2003

January 23: An Israel Education Month is taking place for the first time in Jewish educational institutions in the US at the joint initiative of the Jewish Agency Education Department and the UJC.

February 10: The Jewish Agency prepares immigrants for the possibility of an emergency situation.

February 20: Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor calls on the Chief Rabbinate to show a more humane approach in dealing with immigrants desiring to convert. (More.)

February 23: The Jewish Agency's Department of Jewish Zionist Education will send emissaries from to Goa, India, to organize activities for Israeli youth who have traveled there.

February 23: The Jewish Agency Executive adopts a resolution calling on the Government of Israel to solve the problem of conversion for former Soviet Union immigrants.

February 25: The Jewish Agency Board of Governors unanimously elects Ms. Carole Solomon to the position of Chair, for a four-year term of office.

March 13: President Moshe Katsav visits the Jewish Agency.

March 16: The Jewish Agency plays an important role in the current national security effort and prepares immigrants for the possibility of an Iraqi attack.

March 20:The Jewish Agency opens a Situation Room.

March 20: Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor says: "We shall not cancel a single aliyah flight despite the war.

March 23: The Jewish Agency Executive in an emergency session asks the Government of Israel not to enact economic measures that will harm new immigrants.

March 30: Since the beginning of the war in Iraq the Jewish Agency has brought 300 immigrants to Israel.

March 30: Ephraim Lapid is appointed head of the Jewish Agency's Israel Region. Yarden Vatikay is appointed Spokesperson of the Jewish Agency.

April 3: 1,200 young adults and teenagers enrolled in Jewish Agency educational programs take part in a unique re-enactment of pre-State clandestine immigration to Israel (the Ma'apilim) in Atlit.

April 6: Thousands of French Jews participate in the Jewish Agency Aliyah Fair in Paris.

April 7: Over 600 young, newly-arrived immigrants from throughout the world who came to Israel on Jewish Agency programs, lone immigrant soldiers are hosted for the Seder by veteran Israeli Families in the Jewish Agency’s Yachad BaSeder (“Together at the Seder”) operation. Among the Hosts are Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor and Cabinet Ministers.

April 7: Two unique ceremonies take place at the Jewish Agency's Lod Absorption Center: a graduation ceremony for Shmaguelot (traditional Ethiopian mediators and adjudicators in family and civil conflicts) and a Model Seder.

April 7 - 9: Jewish Agency Treasurer Shai Hermesh heads the Jewish Agency delegation at the commemoration ceremony in Kishinev.

April 8: Some 300 new immigrants protest against the proposed economic measures outside the Prime Minister's Office.

April 10: Jewish Agency Director General Giora Romm attends a graduation ceremony of a joint Jewish Agency-IDF course on Judaism and Zionism.

April 14: The Jewish Agency and immigrant organizations petition the High Court of Justice against the Government of Israel.

May 11: A giant aliyah fair opens in Buenos Aires. Later, the fair will continue in other Latin American countries.

May 6: Dozens of Jewish Agency officials, together with new immigrant students in the Jewish Agency Sela ("Students Before Parents") pre-university program, place flowers and memorial inscriptions on the graves of new immigrant victims of terror, in cemeteries throughout the country.

May 16: Dana International and Sarit Hadad are among the Israeli artists performing at the Jewish Agency Independence Day Festivals throughout the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

May 25: Thanks to the untiring efforts of the Jewish Agency's Head of Mission to Yekaterinburg, Russia, the parents and brother of the late security guard Kiryl Shremko, who was killed in the suicide bombing attack in Afula, are located and flown at the Jewish Agency's expense to Israel to attend the funeral.

May 30: The Jewish Agency announces the opening of the Elite Academy program in North America. The program will enable Jewish High Schoolers aged 15-16 to study for three years (Grades 10-12) at one of Israel’s top High Schools and to qualify for the Israeli matriculation exam.

June 16: The Jewish Agency and "Jewish Healthcare International" dispense eyeglasses to new immigrants.

