explosives belt strapped to her body blew herself up near an Israeli checkpoint late Wednesday.

02.03.2002, Israeli troops moved into a second Palestinian refugee camp, Since the operation began early Thursday, 15 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have been killed. Dozens of Palestinians were injured. The latest violence comes a day after Saudi Arabia presented a new peace initiative at the United Nations. Under the proposal, the Arab world would make peace with Israel in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from the territories it occupied in the 1967 war, including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

04.03.2002, At least 17 Palestinians were killed in escalating violence, as the Israeli army stepped up its widespread operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. An Israeli missile or tank shell killed six Palestinians in the el Amari refugee camp in Ramallah. It hit the car of a senior activist in the Hamas movement, Hussein Abu Kawaik, killing his wife and three children. Abu Kawaik himself was not hurt. Another Palestinian man and a woman who were either passing by or traveling in a second car were killed as well. At least seven Palestinians, including several women, were killed by heavy gunfire in the Jenin refugee camp, which erupted after Israeli troops stormed the camp for the second time in five days.

05.03.2002, Israel launched new air raids on the West Bank city of Ramallah. Helicopters fired and hit one police building in the city. Apache helicopters earlier fired six missiles at Palestinian Authority (PA) offices in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. No one was injured in the Khan Younis strike.

06.03.2002, Israeli reprisal raids killed at least 17 Palestinians, including the wife and three children of a Hamas commander, as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared, "We are in a war." The attacks included missiles fired from helicopters at Yasser Arafat's headquarters compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah and an F-16 raid that flattened a security nerve center in Bethlehem. Arafat was unhurt. But in other bloodshed, at least six Palestinian civilians were killed, including a doctor with the Red Crescent. Palestinian sources said Dr. Khalil Suleiman and three medics were injured when the Israeli army opened fire on their ambulance near Jenin.

11.03.2002, A Palestinian bomber killed 11 people by blowing himself up in a crowded Jerusalem cafe near Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's residence, and Israel responded today by destroying Yasser Arafat's Gaza headquarters.

12.03.2002, Israeli troops backed by tanks raided several Palestinian towns Monday and early today, detaining hundreds of men and boys, even as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon loosened travel restrictions on Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. The expanded military offensive left at least 23 Palestinians dead. The worst fighting occurred in the Gaza Strip at the crowded Jabaliya refugee camp, where Israel reportedly deployed about 2,000 troops after nightfall. Arafat has been confined to the city of Ramallah for the past three months, his compound surrounded by Israeli tanks. His partial release (he is allowed to travel within the West Bank and Gaza) came before the visit later this week of U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni. Vice President Dick Cheney also is scheduled to visit the Middle East.

13.03.2002, Enforcing a curfew, dozens of Israeli tanks patrolled the deserted streets of this West Bank town. A senior Palestinian officer and an Italian photographer were killed by Israeli machine gun fire. Seven Palestinians and a French journalist were wounded in other incidents. Israel said the circumstances of the shootings were not yet clear. Palestinian officials, meanwhile, welcomed a U.N. Security Council resolution that for the first time endorsed the idea of a Palestinian state, but said it needed to be backed up by action.

15.03.2002, The United Nations early passed a U.S.-sponsored resolution calling for the creation of a Palestinian state. The Security Council measure - its first ever supporting Palestinian statehood - also calls for an immediate cease-fire in the escalating 17-month Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Saying he was speaking on behalf of Arab nations, Syria's U.N. ambassador, Mikhail Wehbe, said the resolution was "very weak" and didn't deal with the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, "the question of the Israeli occupation."

26.03.2002, Two men from a militia drove a bomb-laden car toward Jerusalem's largest mall, but were stopped by police and killed when the explosives went off.

01.04.2002, Israeli tanks and thousands of troops attacked the Palestinian town of Qaliqilya in the northern part of the West Bank. Palestinian sources in Qalqilya said more than 70 Israeli tanks and nearly 5000 soldiers stormed the defenseless city amid heavy indiscriminate firing on the streets and residential neighborhoods. The Israeli army said eight of its soldiers were wounded when an explosive roadside charge went off near a contingent of Israeli troops in the city. One soldier was reportedly seriously wounded in the blast.

02.04.2002, An Italian priest Jacques Amateis, 65 was killed and a number of nuns injured inside a church in Bethlehem when Israeli helicopter gunships and artillery bombarded Palestinian civilian neighborhoods in the birth place of Jesus. Earlier, an apache helicopters strafed the vicinity of the Church of the Nativity with heavy machine gun fire, injuring many people. In a similar incident, Israeli tanks fired artillery shells at a Mosque in the Palestinian town of Tulkarm, inflicting heavy damage.

05.04.2002, Israeli army assassinated six member of the military wing of Hamas at the village of Tubas near Nablus. Among the six was Qayes Odwan, a prominent member of Hamas military wing, the Izzidin Al Qassam Brigades. Palestinian medical sources said two people were killed as local Palestinian defendants sought to put up a resistance to the invading Israeli forces.

