January
On 6'th of January , U.S. envoy Dennis Ross held
talks with Palestinian Authority President Yasser
Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, the mission aims mainly for preparing
the ground for meetings in Washington in 20th of
this month .
On 18'th of January , Israeli Cabinet delays West
Bank redeployment decision until after 20th on
January summit in Washington between Netanyahu and
Clinton.
On 20'th of January , Clinton and Netanyahu met in
Washington and failed to come up with a new
strategy to move ahead with the implementation of
limited Palestinian autonomy.
On 21'st of January , Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat arrived in Washington. Arafat met Albright
and planned to meet President Bill Clinton for
talks Thursday at the White House.
On 22'nd of January , Clinton held two long
meetings with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat
. Clinton introduced the concept of parallel
processes of implementation of both parties
commitments , Israel to carry out credible and
significant withdrawal from the West Bank and the
Palestinian to moves against guerrilla activity .
February
02.02.1998 , Israel and the Palestinian Authority
will reportedly send envoys to the U.S. next week
for a new round of talks on the Mid-East peace
process.
25.02.1998 , Israeli troops searched refugee camps
in the West Bank Tuesday night and arrested six
Palestinians on suspicion of attacks against
Israel, an army spokeswoman said Wednesday.
March
11.03.1998 , Israeli soldiers shot and killed
three Palestinians at an army checkpoint near the
West Bank town of Hebron .
11.03.1998 , Palestinians threw stones at Israeli
soldiers and burned tires in the West Bank town of
Hebron Wednesday to protest the killing of three
Arab laborers by Israeli troops on Tuesday.
12.03.1998 , The Israeli military has release the
three soldiers arrested in connection with the
shooting deaths of three Palestinians in the West
Bank Tuesday.
12.03.1998 , Clashes flared on the West Bank
Wednesday as thousands of mourners buried three
Palestinian laborers killed by Israeli troops.
13.03.1998 , Four Palestinians were slightly
injured Friday in Jerusalem when explosives
detonated near a market stall on the Nablus Road
in the eastern part of the city.
14.03.1998 , At least seven Palestinians were
wounded in clashes Friday between Palestinians and
Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank
town of Hebron .
19.03.1998 , British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook
completed his tour of the Mideast .
20.03.1998 , Israel said Thursday the United
States had offered ideas for breaking a year-old
deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking and an
Israeli newspaper said Washington might go public
with them as early as next week.
23.03.1998 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and his cabinet ministers are in
unanimous opposition to a reported U.S. proposal
calling for Israel to withdrawal from 13 percent
of the West Bank.
27.03.1998 , Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on
Thursday rejected a U.S. proposal for Israeli
soldiers to withdraw from 13 percent of the West
Bank.
28.03.1998 , U.S. presidential envoy Dennis Ross
held four hours of talks Friday with Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a new bid to break
a deadlock on handing more West Bank land to the
Palestinians.
April
02.04.1998 , A funeral procession for the chief
Hamas bomb maker on Thursday in the West Bank
included thousands of enraged Palestinians
chanting "revenge, revenge" and shaking their
fists. Islamic militants say that Mohiyedine
Sharif, who topped Israel's most-wanted list, was
assassinated by Israel. Israel has denied
involvement and said Sharif died when a car bomb
exploded prematurely in a Hamas bomb factory.
02.04.1998 , Palestinian police said Wednesday a
suspected master bomber from the Islamic militant
group Hamas had been shot and killed and his body
dumped beside a car that blew up in the West Bank
Sunday.
03.04.1998 , Thousands of Palestinians buried a
master bomb maker from the Muslim militant group
Hamas Thursday with calls for attacks on Israel.
06.04.1998 , A Palestinian inquiry has determined
that Hamas master bomb maker Muhyideen al-Sharif
was killed in a power struggle within the militant
Muslim group . But Hamas rejected the findings as
lies and renewed promises to launch revenge
attacks against Israel.
08.04.1998 , Hundreds of Palestinians took part in
a march yesterday in Jerusalem as part of the
funeral proceedings for Bilal al-Salaymeh, a
Palestinian who was shot by Israeli police Monday.
