Timeline Palestine
thru 2000
Return to home
ArabNet: http://www.arab.net/palestine/history/palestine_history.html
Enc. Orient: http://i-cias.com/e.o/index.htm
Nat'l. Charter: http://i-cias.com/e.o/index.htm
Palestine Timeline 1900-: http://www.palestinehistory.com/index.html
WHA: http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/51/index-i.html
The West Bank is about 2,300 sq. miles. Gaza at 140
square miles is about the size of Wichita, Kansas.
(SFC, 1/22/98, p.B12)(WSJ, 6/19/07, p.A1)(WSJ,
1/3/07, p.A14)
930BC Sheshonq I,
ruler of Egypt, campaigned in Palestine about this time laying tribute
upon the king of Judah.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
710BC Hanunu of Gaza was in the
revolt against the king of Assyria which led to the battle of Raphia,
the first struggle between Egypt and Assyria. Hanunu, the king of Gaza,
fled to Sebako (Shebaka), king of Egypt; but returned and, having made
submission, was received with favor.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.71)
c700BC King Hezekiah constructed a 1,750-foot tunnel
to bring water into Jerusalem. Archeologists in 2003 dated plant
fragments in the tunnel's plaster to this time +/- 100 years.
(SFC, 9/11/03, p.A6)
586BCE Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, ruler of
Mesopotamia, destroyed Jerusalem and recorded his deeds at the Nahr al
Kalb (Dog River) cliff face between Beirut and Byblos. He destroyed the
first Temple, built by Solomon and took the Jewish people into
captivity.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.157)(SFC, 12/31/96, p.A11)(Econ,
12/20/03, p.26)
586BCE Ezekial, in exile at Babylon, described Tyre
as it was before Nebuchadnezzar's attack in the Bible: (Ezekial
27:1-25). This time is known as the "Babylonian Captivity."
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.162)(eawc, p.8)
15BCE King Herod of Judea built
the coastal settlement of Caesarea. It was razed to the ground in 1265.
(Econ, 4/24/04, p.83)
c1-30 The life of Jesus Christ. In
1998 "The Acts of Jesus -- What Did Jesus Really Do? The Search for the
Authentic Jesus" was published with translation and commentary by
Robert W. Funk, director of the Westar Institute and The Jesus Seminar.
In 2001 Philip Jenkins authored "Hidden Gospels: How the Search for
Jesus Lost Its Way," in which he examines the motives and methodologies
of radical biblical scholars.
(SFEM, 4/19/98, p.6)(WSJ, 4/30/01, p.A16)
30CE Apr 30, Jesus of Nazareth was
crucified. Christ died on hill of Golgotha, Jerusalem. His path along
the Via Dolorosa was later disputed as to whether he was tried by
Pontius Pilate at the palace of Herod or at the Roman fortress of
Antonia. His death was at an abandoned quarry, the site of today’s
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In 1998 Robert Funk and the Jesus Seminar
published "The Acts of Jesus: The Search for the Authentic Deeds of
Jesus." The group had published an earlier work "The Five Gospels," in
which the sayings of Jesus were examined.
(V.D.-H.K.p.16)(SFC, 3/27/97, p.C2)(SFEC, 4/12/98,
BR p.8)(HN, 4/30/98)
In 1999 Thomas Cahill authored
"Desire of the Everlasting Hills," a book about Jesus and his effect on
the world.
(WSJ, 11/5/99, p.W12)
30CE When the Roman governor of
Palestine was confronted by an angry Jewish crowd demanding the
execution of the leader of a small, radical
religious movement, like
Socrates, he cross-examined him. When he asked him if he was a king,
the man replied, "To this end I was born, and for this cause I came
into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone that belongs to
the truth will hear me." The
governor, being a Roman, answered as any educated Roman would. For
Pontius Pilate had been raised on the Greek and Roman skeptical
traditions that denied that there was anything like certain truth, only
probable knowledge. So, as
any other Roman would have done, he asked the question, "What is
truth?," but received no answer. In 2000 Ann Wroe authored the
historical novel "Pontius Pilate."
(WWW, WC, 8/15/98)(SFEC, 5/21/00, Par p.19)
30CE Dismas was the repentant
thief crucified with Christ.
(WSJ, 11/2/98, p.B1)
c30 Lazarus lived in Cyprus as a
bishop after the miracle by Christ.
(NH, 4/97, p.62)
c30 Easter [in commemoration of
the resurrection of Christ] is generally observed on the Sunday
following the first full moon of spring.
(PacDis, Spring/'94, p. 40)
33CE Apr 3, Christ was crucified
(according to astronomers Humphreys and Waddington). The date is highly
debated. [see Apr 30, 30CE]
(MC, 4/3/02)
c62-63 James, the "brother" of
Jesus, was stoned to death for teaching the divinity of Christ. He had
led the church in Jerusalem for the 3 decades following the death of
Jesus. In 2002 a stone ossuary, looted from a Jerusalem cave, was found
with an Aramaic inscription that read "James, son of Joseph, brother of
Jesus." In 1997 Robert Eisenman authored "James, the Brother of Jesus."
In 2003 Hershel Shanks and Ben Witherington III co-authored "The
Brother of Jesus: The Dramatic Story & Meaning of the First
Archeological Link to Jesus & His Family."
(SFC, 10/22/02, p.A12)(SSFC, 4/20/03, p.E2)
65CE Jun 8, Jews revolted against
Rome, capturing the fortress of Antonia in Jerusalem.
(MC, 6/8/02)
69CE Sep 1, Traditional date for
the destruction of Jerusalem. [see Aug 29 70CE]
(MC, 9/1/02)
70CE Aug 29, The Temple of
Jerusalem burned after a nine-month Roman siege. The Second Temple of
Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome’s 10th Legion and the Jews there were
exiled. In the Jewish War the Israelites tried unsuccessfully to revolt
against Roman rule. The destruction buried the shops that lined the
main street. Archeologists in 1996 found numerous artifacts that
included bronze coins called prutot. Carpenters from Israel’s
Antiquities Authority used manuscripts of the Roman master builder
Vitruvius to reconstruct contraptions used in the construction of the
temple.
(SFC, 5/23/95, p.A-10)(SFC, 8/28/96, p.A10)(WSJ,
6/22/98, p.A20)(HN, 8/29/98) (SFEC, 3/28/99, p.T11)
70CE Jun 5, Titus & his Roman
legions breached the middle wall of Jerusalem.
(MC, 6/5/02)
70CE Sep 27, The walls of upper
city of Jerusalem were battered down by Romans.
(MC, 9/27/01)
82CE Jul 27, Joseph of Arimathea,
died and was buried in tomb he once lent to Jesus.
(MC, 7/27/02)
c100CE Raban Gamliel in the first century is credited
with arranging the Amidah, considered by many to be the most important
prayer in the Jewish liturgy. Raban Gamliel was the most influential
Rabbi in the period following the destruction of the Temple. This was a
time when many different rabbis each had their own individual domains.
(www.kolshalom.com/divrei/dvarilana1.html)
309 Feb 16, Pamphilus Caesarea,
Palestinian scholar, martyr, was beheaded.
(MC, 2/16/02)
326-330 The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was
built by the Roman emperor Constantine. The church was rebuilt under
Justinian (527-565).
(SFC, 12/26/96, p.B2)(WSJ, 4/5/02, p.A1)
335 Byzantine Emperor Constantine
built the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem on the hill of
Golgotha, where his mother claimed to have found the remains of the
True Cross. It was raised by the Persians in 614, reconstructed and
again destroyed by Caliph Hakim of Egypt in 1009. It was rebuilt by the
Crusaders.
(WSJ, 1/27/07, p.W13)
614 Christian Palestine was
invaded by the Persians. The 5th century monastery of St. Theodosius
east of Beit Sahour near Bethlehem was destroyed by the Persians.
(SFEC, 12/22/96, p.T3)(WSJ, 4/5/02, p.W12)
628 Apr 3, In Persia, Kavadh sued
for peace with the Byzantines. He handed back Armenia, Byzantine
Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt.
(HN, 4/3/99)
634 Sophronius (74), Christian
monk, was elected patriarch and political ruler of Jerusalem.
(ON, 7/03, p.3)
636 Summer, A Byzantine army
arrived in the region of Jerusalem and was defeated by a much smaller
Muslim army at the Yarmuk River. With Muslims at the gate Sophronius,
head of Jerusalem, requested a meeting with Caliph Omar.
(ON, 7/03, p.5)
636 Jul 23, Arabs gained control
of most of Palestine from Byzantine Empire.
(MC, 7/23/02)
638 Mar 11, Sophronius of
Jerusalem, saint, patriarch of Jerusalem, died.
(MC, 3/12/02)
691 The Dome of the Rock mosque
was built in Jerusalem. It contained inscriptions that later were held
as the 1st evidence of the Koran.
(SFC, 3/2/02, p.A15)
1009 In Jerusalem the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre was burned by Muslims under Caliph Hakim of Egypt.
(WSJ, 5/7/01, p.A20)(WSJ, 1/27/07, p.W13)
1033 An enormous pilgrimage to
Jerusalem marked the 1000th anniversary of the crucifixion of Jesus
Christ.
(SFC, 1/6/97, p.A3)
1065 Apr 12, Pilgrims under bishop
Gunther of Bamberg reached Jerusalem.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1095 Nov 26, Pope Urban urged the
faithful to wrest the Holy Land from the Muslims, heralding start of
Crusades.
(AP, 11/26/02)
1099 Jun 5, Knights and their
families on the First Crusade witnessed an eclipse of the moon and
interpreted it as a sign from God that they would recapture Jerusalem.
(HN, 6/5/99)
1099 Jun 12, Crusade leaders
visited the Mount of Olives where they met a hermit who urged them to
assault Jerusalem.
(HN, 6/12/99)
1099 Jul 8, In Jerusalem 15,000
starving Christian soldiers marched around barefoot while the Muslim
defenders mocked them from the battlements.
(HN, 5/23/99)
1099 Jul 13, The Crusaders
launched their final assault on Muslims in Jerusalem.
(HN, 7/13/99)
1099 Jul 15, Jerusalem fell to the
crusaders following a 7 week siege. A massacre of the city's Muslim and
Jewish population followed with the dead numbered at about 3,000.
(V.D.-H.K.p.109)(HN, 7/15/98)(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.E3)
1099 Jul 16, Crusaders herded the
Jews of Jerusalem into a synagogue and set it afire.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1099 Aug 12, At the Battle of
Ascalon 1,000 Crusaders, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, routed an Egyptian
relief column heading for Jerusalem. The Norman Godfrey, elected King
of Jerusalem, had assumed the title Defender of the Holy Sepulcher.
Disease starvation by this time reduced the Crusaders to 60,000, down
from an initial 300,000, and most of the survivors left for home.
(HN, 8/12/99)(PC, 1992, p.88)
1118 Apr 2, Boudouin I of Bologne
and Edessa, 1st crusader, king of Jerusalem, died.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1118 The military order of the
Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon was founded in
Jerusalem to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land following the First
Crusade. The Knights Templar were founded to protect pilgrims in the
Holy Land during the second Crusade.
(AHD, 1971, p.724)(AP, 10/12/07)
1144 The Saracens recaptured the
crusader’s castles along the Palestine coast.
(V.D.-H.K.p.109)
1174 Jul 11, Amalric I, king of
Jerusalem, died.
(ON, 6/07, p.5)
1174 Jul 15, Baldwin (13), son of
Amalric I, was crowned Baldwin IV, king of Jerusalem.
(ON, 6/07, p.5)
1177 Aug 2, Philip of Flanders
arrived in Acre. A Christian army under the joint command of Philip of
Flanders and Raymond of Tripoli marched west to campaign against the
Muslims around Tripoli.
(ON, 6/07,
p.5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_of_Flanders)
1177 Nov 18, Saladin marched north
from Egypt with 26,000 light cavalry intent on capturing the Kingdom of
Jerusalem.
(ON, 6/07,
p.5)(www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_ramleh.html)
1177 Nov 25, Baldwin of Jerusalem
and his armored knights encountered the Muslim army of Saladin below
the castle of Montgisard and defeated them in a surprise attack.
(ON, 6/07, p.6)
1180 The Kingdom of Jerusalem
under Baldwin IV reached a truce with Egypt under Saladin.
(ON, 6/07, p.6)
1185 Mar, Baldwin IV (23), king of
Jerusalem, succombed to his leprosy.
(ON, 6/07,
p.6)(http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9356429/Baldwin-IV)
1187 Oct 2, Sultan Saladin
captured Jerusalem from Crusaders.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(1187))
1191 Jul 12, Richard Coeur de Lion
and Crusaders defeated the Saracens at Acre.
(MC, 7/12/02)
1191 Aug 20, Crusader King Richard
I (1157-1199), Coeur de Lion (the "Lionheart"), executed some
2,700-3,000 Muslim prisoners in Acre (Akko).
(MC, 8/20/02)
1229 Mar 18, German emperor
Frederick II crowned himself king of Jerusalem.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1237 Mar 23, Jan of Brienne, King
of Jerusalem, Emperor of Constantinople, died.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1244 Oct 17, The Sixth Crusade
ended when an Egyptian-Khwarismian force almost annihilated the
Frankish army at Gaza.
(HN, 10/17/98)
1265 The coastal settlement of
Caesarea (Palestine) was razed to the ground.
(Econ, 4/24/04, p.83)
1267 Sep 1, Ramban (Nachmanides)
arrived in Jerusalem to establish a Jewish community.
(SC, 9/1/02)
1291 May 18, Sultan of Egypt and
his son took the last Christian stronghold of Acre.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1291 Jul 31, Egyptian Mamelukes
(Mamluks) occupied Akko (Akre). The crusaders were driven out of
Palestine.
(MC, 7/31/02)(Arch, 7/02, p.19)
1626 Dec 1, Pasha Muhammad ibn
Farukh, tyrannical governor of Jerusalem, was driven out.
(MC, 12/1/01)
1757 The Greek Orthodox clergy
wrested control of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
Ottoman rulers declared a status quo for the holy sties of the city and
control of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was split primarily among
the Latin, Greek and Armenian patriarchates of Jerusalem and
secondarily among the churches of Egypt, Syria and Ethiopia. This
arrangement was formalized in 1852.
(WSJ, 1/27/07, p.W13)
1799 Mar 6, Napoleon captured
Jaffa, Palestine. [see Mar 7]
(MC, 3/6/02)
1799 Mar 7, In Palestine, Napoleon
captured Jaffa and his men massacred more than 2,000 Albanian
prisoners. [see Mar 26]
(HN, 3/7/99)
1799 Mar 19, Napoleon Bonaparte
began the siege of Acre ( later Akko, Israel), which was defended by
Turks.
(AP, 3/19/03)
1799 Mar 26, Napoleon Bonaparte
captures Jaffa, Palestine. [see Mar 7]
(HN, 3/26/99)
1799 Apr 14, Napoleon called for
establishing Jerusalem for Jews.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1836 Sep 1, Reconstruction began
on Synagogue of Rabbi Judah Hasid in Jerusalem.
(MC, 9/1/02)
1847 George Bush, a professor of
Hebrew at New York Univ., authored “The Valley of Vision,” in which he
called on the US government to militarily wrench Palestine from the
Turks and return it to the Jews.
(WSJ, 6/2/07, p.P8)
1880 Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine
were part of Syria under Ottoman rule.
(Econ, 5/27/06, p.80)
1896 Feb 14, Theodor Herzl
published "Der Judenstaat," in which he called for a Jewish homeland in
Palestine.
(SFC, 4/30/02, p.A8)(MC, 2/14/02)
1901 The Jewish National Fund was
founded to buy and develop land in Palestine (later Israel) for Jewish
settlement.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_National_Fund)
1909 In Palestine mostly Russian
socialist idealists of the Zionist movement set up an armed group,
Hashomer, to protect their new farms and villages from Arab marauders.
(Econ, 1/10/09, p.9)
1915 Mar 2, Vladmir Jabotinsky
formed a Jewish military force to fight in Palestine.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1916 May 19, The Sykes-Picot
Agreement was a secret understanding between the governments of Britain
and France defining their respective spheres of post-World War I
influence and control in the Middle East. The boundaries of this
agreement still remains in much of the common border between Syria and
Iraq. Britain and France carved up the Levant into an assortment of
monarchies, mandates and emirates. The agreement enshrined Anglo-French
imperialist ambitions at the end of WW II. Syria and Lebanon were put
into the French orbit, while Britain claimed Jordan, Iraq, the Gulf
states and the Palestinian Mandate. Sir Mark Sykes (d.1919 at age 39)
and Francois Picot made the deal.