07.04.2002, The Israeli occupation army is reportedly carrying out acts of random killing at a Palestinian refugee camp near the northern West Bank town of Jenin. Refugees at the "Jenin camp," under siege for the fifth consecutive day, said Israeli tanks were bombarding the cottages of the camp while apache helicopters strafed it from above, inflicting heavy casualties among civilians. Hospital sources in Nablus reported that as many as 15 people were killed and scores others injured.

09.04.2002, Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres reportedly has admitted that the Israeli occupation army carried out a huge massacre of civilians at the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank. The Jerusalem Post, reported that Peres described the ongoing Israeli army rampage at the camp as "a massacre.' Survivors at the camp spoke of hundreds of people killed after Israeli tanks and warplanes blanket bombed the camp, pop. 20,000, killing hundreds of civilians, most of them still buried under the rubble. The Israeli army reportedly adamantly refused to allow medics and rescue teams to reach the camp to transfer the wounded to hospital.

11.04.2002, Thousands of Palestinians gathered from various towns and villages in al-khalil district to take part in the funeral of three martyrs. Martyr Akram al-Atrash, a Qassam commander who was murdered 10.04.2002 by the Israeli occupation army in Dura, Martyr Refat al-Jeba (21 years) who was killed in an explosion that took place this morning in Bab al-Zawya, and Martyr Abdel-Qader Dodeen, who was murdered by the Israeli occupation 3 days ago in Dura, but his family was not allowed to bury him because of the imposed curfew. The funeral, started from the community hospital where the bodies of the martyrs were kept, to a nearby mosque to offer prayers on the souls of the martyrs and then to Khalil-a-rrahman burial ground.

18.04.2002, Israeli occupation soldiers, riding in personnel carriers with their machineguns continued for the tenth consecutive day to imposed a strict curfew on Dura, 12 kilometers south west of al-Khalil, in the southern West Bank. On several occasions, Israeli soldiers opened fire on children venturing outside their homes, injuring fifteen of them. Moreover, the body of a sixth martyr was found in a valley north of Dura Thursday. Palestinian sources said the body is of 42-year-old Ibrahim Mahmoud Iwshah, who had been missing for a week. Five other Palestinians were killed, including two civilians who were leaving a mosque after performing the dawn prayer.

23.04.2002, The Israeli occupation army assassinated Marwan Zalloum, a prominent local resistance activist, and his aide, Samir Abu Rajab, by rocketing the car in which they were driving. Eyewitnesses said two apache helicopters fired several air-to-ground missiles at the car shortly after midnight Monday, ripping it off and incinerating Zalloum and abu Rajab beyond recognition.

28.04.2002, Israeli armey shoot and killed a Palestinian boy as he tried to circumvent a roadblock on his way back to his village. The Israeli occupation army has been imposing a tight "closure" on most Palestinian population centers, cutting them from each other and virtually isolating them from the rest of the world. Hospital sources said Israeli occupation soldiers opened fire on Osama Jabarin, 16, as he tried to bypass an army roadblock outside the village of Sa'ir, 10 miles north West of al-Khalil (Hebron).

29.04.2002, More than a hundred Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers, backed by helicopter gunships, rampaged through al-Khalil (Hebron) and opened fire with heavy machineguns, killing and wounded scores of Palestinians, mostly innocent civilians. Hospital sources in al-Khalil said at least nine people, including seven civilians, were confirmed dead and more than 40 injured. Eyewitnesses said Israeli troops, who imposed curfew on the city, were shooting at everything moving and preventing medical rescuers from evacuating the wounded from the streets. Palestinians also reported that the Occupation forces destroyed several buildings and vandalized homes and businesses.

03.05.2002, Two Palestinians and an Israeli army commander were killed early Friday during an Israeli military incursion into the northern West Bank city of Nablus. A force of some 50 tanks and armoured personnel carriers entered the Palestinian autonomous city overnight. One of the two Palestinians killed was a member of the Palestinian security forces, the other a civilian, the Palestinian sources said.

07.05.2002, The mayor of Bethlehem said Tuesday that a deal has been reached to end a standoff at the Church of the Nativity, with 13 of the suspected militants holed up in the shrine to be deported to Italy by the end of the day. Israel said agreement was very close. One of the top wanted men in the church, built over Jesus' traditional birthplace, said he and 12 others have agreed to go into exile. Another 26 gunmen would be transferred from the besieged compound to the Gaza Strip, said the wanted man, Abdullah Daoud, the head of Palestinian intelligence in Bethlehem.

08.05.2002, A Palestinian bomber detonated explosives at a pool hall near Tel Aviv, killing at least 16 people in the first bombing in Israel in more than three weeks. More than 60 people were wounded.