10.04.1998 , Palestinian officials announced
Thursday they arrested Hamas leader Abdel Aziz
Rantisi after the group issued a leaflet demanding
the resignation of officials in Yasser Arafat's
Palestinian Authority.
20.04.1998 , British Prime Minister Tony Blair
said Monday the United States would invite Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat to peace talks in London
on May 4.
24.04.1998 , U.S. Middle East peace envoy Dennis
Ross expects to pin down precisely how much West
Bank land Israel will cede to Palestinians in
talks starting this weekend .
24.04.1998 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu threatened Thursday to annex parts of
the West Bank if Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat unilaterally declares an independent
Palestinian state.
29.04.1998 , Palestinian President Yasser Arafat,
backed by Jordan and Egypt, urged Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday to accept a
U.S. peacemaking initiative in key London talks
next week.
May
04.05.98 , Crucial Middle East peace talks went
into overtime Monday with U.S. Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright staying in London for a second
round of separate meetings with the Israeli and
Palestinian leaders. American and Palestinian
officials said there was no sign of a
breakthrough, but the fact that both Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat both arranged to spend
another night in London raised hopes of progress.
05.05.98 , The United States is tightening the
screws on hard-line Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu in a determined effort to revive
long-stalled Middle East peace negotiations. After
two days of indirect talks in London, Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright announced that
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat had accepted
U.S. proposals for rescuing the peace process and
challenged Israel to do the same.
06.05.98 , Talks between U.S. Sec. of State
Madeleine Albright, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat ended in London yesterday with no
progress on Mideast peace talks having been made.
08.05.98 , U.S. Middle East envoy Dennis Ross met
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on
Friday, hoping to arrange a White House summit for
Monday and break a 14-month-old Middle East peace
deadlock. Their meeting at the prime minister's
office, closed to news media, lasted little more
than an hour, Netanyahu's spokesman Shai Bazak
said.
11.05.98 , U.S. special envoy Dennis Ross returned
to Washington today after failing to persuade
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to
attend a Mid-East peace summit in the U.S. the
U.S. had set the return of control of more of the
West Bank to Palestinians as a condition for the
talks, which were to be held today.
12.05.98 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with U.S. Sec. of
State Madeleine Albright in Washington tomorrow to
continue ongoing efforts aimed at re-starting the
Mid-East peace process.
13.05.98 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu came to Washington Wednesday to lobby
against the U.S. Middle East peace plan, as
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright prepared to
try to sell it to him.
14.05.98 , U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu met yesterday in Washington to discuss
prospects for restarting the Mid-East peace
process. further meetings are planned for today.
A "million man march" held by Palestinian leaders
Thursday to mourn the creation of the state of
Israel turned into the bloodiest day of violence
on the West Bank and Gaza Strip in almost two
years. Israeli troops killed at least eight
Palestinians during the protests that marked 50
years of Palestinian exile and dispossession.
Hundreds of thousands took to the streets to vent
rage and frustration fueled by a 14-month
stalemate in the Middle East peace process.
15.05.98 , Talks between U.S. Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright and Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington yesterday ended
with no breakthrough concerning Mid-East peace
talks.
19.05.98 , Talks between U.S. Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright and Palestinian Authority
President Yasser Arafat ended yesterday in London
with no progress being made on the resumption of
the Mid-East peace process.
22.05.98 , Israeli officials yesterday rejected a
proposal for a new Mid-East peace conference from
Egypt and France.
25.05.98 , Palestinian President Yasser Arafat
called Tuesday for an Arab summit on stalled
Middle East peace efforts and said his people
would keep striving to set up their own state.
"From the house of the Arabs, I direct a call to
convene an urgent Arab summit," Arafat said at the
Cairo-based Arab League. He was speaking at a
commemoration to mark what Arabs call the Nakba
(Catastrophe) - the creation of Israel 50 years
ago and subsequent expulsion of many Arabs from
their homes. Arafat said he welcomed recent
efforts to break the deadlock.
June
01.06.98 , Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat says
his proposal to hold an Arab summit to address the
Mid-East peace process has been accepted by most
Arab states. A data for the summit has not been
announced.