June 17: The Jewish Agency and UJC raise 10 million dollar for summer camps for Israeli children.

June 21: The first Jewish Agency emissary returns from Baghdad.

June 23: The Government of Israel-Jewish Agency Coordinating Committee meeting approves a series of wide-sweeping decisions destined to tackle root problems of the Jewish People and to assist new immigrants in their absorption.

June 24: For the first time in Israel's history, the Government of Israel will invest heavily in Jewish Zionist Education for the young Jews abroad in order to counter the worrisome trend of assimilation and to connect them to Israel and to the idea of Aliyah.

June 24: In order to dispense real-time information on Aliyah geared to the specific interests of Jews throughout the world, the Jewish Agency institutes an Internet Aliyah forum.

July 8: 500 new immigrants from North America arrive.

July 23: Hundreds of immigrants from North America arrive in an operation jointly run by the Jewish Agency and the Nefesh B'Nefesh organization.

July 26: The Jewish Agency flies six Iraqi Jews to Israel in "Operation Ezra-Mi-Zion".

July/August: In July and August a record number of 1,000 olim from France are arriving. France is this year's number one Western country in aliyah.

August 19: Georgian President Eduard A. Shevardnadze awards the Order of Honor to the Jewish Agency Head of Mission Israel Zelinger.

September 1: The Jewish Agency and the Israel Ministry of Education reach an agreement according to which Jewish schools in the Former Soviet Union will be run jointly by the Ministry and the Jewish Agency’s Education Department.

September 23: Simcha Dinitz, former Chairman of the Executive of the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency for Israel, dies, aged 74.

November 11: In the coming year, the Zionist Movement will place the struggle against the new anti-Semitism at the core of its activities.

November 15: The Jewish Agency sends an eight person team to Istanbul to assist the Jewish community and as a sign of solidarity.

December 3: Some 2,000 new immigrants from throughout the Negev attend a Jewish Agency-sponsored employment fair in Beersheva.

December 14: 8000 people from the Jewish Community throughout Britain attend the "Expo Israel 2003" fair.

December: The Jewish Agency, the Ministry of Absorption and the Union of Local Councils run the joint program: "At Home - Together".

December 18: 23,200 new immigrants arrive in Israel in 2003.

December 29 - 31:1,000 Jewish student leaders from all over the world meet in Jerusalem for a solidarity summit with Israel.

January 2: Israeli troops raid refugee camps in the Gaza Strip and demolish two homes. Heavy gun battles accompany the incursions.

January 3: It emerges that the Likud party has suffered a sharp drop in support during a corruption and organized crime scandal that has touched senior politicians, including Prime Minister Sharon's son.

January 5: 23 people - 15 Israelis and 8 foreign nationals - are killed and about 120 wounded when two Palestinian suicide bombers blow themselves up on a pedestrian mall in Tel Aviv, adjacent to the old central bus station.

January 6: Palestinian officials are barred by Israel from attending a meeting in London to discuss progress towards an independent state. The travel ban was imposed by the Israeli cabinet in direct response to the previous day's suicide bombings.

January 7: The state attorney investigates Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in connection with an allegation that he lied to the police about the source of $1.5million used to repay illegal campaign funds.

January: For the first time in its history, the North American Alliance for Jewish Youth (NAA), the umbrella organization of informal Jewish educators, holds its annual conference in Israel, as an expression of solidarity with Israel at this critical time.

January 15: The Israeli army close down two Palestinian universities which they claim had been used as "training grounds" for terrorist attacks.

January 16: Colonel Ilan Ramon is a crew member of the Columbia space shuttle which takes off for a 16-day mission from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ramon, who serves as a payload specialist takes several special items with him into space: an Israeli flag, the Israeli Declaration of Independence, a picture from Yad Vashem, a Kiddush cup for Shabbat, a Sefer Torah smuggled out of the Bergen Belsen concentration camp, a mezuzah, and a T-Shirt from the Israeli Road Safety Campaign.