09.05.2002, Negotiators said early today a breakthrough had been reached to end the five-week siege of the Church of the Nativity. Palestinian and Vatican officials said 26 militants inside the 4th-century church would be transported to the Gaza Strip and about 80 civilians inside the church would be freed soon. Thirteen other Palestinians, would be left behind in the church until another country agrees to accept them as exiles.

14.05.2002, Israeli forces staged three pre-dawn raids into West Bank villages Tuesday, killing two Palestinian intelligence officers and arresting 13 Palestinians as part of ongoing operations in the territory.

16.05.2002, An Israeli army unit entered Palestinian-ruled areas near the West Bank town of Ramallah Thursday morning, killing one Palestinian and arresting others. The unit entered the town of Beitunia, adjacent to Ramallah, and opened fire at a group of Palestinians inside their house.

28.05.2002, The Israeli army moved into the West Bank city of Jenin early Tuesday, just hours after two Israelis were killed in a bomb attack near Tel Aviv. One Palestinian, a 55-year-old male, died of wounds sustained in a gunbattles sparked by the Israel entry into the city. At least six Palestinians were arrested.

29.05.2002, A Palestinian shot and killed three Israelis at a West Bank settlement Tuesday just hours after Israeli troops swept into Jenin and other West Bank communities. The attacker who opened fire on the settlement of Itamar, near the Palestinian city of Nablus, was shot dead after killing the three Israelis. Hours earlier, an Israeli motorist was killed and another was wounded in a shooting attack

31.05.2002, Earlier this morning, the Israeli army made a large-scale incursion into the West Bank town of Nablus, reoccupying most of the Palestinian self-rule town and the nearby Balata refugee camp. The incursion was backed by around 50 tanks, armoured vehicles and personnel carriers, under cover of helicopter gunships.

01.06.2002, Israeli occupation troops have dynamited and totally destroyed an ancient Christian orthodox church at a village near the West Bank town of Ramallah. Palestinian sources said the Israeli army demolished the "Barbara Church" at the village of A'bud, 15 miles north West Ramallah by detonating a large amount of dynamite inside the premises.

04.06.2002, The Israeli army entered the centre of the Palestinian autonomous area of Hebron, the largest city in the southern West Bank, imposing a curfew and closing down shops. Earlier Tuesday the army entered the town of Jenin in the far north of the West Bank, and was occupying the city of Nablus for the fifth straight day.

05.06.2002, At least eighteen Israeli soldiers and settlers were killed and 30 others injured when a car-bomb exploded near a bus in northern Palestine in early morning hours Wednesday. A police spokesman said a car laden with explosives rammed a passenger bus carrying soldiers from Tel Aviv to Tabariyya near the Meggido prison, 30 kilometers south east of Haifa, causing a huge blast. Police said that as many as 18 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed and thirty others injured, some seriously.

06.06.2002, Israeli occupation troops, backed by as many as 50 tanks and armored vehicles, invaded Ramallah late last night. Palestinian sources said Israeli tanks encircled and shelled the headquarters of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, inflicting heavy damage to the already bombed-out building from the previous Israeli incursion. Arafat's guards, a few in number and armed with light rifles, tried desperately to put up a resistance. Two defenders were killed as many as five injured.

11.06.2002, Israeli occupation army continued its violent daily incursions into Palestinian towns and villages throughout the West Bank. The latest major incursion took place in Tulkarm as Israeli tanks rolled into the northern Palestinian city, placing its nearly 100,000 under curfew. In Ramallah, which Israeli forces invaded Monday, the Israeli army enforced for the second consecutive day a strict curfew on the town's estimated 120,000 inhabitants. Moreover, Israeli tanks continued to encircle Yasser Arafat's headquarters as army bulldozers began demolishing additional structures in the vicinity of the battered compound. At least one Palestinian was killed at the nearby Am'ari refugee camp on Monday.

12.06.2002, Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip last night murdered five Palestinian citizens, including an 8-year-old child. The child, identified as Hussein Abul Mu'eti, was killed during an Israeli bombardment of the Mughraqa neighborhood. Two other children, one of them identified as Ismael abu Khabeza, were injured in the bombardment, described by some locals as the most violent in a month.

16.06.2002, At least tow Israeli occupation soldiers were killed and four others injured in a Palestinian resistance attack on Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli spokesman said the two officer were killed during a heavy exchange of fire with Palestinian guerrillas near the settlement of Dugit in the northern Gaza Strip. Four other soldiers were also injured in the attack, one of them seriously.

18.06.2002, At least 19 Israeli settlers and soldiers were killed and more than 30 injured Tuesday in an early morning bus-bomb attack at the West Bank Jewish settlement of Gilo south of Jerusalem. The blast took place aboard a commuter bus travelling between the settlement of Gilo, built on Palestinian land occupied in 1967, and downtown Jerusalem. The attack is a retaliation for the recent murders and assassinations by the Israeli occupation troops, including the murder yesterday of Walid Sbeih, a prominent member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's military wing. Sbeih, 39, was murdered by an Israeli sniper as he drove his car outside his home at the village of Khader, south west of Bethlehem.

