• Likud party head Ariel Sharon and 6 other Likud leaders paid a provocative visit to the Al-Haram Al Sharief in Jerusalem, the compound that houses the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. Interpreted as an apparent show of force to undermine Netanyahu’s influence, more than 1,000 Israeli police were reported to have surrounded the Haram and to have opened fine on the worshippers who tried to stop them. At least 7 Palestinians were killed and 255 injured (LAW). According to eyewitnesses, Israeli military personnel prevented ambulances and medical personnel from entering the compound to transport the wounded (Defense Children International, press release).
• The clashes are the worst since 1996, when Israel opened a pedestrian tunnel near Al-Haram Al Sherief which resulted in violent clashes and a death toll of 60 Palestinians and 14 Israelis.
• Palestine Cabinet meets in Ramallah and declares the following day a day of mourning.

• Violent demonstrations erupted in most of the major districts and towns of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, particularly in the towns of Hebron, Ramallah and Gaza. Reported Israeli use of live ammunition, dum-dum bullets, rubber coated steel bullets was considered evidence of Israeli excessive and unnecessary use of force against demonstrators. According to various Palestinian medical sources and field researchers of local human rights groups, the majority of the injuries sustained were to the upper parts of the body, including chest, neck, head or eyes. Moreover, in a press release, Defense Children International/Palestine section confirmed that out of the 550 injuries, 175 cases were children aged 9-18 years. The release also mentioned that the day’s clashes resulted in 6 more Palestinian deaths, 4 of which were minors.
• The final moments of the assassination of 12 year old Mohamed El Durra as he attempted to hide with his father behind a concrete block in GAza, (caught on film by a French camera crew), brought about an International wave of condemnation of Israel’s disproportionate use of force and shoot to kill” policy. The Israeli army released a statement that it would look into the incident, but also accused Palestinians of “making cynical use of children and women by bringing them to flashpoints” !? (Dallas Morning News).
• Meanwhile, Barak had an emergency meeting with senior defense officials and ministers Shlomo Ben Ami and Amon Lipkin-Shahak to discuss the recent developments. According to Ha’aretz, Barak stated that “our restraint is the best proof that we do not wish further confrontation”. He was also quoted to have assured that “no one doubts who is stronger or more capable of sustaining s fight”. Israel also accused the leaders of the Palestinian youth paramilitary group Fatah and leading members of the Palestinian security apparatus to be directly responsible for staging the disturbances in the West Bank.

• Top Israeli officials and army commanders were said to have met with the Palestinian security officials to try and calm down the situation. “Cease-fire” lasted only a few hours.
• Confrontations continued throughout the West Bank and Gaza and extended beyond the “Green line” (1948 of Israel). Clashes were particularly violent in the Palestinian Arab towns of Um el Fahm and Nazareth, where more than 30 people were reported injured, and one dead. Moreover, general strikes were declared in several of the Arab-Israeli towns. (Addameer, Breaking News)
• Eyewitnesses report Israeli deployment of light anti armor rockets at a Palestinian military intelligence base at the entrance of Rafah, Gaza. According to a Reuters report, more than 17 Palestinians were also wounded by Israeli bullets in the Gaza Strip near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim. Moreover, a fierce gun battle broke our when Palestinian police was said to have returned fire at Israeli soldiers. Two soldiers died as a result in separate incidents.
• According to the Jerusalem Post, the funeral of the eldest son of the Palestinian Authority governor of Nablus attracted thousands of demonstrators and resulted in more clashes with Israeli soldiers at Joseph’s Tomb, killing 2 Israeli soldiers, a member of the Palestinian National Security Forces and injuring 65 other Palestinians. Eyewitnesses account that Israeli helicopters were also seen firing on demonstrators in the area and firing flares. Israeli forces were sharply criticized by several human rights groups for deliberately targeting those not directly involved in the clashes, such as medical personnel and journalists. According to Al Haq, ambulances were constantly denied, roads to hospitals obstructed (press release 56/2000).
• Major roads throughout the West Bank and Gaza were sealed off to civilian traffic. Arafat demanded that Israeli troops withdraw from the entrances of Palestinian towns and called upon the UN to form an international committee that would investigate the events of the past few days.

• In response to a call by two Palestinian human rights groups (LAW and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights) a mission composed of 4 international organizations arrived in the Occupied Territories to investigate the violations committed. The organizations represented by the mission were the International Commission of Jurists/Sweden, the International Federation of Human Rights/Paris, the Euro-Mediterranean Network for Human Rights/Denmark and Human Rights Watch/USA.
• Israeli was said to have fired LAU missiles at residential areas in a number of West Bank and Gaza towns, while Israeli helicopter gunships opened fire to quell demonstrations. Israeli and Palestinian police traded fire in nearly every major West Bank and city. More than 200 injuries were reported.
• Inside Israel, Palestinian demonstrators continued to clash with Israeli troops. More than 80 Israeli Arabs were injured and one 22 year old Palestinian was shot dead (LAW, release).
• By the end of today, the official number of casualties was cited to be 36 dead (12 of which are children) and over 1,200 injured (Defense for Children International, press release).