(WSJ, 2/27/00,
p.A17)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes-Picot_Agreement)
1917 Nov 2, British Foreign
Secretary Arthur Balfour, in what became known as the Balfour
Declaration, expressed support for a "national home" for the Jews of
Palestine. It encouraged Jewish immigration to Israel in the decade
after WW I.
(SFC, 10/18/96, C8)(AP, 11/2/97)
1917 Dec 9, British forces under
General Allenby captured Jerusalem. He liberated the city from Turkish
control.
(WSJ, 4/4/96, A-12)(SFC, 10/18/96, C8)(MC, 12/9/01)
1918 Sep 22, General Allenby led
the British army against the Turks, taking Haifa and Nazareth,
Palestine.
(HN, 9/22/98)
1919 This year marked the birth of
Palestinian - Arab nationalism. The events are documented in the 1996
book "Jerusalem in the 20th Century" by Martin Gilbert.
(WSJ, 10/14/96, p.A14)
1920 Apr 4, Arabs attacked Jews in
Jerusalem.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1920 Apr 20, Balfour Declaration
was recognized. This made Palestine a British Mandate.
(MC, 4/20/02)
1920 Apr 24, British Mandate over
Palestine went into effect and lasted for 28 years. The British
organized a police force with some 3,000 British, Arab and Jewish
officers.
(MC, 4/24/02)(WSJ, 2/2/04, p.A12)
1920 Aug 14, Nehemiah Persoff,
actor (Al Capone, Yentl), was born in Jerusalem, Palestine.
(MC, 8/14/02)
1921 Jun 19, Turks and Christians
of Palestine signed a friendship treaty against Jews.
(MC, 6/19/02)
1921 The British contrived the
election of Haj Amin al-Husseini (1895-1974) as the Mufti of Jerusalem.
In 2008 David G. Dalin and John F. Rothman authored “Icon of Evil:
Hitler’s Mufti and the Rise of Radical Islam.”
(WSJ, 6/26/08, p.A13)
1922 Sep 11, The British mandate
of Palestine began.
(MC, 9/11/01)
1922 Sep 21, Pres Warren G.
Harding signed a joint resolution of approval to establish a Jewish
homeland in Palestine.
(MC, 9/21/01)
1922 The West Bank became an
unallocated portion of the Palestine Mandate. The eastern area became
known as Transjordan.
(SFC, 6/24/96, p.A19)(SFC, 4/30/02, p.A8)
1922-1948 Palestine and the West Bank comprised about
1/5th of the area under British rule at his time.
(SFC, 1/22/98, p.B12)
1929 Aug 24, Yasser Arafat
(d.2004), leader of the Palestinian Liberation Movement (Nobel 1994),
was born in Cairo according to his Cairo birth certificate. He was the
5th child of Palestinian merchant Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini. In
1998 Said K. Aburish published his biography "Arafat: From Defender to
Dictator."
(SFC, 11/11/04,
p.A18)(www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Yasser-Arafat)
1929 Aug 24, Palestinians attacked
orthodox Jews in Jerusalem.
(MC, 8/24/02)
1929 There were 67 Jews massacred
in Hebron and the survivors were forced to flee. Arab riots in Hebron
killed dozens of Jews with guns and axes and destroyed the ancient
Jewish quarter.
(SFC, 1/10/96, p.A14)(SFC, 1/25/02, p.AA11)
1930s Forces of Haj Amin
al-Husseini, the mufti of Jerusalem, killed hundreds of Jews and
attempted to get rid of Arabs who tolerated Jewish presence.
(WSJ, 8/14/01, p.A14)
1933 Jul 21, Haifa Harbor in
Palestine opened.
(MC, 7/21/02)
1934 Feb 10, A Jewish immigrant
ship 1st broke the English blockade in Palestine.
(MC, 2/10/02)
1935 Edward W. Said was born in
Jerusalem and grew up in Cairo. Mr. Said later became a spokesman for
the Palestinian cause and Prof. of Literature at Columbia Univ. He
authored "Orientalism," which held that the Western study of Islam is
itself a form of colonialism.
(WSJ, 8/26/99, p.A18)
1936 Apr 15, A number of cars on
the road between Tulkarm and Nablus were held up by Arab highwaymen.
After the armed robbers had removed valuables from the occupants of the
cars, three Jews were forced to sit together in a truck where they were
shot by the bandits in cold blood. One was killed outright and another
died later from his injuries.
(http://tinyurl.com/j93pg)
1936 Apr 19, Anti-Jewish riots
broke out in Jaffa, Palestine.
(www.palestinefacts.org/pf_mandate_riots_1936-39.php)(http://tinyurl.com/j93pg)
1936 Apr 20, Serious rioting took
place on the borders between Jaffa and Tel-Aviv, in particular in the
Catton, Manshieh and Saknat Abu Kebir quarters..
(http://tinyurl.com/j93pg)
1936 Oct 10, The Arab Higher
Committee issued a manifesto to end riots in Palestine.
(http://tinyurl.com/j93pg)
1936 Nov 11, A British Royal
Commission arrived in Palestine to investigate the underlying cause of
the anti-Jewish riots. The Arab Higher Committee called a boycott of
the commission’s inquiry.
(http://tinyurl.com/j93pg)
1936 The Arab Revolt of 1936 was a
culmination of actions by Haj Amin al-Husseini (1895-1974), the Mufti
of Jerusalem, who recruited and commanded a national movement of
violence aimed at forbidding all compromise with Jews.
(WSJ, 6/26/08, p.A13)
1937 Sep 8, The Pan Arab
conference about Palestine opened.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1937 Oct, Amin al-Husseini, the
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, was exiled from Palestine. He sought fled to
Iraq and in 1941 sought refuge in Iran.
(www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/si/dec02/middleEast.asp)
1937 Dec 23, London warned Rome to
stop the anti-British propaganda in Palestine.
(HN, 12/23/98)
1939 May 23, British parliament
planned to make Palestine independent by 1949.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1941 Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian
poet, was born in a village that later became part of Israel. His later
work included the poem "State of Siege." In 2003 "Unfortunately It Was
Paradise," a translation of his work into English, was published
(SSFC, 11/3/02, p.D6)
1945 Hamas began life as a branch
of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which advocated the creation of states
based ion Muslim law across the Middle East. [see Palestine 1987]
(Econ, 11/12/05,
p.48)(www.upi.com/inc/view.php?StoryID=18062002-051845-8272r)
1946 Aug 13, Britain transferred
illegal immigrants bound for Palestine to Cyprus.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1945 Aug 25, Jewish
immigrants were permitted to leave Mauritius for Palestine.
(chblue.com, 8/25/01)
1947 Jan 12, In Haifa, Palestine,
the Stern Gang drove a truckload of explosives into a British police
station. 4 people were killed and 140 injured.
(SSFC, 4/16/06, p.E4)
1947 Feb 7, Arabs and Jews
rejected a British proposal to split Palestine.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1947 Jul 18, British seized the
"Exodus 1947" ship of Jewish immigrants to Palestine. The British Royal
Navy intercepted the ship President Warfield, which had been renamed
Exodus by its passengers, forcing the 4,000 Jewish would-be immigrants
aboard back to Displaced Person camps in Germany. Britain was still the
ruling power in Palestine, which was being wracked by conflict
resulting from Jewish national aspirations. The return of the Jewish
immigrants, many of them survivors of Nazi persecution, heightened
anti-British sentiment among Jews in Palestine and elsewhere. Yossi
Harel, commander of the Exodus, died in 2008 at age 90.
(MC, 7/18/02)(HNQ, 12/4/98)(AP, 4/26/08)
1947 Nov 29, The U.N. General
Assembly passed a resolution calling for the partitioning of Palestine
[Jerusalem] between Arabs and Jews. It was to be the heart of an Arab
Palestinian state.
(SFC, 10/18/96, C8)(AP, 11/29/97)(SFC, 1/22/98,
p.B12)
1947 Dec 29, Ship carrying Jewish
immigrants were forced back from Palestine.
(MC, 12/29/01)
1947 Haj Amin al-Husseini, the
mufti of Jerusalem, returned from war-time exile during which he’d
advised Hitler on a final solution for Palestine’s Jews.
(WSJ, 8/14/01, p.A14)
1948 Feb 1, The Palestine Post
building in Jerusalem was bombed.
(MC, 2/1/02)
1948 Feb 22, An Arab bomb attack
in Jerusalem killed 50 people.
(MC, 2/22/02)
1948 Mar 11, Jewish Agency of
Jerusalem was bombed.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1948 Apr 9, In Deir Yassin about
one-third of 750 Palestinians were killed by Jewish fighters of the
National Military Organization, an underground group better known as
the Irgun, and a splinter group called Lehi. The event is called
Al-Nakbah (catastrophe) by the Palestinians. 30 similar massacres
happened on other Palestinian villages. The death toll was said to be
inflated by Jewish forces to invoke fear and cause maximum flight.
(SFC, 3/18/98, p.A10)(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A1,11)
1948 Mar 10, Political and
military men gathered at the Tel Aviv headquarters of the Haganah and
put the final touches to Plan Dalet. In 2006 Prof. Ilan Pappe of the
Univ. of Haifa authored “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.” He held
that Plan Dalet was a plan for the ethnic cleansing of some 800,000
Palestinians in order to allow the formation of the Jewish state.
(Econ, 11/4/06, p.92)
1948 Mar 24, Israel Galili, chief
of the Haganah, sent orders reminding commanders of the policy to
protect the “full rights, needs, and freedoms of the Arabs in the
Hebrew state without discrimination.”
(Econ, 11/4/06, p.93)
1948 May 11, Haganah took control
of Safed and port of Haifa.
(MC, 5/11/02)
1948 May 15, A 28 year old British
Mandate over Palestine ended.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1948 May 15, Hours after declaring
its independence, the new state of Israel was attacked by Transjordan,
Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. The first president of the State of
Israel, Chaim Weizmann, took office with the founding of the nation.
David Ben-Gurion was Israel’s first prime minister. Weizmann, born in
Russia in 1874, taught chemistry in England and as a leading Zionist
influenced Britain’s Balfour Declaration of 1917 favoring a Jewish
homeland in Palestine. Weizmann settled in Palestine in 1934 and
served as president of Israel from 1948 until his death in 1952.
(AP, 5/15/97)(HNQ, 6/19/99)
1948 May 24, Ariel Sharon, then
called Arik Scheinerman, was wounded at the battle of Latrun while
securing Jerusalem for Jews in the 1st Arab-Israeli War.
(WSJ, 10/13/00, p.A15)(Econ, 12/16/06,
p.85)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrun)
1948 May 27, Arabs blew up the
Jewish synagogue Hurvat Rabbi Yehudah he-Hasid.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1948 Aug 23, Count Bernadotte
asked for aid for fugitives to Palestine. [see Sep 17]
(MC, 8/23/02)
1948 Sep 17, Count Folke
Bernadotte (b.1895) of Sweden, the UN mediator for Palestine, was
assassinated in Jerusalem by members of the extreme Zionist Stern
Group. Yehoshua Zettler (d.2009 at 91), one of the founding members of
the group, masterminded the assassination.
(AP,
9/17/98)(www.us-israel.org/jsource/biography/Bernadotte.html)(AP,
5/25/09)
1948 Sep 18, Ralph J. Bunche was
confirmed as acting UN mediator in Palestine.
(MC, 9/18/01)
1948 Oct 21, Beersheba was
liberated by the Israeli army.
(MC, 10/21/01)
1948 Dec 8, Jordan annexed Arabic
Palestine. The old city of East Jerusalem came under Jordanian control
until 1968. Transjordan was given to a client Arab family, the
Hashenites (led by King Hussein’s grandfather), and was run out of
Mecca by the Saudis.
(SFC, 6/24/96, p.A19)(WSJ, 4/9/97, p.A14)(MC,
12/8/01)
1948 Dec 11, United Nations
General Assembly Resolution 194 was passed near the end of the 1948
Arab-Israeli War. The resolution expresses appreciation for the efforts
of UN Envoy Folke Bernadotte after his assassination by members of the
Stern Gang. It was later often quoted in support of the Palestinian
right of return.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_General_Assembly_Resolution_194)(Econ,
9/6/08, p.68)
1948 In the months preceding the
war between Israel and the Arab states some 10,000 Arab homes in West
Jerusalem were looted and seized.
(SSFC, 5/18/03, p.D6)
1948-1949 Jordan seized the West Bank and Egypt
occupied the Gaza Strip.
(SFC, 6/24/96, p.A19)(SFC, 1/22/98, p.B12)
1949 Dec 9, UN took trusteeship
over Jerusalem.
(HN, 12/9/98)
1949 Dec, The UN Relief and Works
Agency (UNRWA) was established to serve Palestinian Arabs.
(SSFC, 5/19/02, p.A10)
1949 Yasser Arafat formed a
Palestinian Students’ League.
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.A18)
1950 Apr 24, Jordan annexed the
West Bank and offered citizenship to all Palestinians wishing to claim
it.
(SFC, 2/8/99, p.A6)
1951 Jul 20, Jordan's King
Abdullah Ibn Hussein was assassinated in Jerusalem by a
Palestinian extremist. Prince Hussein (15) witnessed the murder. Talal
became king with the assassination of his father, Abdullah ibn-Hussein,
who ruled when Jordan was a British mandate.
(AP, 7/20/97)(HN, 7/20/98)(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A13)(MC,
7/20/02)
1953 Yasser Arafat (d.2004), as a
student in Egypt, authored “Don’t Forget Palestine.”
(Econ, 11/13/04, p.95)
1953 The Jenin refugee camp was
established.
(SFC, 4/15/02, p.A12)
1955 Mar 1, Israeli assault on
Gaza killed 48.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1955 May 11, Israel attacked Gaza.
(MC, 5/11/02)
1956 Jul 25, Jordanians attacked
the UN Palestine truce.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1956 Aug, Yasser Arafat attended
an int’l. student congress in Prague and secured membership for
Palestine.
(WSJ, 11/12/04, p.A11)
1956 Oct 29, During the Suez Canal
crisis, Israel launched an invasion of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
Paratroopers under Ariel Sharon dropped into Sinai to open the Straits
of Tiran. The Sinai Campaign, also known as Operation Kadesh, lasted
eight days to November 5, 1956.
(AP, 10/29/97)(Econ, 7/29/06,
p.24)(www.jafi.org.il/education/100/Concepts/d3.html)
1956 Nov 2, Gaza was occupied by
the Israeli army and evacuated in March 1957.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0007_0_07101.html)
1959 A group of Palestinians met
in Kuwait and formed Fatah. Yasser Arafat became the group’s leader.
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.A18)
1962 Mar 9, Egyptian Pres. Nasser
declared Gaza belongs to Palestinians.
(MC, 3/9/02)
1964 Jan 1, Fatah, the guerrilla
group founded by Yasser Arafat, made its 1st armed attack against
Israel. The annual celebration of this day came to be known as Fatah
Day.
(SFC, 1/2/01, p.A8)
1964 Jan 17, The PLO charter was
put together with articles that proclaimed Israel an illegal state and
pledged "the elimination of Zionism in Palestine." The PLO was founded
in Egypt. Fatah became the core group of the PLO.
(SFC, 12/11/98, p.A18)(SFC, 4/30/02, p.A8)(SFC,
11/11/04, p.18)
1964 May 28, Palestine National
Congress formed the PLO in Jerusalem.
(MC, 5/28/02)
1964 Sep 10, Palestinian
Liberation Army (PLA) formed.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1964 Dec 31, Syrian-based al-Fatah
guerrillas of Yasser Arafat launched their 1st raid on Israel with the
aim of provoking a retaliation and sparking an Arab war against Israel.
Fatah, a Palestinian movement for independence, made the first terror
attack on Israel and initiated the armed struggle for a state.
(WSJ, 1/22/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 1/2/00, p.A24)(WSJ,
6/5/02, p.D7)
1964-1987 The Democratic Front for the Liberation of
Palestine was an active fighting force under Nayef Hawatmeh In Syria
and Lebanon and lost some 5,000 men over this period. It then became a
social and political body in opposition to Arafat's Fatwah faction.
(SFEC, 8/8/99, p.A22)
1965 Yasser Arafat formed his
Fatwah movement for the Liberation of Palestine.
(SFC, 9/8/03, p.A8)
1966 Nov 10, A land mine near
Hebron killed 3 Israeli policemen. Israel retaliated with a weekend
strike against West Bank villagers and ran into Jordanian troops in
Samu. Palestinians rioted and demanded the overthrow of Jordan’s Pres.