19.06.2002, At least seven Jewish settlers were killed and twenty others injured in a bomb-attack in Jerusalem. A Palestinian guerilla detonated a large bomb he was carrying at a bus-stop frequented by Jewish paramilitary settlers.

24.06.2002, At least six Palestinians were killed and eleven others wounded when an Israeli attack helicopter gunship fired several missiles at three taxi cabs in Rafah, at the southern edge of the Gaza Strip. Eleven other Palestinian civilians were injured, some sustaining severe burns and shrapnel wounds.

26.06.2002, Israeli occupation troops murdered another six-year old Palestinian child. The child has been identified as “Ghassan Bassam al Sa’adi.” Palestinian sources said the child was walking in the street when soldiers mounting an personnel carrier opened fire on the children, killing the child and seriously wounding another.

29.06.2002, Shortly before dawn Saturday, the Israeli occupation army dynamited and completely destroyed the Imara building, the huge complex in Hebron which was used by the British, Jordanian, Israeli and PA administrations. The Israeli army reportedly used two tons of explosives to destroy the nearly 70-year-old building, which also include a prison, interrogation centers and offices.

01.07.2002, Israeli occupation tanks fired artillery shells and heavy gunfire at civilian neighborhoods in the Namsawi quarter, southwest of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, wounding four people, among the four injured there are two sisters, aged 5 and 12 respectively in serious condition.

09.07.2002, Israeli policemen fired indiscriminately on Palestinian bystanders in al-Qods, killing a 70-year-old man and injuring a number of other people. Elsewhere, five Israeli occupation soldiers were injured, one seriously during an armed clash with Palestinian resistance fighters.

16.07.2002, At least seven Jewish settlers were killed and 30 others injured when a roadside charge planted by Palestinian guerillas exploded near their bus near the northern West Bank of Qalqilya.

23.07.2002, The Zionsit leftist Movement “There is a limit”, which advocates rejection of military service in the occupied Palestinian terrotories has affirmed that the number of Jewish soldiers refusing that srevice had reached one thousand. The Movement noted that 140 soldiers were imprisoned for refusing to serve in the occupied lands or to guard settlements.

26.07.2002, Four Jewish were killed when the cars in which they were traveling came under fire from Palestinian resistance fighters. A Palestinian guerillas attacked the cars of the messianic cultists with automatic fire east of the Palestinian town of Yatta, 20 kilometers south west of Hebron.

30.07.2002, Israeli forces arrested Hussein Abu Kuweik, one of the leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, in Ramallah. The Israeli forces had attempted to assassinate Abu Kuweik a few months ago by firing at his car but he survived the attempt because he was not in the vehicle. However, his wife and his three children were killed in the incident.

31.07.2002, The Israeli regime decided to banish Palestinian civilians from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip on the ground of being relatives of persons involved in acts of resistance against the Israeli occupation. The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported that a decision to that effect was taken today by the so-called internal security cabinet.

10.08.2002, A Palestinian was killed by Israeli tank fire, as the two leaderships exchanged recriminations of murder and terror, casting a pall over the second day of high-level talks between a Palestinian delegation and US officials. A Palestinian civilian standing in front of his house was shot dead by Israeli troops imposing a curfew on the reoccupied northern West Bank town of Tulkarem.

20.08.2002, No sooner had Israeli tanks rolled out of the streets of Bethlehem, than a hundred Israeli armored personnel carriers and thousands of crack troops, backed by helicopter gunships, attacked the Tulkarm refugee camp in the northern West Bank, terrorizing inhabitants and killing two Palestinians. The invading forces began house-to-house searches for “wanted Palestinians” in the quiet hours before dawn, amid intensive and often indiscriminate firing in all directions in the heavily-populated camp.

21.08.2002, Israeli occupation troops, backed by armored personnel carriers and helicopter gunships, attacked a Palestinian refugee camp south of Gaza, killing a Palestinian civilian and injuring five others. The forces were leaving the camp, having destroyed several homes, an Israeli tank fired an artillery shell on a group of onlookers, killing a man identified as Adnan Hasan.

22.08.2002, The Israeli occupation army has demolished over 21 homes in the past 24 hours. All of the demolitions took place in the Gaza Strip, especially in Khan Younis and Rafah. 450 Palestinian civilians were made homeless in a single Israeli army operation.

26.08.2002, Israeli occupation troops, backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers, attacked the northern West Bank town of Jenin and an adjacent refugee camp. The troops arrested Sheikh Jamal Abu Al-Haija, a prominent Hamas political activist in the Jenin camp. Israel and the PA reached a deal last week whereby the Israeli army was to withdraw gradually from erstwhile PA-rune towns in return for the restoration of PA security administration in the said towns.

27.08.2002, An Israeli occupation soldier was killed and others were injured in what an Israeli spokesman termed an “incident.” The spokesman said the soldier died when an armored personnel carriers turned upside down near the settlement of Betar south of Bethlehem. Several other soldiers were also injured in the incident.