January 19: Prime Minister Sharon dismisses European peace efforts as anti-Israeli, and says only the US matters in deciding the fate of the Palestinians.

January: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says that the likelihood of an Iraqi attack against Israel is low. Nevertheless, , he adds, Israel has taken all the necessary defense measures in case of an Iraqi attack, in close coordination with the US. The US army deploys Patriot missile batteries in various locations in Israel as part of a joint Israeli American exercise, parallel to the deployment of Israeli Arrow anti-missile batteries and Patriot missile batteries. Hundreds of American soldiers and anti-missile radar boats take part in the exercise, which is expected to continue for a number of weeks.

January 26: Israeli forces launch their biggest raid on Gaza since Ariel Sharon came to power two years ago. The raid kills 12 Palestinians and critically injures eight.

January 28: General elections in Israel. The final results are as follows: Likud - 38; Labour - 19; Shinui - 15; Shas - 11; National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu - 7; Meretz - 6; National Religious Party - 6; United Torah Judaism - 5; Hadash - 3; Am Ehad - 3; Balad - 3; Ra'am - 2; Yisrael B'Aliyah -2. Following the elections Prime Minister Ariel Sharon calls upon the Labor party to join a national unity government despite Labor leader Amram Mitzna's opposition to this move. President Moshe Katsav also calls upon Labor to join a national unity government.

February 1: On reentry, just 16 minutes before its scheduled landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the space shuttle Columbia breaks up in the skies over Texas, killing all seven crew members, including Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon.

February 3: Amram Mitzna, the leader of the Labour party, refuses to join Ariel Sharon's coalition government unless the Israeli prime minister agrees to close Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and begin negotiations with the Palestinians.

February 10: Following a secret meeting between Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat, cease-fire talks between Israel and the Palestinians begin. Israeli officials describe the meetings as the start of a process that will lead to a lasting settlement with the Palestinians.

February 11: The UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, reports that 1.1 million Palestinians, who are already suffering economic collapse, growing unemployment and malnutrition levels comparable to those in Congo, are threatened with food shortages because western governments have turned their backs on a UN appeal for aid funding.

February 13: Israel's Labour party leader, Amram Mitzna, meets Tommy Lapid, the leader of Shinui, to discuss joining a cabinet led by Ariel Sharon. Mitzna, previously opposed to joining Sharon's government, is softening his line in the hope that any coalition deal will include a major concession from Sharon on the Palestinian issue.

February 14: The Israeli government reacts furiously to a ruling by the Belgian supreme court that Israeli military commanders, including Ariel Sharon, could be prosecuted for complicity in the massacre of 800 Palestinians in Lebanon in 1982. The Israeli foreign minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, calls the ruling a 'blood libel' against the Jewish people.

February 15: Yasser Arafat bows to intense international pressure and agrees to appoint a Palestinian prime minister within the next few days - a vital prerequisite for the resumption of peace talks with the Israelis.

February 16: The Israeli Cabinet votes to immediately check the eligibility of some 19,000 Falash Mura remaining in Ethiopia, to immigrate. Those that can prove maternal Jewish descent will be brought over.

February 18: Israel lifts its foreign travel ban on Palestinian leaders, allowing them to discuss the peace process in a series of meetings beginning in London on this day. The Israeli move is in acknowledgement of Yasser Arafat's pledge to devolve some of his powers to an as yet unnamed prime minister.

February 19: The Israeli intelligence service arrests 12 people, including two soldiers, accused of trading military secrets to Hezbollah in exchange for tons of drugs.

February 20: The Israeli army kills at least 11 people during six hours of fighting in Gaza.

February 21: Ariel Sharon says that he will not discuss the division of Jerusalem or the return of Palestinian refugees during peace negotiations, in a blow to the prospects of a successful Israeli-Palestinian settlement.

February 24: The Labour party finally rules out joining Ariel Sharon's government, after he announces the inclusion of the National Religious party in his new coalition.