02.06.98 , Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and
Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai
discussed ways to revive deadlocked Middle East
peace efforts Tuesday.
08.06.98 , Israeli ministers debated Monday
whether to allow the founder of the Muslim
militant Hamas movement, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, to
return to the Gaza Strip.
10.06.98 , An aide to Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that a public
vote on a U.S. proposal for expanded troop
withdrawals from the West Bank is being seriously
considered.
11.06.98 , The Palestine Liberation Organization
has protested to the United Nations over Israeli
archaeological and settlement activities in East
Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967
Middle East war.
15.06.98 , Israeli authorities demolished three
Palestinian homes Monday which they said were
built without permits in Arab East Jerusalem.
17.06.98 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said yesterday that Israelis and
Palestinians may never reach a final peace
agreement if the Palestinian claim to Jerusalem is
not dropped.
18.06.98 , Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
announced on Thursday a program to strengthen
Israel's hold on Jerusalem, including plans to
tighten ties between the city and nearby West Bank
Jewish settlements.
24.06.98 , Reports say Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat has accepted the resignation of his
cabinet and plans to name new ministers within two
weeks.
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the
Palestinian Hamas movement, left a military
hospital in Cairo on Wednesday for Gaza, security
sources said. "He left this afternoon by land,"
one source said.
July
02.07.98 , Palestinian President Yasser Arafat
said yesterday that Palestinians would defend
Jerusalem against Israeli plans to expand
Jerusalem's municipal boundaries. Arafat was
addressing a special session of the Palestinian
Legislative Council.
03.07.98 , Israeli soldiers and Palestinians were
locked in a tense standoff along a main road in
the Gaza Strip Thursday over rights of passage for
Palestinian vehicles, witnesses said. Palestinian
officials said Israeli forces early in the day had
closed the coastal road between the southern town
of Rafah and Gaza City to the north in violation
of interim peace deals, and Palestinians then
blocked several intersections in protest.
06.07.98 , Branding Benjamin Netanyahu a liar, the
head of Israel's main opposition party told
parliament on Monday the prime minister was
leading the country towards war with the
Palestinians.
08.07.98 , The U.N. General Assembly voted
yesterday to pass a resolution upgrading the
status of Palestinians in the international body.
changes the status of the Palestinian observer
mission to that of "non-voting member." the U.S.,
Israel, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands all
voted against the measure.
10.07.98 , Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
pressed Israelis and Palestinians Friday to
negotiate directly on Middle East peace issues and
renewed her warning that the current impasse
cannot continue indefinitely.
13.07.98 , Reports say a bomb exploded this
morning outside the Palestinian Liberation
Organization's (PLO) headquarters in mostly-Arab
East Jerusalem.
14.07.98 , Israeli and Palestinian negotiators
have reportedly agreed to resume direct peace
talks after Palestinian President Yasser Arafat
returns from China tomorrow, according to the U.S.
State Department.
An Arab-sponsored United Nations resolution that
would have condemned Israel's recently announced
plans to expand the borders of Jerusalem was
downgraded to a warning yesterday after repeated
objections to the original resolution by the U.S.
15.07.98 , Israeli leaders have denied that the
U.N. has any jurisdiction concerning the decision
to expand the boundaries of Jerusalem.
16.07.98 , Palestinian President Yasser Arafat
says China's support for the establishment of a
Palestinian state was secured during his recent
three-day trip to China.
17.07.98 , Israel said Friday it would hold its
first high level meeting with the Palestinians in
months in the hope of breaking a 16-month-long
deadlock in Middle East peacemaking.
20.07.98 , Israel and the Palestinians lowered
expectations Monday of any immediate breakthrough
after their first peace talks in months elicited
agreement only to go on negotiating.
22.07.98 , Israeli officials are reportedly
seeking to expand the scope of the current round
of peace talks with Palestinians to include issues
other than Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.
23.07.98 , Israel is trying to arrange a summit
between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, officials
from both sides said on Thursday. They said the
head of Netanyahu's parliamentary coalition, Meir
Sheetrit, raised the idea in talks with Arafat in
Gaza on Thursday.