31.08.2002, At least five Palestinians, including two children and two teenage boys, and other civilians were injured when Israeli apache helicopter gunship attacked a passenger car at a village of Tubas in the northern West Bank. Palestinian sources said two Israeli apache helicopters fired hell-fire missiles at a car in which Anwar Daraghmeh, a local resistance activist, was traveling, killing him and reducing the car to charred, twisted metal. With Daraghmeh, two teenage boys were also killed and completely incinerated. The same gunship then hit a home, killing two children, one aged five and the other ten.

03.09.2002, An Israeli army bulldozers bulldozed and nearly crushed an entire Palestinian family in Rafah at the southern edge of the Gaza Strip. Palestinian sources said the bulldozer bulldozed the home of a Palestinian family without any warning, causing a wall to collapse on them. All the nine members of the family were wounded, including a 3-year-old child who was injured seriously.

05.09.2002, The Israeli regime has rejected a peace plan prepared by the European Union and presented to Israeli and Palestinian leaders by visiting Danish Foreign Minister Pier Muller. The EU plan calls for establishing a tentative Palestinian state without recognized borders to be followed by intensive negotiations that would lead to full Palestinian statehood in three years. Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, described the plan as “unacceptable to Israel in its present form.”

10.09.2002, The Israeli occupation army responded to Yasser Arafat’s conciliatory speech in Ramallah yesterday with more killing, maiming and arrests of Palestinians. In Beitunia near Ramallah, Israeli occupation forces killed at least one Palestinian and injured two others. Earlier, two Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip when an Israeli tank fired an artillery shell at the car in which they were travelling.

12.09.2002, Israeli occupation tanks rolled into the Shujaiya neighborhood in eastern Gaza, destroying and vandalizing civilian property. Palestinian sources said dozens of tanks and armored personnel carriers rampaged through the crowded neighborhood in early morning hours and that Israeli occupation troops imposed curfew inhabitants. The sources said at least one home was completely demolished while other homes sustained serious damage.

16.09.2002, Israeli occupation soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man in the Gaza Strip. The incident took place at the Abu-Holy checkpoint near Gaza City where Israeli occupation soldiers were stopping vehicles and randomly forcing taxis full of passengers to stop and exit their vehicles to be subjected to searches.

17.09.2002, At least five Palestinian kids were injured when a bomb planted by Jewish at their school in Yatt, 15 kilometers south west of Hebron, went off morning. According to Palestinian sources, Jewish placed the bomb inside one of the toilets and was timed to detonate during when the kids are having the mid-morning break. The blast shook the entire school building and paramedics expressed surprise that nobody was killed.

19.09.2002, In an apparent retaliation for the recent killing by the Israeli army of scores of Palestinian civilians, a Palestinian guerilla blew himself up inside a passenger bus in Tel Aviv killing himself and five other people. Hospital sources said ten of the injured were in serious to critical condition. The blast came less than 24 hours after another Palestinian guerilla blew himself up near the town of Um El-Fahm in northern Palestine. The bomber and an Israeli soldier were killed and two other soldiers injured.

21.09.2002, Israeli tanks and bulldozers have virtually destroyed the battered headquarters of Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah. Israeli tanks, which had stormed the headquarters, carried out a sustained artillery bombardment of the three-story building and other adjacent buildings housing Palestinian security agencies.

24.09.2002, Israeli occupation forces last night killed nine more Palestinians in the latest bloody incursion into the Gaza Strip. This brings to 14 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in less than forty eight hours. The Israeli troops, backed by tanks, armed personnel carriers and apache helicopter gunships raided three densely populated neighborhoods in eastern and northern Gaza shortly after midnight. The forces, which also were accompanied by several bulldozers, dynamited and demolished several homes belonging to the families of Palestinian guerillas as well as 12 foundries the Israeli army alleged were being used for manufacturing weapons.

25.09.2002, Israeli occupation forces dynamited the family home of the former Mayor of Dura as a reprisal for his son’s involvement in attacks on Israeli troops. Nammoura said an Israeli soldiers gave him only five minutes to leave the home. Two of Nammoura’s sons are imprisoned in Israeli jails for taking parts in armed attacks on an Israeli military convoy last year.

28.09.2002, Thousands of Palestinians marched in the streets of the West Bank and Gaza Strip on the second anniversary of the Palestinian intifada or uprising against Israeli occupation and apartheid. In the Gaza strip, Israeli troops mounting armored personnel carriers opened fire on stone-hurling school children, injuring six of them. Earlier, Israeli soldiers opened fire on a peaceful march in Dir al Balah, just south of Gaza, killing a 17-year-old boy. Reports from Gaza spoke of another Palestinian killed in Gaza City by Israeli bullets. In the West Bank, massive marches were organized in several towns, in defiance of the Israeli-imposed curfew. The marchers carried portraits of the beleaguered Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

30.09.2002, Israeli occupation soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian school child at the Balata refugee camp while returning home from school. Palestinian sources said the crew of an armored personnel carrier opened fire on school children at the Balata refugee camp in an effort to enforce a curfew on the local inhabitants. Earlier, Israeli tanks bombarded residential neighborhoods in several parts of the Gaza Strip, killing a mother of six children and injuring six other civilians. A 43-year-old woman was hit in the head by a tank shell shrapnel. She was taken to an area clinic where she was pronounced brain dead.