February 27: US President George W. Bush promises a new US effort to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. He gives a "personal commitment" to implementing a "road map" to peace and he argues the fall of President Saddam's regime will provide an opportunity for peace.

February 27: The thirtieth government is formed by Ariel Sharon. The coalition includes the following parliamentary groups: Likud, Shinui, Ichud Leumi, and the National Religious Party. Benjamin Netanyahu is finance minister, Silvan Shalom foreign minister.

February: The remains of an ancient synagogue are unearthed in Um el-Umdan, near the city of Modi'in - the only one in Israel from the Persian period.

February: Minister of Regional Cooperation Roni Milo and Jordan's Minister of Planning Dr. Bassem Awadallah win a prize from the International Institute for Peace Through Tourism recognizing their achievements in advancing the peace between Israel and Jordan.

February: Three Israeli films win prizes and special mention at the prestigious International Film Festival in Berlin: Nir Birgman's Broken Wings wins three prizes, the most important among them the Panorama audience award. The second prize is awarded to the Israeli film by the International Confederation of Cinema Arts, which praises the artist for "the sensitive way in which he directed the actors." The third prize won by Broken Wings is awarded by the Ecumenical Jury.
The second Israeli film, Miss Entebbe, a drama by Omri Levy, which competes in the category of children's films, wins the Crystal Bear Prize. And Underdog, Eran Merav's short film, wins special mention in the short film category.

February: Givot Olam Oil, which is drilling in the center of Israel, announces the discovery of signs of oil in the core it has cut near Rosh Ha'Ayin (Meged-4 well). According to the company announcement, "droplets of oil and gas were observed, following the deepening of the drilling to 4,390 meters, and droplets of oil and gas were also observed in the rock."

March 3: In the latest of a series of raids in Gaza eight people are killed. British Prime Minister Tony Blair presses for the "roadmap" to be published.

March 5: 17 people are killed and 53 wounded in a suicide bombing of an Egged bus on Moriah Blvd. in the Carmel section of Haifa, en route to Haifa University.

March 7: Yasser Arafat nominates his deputy in the Palestine Liberation Organization, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), as Palestinian prime minister-designate, as part of reforms aimed at reviving peace talks with Israel.

March 7: Palestinian gunmen disguised as religious Jews kill two Israelis in a raid on a West Bank settlement, hours after Israel sets up a "security zone" in the northern Gaza Strip.

March 8: Hamas political leader Ibrahim Makadmeh is assassinated by Israeli helicopter gunships in Gaza.

March 16: A US peace activist, Rachel Corrie, is crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip.

March 16: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announces that he will press the US to amend its "road map for peace" so that all references to an independent Palestinian state are excluded.

March 18: Yasser Arafat signs legislation surrendering most of his authority to a new Palestinian prime minister, opening the way for the release of the "road map" peace plan.

March 30: Over 40 people are wounded in a suicide bombing on the pedestrian mall at the entrance to the London Cafe in the center of Netanya.

April 2: Israeli forces launch two days of raids on occupied Palestinian territories, killing six Palestinians, including a 14-year-old, and detaining more than 1,000 boys and men.

April 8: A senior Hamas leader and four other Palestinians are killed in a targeted Israeli air strike.

April 9: A bomb, which may have been planted by Jewish extremists, explodes in a West Bank school playground in a village south of Jenin, injuring 20 Palestinian children.

April 9: When the first four Jewish families move into a new housing development at Ras al-Amud in the heart of East Jerusalem, Israeli settlement policy in the city reaches a new level of absurdity.

April 11: British photojournalist and peace activist Tom Hurndall is hit in the head by a single bullet, fired by an IDF soldier in Rafah. He is shot while he tries to save Palestinian children. After eight months in coma, Hurndall will die in January 2004.

April 13: Yasser Arafat angrily rejects the choices of the Palestinian prime minister designate, Mahmoud Abbas, for a new Palestinian cabinet, in a rift that threatens to disrupt tentative moves to establish an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

April 15: The US military in Baghdad says it has captured Abu Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Front, who masterminded the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro.