27.07.98 , Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says
talks with Israeli officials this week will not
constitute negotiations on the handing over of
West Bank land to the Palestinians. . Erekat says
the talks will center on ways to revive stalled
Middle East peace negotiations.
30.07.98 , The Israeli parliament voted 60-6
yesterday to support a preliminary measure aimed
at forcing early elections in the Mid-East nation.
analysts say the vote was, in part, a protest over
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of
the Mid-East peace process.
August
03.08.98 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu called on Palestinians Monday to stop
threatening to cut off peace talks and to keep
negotiating over U.S. proposals to salvage Middle
East peacemaking. "I would propose to stop using
the language of ultimatums. The negotiations are
progressing with the good will of Israel, and, I
want to believe, also of the Palestinians,"
Netanyahu said. The Palestinian Authority has
called present talks a "waste of time" and warned
Sunday it would sever contacts if Israeli
negotiators failed to bring new ideas to the
latest round of talks on Monday evening.
04.08.98 , Palestinian official Hassan Asfour said
yesterday that peace talks with Israel could be
halted due to what he characterized as Israel's
refusal to present acceptable proposals for ending
a 16-month deadlock in the peace process.
05.08.98 , Gunmen shot dead two Jewish settlers in
the West Bank overnight and Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu responded Wednesday with
defiant backing for more construction on occupied
land. Tuesday night's ambush at Yitzhar settlement
near Nablus put fresh strain on faltering peace
moves between Israel and the Palestinians, with
hard-line Israeli politicians calling for a halt to
the negotiations. The two men, aged 18 and 24,
were on a security patrol at the settlement when
the gunmen opened fire on their car.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat announced a
long-awaited cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday but
stunned legislators by keeping ministers they had
wanted sacked for alleged corruption and
mismanagement. "The old ministries will remain the
same," Arafat said before naming 10 additional
ministers to an expanded cabinet amid catcalls
from members of the 88-seat Legislative Council.
Arafat accepted the resignation of his 18-seat
cabinet in June, when lawmakers agreed to hold off
a no-confidence vote to give him more time to
appoint a new team.
12.08.98 , Instability has returned to the Middle
East because of Israel's refusal to implement
peace accords and this has opened the way for the
return of war there, Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat said Wednesday. "It (Israel) has challenged
international legitimacy and its resolutions and
opened the door wide for the return of violence,
anarchy, war and destruction," Arafat told a joint
sitting of South Africa's two houses of
parliament. Arafat said Palestinians had fulfilled
their obligations, but that Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's government had turned its
back on peace deals struck in Oslo and Madrid.
17.08.98 , Authorities in Palestinian controlled
West Bank town of Jericho are reported to be
conducting a house to house search for Imad
Awadallah, a former leader of the Islamic group
Hamas, who escaped from prison on Saturday.
Awadallah was arrested in April by Palestinian
police.
21.08.98 , Israeli troops sealed off the West Bank
city of Hebron Friday while searching for a
suspected Palestinian assailant who stabbed a
Jewish settler to death and torched his home. The
army said it was barring Palestinians from
entering and leaving the volatile city following
the late-night killing of Rabbi Shlomo Raanan,
63-year-old grandson of a spiritual leader of
Israel's settler movement. Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu cut short a holiday in northern Israel,
announcing he would return to Jerusalem in the
afternoon for consultations in the face of
tensions in Hebron and in Lebanon where Hizbollah
guerrillas killed two Israelis.
24.08.98 , Palestinian President Yasser Arafat
said Monday that Israeli troop withdrawal
proposals could be "a beginning" towards
resuscitating the deadlocked 5-year-old peace
process. But Arafat, attending a commemoration of
the fifth anniversary of the Oslo peace accords,
also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu of policies in the past two years that
had fostered "despair, hate and violence." Arafat
said Israeli proposals on troop withdrawals from
the West Bank in return for Palestinian moves
against anti-Israel guerrillas would be acceptable
if they had full access to all designated area,
something Israel opposes.