Hussein. The Arab legion was forced to fire and killed at least 4.
(WSJ, 6/5/02, p.D7)
1967 Jun 5-10, The Six-Day War
between Israel and Syria in which Israel captured the Golan Heights.
Allegations that Israeli soldiers killed hundreds of Egyptian prisoners
with the knowledge of national leaders were made by Israeli historians
in 1995. Israel occupied Syrian territory. The Gaza Strip and the West
Bank were captured by Israel.
(WSJ, 5/6/96, p.A-13)(WSJ, 8/17/95,
p.A-1)(WSJ,11/24/95, p.A-1)(SFC, 1/22/98, p.B12)
1967 Jun 6, Israeli troops
occupied Gaza. 2nd day of the 6-day war.
(MC, 6/6/02)
1967 Jun 7, Israel captured the
Wailing Wall in East Jerusalem. 3rd day of the 6-day war.
(SC, 6/7/02)
1967 Jun 8, On the 4th day of the
Six-Day War Israel captured the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from
Egypt, as well as the West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem from Jordan.
Israel’s occupation of Gaza continued for the next 38 years.
(SSFC, 6/3/07, p.E6)(Econ, 1/10/09, p.9)
1967 Jun 11, Israel and Syria
accepted a UN cease-fire. The UN brokered a cease-fire between Israel
and the defeated Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, ending the Six-Day War with
Israel occupying the Sinai, West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan
Heights.
(HN, 6/11/98)(AP, 6/11/03)
1967 Jun 11, Israel annexed the
largely Arab East Jerusalem, which included the Old City, and has since
ringed it with Jewish neighborhoods.
(SFC, 6/25/96, p.A10)
1970 Aug, Israel, Jordan and Egypt
agreed to a ceasefire under the terms of the US proposed Roger Plan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Attrition)
1967 Soviet Gen. Sakharovsky
became chief intelligence adviser in Romania. He helped bring Yasser
Arafat to the Soviet Union via Romania for training and indoctrination.
The soviets maneuvered to have Arafat named chairman of the PLO with
help from Egypt’s ruler, Gamal Abdel Nasser.
(WSJ, 1/10/02, p.A12)
1968 Mar 21, Israeli forces
attacked a Palestinian base belonging to Fatah in the
village of Al-Karameh in Jordan. Israeli forces engage in a
battle with Palestinian fighters for the first time. On 24 March 1968,
the Security Council adopted resolution 248 (1968), condemning the
large scale and premeditated military actions by Israel against
Jordan. The Karameh mission failed. Muki Betser, Israeli commando, was
wounded. He later became commander of the Sayeret Matkal, Israel’s
elite counter-terrorist unit.
(SFC, 7/16/96,
p.E5)(www.un.int/palestine/chron60.shtml)
1968 Dec 26, A Palestinian
terrorist attack in Athens on an Israeli civilian airliner killed one
person. Mahmoud Mohammad (25) and Maher Suleiman (19) were later
captured by Greek officials, In 1970, a Greek court convicted Mahmoud
Mohammad for his role in the attack. In 1987 Mahmoud Mohammed Issa
Mohammed entered Canada, where he was ordered to be deported in 1988.
In 2007 he was still in Canada after some 30 appeals and reviews.
(http://tinyurl.com/35olct)(Econ, 9/15/07,
p.48)(www.skyjack.co.il/chronology.htm)
1968 The Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP-GC) was founded by Dr. George Habash,
founder of the pan-Arab nationalist movement.
(SFC, 12/13/96, p.B4)
1968 Jews moved into Hebron
following its occupation in the wake of the 1967 6-Day War. They later
settled in the new suburb of Kiryat Arba.
(SFC, 12/4/08, p.A27)
1969 Feb 4, Al-Fatah-leader Yasser
Arafat officially took over as chairman of PLO.
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.A18)
1969 Feb 18, The PLO (PFLP-GC)
machine-gunned an Israeli El-Al plane in Zurich, Switzerland. One
Palestinian was killed and 4 were arrested.
(SFC, 5/21/02,
p.A16)(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/incidents.html)
1969 Apr 23, The Lebanese army
battled with rioting Palestinians.
(http://tinyurl.com/5m9aj6)
1969 Nov 3, The Arab League
brokered a deal in Cairo that gave the PLO in Lebanon refugee camps
freedom of government interference. They reached an agreement that
effectively endorsed PLO freedom of action in Lebanon to recruit, arm,
train, and employ fighters against Israel. The Lebanese Army protected
their bases and supply lines.
(www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1967to1991_lebanon_cairo_1969.php)(Econ,
6/2/07, p.46)
1970 Jun 11, Palestinian
guerrillas and King Hussein's army signed a truce in Jordan after week
of heavy clashes.
(AP, 6/11/03)
1970 Sep 6, Palestinian guerrillas
of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP-GC) seized
control of three jetliners which were later blown up on the ground in
Jordan after the passengers and crews were evacuated. This triggered a
civil war in and the expulsion of Palestinians from Jordan.
(SFC, 12/13/96, p.B4)(AP, 9/6/97)
1970 Sep 15, The Jordanian army
attacked Palestinian positions. Within days PLO officials and commandos
were expelled from Jordan and forced to move to Lebanon.
(www.nmhschool.org/tthornton/mehistorydatabase/arabisraeliwars.php)(SFC,
2/8/99, p.A6)
1970 Sep 27, A cease-fire accord
was signed in Cairo between the Jordanian army and Palestinian
guerrillas by King Hussein and Yasser Arafat brokered by the Arab peace
committee headed by Bahi Ladgham of Tunisia.
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.B4)(http://tinyurl.com/6e3v9s)
1970 The PFLP-GC planted a time
bomb on a Swissair jet that blew up on a flight from Zurich to Tel
Aviv. All 47 aboard were killed.
(SFC, 5/21/02, p.A16)
1971 Jul 13-1971 Jul 19, Jordanian
troops proceeded to wipe out Palestinian guerrillas; some 1,500
prisoners were brought to Amman; Iraq and Syria soon broke off
relations with Jordan.
(WUD, 1994, p.
1688)(www.onwar.com/aced/data/bravo/blacksept1970.htm)
1971 The Palestine Liberation
Organization arrived in Lebanon following its ouster from Jordan after
losing the battles of "Black September."
(SFC, 9/28/98, p.A10)
1972 May 8, A Belgian Sabena
aircraft, bound for Tel Aviv, was hijacked by 4 Palestinians. At Lod
Intl. 2 hijackers were shot and killed by Israeli military personnel,
dressed as ground engineers. One passenger died 8 days later as a
result of her wounds. The two women hijackers were subsequently
sentenced to life imprisonment.
(www.prophetofdoom.net/Islamic_Terrorism_Timeline_1972.Islam)
1972 Sep 5, Terror struck the
Munich Olympic games in West Germany as Arab guerrillas attacked the
Israeli delegation. Palestinian terrorists killed 2 athletes and took 9
others and their coaches hostage. Eleven Israelis, five guerrillas and
a police officer were killed in a 20-hour siege. The Palestinian
commandos were linked to Carlos the Jackal, aka Ilich Ramirez Sanchez.
In 1984 George Jonas authored “Vengeance,” an account of an Israeli hit
squad ordered to track down those responsible for the Munich attack. In
2000 the TV documentary "One Day in September" depicted the events. In
2005 Aaron J. Klein authored “Striking Back,” and account of Israel’s
response to the Munich attack. The 2005 the Stephen Spielberg film
“Munich” was based on the book by George Jonas.
(SFC,12/11/97, p.C2)(WSJ, 9/8/00, p.W4)(WSJ,
12/21/05, p.D10)(WSJ, 1/14/06, p.A9)
1972 Oct 29, Hijackers of a German
Lufthansa passenger jet demanded the release of the three surviving
terrorists, who had been arrested after the Fürstenfeldbruck
gunfight and were being held for trial. Palestinian guerrillas killed
an airport employee and hijacked a plane, carrying 27 passengers, to
Cuba. They forced West Germany to release 3 terrorists who were
involved in the Munich Massacre.
(HN,
10/29/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre)
1972 Abu Daoud at a cafe in Rome
with fellow PLO guerrilla leader Abu Iyad and his assistant, Mohammed
al-Omari, read in a newspaper that the International Olympics Committee
had refused the PLO's request to send a Palestinian delegation to the
Munich Olympics. They decided to “participate in their own way.” Daoud
was given the task of doing the operation's groundwork. Daoud first
acknowledged having a role in the 1972 Munich operation in the 1999
book: "Palestine: From Jerusalem to Munich."
(AP, 2/24/06)
1973 Jan 12, Yasser Arafat was
re-elected as head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
(HN, 1/12/99)
1973 Mar 2, Arab commandos, "Black
September" terrorists, led by Abu Jihad executed 3 hostages: US
ambassador Cleo A. Noel (54), deputy George Curtis Moore (47) and
Belgian charge d’affaires Guy Eid (38), in Khartoum, Sudan. Pres. Nixon
refused their demands. The operation was later reported to have been
organized by Yasser Arafat.
(WSJ, 1/10/02,
p.A12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khartoum_diplomatic_assassinations)
1973 Nov 25, Three Palestinians
hijacked a KLM B747 enroute to New Delhi to Abu Dhabi.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/incidents.html)
1973 Nov 28, Arab League summit in
Algiers recognized Palestine.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/arabsum73.html)
1973 Dec 21, Israel, Egypt, Syria,
Jordan, US and USSR leaders met in Geneva. The Geneva Conference of
1973 was an attempt to negotiate a solution to the Arab-Israeli
conflict as called for in UN Security Council Resolution 338 which was
passed after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Conference_(1973))
1973 Sheikh Ahmed Yassin
(1937-2004), Palestinian co-founder of Hamas, founded Al-Mujamma
Al-Islami (the Islamic Association), an Islamic charity group.
(SFC, 4/25/02,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Yassin)
1974 May 15, PFLP terrorists took
a school in Maalot, Israel. 26 people were killed including 21 children
after an unsuccessful rescue attempt.
(www.mfa.gov.il/mfa)(WSJ, 9/14/04, p.A20)
1974 Oct 30, An Arab summit in
Rabat, Jordon, decided that King Hussein would no longer speak for the
Palestinians and named the PLO under Yasir Arafat as the sole,
legitimate representative.
(SFC, 2/6/99,
p.A13)(www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1967to1991_rabat_1974.php)
1974 Nov 13, Yasser Arafat
addressed the UN General Assembly on behalf of Palestine.
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.A18)
1974 Nov 22, UN General Assembly
recognized Palestine's right to sovereignty and national independence.
(SFC, 2/8/99, p.A6)(http://tinyurl.com/52x3eg)
1974 The Palestinian Democratic
Front took over an Israeli school in Maalot and 20 schoolchildren were
killed.
(SFEC, 8/8/99, p.A22)
1974 Abu Nidal split from the PLO
and was sentenced to death in absentia.
(SFC, 8/25/98, p.A6)(SFC, 1/27/99, p.A7)
1975 Apr 13, In Lebanon the
right-wing Christian Falange (Phalange) opened fire on a bus packed
with Palestinians in a low-income neighborhood after a drive-by attack
earlier in the day on a nearby church. The attacks killed 27
Palestinians and three Lebanese Christians. The ambush sparked a civil
war that lasted to 1990. The attack was made to avenge an attempted
assassination on Bashir Gemayel.
(SFEC, 4/13/97, p.T5)(AP, 4/12/05)(Econ, 11/25/06,
p.46)
1975 Nov 10, The UN General
Assembly adopted Resolution 3237 that conferred on the PLO the status
of observer in the Assembly and in other international conferences held
under UN auspices.
(www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1967to1991_plo_un_1975.php)
1976 Jan 22, A PLO bank robbery in
Beirut netted a world record $20-50 million.
(www.lebaneseforces.com/blastfromthepast001.asp)
1976 Mar 30, Israel killed 6
Palestinians protesting land confiscation.
(www.balad.org/index.php?id=138)
1976 Jul 4, Jonathan Netanyahu,
brother of Benjamin, led and was killed in an Israeli raid called
Operation Thunderball that rescued the [105] hostages held at Entebbe
Airport in Uganda. The raid was by Sayeret Matkal, Israel’s elite
counter-terrorist unit led by Muki Betser, and it freed all but 3 of
the 104 Israeli and Jewish hostages and crew of an Air France jetliner
seized by pro-Palestinian hijackers. A total of 45 Ugandan soldiers
were killed during the raid. The events are described by Muki Betser
and Robert Rosenberg in "Secret Soldier, The True Life of Israel’s
Greatest Commando." The hijacking was linked to Carlos the Jackal, aka
Ilich Ramirez Sanchez.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Entebbe)(AP,
7/4/97)(SFC,12/11/97, p.C2)
1976 Aug 12, Syrian backed
Christian militias completed their siege of the Tell al-Za'tar
Palestinian camp in Lebanon leaving some 2000 people killed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_al-Zaatar_massacre)
1977 Jan 11, France set off an
international uproar by releasing Abu Daoud, a Palestinian suspected of
involvement in the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich
Olympics. In 1999 Mohammed Oudeh, aka Abu Daoud, published an
autobiography in France in which he admitted to playing a mastermind
role in the 1972 Munich hostage episode.
(AP, 1/11/98)(SFC, 6/14/99, p.A14)
1977 Jan 12, Anti-French
demonstrations took place in Israel after Paris released Abu Daoud,
responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre of Israeli athletes.
(www.cnn.com/almanac/9801/12/)
1977 Mar 16, US president Carter
pleaded for a Palestinian homeland.
(http://tinyurl.com/39b9fc)
1977 Oct 17, West German commandos
stormed a hijacked Lufthansa jetliner that was on the ground in
Mogadishu, Somalia, freeing all 86 hostages and killing three of the
four hijackers, Palestinians of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine. In 1996 Suhaila al-Sayeh was sentenced to 12 years in prison
by a German court.
(SFC, 11/20/96, p.A17)(AP, 10/17/97)
1978 Jan 4, Said Hammami, the PLO
representative in London, was assassinated. It was initially believed
to be the work of Abu Nidal but was later reported to have been
organized by Yasser Arafat.
(WSJ, 1/10/02,
p.A12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attacks_attributed_to_Abu_Nidal)
1978 Mar 11, Palestinian Arab
terrorists led by Dalal Mughrabi killed 37 people in an attack along
the Tel Aviv coastal highway. The terrorists were identified as
belonging to Fatah; 9 were killed and two captured.
(AP,
3/11/98)(www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1967to1991_terrorism_1970s.php)
1978 Mar 14, An Israeli force of
22,000 invaded south Lebanon, hitting the PLO bases.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_South_Lebanon_conflict)
1978 Mar 23, UNIFIL forces arrived
in Lebanon setting up headquarters in Naqoura. In response to Israel’s
invasion, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 425 and Resolution
426 calling for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon. The UN
Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was created to enforce this mandate,
and restore peace and sovereignty to Lebanon.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_South_Lebanon_conflict)
1978 Mar, Wadia Haddad, a
Palestinian wanted for airplane hijackings, died in Iraq showing only
symptoms of leukemia but no signs of poisoning. In 2006 Aaron Klein
authored "Striking Back," which for the first time gave details of the
killing. Klein said Mossad agents had fed Haddad poisoned Belgian
chocolate over six months.
(AP, 5/7/06)
1978 Oct 2, Syrian and
Palestinians shooting in East Beirut killed 1,300.
(MC, 10/2/01)
1979 Jan 22, Abu Hassan (Ali
Hassan Salameh), the alleged planner of the 1972 Munich raid, was
killed by a bomb in Beirut. He was the chief of operations for the
Black September militant Palestinian group.
(HN,
1/22/99)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Hassan_Salameh)
1979 Jul 13, A 45-hour siege began
at the Egyptian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, as four Palestinian
guerrillas killed two security men and seized 20 hostages.
(AP, 7/13/97)
1979-1980 The Islamic Jihad was founded in Egypt by
Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip. Nafez Azzam was one of the
founders. Control was later moved to Iran with training and funding
from Iran, Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Leaders included Ramadan
Shalah and Abdullah Shami.
(www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/egyptian_islamic_jihad.htm)(SFC,
6/6/02, p.A12)
1980 Aug 20, UN Security Council
condemned (14-0, US abstains) Israeli declaration that all of Jerusalem
is it's capital.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_478)
1981 In Iran Ayatollah Khomeini
declared the celebration of “Al-Quds Day,” the Arabic name for
Jerusalem Day, to be held on the last day of Ramadan as an annual
denunciation of Israeli control of the holy city.