April 20: Six people are killed and many wounded when Israeli troops enter the refugee camp of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

April 23: A last-minute compromise between Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and Yasser Arafat paves the way for the U.S. to introduce a new peace plan.

April 24: A security guard is killed and 13 are wounded in a suicide bombing outside the train station in Kfar Sava.

April 27: Israel is sharply criticized over its plans to build a "separation fence" around the entire Palestinian territory of the West Bank.

April 30: Three people are killed and about 60 are wounded when a suicide bomber blows himself up at a beachfront pub "Mike's Place" in Tel Aviv. The investigation later reveals that the two Muslims involved in the bombing were dispatched to perpetrate the attack by the Hamas in Gaza Strip.

April 30: The US releases its long-awaited road map for peace to Israeli and Palestinian leaders hours after the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas and his cabinet are sworn in.

May 1: Israeli troops raid the home of a Hamas bombmaker in Gaza, killing 14 Palestinians, including two boys aged two and 13, during a fierce gun battle.

May 4: Amram Mitzna, the leader of the Labor Party, resigns amid infighting in the party.

May 10: US secretary of state Colin Powell arrives in Israel for talks with Ariel Sharon and Abu Mazen on the US-backed road map to peace.

May 17: A couple from Kiryat Arba is killed by a suicide bomber in Hebron.

May 17: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem.

May 18: Seven people are killed and 20 wounded in a suicide bombing an an Egged bus near French Hill in Jerusalem. A second suicide bomber detonates his bomb when intercepted by police in northern Jerusalem.

May 19: Three IDF soldiers are slightly injured when a Palestinian on a bicycle detonates explosives next to a military jeep near Kfar Darom in the southern Gaza Strip.

May 19: Three people are killed and about 70 wounded in a suicide bombing at the entrance to the Amakim Mall in Afula.

May 22: Nine Israelis are injured when a roadside bomb detonates next to a bus near Netzarim in the Gaza Strip.

May 25: The Israeli cabinet reluctantly votes to accept the US-led "road map" to an independent Palestinian state within three years. But Ariel Sharon's government attaches opt-out clauses and demands which reinforce Palestinian fears that Israel is seeking to buy time.

May: At the end of May 300 Israelis - half Israeli Arabs, half Jews - travel to Auschwitz to learn more about the Holocaust and try to help heal the wounds of the present conflict in the Middle East.

June 4: The summit meeting between Ariel Sharon, Abu Mazen and the US president, George Bush, convenes in Aqaba, Jordan. Sharon pledges to support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Abu Mazen says: "The armed intifada must end." Fearing the road map will spell the end of illegal settlements on Palestinian land, thousands of Israeli settlers protest in Jerusalem.

June 6: Hamas withdraws from the cease-fire negotiations with Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, claiming he yielded too much at the summit with Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon.

June 10: Israel draws stinging criticism from Washington, accusations of terrorism from its Palestinian partner in the peace process and a vow by Hamas to respond in kind after an army helicopter tries to assassinate the Hamas political leader in Gaza.

June 11: 17 people are killed and over 100 wounded in a suicide bombing on an Egged bus outside the Clal building on Jaffa Road in the center of Jerusalem.

June 13: Israeli helicopter gunships fire three missiles at a car, killing one person and wounding 22, including seven children.

June 17: Gunmen kill an Israeli girl on a road near the West Bank, feeding a cycle of violence that has battered the road map to peace.

June 19: A resident to Moshav Sde Trumot is killed when a suicide bomber blows himself up in his grocery.

June 20: The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, warns the Israelis and Palestinians to "move with great speed" to build confidence in the US-led road map to peace, or risk Hamas wrecking the process.

June 29: Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement formally announce a three month cease-fire.

June 30: 390 Ethiopians who want to immigrate to Israel, file a lawsuit against the State of Israel for allegedly dragging its feet on their immigration.