25.08.98 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said Tuesday that a deal on a
long-elusive Israeli troop redeployment in the
West Bank depended on Palestinian action against
"murderers" of Jews. He spoke as one of his aides
said Israel sensed that Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat was sounding a "new tone" on
peacemaking, but that it remained to be seen if
Arafat would meet key Israeli demands to seal a
U.S.-brokered withdrawal deal. "Progress is linked
to the Palestinian fight and actions against the
kind of murderers who acted here," Netanyahu said.
27.08.98 , A bomb exploded in the heart of Tel
Aviv Thursday, injuring 21 people on a busy street
near the city's main synagogue in an attack police
said was the work of suspected Palestinian
militants. There was no immediate claim of
responsibility for the attack, the first in Tel
Aviv since a martyr bomber killed three Israeli
women in a cafe in March 1997. Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, citing the blast and the
recent killings of three Jewish settlers in the
West Bank, said he would not sign any deal to cede
more West Bank land to the Palestinian Authority
unless it fought "murderers and terror."
Sptemebr
08.09.98 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu expressed hope yesterday that a visit to
the Middle East by U.S. envoy Dennis Ross would
help achieve an agreement between Israel and
Palestinians on the partial withdrawal of Israeli
troops from the West Bank.
10.09.98 , Reports from Israel say U.S. envoy
Dennis Ross is expected to stay in Israel this
weekend in an attempt to broker a deal for handing
over more of the West Bank to Palestinians. Ross
met with Palestinian leaders yesterday and with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today.
11.09.98 , The Islamic movement Hamas vowed Friday
to send martyr bombers into Israel to avenge the
killing of two leading Hamas militants. Israel
sealed its borders with the West Bank and Gaza
Strip and put its troops on alert to guard against
attacks by the group whose bombers have killed
scores of Israelis. Israeli troops killed the two
Palestinian brothers Imad and Adel Awadallah
during a West Bank clash Thursday. Israel long had
sought both of them as leaders of the Hamas
military wing.
18.09.98 , U.S. President Bill Clinton's special
envoy extended his Middle East peace mission
Friday, saying he was making headway towards
ending a 19-month-old deadlock between Israel and
the Palestinians. While envoy Dennis Ross pursued
a land-and-security deal, Israeli soldiers firing
rubber-coated metal bullets wounded 10
Palestinians during unrest in the West Bank,
witnesses said. "We had a very good discussion and
I think we are making headway," Ross said after
meeting Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in
Gaza. It was Ross's most optimistic assessment
since he arrived in the region.
19.09.98 , Reports say a Palestinian teenager was
killed yesterday in a shooting incident involving
Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
23.09.98 , Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
planned to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu Wednesday in a fresh attempt to bring
peace negotiations with the Palestinians to
closure. Officials said U.S. mediator Dennis Ross
had made "modest" progress on a mission to the
Middle East last week. This has raised hopes that
protracted negotiations on a deal giving
Palestinians control over 13% more West Bank land
could be wrapped up in the next five or six days
when Netanyahu and Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat are in New York for the opening of the U.N.
General Assembly.
President Yasser Arafat has rejected the
resignation of top Palestinian peace negotiator
Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official said
Wednesday. Erekat, who has steered Palestinian
negotiations on a further Israeli withdrawal from
the West Bank, asked to be relieved of his post as
chief negotiator over differences with other
officials on the handling of talks. Hassan Asfour,
another negotiator and a minister of state in
Arafat's cabinet, said he had attended a meeting
between Arafat and Erekat in Gaza Tuesday at which
the Palestinian leader turned down Erekat's
resignation.
25.09.98 , Reports say both Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat will travel to Washington next week
for Mid-East peace-related talks with President
Clinton.
28.09.98 , Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
addresses the U.N. General Assembly Monday as he
and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
appear close to agreement on key points in the
long-stalled Middle East peace process. His speech
is considered crucial following requests from U.S.
officials that he not repeat his pledge to declare
unilaterally a Palestinian state on May 4. That is
the date when the 1993 Oslo peace accords that
provide the framework for a Middle East agreement
expire. Such a declaration in the United Nations,
which would make it official, would enrage Israel
and Netanyahu has warned it could scuttle the
peace talks.