(WSJ,2/13/97, p.A18)(www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15343184/)
1982 Apr 11, In Israel Alan
Goodman opened fire on Palestinians praying at the Temple Mount, the
site of Islam’s third-holiest shrine. He killed 2 and was sentenced to
life in prison. He was released to the US in 1997 after agreeing to
spend the next 8 years in the US.
(SFC,10/27/97, p.A9)
1982 Jun 3, Israel's ambassador to
Britain, Shlomo Argov (1929-2003), was shot and critically wounded
outside a London hotel. Israel's invasion of Lebanon followed the
assassination attempt. The attack was blamed on Abu Nidal’s Palestinian
Fatah group.
(WSJ, 8/20/02, p.A18)(NYT, 10/8/04, p.A12)(AP,
6/3/07)
1982 Jun 4, Israel attacked
targets in south Lebanon one day after the attempted assassination of
the Israeli ambassador in London.
(www.adl.org/israel/advocacy/glossary/lebanon_war.asp)
1982 Jun 6, Israeli Defense
Minister Ariel Sharon ordered his forces to invade southern Lebanon to
drive Palestine Liberation Organization fighters out of the country.
Israeli Gen. Rafael Eitan (d.2004) had convinced defense minister Ariel
Sharon to invade southern Lebanon to clean out the PLO bases there. A
70-day siege by 30,000 Israeli troops left up to 14,000 Lebanese and
Palestinian civilians dead. Islamic radicals, including Naim Qassem,
formed Hezbollah (Hizbullah, i.e. Party of God) in response to Israel’s
attack. The Israelis withdrew in June 1985. Hezbollah was formed with
Iranian help as a radical offshoot of Amal, a Shiite Muslim movement.
In 2005 Naim Qassem authored “Hizbullah: The Story from Within.”
(WSJ, 11/17/95, p.A-10)(SFC, 4/17/96, p.A-10)(AP,
6/6/97)(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A10)(SFC, 5/24/00, p.A15)(Econ, 12/4/04,
p.88)(Econ, 4/23/05, p.79)
1982 Aug 21, A group of
Palestinian guerrillas left Lebanon by ship under an evacuation plan
mediated by the United States.
(AP, 8/21/02)
1982 Aug 30, Palestinian
Liberation Organization left Beirut, Lebanon, and moved to Tunis,
Tunisia.
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.A18)
1982 Sep 1, The evacuation of the
PLO from Lebanon ended.
(www.mideastweb.org/timeline.htm)
1982 Sep 15, Pope John Paul II
received PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
(http://religion-cults.com/pope/religions.htm)
1982 Sep 16-18, The massacre of
hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children by Lebanese Christian
militiamen began in west Beirut's Sabra and Chatilla (Shatilla) refugee
camps. Up to 2,000 Palestinian civilians were killed. Israel’s defense
minister, Ariel Sharon, was held responsible and lost his top post. In
2001 survivors lodged a complaint in Belgium against Sharon.
(AP, 9/16/97)(SFC, 10/10/98, p.A8)(SFC, 5/24/00,
p.A15)(SFC, 6/19/01, p.A8)
1982 Sep 18, Christian militia
began the massacre of 600 Palestinians in Lebanon. [see Sep 16-18]
(MC, 9/18/01)
1983 Apr 10, King Hussein of
Jordan, officially renounced pursuing any negotiations to implement the
Reagan Plan, and ceased negotiations with PLO.
(http://tinyurl.com/2q6ska)
1983 Nov 24, PLO exchanged 6
Israeli prisoners for 4,500 Palestinians and Lebanese.
(http://tinyurl.com/2lejkm)
1983 Dec 20, PLO chairman Yasser
Arafat and 4,000 loyalists evacuated Lebanon.
(http://tinyurl.com/35ek6z)
1983 Dec 22, Egyptian president
Mubarak met with PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
(http://preview.tinyurl.com/2luhxs)
1984 In the "Bus 300 affair" Ehud
Yatom, Israeli member of the Shin Bet security agency, bludgeoned to
death 2 Palestinian bus hijackers.
(SFC, 6/16/01, p.A6)
1985 Feb 11, Jordan’s King Hussein
and PLO leader Arafat signed an accord.
(http://tinyurl.com/yy39mx)
1985 May 20, Israel exchanged
1,150 Palestinian prisoners for 3 Israeli soldiers. The exchange was
later referred to as the Jibril deal after the leader of the PFLP-GC,
Ahmad Jibril.
(www.passia.org/palestine_facts/chronology/19631988.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/6qrln3)
1985 Oct 1, Israeli forces staged
an air raid on PLO-headquarter at Tunis and 68 people were killed.
Yasser Arafat narrowly escaped death.
(WSJ, 11/12/04, p.A11)
1985 Oct 7, Four Palestinian
Liberation Organization (PLO) gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship
Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean and demanded the release of 50
Palestinians held by Israel. 413 people were held hostage for 2 days in
the seizure that was masterminded by Mohammed Abul Abbas. American Leon
Klinghoffer was shot while sitting in his wheelchair and thrown
overboard. A case was filed against the PLO and settled in 1997. The
hijackers surrendered to Egyptian authorities and were turned over to
Italy which let Abbas slip out of the country.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A4)(AP, 10/7/97)(HN, 10/7/98)
1985 Oct 8, The hijackers of the
Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro killed American passenger Leon
Klinghoffer, dumping his body and wheelchair overboard. A case was
filed against the PLO and settled in 1997. The hijackers surrendered to
Egyptian authorities and were turned over to Italy which let Abbas slip
out of the country.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A4) (AP, 10/8/97)
1985 Dec 27, Palestinian
guerrillas opened fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports; a total of
twenty people were killed, including five of the attackers, who were
slain by police and security personnel. Abu Nidal was considered
responsible. President Reagan blamed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
(AP, 12/27/97)(SFC, 8/25/98, p.A6)(NYT, 10/8/04,
p.A12)
1986 Feb 22, Jordan King Hussein
delivered a televised address in which he denounced PLO leader Yasser
Arafat and accused him of reneging of previous promises made to accept
resolutions 242 and 338.
(http://tinyurl.com/mlurr)
1986 Jul 7, Jordan’s government
shut down all 25 offices of al-Fatah, the mainstream group in the
divided Palestine Liberation Organization.
(http://tinyurl.com/ycprwn)
1986 Sep 5, The Pakistan army
stormed a hijacked US B-747 in Karachi and 22 people were killed. In
2001 Zayd Hassan Abd Al-latif Masud Al Safarini, jailed in Pakistan for
15 years, arrived in Alaska and was expected to face a 1991 indictment
for the 1986 hijacking of a Pan Am jet. In 2003 Safarini pleaded guilty
and agreed to 3 life sentences plus 25 years. On Jan 3, 2008, Pakistani
authorities freed and deported four Palestinians convicted in the
hijacking.
(SFC, 10/2/01, p.A3)(SFC, 12/17/03, p.A4)(AP,
9/5/06)(AP, 1/3/08)
1986 Sep 6, An attack on the Neve
Shalom synagogue in Istanbul killed 22 people. The Palestinian Abu
Nidal group was blamed.
(NYT, 10/8/04, p.A12)
1986 Oct 16, Ron Arad, an Israeli
airman, was the navigator in a plane that was shot down while bombing a
Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon. He was reportedly handed
over to a Lebanese Shiite group led by Mustafa Dirani. In 2004 it was
reported that Arad died in 1996 , sometime after he was handed by
Lebanese fighters to their Iranian sponsors.
(SFEC, 11/17/96, p.A14)(AP,
10/25/04)(http://tinyurl.com/yz3zza)
1987 Dec 8-1987 Dec 9, The first
Palestinian intefadeh (Arabic for uprising) began as riots broke out in
Gaza and spread to the West Bank, triggering a strong Israeli
counter-response.
(AP 12/8/97)(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A17)(AP, 12/9/07)
1987 Dec 19, The Palestinian
uprising in Israel's occupied territories spread to Arab east
Jerusalem.
(AP, 12/19/97)
1987 Dec 27, Scores of Palestinian
prisoners appeared before Israeli military courts in the first trials
of several hundred protesters arrested in the "intefadeh," or uprising,
in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
(AP, 12/27/97)
1987 Dec, Sheik Ahmed Yassin
founded Hamas, a Palestinian social welfare and military organization.
He urged the killing of Palestinians who collaborated with Israeli
authorities. Its military wing, called the Izzeddine al-Qassam, used
armed operations against Israel. In 2006 Matthew Levitt authored
“Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad.”
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A12)(SFC,12/27/97, p.A12)(WSJ,
5/2/06, p.D8)
1987-1993 The Intifada, a stone-throwing revolt
against Israel, began in Gaza’s Jebaliya refugee camp. The Ansar-3
detention camp in the Negev Desert was one of a number established to
hold Palestinian men arrested in the uprising. In 1998 the documentary
film "Diogenes: Ansar 3" was produced by Hans Fels and Eitan Wetzler of
The Netherlands and Israel.
(SFC, 6/10/97, p.A12)(Cinemayyat, 2000)
1988 Jan 3, The Israeli Army
ordered nine Palestinian activists deported from West Beirut as part of
a controversial crackdown to stop the uprising in the occupied
territories. Israeli raids on Palestinian and Progressive Socialist
Party positions in the region of Saida make killed 21 persons and
wounded 11.
(AP, 1/3/98)(http://tinyurl.com/zz87m)
1988 Jan 5, The U.N. Security
Council voted unanimously to ask Israel not to deport Palestinians from
the occupied territories in the first council vote against Israel since
1981.
(AP, 1/5/98)
1988 Jan 23, More than 50,000
Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv to protest the treatment of
Palestinians in the occupied territories.
(AP, 1/23/98)
1988 Jan 30, Israeli troops fired
on hundreds of demonstrators in the West Bank while protests also
rocked the Gaza Strip, shattering three weeks of relative quiet in the
occupied territories.
(AP, 1/30/98)
1988 Mar 2, The U.N. General
Assembly voted overwhelmingly to order the United States to submit to
binding arbitration its plan to close the observer mission of the
Palestine Liberation Organization. A federal court later stopped the
U.S.
(AP, 3/2/98)
1988 Apr 3, Secretary of State
George P. Shultz arrived in Israel to launch a fresh U.S. peace
initiative, telling the Israelis that the Palestinians must be included
in negotiations.
(AP, 4/3/98)
1988 Apr 6, Tirza Porat (15), was
killed in a West Bank melee, becoming the first Israeli civilian to die
in the occupied territories since the start of the Palestinian
uprising. Although Arabs were initially blamed, the army concluded that
a Jewish settler accidentally shot the girl.
(AP, 4/6/98)
1988 Apr 16, Abu Jihad, [Khalil
al-Wazzir], PLO-leader, was murdered by Israeli assassins in Tunisia.
They left the chief strategist of the Palestinian uprising with 170
bullets in his body. The Palestine Liberation Organization accused
Israel of assassinating al-Wazir, a top PLO military figure.
Palestinians reacted angrily, and at least 14 were shot and killed by
Israeli troops during clashes in the occupied Gaza Strip and West Bank.
(AP, 4/16/98)(AP, 1/22/06)
1988 Jul 11, Nine people were
killed when three Abu Nidal terrorists attacked hundreds of tourists
aboard a Greek cruise ship, the City of Poros, which was steaming
toward a marina in suburban Athens.
(AP, 7/11/98)(www.fas.org/irp/world/para/ano.htm)
1988 Jul 28, Jordan cancelled a
$1.3 billion development plan in West Bank.
(www.kinghussein.gov.jo/88_july31.html)
1988 Jul 30, Jordan's King Hussein
dissolved his country's lower house of Parliament, half of whose 60
members were from the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Hussein renounced
sovereignty over the West Bank to the PLO.
(AP, 7/30/98)(http://tinyurl.com/ov6pf)
1988 Jul 31, In a televised
speech, Jordan's King Hussein called for an independent Palestinian
state in the Israeli-occupied territories as he told the Palestinians
to take affairs into their own hands.
(HN, 7/31/98)
1988 Aug 18, Hamas published a
manifesto calling for a holy war to create an Islamic state from the
Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, including Israel. It challenged
the PLO's claim as the sole representative of the Palestinian people.
The Hamas charter declared that all Palestine is Islamic trust land,
can never be surrendered to non-Muslims and is an integral part
of Muslim world.
(SFC, 3/23/04,
p.A11)(www.mideastweb.org/hamashistory.htm)
1988 Oct 13, Absa Claude Diallo,
Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of
the Palestinian People, addressed a letter to the UN Sec.-Gen.
concerning profound concern at the “continued grave situation in the
occupied Palestinian territories and the intensification of the policy
of repression pursued by Israel against the Palestinian people.”
(http://tinyurl.com/zks7q)
1988 Nov 12, The Palestine
National Council, the legislative body of the PLO, opened a four-day
meeting in Algiers, during which delegates proclaimed an independent
Palestinian state.
(AP, 11/12/98)
1988 Nov 20, Egypt and China
announced they were recognizing the Palestinian state proclaimed by the
Palestine National Council.
(AP, 11/20/98)
1988 Nov 26, The United States
denied an entry visa to PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, who was seeking
permission to travel to New York to address the U.N. General Assembly.
(AP, 11/26/98)
1988 Nov 30, The UN General
Assembly (151-2) adopted resolution 43/28 in which it has been informed
of the decision of the Host Country, the US, to deny the PLO's Arafat a
visa.
(www.palestine-un.org/chron/eighties.html)
1988 Dec 6, Arafat met prominent
American Jews in Stockholm, Sweden.
(http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1988-12/1988-12-06-NBC-15.html)
1988 Dec 13, PLO chairman Yasser
Arafat addressed the U.N. General Assembly in Geneva, where it had
reconvened after the United States refused to grant Arafat a visa to
visit New York. Arafat accepted UN Resolutions 242 and 338, which
recognized Israel's right to exist.
(AP, 12/13/98)(SSFC, 6/3/07,
p.E6)(www.mideastweb.org/arafat1988.htm)
1988 Dec 14, In a dramatic policy
shift, President Reagan authorized the United States to enter into a
"substantive dialogue" with the Palestine Liberation Organization,
after chairman Yasser Arafat said he was renouncing "all forms of
terrorism."
(AP, 12/14/98)
1988 Dec 15, Yasser Arafat in
exile declared Palestinian independence. It was considered a symbolic
act and no state boundaries were delineated.
(SFC,11/15/97, p.A12)(WSJ, 11/15/00, p.A1)
1988 Dec 15, U.S. Ambassador
Robert H. Pelletreau Jr. telephoned the PLO's headquarters in Tunisia,
one day after President Reagan authorized direct talks.
(AP, 12/15/98)
1988 Dec 17, In his first public
statement since the US decided to open direct talks with the PLO,
Israeli PM Yitzhak Shamir expressed shock, calling the US decision a
"painful" blow.
(AP, 12/17/98)
1988 Dec 18, PLO chairman Yasser
Arafat met in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss
how to continue the momentum gained by the first U.S.- PLO dialogue.
(AP, 12/18/98)
1988 Dec 23, Pope John Paul II met
with Yasser Arafat at the Vatican. The pontiff told the PLO leader he
believed Palestinians and Jews had "an identical fundamental right" to
their own countries.
(AP, 12/23/98)
1988 Israeli agents killed Abu
Jihad (Khalil al-Wazir), a PLO military commander.
(SFC, 11/25/96, p.A3)
1988 In Jordan soon after the
beginning of the "intifada," King Hussein renounced rights to the West
Bank and retained a role as guardian of Jerusalem's holy places.
(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A13)
1988-1992 Miriam Ben-Porat, Israeli comptroller,
issued a report in 1995 that said Shin Bet security routinely
mistreated Palestinian detainees between 1988 and 1992. The report was
not made public until 2000.
(SFC, 2/10/00, p.A10)
1989 Jan 19, Israel’s Minister of
Defense Rabin proposed that Palestinians end the intifadah in exchange
for an opportunity to elect local leaders who would negotiate with the
Israeli government.
(www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-6685.html)
1989 May 3, PLO leader Yasser
Arafat, ending a two-day visit to France, said the PLO charter calling
for the destruction of Israel had been "superseded" by a declaration
urging peaceful coexistence of the Jewish state and a Palestinian
state.
(AP, 5/3/99)
1989 Jul 6, A Palestinian grabbed
the steering wheel of an Israeli bus, causing a crash that claimed 15
lives.
(AP, 7/6/99)
1989 Jul 22, Nearly 200,000
Palestinian children returned to classrooms in the West Bank after the
Israeli army lifted an order that had kept their schools closed during
the Palestinian uprising.
