March 9
The IDF spokesperson announces the fencing of land in the Rafah salient “for security reasons.” The action dispossesses and expels some fifteen hundred,500 Bedouin families living in the area, which will later become the town of Yamit.
March 28
The first municipal elections are held in the West Bank. Both Jordan and the PLO call upon the Palestinians to ban the elections. Under Jordanian municipal law, only about 5 percent of the West Bank population is eligible to vote (for instance, refugee camp dwellers are excluded). Traditional forces win.
July
Israel eliminates the military resistance in the Gaza Strip. Aggressive incursions by the IDF, under Ariel Sharon’s command, and strenuous efforts by the Shabak force the Palestinian combatants into the refugee camps. In the camps, the IDF begins to pave roads “the width of a tank,” causing massive destruction of houses and infrastructure, to enable army access and make it impossible for Palestinian combatants to hide there. The demolition is presented as part of a plan to relocate refugees in new neighborhoods in the strip in a way that would contribute to the “solution of the refugees problem.” Eventually, some twelve thousand refugees would move out of the camps to newly constructed neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip.
July 2
A general exit permit is issued whereby residents of the Occupied Territories are allowed to enter Israel without having an individual permit. The general permit is not in force from 1:00 A.M. to 5:00 A.M., yet many Palestinian workers remain in Israel through the night.
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The military government approves the expansion of Birzeit College and its reestablishment as Birzeit University. Over the years, the university will have to face extended periods of closure, the expulsion of teachers and administrators, the banning of books and journals from entering the university, and the nonissuance of permits for non-Palestinian teachers.