29.09.98 , President Clinton met with Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat Tuesday in a bid to narrow
differences to reach accord on a controversial new
round of Israeli troop withdrawals from the West
Bank. Clinton met jointly with Arafat and Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday and
invited them to return in about two weeks for a
summit designed to nail down the timetable for the
troop pullout. White House Press Secretary Mike
McCurry said Clinton was prepared to become
directly involved in the mid-October summit with
Arafat and Netanyahu.
Security forces clashed with Arab protesters in
northern Israel Tuesday during a general strike
against land confiscation and alleged police
brutality. Witnesses said paramilitary police
fired rubber-coated bullets and tear gas at
hundreds of stone-throwers in Umm al-Fahm and
Nazareth, the two biggest Arab towns in Israel. In
Umm al-Fahm, the scene of unrest since Sunday,
President Ezer Weizman met local officials to try
to calm tension before the start on Tuesday
evening of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the
Jewish calendar.
30.09.98 , Eleven Palestinians and nine Israeli
soldiers were wounded Wednesday in explosions and
shooting in the divided West Bank city of Hebron,
witnesses and security officials said. The Israeli
army announced it had imposed a curfew on the
center of the city and said the incident began
with a grenade attack on one of its patrols by a
Palestinian assailant. Palestinian residents of
Hebron, a frequent flashpoint, blamed Jewish
settlers for the violence, which flared in the
heart of the city close to one of their enclaves.
Details were unclear.
October
01.10.98 , Israeli soldiers fired rubber-coated
bullets to disperse around 200 Palestinian
demonstrators who lobbed rocks and petrol bombs in
the volatile West Bank town of Hebron Thursday,
witnesses said. They said at least six protesters
were wounded before the troops and Palestinian
police pushed demonstrators back into
Palestinian-controlled areas of the city. It was
the second day of violence in Hebron since a
Palestinian threw two hand grenades at a patrol in
the Israeli-controlled part of the city close to a
Jewish settler enclave on Wednesday. At least 11
Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers and border
police were wounded in the grenade attack and
subsequent shooting.
07.10.98 , Israeli and Palestinian leaders met
with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
yesterday in Gaza to discuss the upcoming Mid-East
summit in Washington. the summit is scheduled for
later this month.
09.10.98 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has named Ariel Sharon as the nation's
new foreign minister.
15.10.98 , A four-day summit begins today in the
U.S. at which Palestinian President Yasser Arafat
said he was optimistic and Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu will work with U.S. President
Bill Clinton toward reaching a Mid-East peace
deal.
21.10.98 , Jordan's King Hussein joined U.S.
President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat in ongoing Mid-East peace talks in the U.S.
yesterday. the summit will continue for its
seventh day today.
26.10.98 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
signed at peace-for-land agreement Friday at the
conclusion of negotiations in the U.S. the
agreement calls for Israel to relinquish control
of portions of the West Bank in return for active
measures to be taken by Palestinians against
terrorism.
November
03.11.98 , The Israeli cabinet has postponed its
ratification of the recent Mid-East peace deal
pending assurances that 30 suspected Palestinian
are jailed for allegedly killing Israeli citizens.
04.11.98 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has delayed consideration of the recent
Mid-East peace deal by his cabinet, saying he has
not received sufficient assurance from
Palestinians on security issues.
06.11.98 , Two men were killed and 21 others
injured in an apparent car bombing near a
Jerusalem street market this morning. the two men
killed were the bombers themselves, according to
reports. Israeli authorities say they are
attempting to confirm an anonymous claim of
responsibility for the attack in the name of the
Islamic group Hamas. the Israeli cabinet has
suspended consideration of the recent Mid-East
peace agreement pending investigations into the
bombing, which has been condemned by Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat.
12.11.98 , Israel's cabinet yesterday approved the
recently-reached Mid-East peace agreement with
Palestinians. the approval included provisions
against implementation in the event of a
declaration of an independent Palestinian state
and the requirement that a clause in the
Palestinian charter advocating the destruction of
Israel be removed.