July 1: Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas make a symbolic public appearance together and hold a two-hour meeting. Israeli troops continue to withdraw from parts of Gaza and the West Bank.

July 3: Israel's army chief claims victory over the Palestinian intifada, saying the cease-fire announced by Hamas and other groups is an admission of defeat.

July 6: The Israeli cabinet reluctantly agrees to free several hundred Palestinian prisoners to bolster the US-led road map to peace.

July 7: A resident of Moshav Kfar Yavetz is killed in her home and three of her grandchildren are lightly injured in a suicide bombing.

July 7: In response to attacks from Yasser Arafat and his supporters criticizing his handling of peace negotiations with Israel, Mahmoud Abbas says he will step down.

July 10: Prime minister Ariel Sharon travels to London for talks with Tony Blair on the Middle East peace process.

July 14: Arafat and Abbas agree to a power-sharing deal that calls on Abbas to consider negotiating guidelines put forth by a committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization when dealing with Israel. Both Arafat and Abbas are members of the committee.

July 25: Mahmoud Abbas meets with President Bush to discuss the Middle East peace plan. Bush presses Abbas to move against Palestinian terrorist groups.

July 29: At a White House meeting with President Bush, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he plans to continue the construction of the security barrier that cuts through the West Bank.

August 5: Palestinian and Israeli leaders cancel their summit as the US-backed road map to peace runs into further trouble.

August 6: The Bush administration threatens to impose financial sanctions on Israel if it persists in pushing its security fence and wall deep into Palestinian territory.

August 6: Israel releases 339 Palestinian prisoners.

August 8: Two Jewish settlers are charged with possessing explosives stolen from the army, allegedly in preparation for a "terrorist attack" on Palestinian civilians.

August 11: Israeli aircraft attack suspected Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, after guerrillas kill a teenage boy and injure five people.

August 12: A resident of Elon Moreh is killed and three people are wounded when a teenaged suicide bomber detonates himself at a bus stop outside Ariel.

August 13: Israeli troops kill a top Islamic Jihad fugitive in a raid on his hideout, prompting threats of revenge by the militant group and placing further strain on an already shaky cease-fire

August 17: Efforts to keep the Middle East road map peace process on track hit a snag when an agreement to transfer control of four West Bank cities to the Palestinian Authority falls apart at the last minute.

August 19: 23 people are killed and over 130 wounded when a suicide bomber detonates himself on an Egged bus in Jerusalem's Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood.

August 21: Three Hamas activists, among them prominent leader Ismail Abu Shanab, are killed in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza. Palestinian militant groups call off their cease-fire

September 1: Israeli helicopters kill a Hamas activist, wound a second and injure 25 bystanders in a missile attack on Gaza City.

September 5: Israeli troops kill a Hamas commander in the West Bank city of Nablus. The raid could further undermine the troubled leadership of Mahmoud Abbas.

September 6: Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, resigns amid a power struggle with Yasser Arafat and an upsurge of violence.

September 7: Yasser Arafat nominates the speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Ahmed Qureia, to be prime minister and oversee a crumbling peace process

September 9: Nine IDF soldiers are killed and 30 people are wounded in a suicide bombing at a hitchhiking post for soldiers outside a main entrance to the Tzrifin army base and Assaf Harofeh Hospital.

September 9: Seven people are killed and over 50 wounded in a suicide bombing at Cafe Hillel on Emek Refaim Street, the main thoroughfare of the German Colony neighborhood in Jerusalem.

September 10: Israeli warplanes bomb the home of a senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, wounding him and his wife and killing two others, including his son.

September 11: Israel's security cabinet declares Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat "a complete obstacle" and adds: "Israel will work to remove this obstacle in the manner, at the time, and in the ways that will be decided on separately."

September 16: The US vetoes a UN resolution demanding that Israel neither harms nor expels the Palestinian authority president, Yasser Arafat.