(AP, 7/22/99)
1989 Sep, Israel outlawed Hamas as
a terrorist organization following dozens of shooting attacks that
killed Israelis.
(SFC, 3/23/04,
p.A11)(www.ict.org.il/inter_ter/orgdet.cfm?orgid=13)
1989 Dec 31, Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir fired Science Minister Ezer Weizman, accusing
him of meeting with officials of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
(AP, 12/31/99)
1989 Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed
Yassin was imprisoned by Israeli authorities for his politics.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A12)
1990 May 20, An Israeli opened
fire on a group of Palestinian laborers south of Tel Aviv, killing
seven; the gunman was sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 5/20/00)
1990 May 21, Israeli soldiers shot
and killed three Palestinians in violence sparked by the slayings of
seven Palestinians by an Israeli civilian a day earlier.
(AP, 5/21/00)
1990 Aug 2, Yasser Arafat
supported Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. This resulted in the PLO’s
isolation.
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.A18)
1990 Oct 8, Israeli police opened
fire on rioting Palestinians on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, killing
17.
(AP, 10/8/00)
1990 Oct 21, A Palestinian stabbed
three Israelis to death during a rampage in a Jerusalem neighborhood in
retaliation for the police killings of 17 Arabs on the Temple Mount.
(AP, 10/21/00)
1991 Oct 30, The Middle East peace
conference in Madrid, Spain, opened with addresses to the delegates by
President George Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev. The
Madrid Two conference was organized by the US.
(SFC, 6/24/96, p.A10)(WSJ, 9/19/01, p.A14)(AP,
10/30/01)
1991 Oct 31, On the second day of
the Middle East peace conference in Madrid, Spain, Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Arab delegates clashed bitterly over land
issues.
(AP, 10/31/01)
1991 Nov 1, The 3-day session of
the Middle East peace conference recessed in Madrid, Spain. The
conference led to Israeli deals with Jordan and the Palestinians and
established the principle of land for peace.
(AP,
11/1/01)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid_Conference_of_1991)(Econ,
5/24/08, p.68)
1991 Nov 3, Israeli and
Palestinian representatives held their first-ever face-to-face talks in
Madrid, Spain.
(AP, 11/3/01)
1991 Nov, Yasser Arafat (62)
secretly married Suha Tawil (28).
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.A18)
1991 Hamas formed its military
wing, "Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades," for attacks against Israel.
(SFC, 3/23/04, p.A11)
1991 Palestinian terrorist Abu
Nidal recruited orchestrated the murder of Fatah leader Abu-Iyad, a
leader of the Sep 5, 1972, Munich terrorists. Nidal was outraged by
Iyad’s softening on the status of Israel.
(WSJ, 12/21/05, p.D10)
1992 Jan 13, Israeli, Palestinian
and Jordanian negotiators began talks in Washington on Palestinian
autonomy.
(AP, 1/13/98)
1992 Mar 4, Another round of
Middle East peace negotiations concluded in Washington, D.C., with
Israel rejecting a plan for Palestinian elections.
(AP, 3/4/02)
1992 Apr 7, PLO chairman Yasser
Arafat survived the crash landing of his plane in the Libyan desert;
three crew members were killed.
(AP, 4/7/97)
1992 Sep 1, In Israel Ahmed
Qatamesh was jailed on suspicion of being a leader of the Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine. He was held without trial for 5 1/2
years and released in 1998.
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.A12)
1992 Dec 13, An Israeli border
guard was kidnapped near Tel Aviv and later killed by the Hamas
fundamentalist organization. The slaying prompted Israel to expel
hundreds of Palestinians, sending them into Lebanese territory. Abdel
Aziz Rantisi was among the 400 deported members of Hamas.
(AP, 12/13/97)(SSFC, 4/18/04, p.A18)
1992 Dec 18, The U.N. Security
Council unanimously denounced Israel's deportation of more than 400
Palestinians to Lebanon and demanded their immediate return.
(AP, 12/18/97)
1992 In Norway the 1993 Oslo I
peace accord was begun in 1992 following a research project on
Palestinian living conditions by Terje Roed Larsen. Larsen arranged
discussions between Uri Savir of Israel and Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) for
Palestine.
(SFEC, 10/31/99, p.A21)
1993 Jan 9, Two Red Cross
officials visited a camp of Palestinians who had been deported by
Israel to a no man's land in southern Lebanon.
(AP, 1/9/03)
1993 Jan 19, Israel recognized the
PLO as no longer criminal.
(www.jafi.org.il/education/jafi75/timeline8d.html)
1993 Feb 1, Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin announced that his country would repatriate about 100
Palestinians deported to Lebanon, an offer rejected by the deportees.
(AP, 2/1/97)
1993 Mar 30, Israeli authorities
barred West Bank Palestinians from entering Israel after two traffic
police officers were shot to death.
(AP, 3/30/98)
1993 Apr 16, In Israel 20 soldiers
and civilians were injured in Hamas's first suicide attack against
Israelis. Shahar al-Nabulsi, detonated a car, rigged by bombmaker Yahya
Ayyash, between two buses at Mehola Junction. The blast killed
al-Nabulsi and a Palestinian who worked in the rest area.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehola_Junction_bombing)
1993 Aug 29, Negotiations
continued between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization,
with Israel reported on the verge of recognizing the PLO.
(AP, 8/29/98)
1993 Sep 9, PLO leaders and Israel
agreed to recognize each other, clearing the way for a peace accord.
(AP, 9/9/98)
1993 Aug, Norwegian academic Terje
Roed-Larsen and other Norwegian mediators helped broker a secret peace
accord in which the Palestinians formally recognized Israel's right to
exist and Israel agreed to establish self-rule in the West Bank and
Gaza. The accord allowed thousands of PLO guerrillas to return to
Palestine without Israeli interference.
(SFC, 6/19/96, p.A8)(SFC, 6/4/98, p.C3)(AP,
11/12/04)
1993 Sep 13, In a historic scene
at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO
chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands after signing an accord granting
limited Palestinian autonomy. It gave Arafat control of most of the
Gaza Strip and 27% of the West Bank. In 2002 Neal Kozodoy edited ""The
Mideast Peace Process: An Autopsy."
(AP, 9/13/97)(WSJ, 2/11/02, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/12/04,
p.A11)
1993 Sep 23, The Israeli
parliament ratified the Israel-PLO accord.
(AP, 9/23/98)
1993 Sep 24, The 1st Israeli was
killed by Islamics after PLO signed the peace accord.
(http://tinyurl.com/dcf7e)
1993 Oct 6, Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chief Yasser Arafat held their first official
meeting in Cairo, Egypt, to begin work on realizing terms of the
Israeli-PLO accord.
(AP, 10/6/98)
1993 Oct 11, Yasser Arafat won
endorsement for his peace accord with Israel from the Palestine Central
Council.
(AP, 10/11/98)
1993 Nov 25, Violence broke out in
the Gaza Strip, a day after Israeli undercover soldiers killed Imad
Akel, the head of the military wing of Hamas.
(HN, 11/25/98)
1993 Dec 5, A Palestinian boarded
a bus and opened fire with an assault rifle in the first major attack
in Israel since the signing of a peace pact with the PLO; the gunman
killed a reservist before being gunned down.
(AP, 12/5/98)
1993 Dec 19, Israeli Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres and senior PLO officials ended two days of
closed-door talks in Oslo, Norway, in which they sought to break a
deadlock over Palestinian self-rule in the occupied territories.
(AP, 12/19/98)
1993 Dec 25, Full-fledged
Christmas celebrations returned to Bethlehem for the first time since
the Palestinian uprising began six years earlier.
(AP, 12/25/98)
1994 Jan 10, Talks between Israeli
and Palestinian negotiators resumed in Taba, Egypt.
(AP, 1/10/99)
1994 Feb 9, PLO leader Yasser
Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres initialed an agreement
on security measures that had been blocking a peace accord.
(AP, 2/9/99)
1994 Feb 25, In the Hebron
massacre, Jewish settler Dr. Baruch Goldstein opened fire on
Palestinians praying in the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and killed
29 people. Some 100 others were wounded. Surviving Palestinians killed
him before he could reload.
(SFC, 6/18/96, p.A12)(SFC, 6/20/96, p.A8)(MT,
Fall/03, p.15)
1994 Mar 31, The PLO and Israel
agreed to resume talks on Palestinian autonomy, more than a month after
the Hebron mosque massacre.
(AP, 3/31/99)
1994 Apr 6, A car rigged with
explosives detonated next to a bus in Afula, Israel. 8 Israelis were
killed and 45 wounded in Hamas's 1st car bombing.
(WSJ, 3/6/96, p. A-15)(G&M, 7/31/97, p.A8)(AP,
4/6/99)(SFC, 3/23/04, p.A11)
1994 April 13, A Palestinian blew
himself up on a bus in Hadera in central Israel. Six Israelis were
killed and 25 wounded. It was Hamas's 1st suicide bombing.
(WSJ, 3/6/96, p. A-15)(G&M, 7/31/97, p.A8)(SFC,
3/23/04, p.A11)
1994 Apr 20, Israeli and PLO
negotiators wrapped up an agreement transferring civilian government
powers to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
(AP, 4/20/99)
1994 Apr 29, Israel and the PLO
signed an agreement in Paris granting Palestinians broad authority to
set taxes, control trade and regulate banks under self-rule in the Gaza
Strip and Jericho.
(AP, 4/29/99)
1994 May 1, Israeli and PLO
delegates opened a final round of talks in Cairo, Egypt, on Palestinian
autonomy prior to the signing of an agreement on self-rule.
(AP, 5/1/99)
1994 May 4, Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat signed a historic accord on
Palestinian autonomy that granted self-rule in the Gaza Strip and
Jericho.
(AP, 5/4/97)
1994 May 14, The West Bank town of
Jericho saw its first full day of Palestinian self-rule following the
withdrawal of Israeli troops, an event celebrated by Palestinians.
(AP, 5/14/99)
1994 May 27, Palestine Liberation
Organization officials announced that Yasser Arafat had named himself
interior minister of the autonomous zones as part of an interim
government; 14 other prominent Palestinians, mostly Arafat allies, were
appointed to other positions.
(AP, 5/28/99)
1994 Jul 1, PLO chairman Yasser
Arafat drove from Egypt into Gaza, returning to Palestinian land after
27 years in exile.
(AP, 7/1/99)
1994 Aug 24, Israeli and PLO
negotiators agreed on an accord to give the Palestinians control of
health care, taxation, education and other services in West Bank areas
still controlled by Israel.
(AP, 8/24/99)
1994 Oct 14, The Nobel Peace Prize
was awarded to PLO leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
(SFC, 10/12/96, p.A13)(AP, 10/14/99)
1994 Oct 19, A Palestinian suicide
bomber killed 22 Israelis and wounded 48 in a bus explosion in Tel
Aviv. Hamas took responsibility.
(WSJ, 3/6/96, p. A-15)(G&M, 7/31/97, p.A8)
1994 Nov 11, A suicide bomber
killed three soldiers at an Israeli military checkpoint in Gaza. The
Islamic Jihad took responsibility.
(AP, 11/11/99)
1994 Nov 18, Fifteen people were
killed and more than 150 wounded when Palestinian police opened fire on
rioting worshippers outside a mosque in the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 11/18/99)
1994 Dec 7, PLO chairman Yasser
Arafat, meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher in Gaza
City, pledged to protect Israelis from militant extremists.
(AP, 12/7/99)
1994 Dec 10, Yasser Arafat, Shimon
Peres and Yitzhak Rabin received the Nobel Peace Prize, pledging to
pursue their mission of healing the anguished Middle East.
(AP, 12/10/99)
1994 Dec 25, A Palestinian suicide
bomber blew himself up on a bus in Jerusalem and wounded 12 Israelis.
Hamas took responsibility.
(WSJ, 3/6/96, p. A-15)(G&M, 7/31/97, p.A8)(AP,
12/25/99)
1994 The Oslo agreement gave
Palestinians a measure of self-rule.
(WSJ, 6/17/96, p.A15)
1994 Arafat promised to turn the
Gaza Strip and West Bank into a new Singapore.
(SFC, 6/10/97, p.A12)
1994 Abu-Hassan, a postal
inspector, was jailed by the Palestinian authority. He had been jailed
earlier for 13 years by the Israelis for being a member of George
Habash's Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
(SFC, 12/22/99, p.A19)
1994 Yasser Arafat appointed Sheik
Ikrima Sabri as the mufti or chief Islamic cleric of Jerusalem.
(SFEC, 3/26/00, p.A19)
1994-1998 At least 18 Palestinians died while under
detention by the Palestinian Authority.
(SFC, 1/9/98, p.A8)
1995 Feb 2, The leaders of Egypt,
Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians held an unprecedented summit in
Cairo to try to revive the Mideast peace process.
(AP, 2/2/00)(http://tinyurl.com/255pml)
1995 Mar 19, Palestinian gunmen
opened fire on a bus carrying Jewish settlers, killing two people.
(AP, 3/19/00)
1995 Aug 3, A Palestinian, Eyad
Ismoil, was flown to the United States from Jordan to face charges he’d
driven a bomb-laden van into New York’s World Trade Center. The 1993
explosion killed six people and injured more than one-thousand; Ismoil
is serving a life sentence.
(AP, 8/3/00)
1995 Sep 24, Israel’s Rabin and
the PLO under Arafat, signed a pact, Oslo II, in Taba, Egypt, ending
nearly three decades of Israeli occupation of West Bank cities. They
scheduled a 9/7/97 date for Israel’s departure from the West Bank,
except for Jewish settlements and certain military locations. A final
accord was scheduled for 5/7/99.
(SFC, 1/9/96, p.A10)(AP, 9/24/00)(SFC, 4/30/02, p.A8)
1995 Sep 28, Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat signed an accord
to transfer much of the West Bank to the control of its Arab residents.
(AP, 9/28/98)
1995 Oct 10, Israel began a West
Bank pullback and freed hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
(www.cnn.com/almanac/9710/10/)
1995 Oct 26, Islamic Jihad leader
Fathi Shakaki was shot to death on the Mediterranean island of Malta in
a killing his supporters blamed on Israel.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.17A)(AP, 10/26/05)
1995 Oct 29, Palestinians burned
American and Israeli flags and swore revenge for the assassination of
Dr. Fathi Shakaki, the leader of the radical Islamic Jihad and a top
architect of terror attacks against Israel. Shakaki was gunned down
three days earlier in Malta, reportedly by Israeli intelligence.
(AP, 10/29/00)
1995 Nov 9, Yasser Arafat made a
secret trip to Israel to offer condolences to the widow of assassinated
PM Rabin.
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.A18)
1995 Dec 21, The city of Bethlehem
passed from Israeli to Palestinian control.
(AP, 12/21/97)
1995 Dec. 26, Most Arab residents
of the West Bank and Gaza are being placed under Arafat's
control.
(WSJ, 12/27/95, p. A-1)
1995 The Palestinian Legislative
Council passed a law that elevated Ahmed Qurei, parliament speaker, to
the presidency for 40 days to allow for new elections in the event of
Arafat’s death.
(SFC, 12/12/01, p.A3)
1995 Fathi Shakaki, leader of the
Islamic Jihad, was killed in Malta. Israel was blamed for the killing.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.17A)
1996 Jan 20, Yasser Arafat was
elected president in the first Palestinian elections. Hundreds of
thousands of Palestinians turned out to vote in the festive first
election, solidly endorsing Arafat and his peace policies.
(WSJ, 12/27/95, p. A-1)(SFC, 2/8/99, p.A6)(AP,
1/20/01)
1996 Jan 6, In Gaza Yehiyeh
Ayyash, a Hamas bomb-maker known as "the engineer" was assassinated by
an explosives-rigged cellular phone. The operation was attributed to
Israel.
(SFC, 4/2/98, p.A12)(SFC, 3/23/04, p.A11)
1996 Feb 25, In separate attacks 2
Palestinian suicide bombers blew up a bus in Jerusalem and a soldiers
hitchhiking post in the coastal city of Ashkelon. 23 Israelis were
killed, as well as 2 Americans and a Palestinian. More than 80 people
were wounded. Hamas took responsibility.
(WSJ, 3/6/96, p. A-15)(G&M, 7/31/97, p.A8)
1996 Feb 26, An Arab American
drove a rental car into a Jerusalem bus stop and killed one Israeli
while wounded 23. The driver appeared to be acting on his own but Hamas
took responsibility.