18.11.98 , The Israeli Parliament voted 75-19,
with nine abstentions, yesterday to ratify the
recently-reached Mid-East peace deal with
Palestinians.
19.11.98 , Israel's cabinet has voted to approve a
first round of troop withdrawals from the West
Bank, as called for in the recently-reached
Mid-East peace agreement. the U.S. will reportedly
pay Israel $1.2 billion to cover the costs of the
withdrawal.
20.11.98 , Israel this morning handed over control
of 195 square miles of land in the West Bank to
Palestinian control and released 250 Palestinian
prisoners. the moves were called for in the
recently-reached Mid-East peace agreement.
24.11.98 , With a broad grin, Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat inaugurated Gaza
International Airport Tuesday, hailed by
Palestinians as a commercial lifeline and a symbol
of the sovereignty they seek. Egyptian, Moroccan,
Jordanian and Spanish airliners landed at the $250
million airport, the first on Palestinian-ruled
soil. "God willing, airplanes will fly from this
airport carrying pilgrims to Jerusalem," Arafat
said at the airport near Rafah, on the Egyptian
border. Palestinian police and civilians danced
reels of joy to the music of a brass band as the
planes landed on the 3,380-yard runway, long
enough to land a jumbo jet.
December
03.12.98 , Israel has asked that President Clinton
not land at the newly opened Palestinian airport,
saying this would boost Palestinian claims to
independence, a senior Israeli official said
Thursday. The Clinton administration is
considering the request, said a U.S. official who
spoke on condition of anonymity. Clinton is to
arrive in Israel on Dec. 12 and is to fly to the
Gaza Strip on Dec. 14 to usher in the second stage
of the Wye River land-for-peace agreement he
helped negotiate. A possible Clinton landing at
Gaza International, which opened last week as part
of the agreement, had been considered by the White
House.
04.12.98 , Israel has suspended its troop
withdrawal from the West Bank following an attack
by Palestinians on two Israelis.
09.12.98 , Palestinians held a general stroke
yesterday throughout the West Bank to mark the
11th anniversary of the Palestinian uprising
against Israeli occupation.
10.12.98 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu yesterday announced an Israeli crackdown
on Palestinian unrest in preparation for U.S.
President Bill Clinton's upcoming trip to the
Mid-East.
14.12.98 , In a historic day stirring Palestinian
passions for statehood, President Clinton stood
witness Monday as hundreds of Palestinian leaders
renounced a call for the destruction of Israel.
Clinton urged "legitimate rights for Palestinians,
real security for Israel." The Palestinian vote -
registered with a show of hands and applause -
removed a contentious issue dating back to 1964
from the crisis-shrouded Mideast peace process.
The action appeared to have cleared the way for a
three-way meeting among Clinton, Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu. At stake was the revival of
the Wye River land-for-security accord, nearing
collapse with Israelis and the Palestinians
accusing each other of violating the deal .
15.12.98 , President Clinton failed Tuesday to
persuade Israel to resume the West Bank troop
withdrawals called for under the Wye River peace
accord, but he held out hope the pull back would
take place soon. "We will have fits and starts but
we will get through this just fine," he said.
Speaking to American reporters after a 90-minute
meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at
this border outpost, Clinton called his three-day
Mideast trip a success. In remarks to reporters
later, Sandy Berger, the president's national
security adviser, qualified Clinton's remark about
the peace process being back on track. "It's a
bumpy track," he said with a smile .
21.12.98 , The Israeli cabinet voted yesterday to
suspend implementation of Israeli troop
withdrawals from the West Bank as called for in
the Wye River land-for-security deal. Palestinian
non-compliance with provisions of the accord was
cited as the reason for the suspension. the
Israeli parliament is scheduled to vote today on
the suspension.
22.12.98 , The Israeli parliament yesterday
approved the first reading of a bill calling for
early general elections. the vote followed the
passing of a resolution of non-support for Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's peace policies.
29.12.98 , The Israeli parliament's Constitution
and Law Committee today passed a resolution
calling for national elections to be held May 17,
1999
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