• Tanks and air missiles continue to be part of Israeli army’s response to demonstrations. 3 more Palestinians were killed (Al Haq, news update).
• UN Security Council meets to discuss events.

• Israeli Prime Minister and Palestinian Authority President Arafat met with French President Jacque Chirac and US Secretary of State Madeline Albright in Paris. Both sides were reported to have agreed to withdraw their “forces” from flash points.
• Total number of Palestinians killed rose to 55, (9 inside Israel and the remaining in the West Bank and Gaza). According to Al Mezan Center, 77% of the casualties among them were children (press release 5). It also deplored Israel’s deployment of “Special Forces”, which are Israeli soldiers disguised as Palestinian civilians, (also used during the Intifada 1987-1994). An Israeli spokesman claimed that troops only fire live ammunition in response to fire” and “when lives are threatened” (New York Times).
• The International Committee of the Red Cross “deplored” the targeting of at least 18 red crescent ambulances by gunfire, citing the obligations of military forces under the Geneva Convention to “respect and protect civilians and to apply the principle of proportionality whenever the use of force is required.”
• International support culminates in pro-Palestinian rights demonstrations in all major Arab and international cities.

• More than 200 were arrested by Israeli police in East Jerusalem (Al Mezan, press release).

• West Bank and Gaza Strip are sealed off by Israeli army

• Hizbollahabd3 Israeli soldiers near South Lebanon. In response to the kidnapping, Israeli Jewish civilians attacked Israeli Arab laborers, resulting in the injury of dozens, and destruction of a 200 year old mosque in Tiberias.
• Barak issues a 48 hour ultimatum to Arafat
• UN Security Council passes resolution 1322 (2000) condemning Israel’s “excessive use of force against Palestinians, resulting in injury and loss of human life”, and calling upon it “to abide …by its legal obligations ..under the Fourth Geneva Convention”. Many of the 14 Security Council members’ efforts to press for stronger language of condemnation was resisted by the USA, which in addition abstained from the resolution.
• Various sources reported attacks on neighborhoods by settlers, particularly in Nablus, Ramallah and Jerusalem. Numerous accounts mention acts of opening fire by the former, burning and vandalizing houses and destruction of private property (Al Haq, press release 00/85).

• Death toll as a result of confrontations rose to 78 (Al Mezan, press release).
• 300 Israeli-Jewish rioters attack the house of Israeli-Arab Knesset member Azmi Bishara, stoning his house and declaring their intention to burn down the house. Shortly afterwards, Bishara sends a letter to Kofi Annan, calling for immediate UN intervention and the protection of the Palestinian national minority rights inside Israel, as stipulated in the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (1992).

• Barak indefinitely extends ultimatum.
• UN Secretary General Kofi Annan arrives in the region in an attempt to negotiate an end to the crisis.

• At its 253^rd meeting, the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People expressed grave concern at the continued confrontations and resulting loss of life, and stated that it considered them to be the consequence of Israel’s refusal to abide by its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention and the provisions of relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.
• More than 80 dead (of which 20 children, and more than 2000 injured (Statement of the UN Human Rights Commission)

• According to a statement by the International Press Institute, Israeli helicopters were reported to have fired missiles on the Voice of Palestine station, forcing it off air. The attacks also targeted Palestinian Authority headquarters, in what was interpreted as an act of retaliation for the killing of two Israeli soldiers during separate clashes in Ramallah. A number of news reports stated that the soldiers who were in custody of Palestinian police force at the Ramallah/Al-Bireh police headquarters, were attacked by a large number of civilians who entered the station and had them killed. Holding the Palestinian Authority responsible, a statement by the Israeli Defense Force asserted that “this operation was a symbolic warning to the Palestinian leadership to let it know we will nor stand idly”, and threatened to further bomb Palestinian military posts. Meanwhile, Arafat is said to have ordered an investigation into the killing of the two captive soldiers (Reuters report).
• Following the Israeli retaliation, which resulted in the complete destruction of the central police station and the injury of 16 people, Amnesty International expressed grave concern for the safety of Palestinian civilians. Other missile attacks were reported to have taken place in Gaza. According to Mustafa Barghouti of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, this incident has “only served to intensify Palestinian anger and frustration” (Grassroots International, Statement).
• BBC reports the mobilization of Israeli reserve troops in preparation for a possible authorization to seize strategically important positions in the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority should the confrontations persist.
• Palestinians under the age of 45 were barred from entering the mosque compound in Jerusalem for the Friday prayers. Brief clashes resulted in the injury of 10 people.
• Tight blockade of the Palestinian territories remained in force.

