January

1st - PLO Chairman, Yasser Arafat, urges Palestinians to vote for the best candidate in the coming election even if it means not voting for him.

3rd - Elections in Jerusalem are viewed by worldwide critics as being fraudulent and rigged by Yasser Arafat after a further three contenders withdraw their candidacy.

7th - More than 100,000 people attend the funeral in Jerusalem of one of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas , Yehiya Ayyash , who was recently assassinated.

10th - Israel starts to release Palestinian prisoners in accordance with a deal negotiated with the PLO.

21st - Palestinians in East Jerusalem are deterred from voting at the first ever Palestinian elections, where Yasser Arafat claims victory.

February

8th - The Prime Minister of Israel, Shimon Peres, announces a general election for May.

25th - Hamas, the Islamic group , detonate two bombs, one in Jerusalem and the other in Ashkelon, killing 25 people.

26th - The Israeli Government urges Yasser Arafat to help put a stop to the bombings by Muslim militants.

March

1st - The militant Islamic Hamas group announces they will cease attacks if Israel releases Palestinian prisoners.

3rd - Another bomb explodes on a bus in Jerusalem, killing 19 people; the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, claims responsibility.

5th - A bomb explodes in Tel Aviv , Israel , the fourth bomb in nine days by the Hamas movement; 14 people are killed.

6th - Israel storms Palestinian villages and arrests suspected bombers.

11th - The Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, announces he has arrested three key figures of the Hamas movement.

12th - Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank warn they will shoot if Israel enters their towns.

21st - Israeli soldiers blow up three houses belonging to the families of Palestinian martyr bombers.

27th - Former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s murderer is sentenced to life imprisonment.

29th - The military in Israel arrest hundreds of Palestinians in order to find Hamas movement members.

April

1st - Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, announces he may hold a referendum before signing peace agreements with the Palestinians.

9th - The Islamic Hezbollah movement fires rockets into a Jewish village bordering Lebanon.

11th - Israeli ships and helicopters fire at southern Lebanon.

14th - Dozens of villages in Lebanon are evacuated due to heavy fighting by the Israelis and Hezbollah guerrillas.

16th - The US Government intervenes in the Israel/Lebanon crisis, asking leaders to cease all rocket attacks.

25th - The PLO announces it will excise calls for Israel’s destruction from its founding charter.

27th - The US Secretary of State helps Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, and Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafic Hariri, agree to a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.

May

2nd - Yasser Arafat and Bill Clinton meet for Middle East talks at the White House.

2nd - The Israeli Government announces it will go ahead and pull troops out of the West Bank city of Hebron.

3rd - Yasser Arafat wants the United Nations to take on a more effective role in the Middle East peace talks.

5th - The Israeli Government and the PLO begin peace talks.

19th - The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, threatens to take revenge on Israel for arresting a top Hamas member.

28th - National elections are held in Israel.

30th - Right-wing Likud Party leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, is set to become the new Prime Minister of Israel.

31st - Former Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, announces he will not serve in a government with newly-elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

June

1st - In a very close result, Benjamin Netanyahu is named Israel's newest prime minister. Meanwhile Yasser Arafat fears the newly-appointed leader may endanger the Israel/PLO peace process.

5th - Following a summit in Jordan, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, King Hussein of Jordan, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, step up efforts to continue peace negotiations in the Middle East.

6th - Israeli Prime Minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu confirms he will not consider dividing Jerusalem for the Palestinians.

20th - The Islamic Hamas resistance movement offers Israel's Government a cease-fire if they promise to stop attacks, release Hamas prisoners and open up the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

22nd - Cairo, Egypt, holds a two-day summit for 13 Arab leaders and eight other countries to discuss the new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's peace plans.

23rd - Arab leaders attending a summit in Cairo say that Israel should declare a Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as the capital.

24th - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces he will not give up land for a Palestinian State.

July

10th - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits with US President Bill Clinton primarily to talk about continuing the peace process in the Middle East.

24th - Talks between Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy on continuing the Middle East peace process prove positive.

26th - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat holds hopeful peace talks with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.

August

3rd - Palestinians condemn Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to lift bans on Jewish settlements in occupied lands.

16th - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat asks US President Bill Clinton for assistance to stop Israel from expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

25th - Israeli President Ezer Weizman offers to hold peace talks with PLO President Yasser Arafat, after Arafat told him he was upset over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the Middle East peace process.