(G&M, 7/31/97, p.A8)
1996 Feb, The Gaza Strip, sealed
off by Israel for 333 days due to Palestinian attacks, was re-opened.
The closure drove up adult unemployment and forced many children to
seek work.
(SFC,12/13/97, p.A10)
1996 Mar 3, Israel declared
all-out war on the militant group Hamas after a bus bomb in Jerusalem
killed 19 people, including the bomber, the third such suicide attack
in eight days.
(WSJ, 3/4/96, p. A-1)(AP, 3/3/01)
1996 Mar 4, A suicide bomber blew
himself up outside a Tel Aviv shopping center, killing 13 people in the
fourth deadly attack in nine days.
(WSJ, 3/5/96, p. A-1)(AP, 3/4/01)
1996 Mar, Israel was to have
pulled out of Hebron, but postponed the move after a series of
Palestinian suicide bombings.
(SFC, 12/25/96, p.A10)
1996 Apr 24, The Palestine
National Council voted to revoke articles that contradicted the 1993
accords between Israel and PLO, specifically the parts that called for
Israel’s destruction.
(WSJ, 4/25/96, p.A-1)
1996 May 5, Israel and the
Palestinians began the final stage of their peace talks in Taba, Egypt.
(AP, 5/5/97)
1996 May 13, David Boim (17), an
American, was standing at a bus stop in the West Bank with fellow
yeshiva students when two Palestinian terrorists drove by in a car,
shot him in the head, and killed him. In 2004 a US court awarded his
parents $156 million against US-based Muslim activists. In 2007 a
federal appeals court overturned the judgement.
(www.danielpipes.org/article/334)(SFC, 12/29/07,
p.A3)
1996 May 20, Dr. Eyyad Sarraj, a
Palestinian human rights advocate, was arrested after accusing the
Palestinian Authority of dictatorial rule and torturing prisoners in
the Gaza Strip.
(SFC, 5/20/96, p.A-9)
1996 May 24, Sheik Hamed Bitawi
said that Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin might issue a call to end
terrorist attacks against Israel. The leadership of Hamas would like to
move to a position as a democratic alternative to Arafat’s PLO.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A12)
1996 Jun 10, Arafat’s government
detained Eyad Sarraj, head of the Independent Commission for Citizen’s
Rights. Sarraj says the Palestinian Authority is corrupt.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A16)
1996 Jun 12, Eyad Sarraj smuggled
out a message that said he was being beaten and framed on drug charges.
(SFC, 6/13/96, p.C3)
1996 Jul 31, Mahmoud Jumayal died
under interrogation by the Palestinian security forces. He was the 8th
in 2 years.
(SFC, 8/21/96, p.A8,10)
1996 Aug 27, Israeli police tore
down a youth center in Jerusalem’s Old City saying that it was
illegally built with money from Arafat’s Palestinian Authority.
(SFC, 8/28/96, p.A8)
1996 Aug 29, Yasser Arafat called
for a 4-hour general strike in Palestine in opposition to Israeli
political actions.
(SFC, 8/29/96, p.A1)
1996 Sep 2, Stories of corruption
were rife and Arafat was accused of pouring money into his 9 security
forces rather than infrastructure.
(SFC, 9/2/96, p.A14)
1996 Sep 4, Israeli Prime Minister
Netanyahu met with Palestinian leader Arafat and agreed to pursue a
peace settlement.
(WSJ, 9/5/96, p.1)
1996 Sep 6, The Palestinian Al
Quds Univ. in Abu Dis was reopened after a 6-month closure.
(SFC, 9/7/96, p.A9)
1996 Sep 25, Violence began in
Jerusalem when Israelis opened a tunnel along the west wall of the old
city in opposition to Palestinian sentiments. Seven Arabs were killed.
Resulting riots left 69 Palestinians dead along with 16 Israelis.
(SFC, 9/26/96, p.A10)(AP, 9/25/97)(Econ, 2/17/07,
p.48)
1996 Oct 1, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met at the
White House.
(AP, 10/1/97)
1996 Nov 1, Nahum Kurman, the
security chief of a Jewish settlement, was charged for killing
11-year-old Palestinian, Hilmi Shousha. Kurman claimed the boy fell and
banged his head. He was sentenced in 2001 to 6 months of community
service and a $17,000 fine.
(SFC, 11/2/96, p.C1)(SFC, 1/24/01, p.A13)
1996 Nov 19, Two Israeli border
policemen were arrested after a videotape showed them beating and
kicking Palestinian laborers.
(SFC, 11/20/96, p.C2)
1996 Dec 18, Palestinian police
arrested 3 members of a militant group that killed 2 Jewish settlers on
Dec 11.
(WSJ, 12/19/96, p.A1)
1996 The Palestinians summoned
Moroccan and Egyptian engineers and began constructing a 3-km. long
runway for an Int’l. Airport at the village of Raffiach, whose
residents were ordered to leave by the Palestinian Authority.
(SFC, 6/12/97, p.A14)
1997 Jan 1, An off-duty Israeli
soldier, Noam Friedman, with a history of mental problems opened fire
on a crowded vegetable market in Hebron, wounding 5 [7] people and
touching off a stone-throwing demonstration by angry Palestinians.
(SFC, 1/1/97, p.A1)(AP, 1/1/98)
1997 Jan 7, The Hebron Protocol or
Hebron Agreement began and was concluded from January 15 to January 17,
1997 between Israel, represented by PM Benjamin Netanyahu, and the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), represented by PLO Chairman
Yasser Arafat, under the supervision of US Secretary of State Warren
Christopher, for redeployment of Israeli military forces in Hebron.
Palestinian authorities gained control of 80% of Hebron.
(SFC, 12/4/08, p.A27)
1997 Jan 14, The US mediated an
agreement was reached on Hebron. Palestinian police would be allowed to
carry limited-range weapons in buffer zones between them and Jewish
settlers. Israel committed to reopening a central road and Palestinian
market.
(USAT, 1/15/97, p.9A)(SFEC, 10/25/98, p.A17)
1997 Jan 15, The Israeli cabinet
approved the Hebron accord 11-7. The Palestinian cabinet approved the
accord by a wide margin.
(WSJ, 1/16/97, p.A1)
1997 Jan 19, Yasser Arafat
returned to Hebron for the first time in more than 30 years, joining
60,000 Palestinians in celebrating the handover of the last West Bank
city in Israeli control.
(AP, 1/19/98)
1997 Jan 19, Hanan Ashrawi was
described as one of the most influential women in the Arab world. She
founded the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizen’s Rights.
(SFEC, 1/19/96, Parade p.5)
1997 Feb 23, Ali Hassan Abu Kamal
(69), a Palestinian teacher, opened fire on the 86th-floor observation
deck of New York City's Empire State Building, killing one person and
wounding six others before shooting himself to death. He was said to
have acted on personal motives not associated to any political group.
(SFC, 2/24/97, p.A1)(AP, 2/23/98)
1997 Mar 6, Israel approved
turning over 9% of the West Bank outside major towns to Palestinian
control.
(WSJ, 3/7/97, p.A1)
1997 Mar 18, Construction began on
the disputed Jerusalem housing project.
(WSJ, 3/19/97, p.A1)
1997 Mar 21, In Tel Aviv, Israel,
a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up on a terrace of an outdoor
restaurant and killed 3 Israeli women and injured 46.
(SFC, 3/22/97, p.A1)(AP, 3/21/02)
1997 Mar 22, Israeli troops fired
live ammunition at Arab protestors in Hebron and injured about 100
Palestinians.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.A13)
1997 May 5, Arafat’s justice
minister said he would impose the death penalty on Palestinians who
sell land to Israelis to prevent Israel’s expansion.
(WSJ, 5/6/97, p.A1)
1997 May 25, The Palestinian
Center for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment issued a
report that claimed the government lost $326 million to corruption and
mismanagement last year.
(SFEC, 5/26/97, p.A8)
1997 Jun 16, Israeli soldiers
wounded 38 Palestinians in the 3rd day of protests at Hebron.
(WSJ, 6/17/97, p.A1)
1997 Jun 21, Riots spread to
Nablus on the West Bank protesting Jewish settlements.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, p.D3)
1997 Jul 20, Palestinian security
forces arrested 4 Palestinian police officers who were accused of
planning to attack Jewish settlers. Israel had arrested 4 Palestinian
policemen a week earlier for planned attacks at the settlement of Har
Bracha.
(SFC, 7/21/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 30, Two men bombed
Jerusalem's most crowded outdoor market, killing themselves and 16
others. Following the suicide bombing in Israel that killed 15 people,
79 Palestinians were arrested.
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A8)(AP, 7/30/98)
1997 Aug 1, Sixteen of
Arafat’s 18 Cabinet members offered their resignations in
response to allegations of widespread corruption.
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug 1, Israel withheld $25
million in tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority, which made the
Authority unable to meet its payroll.
(SFC, 8/4/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 16, Nusrat Fateh Ali
Khan, the most popular singer in Pakistan, died in a London hospital.
He was considered one of the world’s greatest singers of Sufi
devotional music in a style called qawwali, where long performances
built up emotion and complexity to the backdrop of stringed instruments
and the harmonium.
(SFEC, 8/17/97, p.D8)
1997 Aug 20, Palestinian Pres.
Arafat met with Islamic militant groups including Hamas and called for
Palestinian unity against Israeli demands.
(WSJ, 8/21/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 21, Palestinians began an
embargo of Israeli goods.
(SFC, 8/22/97, p.A14)
1997 Sep 7, This was the scheduled
date for Israel’s departure from the West Bank, except for Jewish
settlements and certain military locations according to a peace accord
negotiated between Arafat and Rabin on Sep 24, 1995.
(SFC, 1/9/96, p.A10)
1997 Sep 25, In Jordan Khaled
Mashaal, the political leader of Hamas, was chemically attacked by two
men with forged Canadian passports in Amman. Hamas accused the men of
being Israeli Mossad agents. Jordan's King Hussein intervened, forcing
Israel to send the antidote that saved the Hamas leader's life and
release the group's jailed founder in exchange for the freedom of its
captured agents.
(SFC, 10/2/97, p.A10)(SFC, 10/3/97, p.B4)(SFC,
10/12/97, p.A17)(AP, 9/25/04)
1997 Oct 6, In Palestine Sheik
Ahmed Yassin (61), the quadriplegic spiritual leader of Hamas, returned
to the Gaza Strip.
(SFC, 10/7/97, p.A14)
1997 Oct 19, Sheik Ahmed Yassin,
founder of Hamas, announced a halt in attacks against Israel.
(SFC,10/20/97, p.A8)
1997 Oct 25, Israeli soldiers
fired tear gas and rubber bullets at stone-throwing Palestinians who
were marching for the release of Palestinian prisoners. Some 3,000
Palestinian political prisoners were being held by Israel and a third
have never been tried.
(SFEC,10/26/97, p.A24)
1997 Nov 15, 8-year-old Ali
Jawarish died 4 days after he was shot in the head by an Israeli
soldier in Bethlehem during a stone-throwing demonstration at the
Jewish shrine of Rachel’s Tomb.
(SFC,11/17/97, p.A14)
1997 Nov 29, Dozens were injured
after a Palestinian march in Bethlehem erupted into a clash with
Israeli troops.
(SFEC,11/30/97, p.A22)
1997 Dec 9, Israeli officials
scrambled to stop a Yasser Arafat’s government from conducting a census
of Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
(SFC,12/10/97, p.A13)
1997 Uri Savir, Israeli
negotiator, authored "The Process: The Story of Oslo from A to Z."
(SFC, 9/8/03, p.A8)
1997 Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed
Yassin offered Israel a 30-year truce.
(AP, 3/24/04)
1998 Jan 13, In Israel the Cabinet
adopted a 12-page list of conditions for the Palestinians to meet
before the transfer of any more West Bank land.
(SFC, 1/14/98, p.C2)
1998 Feb 4, It was reported that
the 300,000 Palestinians living in Lebanon in refugee camps were barred
from work outside the camps except for common labor or agriculture. The
refugees, mostly Sunni Muslims from a minority tribe, were not wanted
by the Lebanese.
(SFC, 2/4/98, p.C2)
1998 Feb 26, Three Israeli
soldiers were killed in a Hezbollah attack in southern Lebanon.
(WSJ, 2/27/98, p.A1)
1998 Mar 9, In Israel soldiers at
a checkpoint killed 3 Palestinian laborers in a van near Hebron. Two
soldiers involved were arrested.
(SFC, 3/11/98, p.A8)
1998 Mar 13, Israeli and
Palestinian troops made a joint effort to end four days of protests
over the killing of West Bank workers.
(SFC, 3/14/98, p.A9)
1998 Mar 29, Elias Freij, the
former mayor of Bethlehem (1972-1997), died in Jordan at age 80.
(SFC, 3/30/98, p.A17)
1998 Mar 29, In Palestine the body
of Mohiyedine Sharif, a master bomb-maker for Hamas, was found at the
scene of an exploded car in Ramallah. His body had bullet holes. Israel
denied involvement in the killing. Sharif was a member of the Izzedine
Qassam, a military wing of Hamas. Palestinian security officials later
assigned the murder to Adel Awadallah, a rival for leadership in Hamas.
(SFC, 4/2/98, p.A12)(SFC, 4/798, p.A12)
1998 Apr 2, Shaking their fists in
rage, thousands of mourners marched in a funeral procession in the West
Bank for a top Hamas bombmaker, Mohiyedine Sharif, hailed by
Palestinians as a martyr and condemned by Israel as a terrorist.
(AP, 4/2/99)
1998 May 5, An exasperated
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called on Israel to hand over an
additional 13 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinians, on top of
the 27 percent already relinquished. Israel, however, continued to balk
at the proposal.
(AP, 5/5/99)
1998 May 13, Israeli jets raided
Lebanon and killed 3 men and wounded 21 in an attack on the radical
Palestinian group, Fatah the Uprising. As many as 10 men were killed in
a Bekaa Valley training camp for Palestinian guerrillas.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A13)(SFC, 5/14/98, p.C2)
1998 May 14, Palestinians marked
the 50th anniversary of the creation of Israel with 2 minutes of
silence and several hours of violence that left 9 dead. They refer to
the creation of Israel as the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe."
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.A14)(SFC, 5/16/98, p.A10)
1998 May 16, Israeli soldiers in
Hebron wounded 10 Palestinians in the 3rd straight day of clashes.
(SFEC, 5/17/98, p.A23)
1998 Jul 7, The UN voted to grant
the Palestinian delegation nearly the same rights as given to
independent states.
(SFC, 7/8/98, p.A10)
1998 Jul 19, Seeking to break a
16-month deadlock, Israel and the Palestinians held their first
high-level talks in months. Jalal Rumaneh (30), a member of Hamas,
attempted to explode a car bomb made of 160 gallons of flammable liquid
and nails in Jerusalem. The Fiat van ignited but failed to explode.
(SFEC, 7/20/98, p.A9)(AP, 7/19/08)
1998 Jul, Walid Qwafmeh (51), the
father of 8, was arrested by Palestinian security guards and died on
the way to a Nablus hospital in Aug. with a caved in skull. 3 agents
including Abdel Latif Abdel Fattah were later found guilty of torturing
Qwafmeh. Fattah was sentenced to 7 years in prison. In 1999 Arafat
appointed Fattah to a prosecutor's post in the West Bank.
(SFC, 11/16/99, p.E1)
1998 Aug 24, Israel agreed to turn
over an additional 13% of the West Bank to the Palestinians.
(SFC, 8/25/98, p.A7)
1998 Aug 24, In Egypt Abu Nidal
was captured after crossing the border from Libya. He was responsible
for terrorist bombings in 1985 at the Rome and Vienna airports and a
1986 hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 as well as a number of
assassinations of PLO figures.
(SFC, 8/25/98, p.A6)
1998 Aug 30, A firing squad killed
two former Palestinian policemen at Gaza prison. They had been
convicted of killing 2 other policemen brothers.
(SFC, 8/31/98, p.A10)
1998 Sep 10, In Israel troops
killed Imad and Adel Awadallah, senior figures in Hamas west of Hebron.
(SFC, 9/12/98, p.A3)
1998 Sep 11, In the West Bank
violent protests erupted over the Israeli killing of 2 Hamas leaders.
(SFC, 9/12/98, p.A3)
1998 Sep 17, In Israel a
Palestinian youth, Iyad Hashem (17), was killed in a drive-by shooting
on the West Bank.
(WSJ, 9/18/98, p.A1)(SFC, 9/18/98, p.A13)
1998 Sep 18, In Israel Hamas
supporters clashed with Israeli police during a rally for the Awadallah
brothers. 32 Palestinians were injured and the borders with the West
Bank and Gaza were again sealed.