• Mass rallies took place in the major West Bank towns of Jenin, Tulkarim, Nablus and Qalqilia, in protest of the Israeli closure of main roads in the Palestinian territories. According to estimates by the Palestinian Authority, each day of closure results in a loss of $10,000,000 and preventing thousands of Palestinians from reaching their work place and children from reaching their schools. 217 cases of injury were reported (Addameer Center).

• US President Clinton announces summit to take place in Egypt
• By today, 91 Palestinians have died, including a high proportion of children, thousands injured and hundreds imprisoned while being denied detainees rights of due process (World Organization Against Torture, Statement).

• Clashes erupted in a number of cities in the West Bank and Gaza following the mass rallies against the closures. The town of Jenin was declared a closed military zone, while Hebron remained under an imposed curfew for the 16^th consecutive day. 16 injuries were reported during confrontations in Ramallah and Bethlehem, 6 of which from life ammunitions (Addameer, Update).
• The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement, an extremist Jewish group that is committed to resurrect a Third Jewish Temple in the place of the Al Aqsa Mosque, announced its intention to march to the mosque. Although their statement asserted that “the event has the approval of the Israeli authorities and will be protected by the Israeli security forces”, Israeli police denied this, and march did not take place.
• Hizbollah abducts an Israeli army colonel.

• US President Clinton, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Palestinian Authority Leader Yasser Arafat, EU’s .Javier Solana, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Jordan’s King Abdullah meet in Sharm El Sheikh resort, Egypt.
• Barak announces that he is close to a deal with Likud party leader Sharon to form a “national unity government”, and that “my feeling is strong that the peace process in its present form has reached the end of the road at this point”, However “…ultimately we will make peace with the Palestinians….” (Yediot Aharonot).
• According to a report in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, local Israeli commanders have been authorized by the Israeli army to apply a more relaxed live-fire orders in response to Palestine stone throwing. Palestinian human rights organizations condemned this as a clear violation of internationally recognized guidelines which requires law enforcement officials to “act in proportion to the seriousness of the offence and the legitimate objective to be achieved” and “use force only when strictly necessary” (LAW).
• Death toll rises to 94.
• Palestinian Center for Human Rights field officers reported that Israeli forces swept a 80-donum area in the town of Khan Younis in order to annex it to the adjacent settlement of Neve’ Dekalim. At the same time, a siege was imposed on the area, thus preventing the farmers from reaching their lands in these areas. Meanwhile clashes erupted in Gaza and near the Israeli military outposts in Rafah, adjacent to the borders with Egypt. More than 30 people were injured.

• Despite the Sharm El Sheikh agreement, internal closure remains de facto. Clashes also continued around most of the major cities of Jenin, Ramallah, Tulkarem, Al-Bireh and Hebron, in addition to several villages. One Palestinian was killed. (Al Haq, Release). According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, clashes between demonstrators and Israeli soldiers in several areas of the Gaza Strip, particularly in the vicinity of the settlement of Kfar Darom, which resulted in the injury of more than 50 Palestinians by live ammunition. Villagers from Khirbet Qalqis also reported the expansion of a nearby settlement by clearing their land nearby for expansion. Rockets were allegedly also fired. In Jerusalem on the other hand, a peaceful rally was dispersed with tear gas by Israeli police, which also resulted in clashes, and a mass arrest campaign (Addameer, Update)
• The International Federation of Human Rights releases the findings of its mission to the Occupied Territories. It established excessive and indiscriminate use of force. It also stressed that the impunity of Israeli forces is “in sharp contrast tot he judicial and administrative actions taken against Palestinians held in Israeli custody”, and demanded the establishment of an international independent commission of enquiry.
• In a statement by Habitat International Coalition to the Special Commission on Human Rights on the situation in the Palestinian Territories convening in Geneva, the organization’s representative called the commission’s attention to the violation of the right of “adequate housing”. Israeli soldiers have reportedly occupied the homes of Palestinian civilians and “converted them into military positions, resulting in their destruction and/or eviction of the resident families”. Moreover, the statement welcomed the Sharm El Sheik agreement’s intention to establish a fact finding mission to investigate the sources of the crisis, however, it stressed that “like Security Resolution 1322, it offers no assurance that the human rights norms, or the requisite degree of objectivity would be applied”. Moreover, it charged that “the indispensable human rights ingredients are so far lacking in the much hailed peace process led by the United States and even…the Sharm Al Sheikh meeting apparently still has missed the point”.