01.10.2002, As Palestinians marked the second annual anniversary of the intifada with calls for more non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation, the Israeli army continued its rampage of murder and terror against the Palestinian civilian population. This week, Israeli troops killed at least 12 Palestinians, including four school children, a mother of six, a middle-aged worker and three teenagers who were taking part in peaceful demonstrations.

03.10.2002, Premier Ariel Sharon has expressed hopes of accommodating one million Russian Jews over the few coming years in the occupied Palestinian lands. The Hebrew radio quoted Sharon at conclusion of his three-day visit to Russia as inviting the Jews in Russia to immigrate to the Hebrew state as soon as possible.

07.10.2002, At least ten Palestinian civilians were killed and more than eighty others injured before dawn Monday when an Israeli helicopter gunship fired missiles at civilian onlookers near a mosque in Khan Younis in the central part of the Gaza Strip. Palestinian sources said dozens of Israeli tanks overran the Amal neighborhood in Khan Younis shortly after midnight and began firing artillery shells at civilian homes. An elderly Palestinian woman was killed and other members of her family injured.

10.10.2002, Two persons were killed and ten others wounded in Tel Aviv Thursday when a Palestinian bomber blew himself beside an Israeli bus carrying soldiers to their base. One of the two people killed is the bomber and the other is apparently a woman soldier. Ten soldiers were reportedly injured in the attack.

13.10.2002, The Israeli occupation army kept up its genocidal repression of Palestinian civilians throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, killing more civilians and destroying Palestinian fields, orchards and infrastructure. In the latest killing, an Israeli army bulldozer crushed to death a Palestinian toddler, a three-year-old child, after bulldozing his family home in Rafah at the southern edge of the Gaza Strip. Eyewitnesses said an army bulldozer suddenly bulldozed a shack where a family of six people were asleep without giving the dwellers a chance to escape. A child was crushed to death while remaining family members sustained disparate injuries.

15.10.2002, Israeli occupation police on Tuesday arrested the Mufti of Jerusalem Ikrema Sabri for a few hours for questioning in connection with a sermon at the Aqsa Mosque on Friday in which he lashed out at Israeli Nazism against Palestinians. According to his family, Sabri was also questioned in connection with a newspaper interview in which he said that people facing a foreign military occupation have every right to resist their oppressors and tormentors.

16.10.2002, report issued by the Israeli human rights group, B’tselem, has stopped short of accusing the Israeli occupation army of deliberately targeting Palestinian children for murder. The report, issued Wednesday, pointed out that more than 80% of Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli occupation troops during so-called curfew-enforcing activity were children. “ Curfew is no longer a tool to meet specific security needs, but a sweeping means to collective punishment.” The report, entitled “Lethal Curfew” underscored how the Israeli army uses curfew as a rubric to hunt down Palestinian civilians for murder. “Shooting a person simply because he left his home during curfews constitutes excessive use of force,” said the report, carefully avoiding the use of stronger words such as “criminal” and a “crime against humanity.” The report said curfews created “problems” for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, increasing malnutrition and disrupting schools, and are so extensive that they violate the right to freedom of movement included in international law.

17.10.2002, Israeli tanks fired on several Palestinian houses Thursday during an incursion. At least eight Palestinians were killed, including three children. Palestinians said the army shot randomly into this crowded neighbourhood in this southern Gaza town near the Egyptian border. The Israeli occupation forces claim that they targeted the houses from which they fired on. Two women, ages 72 and 32, and three children aged 12, 13 and nine were among those killed when tank shells slammed into their houses. Amongst those killed also were a 27-year-old grocer and a 45-year-old man, doctors said.

19.10.2002, Thousands of supporters of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, walked in the funeral procession of martyr Karam Mohammed Abu Obeid, 18, who was one of the members of the Qassam Brigades, military wing of Hamas. Abu Obeid martyred in a clash with occupation soldiers near the Doget settlement in northern Gaza Strip early Friday while two soldiers were wounded.

22.10.2002, Despite draconian Israeli measures against Palestinian population centers, including the nearly complete reoccupation and closure of most Palestinian towns, two Palestinian bombers, succeeded on 21 October in infiltrating into areas occupied in 1948. Riding a jeep laden with some 100 kilograms of home-made explosives, the bomber rammed his car-bomb into the trunk of an Israeli bus, igniting a series of blasts that turned the vehicle into an inferno. Israeli hospital sources said at least fourteen people, including the two bombers, were killed in the bombing, and more than forty injured, six seriously. According to initial reports, most of the dead and injured were soldiers on their way to Tel Aviv.