September 24: A group of 27 Israeli airforce pilots declare their refusal to fly missions which could endanger civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They send a letter to the commander of Israel's airforce refusing to carry out duties, which include track and kill operations, in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

September 25: Three years of Intifada: 548 Israeli civilians, including 99 minors, have been killed by Palestinians. In addition, 246 members of the Israeli security forces have been killed by Palestinians. 2201 Palestinians, including 398 minors, have been killed by Israeli security forces. In addition, 32 Palestinians, including 3 minors, have been killed by Israeli civilians. At least 41 Palestinians, including 5 minors, 8 newborns, and 11 women, die following delays in access to medical treatment. 437 houses are demolished as a punitive measure, not in combat. 12,300 dunams of land are expropriated for the construction of the Separation Barrier. The IDF and the Israel Prison Service hold 5,278 Palestinians. Of these 528 are held in administrative detention without trial.

September 30: Marwan Barghouti delivers his closing speech at his trial.

October 1: The Israel cabinet votes to extend the West Bank "security fence".

October 4: 21 people are killed, including four children, and 60 wounded in a suicide bombing carried out by a woman from Jenin in the Maxim restaurant in Haifa.

October 5: Israeli planes launch their deepest raid into Syria for 30 years, attacking a Palestinian "terrorist training base" north of Damascus.

October 9: A Palestinian suicide bomber explodes himself at the DCO located at the entrance to Tulkarm. Two IDF soldiers and a Palestinian are wounded.

October 9 - 12: The Israeli army fights its way into Rafah refugee camp in Gaza, ostensibly in search of weapons smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt. At the raid's end, three tunnels had been found, while more than 100 homes had been rocketed or flattened by bulldozers, about 1,500 people left homeless and two children killed after an Israeli helicopter fired a missile into a crowd.

October 15: Three Americans are killed and one wounded at the Beit Hanoun junction in the Gaza Strip when a massive bomb demolishes an armour-plated jeep in a convoy carrying US diplomats.

October 19: Three Israeli soldiers are killed in an ambush by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank.

October 20: 14 Palestinians are killed when an Israeli missile slams into the Nusseirat refugee camp in Gaza. Among the dead is Dr. Zain Shahin who rushes to help the wounded.

October 21: Israel says it will ignore a resolution passed by the general assembly of the UN calling on it tear down its West Bank "security fence".

October 21 - 23: Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom visits Germany.

October 23: Three Israeli soldiers are killed and two others wounded in a shooting attack in the Gaza Strip.

October 26: The Israeli military orders thousands of Palestinians living near the steel and concrete "security fence" through the West Bank to obtain special permits to live in their own homes.

November 2: Israel is described as the major threat to world peace, ahead of North Korea, Afghanistan and Iran, by an unpublished European Commission poll of 7,500 Europeans, sparking an international row.

November 3: A suicide bomber blows himself up in the West Bank village of Azun, near Kafr Qasem, when he sees Israeli security officials searching for him. One IDF soldier is slightly wounded.

November 7: Israeli troops kill a 10-year-old boy and three Palestinian gunmen in separate incidents in the Gaza Strip.

November 13: Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tells the newspaper Haaretz in an interview that "the government of Israel is going to have to address the demographic issue with the utmost seriousness and resolve. The issue above all others will dictate the solution that we msut adopt. In the absence of a negotiation agreement ... we need to implement a unilteral alternative."

November 18: The European Union formally condemns Israel's controversial "security fence" in the occupied West Bank.

November 27: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon goes back on a personal commitment to George Bush to dismantle illegal Jewish outposts in the West Bank by saying he would allow some to remain for security reasons.

November 28: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemns the "security fence."

December 1: The Geneva peace initiative is met with skepticism.

December 1: Israeli forces raid Ramallah killing three activists and a nine-year-old boy.

December 3 : The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution to send the issue of Israel's security fence to the International Court of Justice in The Hague for an advisory opinion on its legality under international law.

December 7: Palestinian factions fail to agree on a comprehensive cease-fire considered crucial to reviving the peace process.

December 11: Israeli forces kill six people during a raid on the southern Gaza town of Rafah.