• Amnesty International called upon the USA government to cease all transfers of attack helicopter transfers to Israel, including the pending sale of Apache helicopters. (On September 25^th, the Defense Department announced the possible sale of what the Israeli newspaper Haaretz had described as the “largest helicopter sale of the decade”, involving both Apache and Blackhawk attack helicopters).
• In a separate report, Amnesty revealed the findings of its delegation’s visit to the Occupied Territories (October 4^th, 2000), to investigate the use of force by Israeli security forces). According to the report, there has been a repeated resort to “excessive use of force in circumstances in which neither the lives of the security forces nor others were in imminent danger”. And although it did confirm that “some of the Palestinians killed were members of the Palestinian security forces armed with firearms and shooting at Israeli security forces , however, the majority of people killed were taking part in demonstrations where stones were the only weapon used”. Also, according to the information gathered by Amnesty International, “it appears that a wide variety of non-lethal means of dispersal were readily available, but were not apparently used.”
• 9 Palestinians killed during clashes. According to the organization, “the Israeli government has been using US-supplied helicopters to commit human rights violations during its recent round of conflicts with the Palestinians and the US government must accept some responsibility for how such weapons are used”.

• Fierce gunbattle outside the town of Nablus was reported to be the worst of the day’s clashes, leaving more than 100 wounded (the Associated Press). A total of 9 Palestinians were killed (Al-Haq, news update). There were also reports that Israeli forces shelled quarters in Beit Jala, Beit Sahour and the village of Za’atara, using tanks and cohelicopters, resulting in the damage of several houses and the destruction of an electricity generator (Palestinian Center for Human Rights, release).
• UN Commission on Human Rights narrowly endorsed Resolution E/CN.4/S-5/L.2/Rev.1 condemning the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force Israel against Palestinian civilians. It also requested the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, to undertake an urgent visit to the occupied territories to facilitate the work of the commission and take stock of the violations. The resolution also referred to the on-going closure of the Palestinian territories, house demolitions and collective punishment as crimes against humanity. It was adopted by a vote of 19 in favor, 16 against (including the US, Canada, the EU and Israel), and 17 abstentions (Badil, release).
• General Assembly also condemned the violence, and the excessive use of force against Palestinian citizens, by adopting a related resolution by a vote of 92 in favor, 6 against and 46 abstentions. The resolution also expressed support for the understandings reached at the Sharm El Sheikh summit, urging all parties to implement them without delay. Furthermore, it reiterated that Israeli settlements were illegal, and presented an obstacle to peace, and called upon Israel to abide by its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.

• Thousands of Palestinians marched in a funeral of 4 Palestinians killed in renewed clashes in the West Bank and the vicinity of the settlement of Kfar Darom, Rafah and Deir El Balah in the middle of the Gaza Strip. In Khan Younis refugee camp, clashes broke out near an Israeli military post. At least 60 were reported injured. Other clashes were reported in the cities of Hebron, Al-Bireh, Qualquilia, Nablus, and Bethlehem resulting in the injury of more than 60 people and the death of 3 civilians. In Jenin, settlers were reported to have attacked the residents of a nearby village and to have cut off electricity to it. In Jerusalem clashes erupted particularly around Shufat and Kalandia refugee camps. Residents stated that Israeli forces sealed off a number of roads as a result, and arrested a number of youths (Addameer, Update).
• Total death toll amongst Palestinians has increased to 112 (including 34 children) (LAW) and 3,200 wounded (Palestine Center for Human Rights).

• In its final declaration, the Arab emergency summit convened in Cairo, stopped short of calling for breaking ties with Israel (Associated Press). However, it allocated funds to support the Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories and called for a United Nations-led "international war crimes tribunal" to investigate actions committed by Israeli soldiers during the recent clashes, and requested a U.N. presence in Gaza and the West Bank to prevent future Israeli-Palestinian clashes. Arab leaders were also said to have agreed to end all steps toward normalization of relations with Israel, stopping just short of calling for the cutting of all existing ties. Prime Minister Ehud Barak on the other hand was reported to have informed his Cabinet that Israel would take a "time out" and reassess its position, while continuing with the Palestinian peace process (CNN).

An NGO consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the UN and the West Bank affiliate of the International Commission of Jurists, Geneva. Established in 1979 by a group of Palestinian lawyers t uphold the rule of law and defend Palestinian human rights in the Occupied Arab Territories. (www.alhaq.org)

Independent Palestinian non-governmental organization, established in 1992 to promote and protect the rights of Palestinian children as articulated in the UN Conventions on the Rights of the Child and other international instruments. (www.dci-pal.org)

NGO dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. Is an affiliate to the International Commission of Jurists, the Federation Internationale des Ligues de Drots de l’Homme, the World Organization Against Torture, and a member of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network. (www.lawsociety.org)

NGO established in 1999 in Jabalya Refugee Camp, Gaza Strip. It monitors the human rights situation in Palestine with respect to the human rights, basic freedoms, promotion of the rule of law, and social and cultural rights

NGO that provides health and community development services throughout the West Bank and Gaza. Established in 1979 by a group of Palestinian health professionals in response to the deteriorating health services. (www.upmrc.org)