(SFC, 9/19/98, p.A12)
1998 Sep 28, Yasser Arafat met
with Benjamin Netanyahu and Pres. Clinton at the White House and agreed
to hold a full-scale summit next month.
(SFC, 9/29/98, p.A1)
1998 Sep 29, In the West Bank one
Palestinian was killed and 2 were injured when a bomb blew up their
car. They were suspected to be members of Hamas.
(SFC, 9/30/98, p.A11)
1998 Sep 30, In Israel the army
sent reinforcements to Hebron after an assailant threw grenades at
troops guarding a central square. 13 soldiers and 11 Palestinians were
wounded.
(WSJ, 10/1/98, p.A1)(SFC, 10/1/98, p.A14)
1998 Sep, In Jericho the $50
million Oasis Casino opened as part of a multi million economic
development package by Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. It
was operated by Casinos Austria.
(SFEC, 2/20/99, p.T8)
1998 Oct 7, In Israel at the Gaza
border Arafat and Netanyahu met with US Sec. Albright and agreed to an
Oct 15 summit meeting with Pres. Clinton.
(WSJ, 10/8/98, p.A1)
1998 Oct 8, In Israel one man was
killed during a clash in Hebron where Palestinians observed a general
strike against Israel’s 8-day blockade of the town.
(USAT, 10/9/98, p.13A)
1998 Oct 15, Pres. Clinton opened
the Mideast summit talks between Arafat and Netanyahu in Washington.
(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.A1)
1998 Oct 19, In Israel an
assailant threw 2 hand grenades into the central bus station of
Beersheba and injured at least 30 people. 67 people were wounded and
the incident cast a pall over the peace negotiations in Washington. A
Palestinian from the West Bank, Salem Rajab al-Sarsour (29), was caught
and confessed.
(SFC, 10/19/98, p.A14)(SFC, 10/20/98, p.A8)
1998 Oct 23, An American brokered
peace deal was reached at the Wye Plantation in Maryland between Yasser
Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli and Palestinian extremists
denounced the deal. Land for the Palestinians was exchanged for
security guarantees to the Israelis backed by the American CIA. Pres.
Clinton agreed to release Jonathan Pollard, who was jailed 11 years ago
on charges of spying for Israel.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A1,10,13)(SFEC, 10/25/98, p.A17)
1998 Oct 25, In Israel West Bank
settlers formally broke ties with Prime Minister Netanyahu over the new
peace accord. In Ramallah Wasim Tarifi (17) was killed during a Fatah
youth protest.
(SFC, 10/26/98, p.A1)
1998 Oct 26, In Israel 2
Palestinian gunmen killed Danny Vargas (28) in Hebron. In retaliation a
69-year-old Palestinian man was killed outside the Jewish settlement of
Itamar.
(SFC, 10/27/98, p.B1)
1998 Oct 27, Palestinian security
forces arrested 2 gunmen in the West Bank who reportedly confessed to
the killing of Danny Vargas as well as the murder of another Israeli on
Oct 13.
(SFC, 10/28/98, p.A11)
1998 Oct 28, In Israel a bomb
aimed at a busload of school children exploded in the Gaza Strip and 2
people were killed.
(SFC, 10/29/98, p.A15)
1998 Oct 29, Palestinian
authorities arrested the leader of Hamas, Sheik Yassin, following a
suicide bombing aimed at a busload of Jewish settler children.
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 2, Israel and Palestine
agreed to delay their interim peace agreement to allow approval by the
Israeli cabinet and parliament.
(SFC, 11/3/98, p.A8)
1998 Nov 11, Israel’s government
narrowly ratified a land-for-peace agreement with conditions that
included alteration of the PLO charter to strike calls for Israel’s
destruction.
(WSJ, 11/12/98, p.A1)(AP, 11/11/08)
1998 Nov 12, Israel gave the
go-ahead to a housing project on a Jerusalem hilltop called Har Homa.
The area is known as Jabal Abu Ghneim to the Palestinians and was an
area under dispute.
(SFC, 11/13/98, p.A16)
1998 Nov 17, Israel's parliament
overwhelmingly approved the Wye River land-for-peace accord with the
Palestinians with a 75 to 19 vote.
(SFC, 11/18/98, p.A12)(AP, 11/17/99)
1998 Nov 19, In Israel the Cabinet
voted 7 to 5 to go ahead with a troop withdrawal from Palestinian land
in the West Bank, and to free 250 Palestinian prisoners,
(SFC, 11/20/98, p.A16)(WSJ, 11/20/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 20, Israel ceded control
of a 200-sq. mile patchwork area to the Palestinian Authority in the
1st of 3 withdrawals.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A10)
1998 Nov 23, In Palestine the $70
million Gaza Int’l. Airport opened and an Egypt Air plane was the first
to land.
(SFC, 11/24/98, p.A14)(WSJ, 11/24/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 24, The first Palestine
Airlines flight touched down at Gaza International Airport.
(AP, 11/24/99)
1998 Nov 30, Pres. Clinton pledged
an extra $400 million to aid the Palestinians over the next 5 years.
This was in addition to the current $100 million per year for the next
5 years. A total of $3 billion in aid was pledged.
(SFC, 12/1/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/1/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 2, In the West Bank an
Israeli soldier was beaten and an Arab man was stabbed to death in
Jerusalem. Israel announced the suspension of further troops
withdrawals.
(SFC, 12/3/98, p.A16)
1998 Dec 6, Hundreds of
Palestinian prisoners in Israel started a hunger strike and
demanded to be freed.
(SFC, 12/7/98, p.A14)
1998 Dec 9, A Palestinian teenager
was killed as Israeli forces and Palestinian protestors clashed.
(SFC, 12/10/98, p.A12)
1998 Dec 10, Leaders of the PLO
voted to annul passages of their 1964 charter that called for Israel’s
destruction.
(SFC, 12/11/98, p.A18)
1998 Dec 11, Israeli troops fired
on hundreds of protesting Palestinians killing 2 and wounding dozens.
(SFC, 12/12/98, p.A14)
1998 Dec 14, In Gaza City Pres.
Clinton watched as hundreds of Palestinian leaders raised their hands
to renounce a call for the destruction of Israel. The vote affirmed a
January letter from Arafat which specified the paragraphs of the PLO
founding charter to be excised.
(SFC, 12/15/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 15, Pres. Clinton met
with Yasser Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu without achieving any
tangible results to move the Peace Talks forward.
(SFC, 12/16/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 22, In Lebanon an Israeli
rocket killed woman and her 6 children.
(SFC, 12/23/98, p.C2)
1998 Dec 23, In Lebanon Hezbollah
guerrillas retaliated against Israel with Katyusha rockets at Kiryat
Shemona.
(SFC, 12/24/98, p.A10)
1998 Dec 23, Yasser Arafat freed
Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin from house arrest.
(SFC, 12/24/98, p.A10)
1998 The West Bank was populated
by about 1.5 million Palestinians and about 150,000 Israelis.
(SFC, 1/22/98, p.B12)
1999 Jan 4, Israeli troops sealed
off Hebron when 2 Jewish settlers were injured by shots fired at their
van.
(WSJ, 1/7/98, p.A1)
1999 Jan 18, The end of Ramadan
was marked by prisoner releases in Egypt, Palestine and Afghanistan.
(WSJ, 1/18/98, p.A1)
1999 Jan 26, A Palestinian man was
killed by an Israeli rubber bullet when he threw stones to protest the
demolition of an Arab-owned home in East Jerusalem.
(SFC, 1/27/99, p.C10)
1999 Feb 1, In Gaza a Palestinian
security agent was killed in a shootout with 3 members of Hamas, who
then sped away and ran over an 8-year-old girl. The girl died. Raed
Attar, Osama Abu Taha, and Mohammed Abu Shamala were later arrested in
Shati refugee camp.
(SFC, 2/2/99, p.A10)
1999 Feb 12, In Hebron, Yasser
Arafat again proposed that a confederation be made between Jordan and a
future Palestinian state.
(SFC, 2/13/99, p.A3)
1999 Feb 27, Hezbollah guerrillas
in Lebanon detonated 2 roadside bombs and killed Israeli Brig. Gen'l.
Erez Gerstein, 2 soldiers and a reporter.
(SFC, 3/1/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 28, Israel sent warplanes
against guerrilla targets in Lebanon in retaliation for the death of
Brig. Gen'l. Erez Gerstein and 3 others.
(SFC, 3/1/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 10, In Palestine security
forces shot and killed 2 teenagers during protests in Gaza after Raed
al-Attar was sentenced to die for killing police captain Rifat Joudah
in Feb. Two others were sentenced to jail.
(SFC, 3/11/99, p.A12)
1999 Mar 11, In Palestine at least
85 people were injured in a 2nd day of clashes in the Gaza Strip.
(SFC, 3/12/99, p.A15)
1999 Mar 26, The EU declared that
the creation of a Palestine state was the best way to resolve the
Middle East conflict, and the action could not be vetoed by Israel.
(SFC, 3/27/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 26, The Clinton
administration urged a one-year extension of the Oslo peace process and
pressured Pres. Arafat not to declare an independent state on May 4.
(SFC, 4/27/99, p.A8)
1999 Apr 28, The 124-member
Palestine Central Council decided not to declare a Palestinian state on
May 4, and that deliberations would continue till after Israel's May 17
elections. In exchange Arafat won EU backing for a state within a year
and the support of Pres. Clinton for self-determination.
(SFC, 4/28/99, p.C2)(WSJ, 4/30/99, p.A1)
1999 May 4, Yasser Arafat promised
in 1997 to declare statehood, unilaterally if necessary. The five year
interim period of Palestinian autonomy was to end. The declaration was
deferred on April 28.
(WSJ, 11/14/97, p.A1)(SFC, 5/20/98, p.A12)(SFC,
5/4/99, p.A11,14)
1999 May 7, A final peace accord
was to be settled with Palestinians by this time as negotiated by
Yasser Arafat and Rabin in [Oct] 1995.
(SFC, 1/9/96, p.A10)
1999 Jun 2, Palestinian leaders
said they would not resume peace talks unless settlement expansion in
the West Bank and Gaza is frozen.
(SFC, 6/3/99, p.A13)
1999 Jun, Enron Corp. announced a
20-year power purchase agreement with the Palestinian Energy Authority.
A $140 million, 136-megawatt power plant in the Gaza Strip was part of
the plan. Work halted in 2000.
(SFC, 3/2/02, p.A9)
1999 Jul 8, It was reported that
Palestinian water shortages were due Israeli diversions of 80% of West
Bank aquifer water.
(SFC, 7/8/99, p.A10)
1999 Jul 11, In Gaza Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak met with Yasser Arafat and both promised to work
for peace.
(SFC, 7/12/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 8, In Jerusalem Yasser
Arafat accepted Ehud Barak's proposal to delay land transfers and troop
withdrawals until October.
(SFC, 8/9/99, p.A8)
1999 Aug 30 In Israel the bodies
of an Israeli couple were found on the West Bank border near the
Megiddo forest. Palestinian extremists were suspected as responsible.
(SFC, 8/31/99, p.A12)
1999 Sep 1, In Jerusalem
disagreement over the release of 30 Palestinians, jailed for killing
Israelis, was the only issue holding up the signing of a
land-for-security deal.
(SFC, 9/2/99, p.A14)
1999 Sep 3, Israel and the
Palestinians, prodded by Madeleine Albright, agreed to a peace deal
that called for finalizing borders in one year, the completion of Wye
River land-for-security, and the release of 350 Palestinian prisoners.
(SFC, 9/4/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 4, At Sharm El-Sheikh
(Sharm Al Sheik), Egypt, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and
Palestinian Authority Pres. Yasser Arafat signed a new deal that ceded
West Bank land to the Palestinians and set up a timetable for peace.
(SFEC, 9/5/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/21/99, p.A21)
1999 Sep 8, In Israel the
parliament approved the amended Wye River accord.
(WSJ, 9/9/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 9, Israel released 199
Palestinians from prison and detailed the 7% of West Bank land
scheduled for transfer.
(SFC, 9/10/99, p.D3)(WSJ, 9/10/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 10, Israel transferred 7%
of the West Bank to Palestinian control.
(SFC, 9/11/99, p.A8)
1999 Sep 13, In Gaza Israelis and
Palestinians opened talks on a final peace accord.
(SFC, 9/14/99, p.A12)
1999 Oct 4, Israeli PM Ehud Barak
and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat agreed on terms for the first safe
route between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
(SFC, 10/5/99, p.A11)
1999 Oct 14, Israel released 151
Palestinian prisoners as part of the interim peace accord signed Sept.
4.
(SFC, 10/15/99, p.D3)
1999 Oct 21, In Palestine a West
Bank fire killed 16 women making cigarette lighters in an unlicensed
Hebron facility.
(WSJ, 10/22/99, p.A1)
1999 Oct 23, Palestine planned to
issue a national currency and the IMF estimated that 2 years of
preparations would be needed.
(SFEC, 10/27/99, p.A28)
1999 Oct 25, Israel opened a
34-mile safe-passage corridor from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank.
(SFC, 10/26/99, p.A10)
1999 Oct 25, An Israeli soldier
shot and killed a Palestinian souvenir vendor, Mousa Abu Hilail, near
Rachel's tomb. Two days of rioting followed.
(SFC, 10/27/99, p.A13)
1999 Nov 2, Pres. Clinton met with
Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat in Oslo to revitalize the peace process.
(SFC, 11/3/99, p.A12)
1999 Nov 19, In Ramallah, West
Bank (Reuters), Israeli security forces fired tear gas and
rubber-coated metal bullets at stone-throwing Palestinians demanding
the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israel's jails.
(Excite, 11/20/99)
1999 Nov 28, In Palestine security
forces arrested a group of professionals and intellectuals who signed a
petition that accused Yasser Arafat of tyranny, corruption and
injustice. 6 dissidents signed statements in jail that saying they did
not intend to harm Arafat. 9 others who signed the petition were
legislators and immune from arrest.
(SFC, 11/29/99, p.A14)(WSJ, 11/29/99, p.A1)
1999 Dec 13, Israeli troops killed
2 men in Beit Awa in the West Bank and captured 3 others during a
search for Hamas activists.
(SFC, 12/14/99, p.B2)
1999 Dec 29, Israel released 26
Palestinian security prisoners as part of the interim peace accord. It
was the first time Israel had released Palestinians who had killed
Israelis or tourists.
(SFC, 12/30/99, p.C2)
1999 Abu Daoud first acknowledged
having a role in the 1972 Munich operation in the book: "Palestine:
From Jerusalem to Munich." Abu Daoud recalled sitting at a cafe in Rome
with fellow PLO guerrilla leader Abu Iyad and his assistant, Mohammed
al-Omari, when they read in a newspaper that the International Olympics
Committee had refused the PLO's request to send a Palestinian
delegation to the Munich Olympics. Daoud was given the task of doing
the operation's groundwork.
(AP, 2/24/06)
2000 Jan 4, Israel and Palestine
agreed on the transfer of an additional 5% of West Bank land.
(SFC, 1/5/00, p.A6)
2000 Jan 14, In Israel Lafi
al-Rajabi (20), a Palestinian, died while under Israeli detention near
Ariel. His body bore wounds, cuts and bruises. He had been arrested 7
months earlier for ties to criminal defendants and not carrying an ID
card. An Israeli official said Lafi hanged himself and dismissed claims
that he was abused.
(SFC, 1/20/00, p.C16)(SFC, 1/21/00, p.D3)
2000 Mar 2, In Israel commandos
killed as many as 4 Palestinian extremist suspects at Taibeh. They said
that 4 simultaneous bombings were scheduled in crowded areas of major
cities.
(SFC, 3/3/00, p.A14)
2000 Mar 22, In Bethlehem Pope
John Paul II affirmed support for a Palestinian homeland.
(SFC, 3/23/00, p.A1)
2000 May 14, Thousands of
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza demonstrated and violence
erupted with at least one person killed.
(SFC, 5/15/00, p.A1)
2000 May 15, Palestinian police
and Israeli soldiers fought gun battles across the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. 4 people were killed and hundreds were wounded.
(SFC, 5/16/00, p.A1)
2000 May 16, Palestinian
demonstrators continued to fight Israeli forces for a 5th day but
Palestinian authorities appeared to contain most of the violence.
(SFC, 5/17/00, p.A14)
2000 May 20, Israeli warplanes
attacked Palestinian targets in Lebanon and destroyed 10 tanks. Israeli
soldiers clashed with Palestinian demonstrators for the 9th day in
Palestinian territories within Israel.