23.10.2002, At least thirteen Palestinians were injured when Jewish unit detonated via remote control a bomb planted inside a bus at the Balata refugee camp near Nablus late Wednesday night. Palestinian sources said a group of undercover Israeli army operatives arrived in a bus at the refugee camp, apparently to assassinate or abduct Palestinians suspected of involvement in the resistance against the occupation. The Palestinians, however, discovered the bus and open fire on it, forcing Jewish unit to abandon it. A few hours later, as some local activists examined the vehicle, a bomb, which had been planted inside it, went off, injuring thirteen people.

27.10.2002, At least three Israeli soldiers were killed and more than 30 others injured Sunday when a Palestinian guerrilla with explosives strapped to his waist blew himself up at a gas station at a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. The Israeli occupation authorities said at least 10 of the injured were listed in critical condition. At least two Palestinian teenagers were killed and more 20 injured by Israeli gunfire in Jenin and Rafah in the past 36 hours. Moreover, several Palestinian homes were destroyed and scores of Palestinian youths were arrested on suspicion of involvement in national resistance against Israeli military occupation.

30.10.2002, Palestinian guerilla and three Jewish settlers were killed overnight in a shootout at a Jewish settlement in the northern West Bank. An Israeli occupation army spokesman said a Palestinian guerilla, with explosives strapped to his body, infiltrated the Jewish settlement of Hermish north of Nablus, killing three settlers and injuring three others, among them two soldiers. The lone guerilla was subsequently killed by Israeli occupation soldiers.

03.11.2002, The Israeli occupation army on Sunday dynamited at least two more Palestinian homes near Jenin in the northern West Bank. The two homes were located at the village of Borqin and belonged to the families of two Palestinian guerilla fighters, one affiliated with Hamas and the other with the Islamic Jihad.

04.11.2002, At least two people were killed and over 20 others injured Monday when a bomb went off inside a shop at the Israeli Jewish town of Kfar Saba north east of Tel Aviv. Police sources said a medium-size bomb exploded inside an electric appliances shop shortly after sunset. Hospital sources said as many 25 people were injured in the blast, some seriously.

06.11.2002, At least two Palestinians, one of them a guerilla, were killed in two separate shooting incidents in the southern and central parts of the Gaza Strip Wednesday. Two Jewish settlers were also killed at the Gush Katif settlement block south of Gaza, according to the Israeli occupation army. Palestinian sources said Israeli soldiers manning armored personnel carriers opened fire indiscriminately on civilians in Rafah, killing at least one person and injuring fifteen others. An Israeli spokesman said a lone Palestinian guerilla attacked a Jewish settlement south of Gaza towns, killing two settlers and injuring two others. The guerilla subsequently died in an exchange of fire with soldiers.

10.11.2002, At least five Jewish settlers were killed and ten injured when Palestinian guerillas attacked a Jewish settlement in the northern West Bank. An Israeli occupation army spokesman said the attack occurred around midnight Sunday and targeted the Metzer Kibbutz near the Palestinian town of Tulkarm, 130 kilometers north of Jerusalem. The army said at least one Palestinians fighter was involved in the attack which came hours after two Palestinian guerillas were killed in a car explosion in the area. The guerilla apparently fled the Kibbutz following the operation. Following the attack on the Kibbutz, Israeli helicopter gunships launched a missile attack on a foundry in the Gaza Strip, destroying the metal factory.

13.11.2002, The Israeli occupation army killed another three-year-old Palestinian toddler and seriously injured his mother during a machinegun shooting at a Rafah neighborhood at the southern edge of the Gaza Strip. Eyewitnesses said Hamed Asa’ad al Masri was killed when Israeli soldiers manning an armored personnel carriers strafed the Block-J section of the Rafah refugee camp with heavy machinegun fire. The child was instantly killed while his mother, Asma, 31, sustained life-threatening wounds.

16.11.2002, The Israeli occupation army has been attacking Palestinian civilians for the past few hours in retaliation for the killing of nine Israeli soldiers and three paramilitary Jewish settlers by Palestinian guerillas in Hebron last night. Israeli troops backed by helicopter gunships and tanks opened machinegun fire indiscriminately on Palestinian homes, causing an unspecified number of casualties and heavy material damage. Palestinian sources reported Saturday that three guerillas were killed when the Israeli occupation army rocketed the house in which they barricaded themselves. It is believed that the three were the guerillas who carried out the operation in which the Israeli army commander of the southern West Bank Maj. Gen. Dror Weinberg was killed.