December 18 : During the Herzliya Conference on Security Issues, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon makes a major policy address. He emphasizes Israel's commitment to the Roadmap and expresses Israel's desire for, "A democratic Palestinian state with territorial contiguity in Judea and Samaria and economic viability." He calls on the Palestinians to do their part and eliminate terrorist organizations. He declares, however, that Israel could not wait indefinitely for this to happen, and he announces a Disengagement Plan in the event that the Palestinians will not fulfill their commitments. The new plan will include the redeployment of IDF forces and the relocation of some settlements, in an effort to reduce friction between Israelis and Palestinians. He calls for the rapid completion of the security fence, which will enable the IDF to remove roadblocks and ease the daily lives of those Palestinians who are not involved in terrorism. The Prime Minister stresses that the Disengagement Plan will be implemented only in the event that the Palestinians continue to postpone implementation of the Roadmap. He adds that Israel will do its utmost to maintain its strategic coordination with the United States, which includes actions taken in the framework of this new plan.

December 22: Palestinians vent their frustration for the perceived lack of support by Arab countries by attacking the Egyptian foreign minister when he arrived to pray at Islam's third holiest site in Jerusalem.

December 23: An Israeli army raid in southern Gaza leaves eight Palestinians dead.

December 25: Four Israelis are killed and over 20 wounded in a suicide bombing at a bus stop at the Geha junction near Petah Tikvah.

December 25: Mekled Hameid, Islamic Jihad commander, two members of the organization and two civilians are killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza.

December 26/27: Several thousand demonstrate against the security fence in Qalqilyah. Soldiers use rubber bullets. An Israeli demonstrator is injured.

December 31: Israel approves a plan to double the number of settlements in the disputed Golan heights in a move likely to provoke Syrian ire.

Amos Oz writes "A Tale of Love and Darkness", the story of the writer's family.

January 16: Artist Alfred Kantor dies, aged 79. His works chronicle the unimaginable horrors of concentration camps at Auschwitz, Theresienstadt, and Schwarzheide. He destroyed most of the works he created in the camps and recreated them from memory after World War II.

March 22: Two Jewish boys who were participating in an educational activity of the Hashomer Hatsair youth movement are wounded by anti-American demonstrators in Paris.

April 7 - 9: A series of events mark the 100th anniversary of the Kishinev Pogrom.

May 16: Moroccan suicide bombers simultaneously attack five Western and Jewish targets in Casablanca, Morocco, killing 45 people and wounding 100. More than a million people subsequently demonstrate to condemn the attacks.

May 18: The Jewish Community of Riga is excited over the arrival of the Israeli Delegation to Eurovision Song Contest.

June 21: Leon Uris, American novelist and famous for his novel "Exodus", dies, aged 78.

October 1 - November 3: The Centre Pompidou in Paris shows a retrospective exhibition of Amos Gitai movies.

September 25: Franco Modigliani, economist and nobel prize laureate, dies, aged 85.

November 15: Some 60 people are killed in attacks on the Neve Shalom and Beth Israel synagogues and in similar attacks five days later on the British Consulate and a London-based bank in Istanbul. Most of the dead are Turkish Muslims. The attacks are blamed on a local Al-Qaida cell.

December 11: The exhibition "Rettet die Kinder - Die Jugendalijah 1933 - 2003" ("Save the Children - Youth Aliyah 1933 - 2003") opens in the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt.

December 17: A Jewish school opens in Croatia for the first time in 62 years.

The Jewish Museum in New York exhibits:Schoenberg, Kandinsky, and the Blue Rider; Bel Canto(r):
Jewish Superstars of Song; Signs from Berlin: A Project by Stih and Schnock; Frida Kahlo's Intimate Family Portrait; Entertaining America: Jews, Movies, and Broadcasting.

Vitaly L. Ginzburg and Alexei A. Abrikosov are awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Saturday 06 September, 2008

שבת ו' אלול תשס"ח