(SFEC, 5/21/00, p.A10)
2000 May 25, Khalid Mohhamed
Younis al-Bahar (35) was arrested without charges. He died at Dhaheria
Prison June 6 and no autopsy report was released.
(SFC, 6/14/00, p.A12)
2000 Jul 3, The Palestinian
leadership said that a Palestinian state would be declared by September
13.
(SFC, 7/5/00, p.A8)(WSJ, 7/5/00, p.A1)
2000 Jul 11, A Middle East summit
hosted by President Clinton opened at Camp David between Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
(AP, 7/11/01)(SFC, 7/12/00, p.A1)
2000 Jul 25, The
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks ended at Camp David with no success due
to the difficulty over the issue of Jerusalem.
(SFC, 7/26/00, p.A1)
2000 Jul 28, Pres. Clinton warned
Yasser Arafat that relations with the US would be harmed if statehood
was declared without a peace deal with Israel.
(SFC, 7/29/00, p.A10)
2000 Aug, British gas
discovered a vast natural gas field 22 miles off the Gaza Strip.
(SFC, 9/28/00, p.A14)
2000 Sep 3, In Egypt a 2-day
meeting of Arab League foreign ministers opened. Yasser Arafat said he
would not accept a peace deal without control of Jerusalem.
(SFC, 9/4/00, p.B10)
2000 Sep 10, The Palestine Central
Council in Gaza postponing the Sep 13 deadline for statehood and
planned to pursue another round of peace talks.
(SFC, 9/11/00, p.A1)
2000 Sep 28, Ariel Sharon led an
armed contingent of supporters to the top of Temple Mount in Jerusalem,
the site of 2 mosques, and incited Arab demonstrations. This marked the
beginning of the 2nd Palestinian uprising.
(SFC, 4/30/02, p.A8)(SFC, 3/23/04, p.A11)
2000 Sep 29, Five people were
killed in clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police at
the Temple Mount. It was the 2nd day of clashes following a visit to
the site by Ariel Sharon.
(SFC, 9/30/00, p.A1)
2000 Sep 30, Palestinians clashed
with Israeli forces across the West Bank and Gaza for a 3rd day and 12
Palestinians were killed with over 500 injured. Mohammed Jamal Aldura
(12) was among the dead and French TV showed him clinging to his father
as they were caught in gunfire. The Israeli Army later said that
Palestinian gunfire may have killed the boy.
(SFEC, 10/1/00, p.A1)(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A12)(SFC,
11/28/00, p.A16)
2000 Sep, The Waqf clerical trust
imposed a ban on non-Muslims to visit the Temple Mount.
(SFC, 1/22/02, p.A7)
2000 Sep, The Al Aqsa Martyrs
Brigade was founded in response to Israeli killings.
(SFC, 4/12/02, p.A16)
2000 Oct 1, Israeli forces fought
Palestinian rioters for a 3rd day and at least 12 Palestinians were
killed. The fighting spread from the West Bank and Gaza to towns and
cities inside Israel.
(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 2, Israeli troops fired
on protesting Arabs. 19 people were killed in the West Bank and Gaza
and another 7 in Arab towns of northern Galilee. The 4 day toll rose to
48 dead and over 1,300 wounded. In 2003 the Or Commission blamed the
government of PM Barak for not paying attention to rising discontent
among Israel’s Arabs. In 2005 Israeli authorities, citing lack of
evidence, said they would not file charges against any police officers
for the killings of 13 Arabs during the October, 2000, riots.
(SFC, 10/3/00, p.A1)(WSJ, 10/3/00, p.A1)(SFC,
9/18/05, p.A3)
2000 Oct 3, A cease-fire between
Israel and the Palestinians quickly crumbled and the death toll climbed
to at least 54. Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat planned to meet in Paris
to seek an end to the conflict.
(SFC, 10/4/00, p.A10)
2000 Oct 4, In Israel Barak agreed
to withdraw heavy arms from the West Bank and Gaza in a bid to halt
violence.
(WSJ, 10/5/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 5, Israeli tanks pulled
back from forward positions and Palestinian security forces cleared
stone throwers from the streets in the 1st steps of a US-brokered
cease-fire.
(SFC, 10/6/00, p.A17)
2000 Oct 6, Israel pulled troops
from Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus in an effort to ease tensions.
(SFC, 10/7/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 7, Palestinians tore up
Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus and Hezbollah guerrillas captured 3 Israeli
soldiers. Prime Minister Ehud Barak threatened to use force and to halt
the peace process unless the violence stopped.
(SFEC, 10/8/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 9, Israel backed from a
deadline against the Palestinians to stop violence in the West Bank and
Gaza.
(SFC, 10/10/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 11, Palestinians
continued to riot in Gaza and the West Bank and the death toll
approached 100.
(SFC, 10/12/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 12, The Palestinian
Authority released hundreds of prisoners including senior Islamic
militants.
(SFC, 10/13/00, p.A5)
2000 Oct 12, A mob of Palestinians
beat at least 2 Israeli reserve soldiers to death. Israeli helicopters
fired missiles at targets in Gaza in retaliation. Two reservist
soldiers, Cpl. Vadim Norjitz (33) and Yossi Avrahami (38) were on their
way to their army base in the West Bank in October 2000 but took a
wrong turn and ended up in Ramallah. Israel later arrested at least
four suspects in the killing. In 2007 a 5th suspect, Ayman Zaban, was
caught in an upscale neighborhood of the northern West Bank city of
Nablus.
(SFC, 10/13/00, p.A1)(AP, 9/26/07)
2000 Oct 16, A Middle East summit
was planned to begin at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. Violent
demonstrations continued in the West Bank and Gaza and 2 Palestinians
were killed.
(SFEC, 10/15/00, p.A1)(SFC, 10/17/00, p.A13)
2000 Oct 17, Israelis and
Palestinians agreed to a Middle East pact to halt the violence.
(SFC, 10/18/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 18, In Israel undercover
agents captured as many as 8 Palestinians believed to have taken part
in the lynching death of 2 Israeli soldiers.
(SFC, 10/19/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 19, Israeli soldiers
fought with Palestinian militiamen in the West Bank and 2 people were
killed with 18 wounded.
(SFC, 10/20/00, p.A16)
2000 Oct 20, Israeli troops killed
at least 9 Palestinians and wounded dozens in numerous West Bank
clashes.
(SFC, 10/21/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 21, Tens of thousands of
Palestinians took to the streets in marches and funerals in Gaza and
the West Bank. 4 Palestinians were killed and over 100 injured.
(SFEC, 10/22/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 21, Arab leaders met in
Cairo for a 2-day summit where they condemned Israel for violence and
made proposals to deal with Israel.
(SFEC, 10/22/00, p.A1,21)
2000 Oct 22, Arab nations demanded
a UN war crimes tribunal for Israelis responsible for Palestinian
deaths and formally ended economic cooperation with Israel. Ehud Barak
suspended Israeli participation in the peace process. He called for a
"timeout" to decide whether negotiations can be salvaged.
(SFC, 10/23/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 23, In Israel Prime
Minister Barak opened negotiations with Ariel Sharon and the Likud
Party for a broad-based emergency government.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A14)
2000 Oct 23, Two more Palestinians
died from injuries received during rioting in Nablus.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A14)
2000 Oct 26, In Israel a
Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at an Israeli army outpost.
129 people, mostly Palestinians, were reported killed in over four
weeks of fighting.
(SFC, 10/27/00, p.A20)
2000 Oct 27, Palestinians clashed
with Israelis in a "Day of Rage" and 4 were killed with 150 people
injured.
(SFC, 10/28/00, p.A12)
2000 Oct 28, Palestinians clashed
with Israeli troops and at least 29 were wounded.
(SFEC, 10/29/00, p.A18)
2000 Oct 29, Israeli tanks rolled
through Gaza to secure free movement for Jewish settlers. 5
Palestinians were killed in Gaza, Nablus and Jenin.
(SFC, 10/30/00, p.A10)
2000 Oct 30, Israel fired rockets
from helicopter gunships in the West Bank and Gaza as a warning against
the use of guerrilla tactics. The death rose to 133 Palestinians and 10
Israelis.
(SFC, 10/31/00, p.A12)
2000 Nov 1, 3 Israelis and 6
Palestinians were killed in West Bank clashes.
(SFC, 11/2/00, p.A12)
2000 Nov 4, In Israel the clashes
eased as Pres. Barak and Yasser Arafat announced separate visits
to Washington for talks with Pres. Clinton.
(SFEC, 11/5/00, p.A11)
2000 Nov 5, Clashes in the West
Bank and Gaza left 2 Palestinians killed and 17 injured.
(SFC, 11/6/00, p.A12)
2000 Nov 6, Israel rejected a plan
for international observers in its conflict with the Palestinians.
(SFC, 11/7/00, p.B2)
2000 Nov 7, Pres. Clinton named
George Mitchell to head a fact-finding team in the Israeli-Palestinian
upheaval.
(SFC, 11/7/00, p.B2)
2000 Nov 8, Israeli troops killed
4 Palestinian teenagers and Palestinian gunmen ambushed and killed an
Israeli woman (24).
(SFC, 11/9/00, p.C2)
2000 Nov 9, Pres. Clinton met with
Yasser Arafat in Washington in an effort to end the bloodshed between
Israel and Palestine.
(SFC, 11/10/00, p.A16)
2000 Nov 9, Israeli helicopter
gunships fired missiles at a Palestinian vehicle and killed Fatah
militia leader Hussein Abayat along with 2 nearby women.
(SFC, 11/10/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 10, Israel sealed
Bethlehem and Ramallah. Israeli troops killed 5 Palestinians in clashes
in the West Bank and Gaza. One Israeli soldier was killed in shooting
following a funeral for militia commander Hussein Abayat.
(SFC, 11/11/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 11, Fighting in the West
Bank left 8 Palestinians dead along with 1 Israeli soldier.
(SFEC, 11/12/00, p.A19)
2000 Nov 12, Pres. Clinton met
with Ehud Barak in an effort to end Arab-Israeli fighting. Meanwhile
one Palestinian youth was killed in Gaza.
(SFC, 11/13/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 13, Palestinian gunmen
attacked inside Israeli controlled areas of the West Bank and Gaza and
killed 4 Israelis. Elsewhere 4 Palestinians were also killed over the
day. Fatah called for the expulsion of Israelis from Gaza and the West
Bank.
(SFC, 11/14/00, p.A16)(WSJ, 11/14/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 14, Israeli troops shot
dead 3 Palestinian teenagers (13-19) and a man was killed after
settlers threw rocks at his car.
(SFC, 11/15/00, p.A12)
2000 Nov 15, On Palestinian
Independence Day many processions turned into clashes with Israeli
forces and 8 Palestinians were killed. Israeli troops entered 3
Palestinian villages and captured 15 men suspected in recent shootings.
(SFC, 11/16/00, p.A14)
2000 Nov 16, Israeli forces
attacked 4 targets associated with Fatah. 2 Palestinians were killed in
clashes. Israel also reported a freeze on tax transfers to the
Palestinian Authority.
(SFC, 11/16/00, p.A14)(SFC, 11/17/00, p.A21)(WSJ,
11/17/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 17, In Jerusalem Yasser
Arafat announced that he had given orders for Palestinian gunmen to
halt their shooting. Barak noted the possibility for int’l. supervisors
in a peace agreement.
(SFC, 11/18/00, p.A12)
2000 Nov 18, A Palestinian police
officer sneaked into a Jewish settlement in Gaza and shot dead an
Israeli soldier. He wounded 2 others before he was killed.
(SFEC, 11/19/00, p.A14)
2000 Nov 19, Israeli troops killed
a 14-year-old stone thrower in Gaza. One other Palestinian was killed
and 9 wounded.
(SFC, 11/20/00, p.A8)
2000 Nov 20, Israel fired a
barrage of missiles on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an attack on a
school bus that killed 2 Jewish settlers and wounded 9 others including
3 siblings who lost limbs. At least 35 people were reported wounded in
the missile attack.
(SFC, 11/21/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 21, An Israeli motorist
was wounded and a Palestinian was killed in the Gaza Strip.
(WSJ, 11/22/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 22, In Hadera, Israel, a
car bomb killed at least 2 Israelis and wounded dozens. A Palestinian
militia leader and 3 others were killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza
Strip.
(SFC, 11/23/00, p.A20)
2000 Nov 23, The Israeli army
ordered Palestinian police to leave liaison offices after 2 soldiers
were killed in the Gaza Strip. A Hamas member was killed in a car
explosion in Nablus. A Palestinian court later sentenced to death a man
convicted of helping Israeli security agents assassinate the Hamas
bomber.
(SFC, 11/24/00, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/24/00, p.A1)(WSJ,
12/8/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 25, Israeli soldiers
killed 4 Palestinians and wounded over 30 in a series of clashes that
undermined field level cooperation. 2 students and 2 bakers were killed
by Israeli soldiers, who claimed Jamal Abdel Razek was a leader of the
Tanzim militia traveling with 3 bodyguards.
(SSFC, 11/26/00, p.A18)(SFC, 12/6/00, p.A16)
2000 Nov 26, Israel attacked
targets in southern Lebanon after a roadside bomb killed one Israeli
soldier and wounded 2 others near the border. 4 armed Palestinians were
killed as they left Qalqilya into an area on Israeli control.
(SFC, 11/27/00, p.A8)
2000 Nov 30, Palestinians rejected
a scaled-back peace plan proposed by Ehud Barak.
(SFC, 12/1/00, p.A1)
2000 Dec 1, Mohammed Deif (35),
leader of the Izzedine al Qassam Brigades –the armed wing of Hamas,
escaped from jail in the Gaza Strip.
(SFC, 12/8/00, p.D6)
2000 Dec 1, Israelis killed 2
Palestinians and injured over 20 in clashes in the West Bank and Gaza.
(SFC, 12/2/00, p.A13)
2000 Dec 4, Israeli soldiers
wounded 25 people in the West Bank village of Husan.
(SFC, 12/5/00, p.A14)
2000 Dec 5, The Israeli and
Palestinian violence was reported to have cost the Palestinians over
$500 million in lost wages and sales since late September.
(SFC, 12/6/00, p.A16)
2000 Dec 6, The Israeli Betselem
human-rights group condemned the Israeli army for excessive force in
combating the Palestinian intifada.
(SFC, 12/7/00, p.A12)
2000 Dec 6, The World Bank
approved a $12 million grant to help Palestinians.
(SFC, 12/7/00, p.A12)
2000 Dec 8, In Jerusalem and the
West Bank 7 Palestinians and 3 Israelis were killed in the ongoing
violence.
(SFC, 12/9/00, p.A16)
2000 Dec 12, Israeli soldiers
killed Yousef Abu Swayeh (27), a West Bank Palestinian leader.
(SFC, 12/13/00, p.B4)
2000 Dec 13, Fighting in Gaza left
4 Palestinian policemen dead. A Fatah activist was killed in the West
Bank.
(WSJ, 12/14/00, p.A1)
2000 Dec 15, In Israel Ehud Barak
made a bid to restart peace talks as 6 more Palestinians were shot dead
by Israeli troops.
(SFC, 12/16/00, p.A20)
2000 Dec 17, Israeli and
Palestinian officials agreed to hold talks in Washington prior to the
departure of Pres. Clinton.
(SFC, 12/18/00, p.E2)
2000 Dec 21, Israeli officials
acknowledged a "liquidation" policy for hunting down and killing
Palestinian militants.
(SFC, 12/22/00, p.A20)
2000 Dec 23, Negotiators from
Israel and Palestine left Washington without an agreement on critical
issues.
(SSFC, 12/24/00, p.A12)
2000 Dec 25, Pres. Clinton laid
down a new set of proposals for peace between Israelis and
Palestinians. The proposals included a Palestinian concession for some
3.7 million refugees to give up the right of return and for Israelis to
cede sovereignty over the Temple Mount.
(SFC, 12/26/00, p.A1)(SFC, 12/27/00, p.A14)
2000 Dec 28, Bombs exploded in Tel
Aviv and Gaza shortly after a peace summit was cancelled. 2 Israeli
soldiers were killed.
(SFC, 12/29/00, p.A1)
2000 Dec 29, In Gaza a Palestinian
police officer was killed in a shootout as Israeli soldiers bulldozed a
grove of trees.
(SFC, 12/30/00, p.A8)
2000 The documentary film
"Yasmin," directed by Nizar Hassan, premiered in the US. It is about an
incident of honor killing.
(SFEC, 9/3/00, DB p.52)
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