21.11.2002, In what appears to be a retaliation for the killing by the Israeli army of 10 Palestinian civilians in the past 48 hours, a Palestinian guerilla on Thursday detonated a bomb aboard an Israeli bus in the heart of West Jerusalem, killing at least 10 Israeli settlers and injuring 30 others. The blast took place in early morning hours at the Kiryat Menahem neighborhood in West Jerusalem. Palestinian sources identified the guerilla who carried out the attack as 21-year-old Nael Abu Hilayel from the town of Dura, 10 kilometer south west of Hebron.

22.11.2002, A member of Qassam brigades surprised a military foot patrol in al-Barakah area in Deer al-Balah middle of Gaza Strip. He fired his machine gun at the soldiers and hurled hand grenades towards them killing all three.

26.11.2002, Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers on Tuesday attacked the Palestinian town of Dier al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip amid intensive machinegun shooting. Palestinian sources said two or three Israeli helicopter gunships also took part in the rampageous operation which terrorized civilians and caused widespread damage to sidewalks, turnabouts and pavements. Before leaving the area, the Israeli army dynamited at least one home belonging to the family of a suspected Palestinian freedom fighter.

27.11.2002, The Israeli occupation army launched fresh attacks on Palestinian population centers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip overnight. Sources in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, said Israeli helicopter gunships rocketed a building at the Jenin refugee camp shortly before midnight Tuesday, killing two people. The two were identified as Ala’a Sabbagh and Imad Nastari.

28.11.2002, At least Seven people were killed and more than 15 others were injured Thursday when Palestinian guerillas opened fire on Israeli soldiers and settlers in the city of Bisan, 120 kilometers north West of Jerusalem. The Israeli state-run radio said 10 were injured, most of them seriously. Police sources said at least two Palestinian guerillas wearing explosive belts opened fire at two locations in the northeastern town, causing several casualties.

29.11.2002, Abbas Rajee Al-Atrash (3 years) was declared dead last night at al-Khaleel hospital as a result of being hit by an explosive bullet at his home during Iftar time (evening meal when Muslim break their fasting). The medical sources said that the child died in the hospital during an operation to save him. The explosive bullet, used intensively by the Israeli occupation army against Palestinians, went through the left hand side of his abdomen and tore through his body.

01.12.2002, Israeli occupation forces carried out another incursion into the Gaza Strip last night amid indiscriminate machinegun shooting, causing a number of casualties and substantial damage to homes and other buildings. Palestinian sources said as many as thirty Israeli tanks and armored vehicles, backed by at least two helicopter gunships, attacked the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahya, 2 miles north of Gaza City shortly after the evening prayer.

04.12.2002, The Israeli occcupation army murdered three Palestinians in two separate attacks in al-Khalil and the Gaza Strip. In al Khalil (Hebron), the Israeli army murdered two Palestinians in a valley west of the city. The two were identified as Sami Shawar and Muhamed Shnewer, both from from the al-Khalil region. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli helicopter gunships attacked a public building in the heart of Gaza, killing one person and injuring five others. The victim was identified as Mustafa Sabbah whom the Israeli occupation army accuses of manufacturing and masterminding attacks on Israeli tanks.

10.12.2002, The Israeli occupation army last night bulldozed three more Palestinian homes in Rafah at the southern edge of the Gaza Strip.

11.12.2002, The Israeli occupation soldiers shot and killed five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli army spokesman admitted the five were unarmed, but claimed they were cited near an Israeli fence between the Gaza Strip and Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1948.

12.12.2002, In a retaliation for the recent killing of scores of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli occupation troops, two Jewish settlers were killed in Hebron’s Old town. An Israeli army spokesman said a settler and his wife were fatally wounded in the vicinity of the Ibrahimi Mosque when anonymous assailants opened fire on a group of Jewish settlers in the area. The Israeli state-run radio said the assailants who carried out the attack fled the scene of the attack.

15.12.2002, In a continuation of the military actions against Palestinian civilians and their property, Israeli occupying forces demolished 16 houses and destroyed 8 greenhouses in the Oraiba area in Rafah. Two military bulldozers, four tanks, an armored personnel carrier and 15 military jeeps of the Israeli occupying forces thrust approximately 150m into Oraiba area in the northwest of Rafah. They demolished 16 houses and destroyed 8 greenhouses, a Dairy farm and a smithy's workshop.

26.12.2002, The Israeli occupation army murdered at least seven Palestinians, including two school children, bring the number of Palestinian victims since the beginning of December to 43, most of them innocent civilians. The victims reportedly include a young man in Tulkarm, a 14-year-old school boy in Nablus, two other young men also in Nablus, a young man and a school boy in Ramallah and a guerilla in Jenin. In addition to the seven victims, more than 28 school boys in Nablus were injured when Israeli occupation soldiers opened fire on school children who were returning home from school.

30.12.2002, The Israeli army dynamited two more homes in the town of Dura, 13 kilometers from al-Khalil (Hebron). The two homes belong to the families of two Palestinian guerillas, killed last week during a gun-battle with Israeli troops at the settlement of Otanel, a few kilometers south of Dura. Four Israeli soldiers were killed in the battle and six others were injured.