29th - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat claims that Israel is doing nothing to restore peace by announcing plans for Jewish settlements on the West Bank.

September

5th - Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Netanyahu, meets with the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, to discuss the peace process. As a consequence of the meeting, there are threats of revolt within Mr Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party.

9th - US President, Bill Clinton, arranges to meet Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Netanyahu, as America is keen for Israel to take more positive measures to improve Israeli-Palestinian relations.

11th - In Israel three Jewish extremists are found guilty of assassinating former Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin.

13th - The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Netanyahu, wants to alter an agreement to hand over parts of the town of Hebron in the West Bank to the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

20th - Israel announces that it intends to build 2,000 new homes in the Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

27th - Israel announces a state of emergency in the Palestinian territories, as Jerusalem’s police force is doubled.

28th - Fighting between Israeli and Palestinian forces continues, as the Israeli Government stands firm and offers no hope of an end to the crisis.

29th - Israel warns that it will re-occupy self-governing Arab cities and disarm Palestinian police if the fighting between Palestinians and Israelis continues.

30th - Palestine and Egypt rebel against the United States’ plans for a Middle East peace summit, as Yasser Arafat requests a postponement of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Mr Netanyahu until the weekend.

October

1st - The Palestinian and Israeli leaders, Mr Yasser Arafat and Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, depart for a peace summit in the US, but prospects for a successful outcome look grim, as both sides are unwilling to compromise their positions.

2nd - Israel’s Prime Minister, Mr Netanyahu, Palestine’s leader, Mr Arafat, King Hussein of Jordan and American President Bill Clinton hold a cordial meeting at the White House to discuss the Middle East peace.

3rd - As Palestinian officials return home, they claim that the peace summit held in Washington, US between Israel and Palestine was a failure, after the Israeli Prime Minister refused to compromise and fears of violence escalated.

8th - The Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, arrives in Israel for talks with Israeli President Mr Ezer Weizman.

12th - It is announced that Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, wishes to withdraw nearly all Israeli forces from the West Bank town of Hebron.

17th - Jewish people in the West Bank town of Hebron caution that they will use private troops to protect them from Palestinian attacks if Israeli forces are withdrawn.

20th - Talks are delayed again between Israel and Palestine on the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank town of Hebron.

November

11th - The Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, calls on a European Union delegation to convince Israel to implement its plan to remove troops from the West Bank town of Hebron.

14th - Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, postpones a trip to the US so he can take control of discussions on the withdrawal of troops from the town of Hebron on the West Bank.

15th - In Israel, the High Court allows the secret police the power to torture an Islamic groups members to glean information about a attacks against Israel .

Palestinians in the West Bank town of Hebron celebrate the forthcoming withdrawal of Israeli troops.

22nd - Palestinian authorities claim that they are prepared to fight against the Israeli expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

25th - Egypt, Syria and Jordan announce their disapproval of Israeli plans to expand Jewish settlements in the occupied Golan Heights.

27th - The American Administration claims that the Israeli Prime Minister Mr Netanyahu is endangering the Middle East peace talks by proposing to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

28th - Nearly 126 UN member countries demand an end to the Israeli expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

December

2nd - Despite widespread denouncement of Israeli expansions of Jewish settlements, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives the go-ahead for houses to be built in the Jordan Valley.

5th - Israeli and Palestinian authorities agree to meet to discuss the stalemate over Hebron in the West Bank.

11th - Israeli authorities release plans to expand the Jewish settlements in Arab east Jerusalem, which causes outrage among Palestinians.

19th - Two Palestinian men are jailed for life and a third is given a 15-year jail sentence for murdering a Jewish settler and her son.

25th - Israeli-Palestinian talks over Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank town of Hebron anger Jewish settlers, who occupy two buildings in Hebron's Arab casbah area.

27th - Members of Israeli Prime Minister Mr Netanyahu's cabinet threaten to withdraw their support in protest against the plan to remove Israeli troops from the West Bank town of Hebron.

29th - Israel and Palestine seem likely to sign an agreement on the West Bank town of Hebron, as Israel reopens the Hebron University after its closure ten months ago.

30th - Israel and Palestine prepare to sign an historic agreement on the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Hebron in the West Bank.