January

04.01.99 , Israeli officials say two Israeli women were shot and wounded this morning in the West Bank town of Hebron by Palestinian gunmen.

05.01.99 , The Israeli parliament yesterday granted final approval to plans for early general elections to be held May 17.

06.01.99 , Former Israeli army chief Amnon Lipkin-Shahak this morning declared his candidacy for the office of prime minister in the nation's upcoming general elections.

A Palestinian carrying what turned out to be a toy pistol near a Jewish enclave in Hebron was shot Wednesday by Israel soldiers and died several hours later, the army said. Hebron, home to 130,000 Palestinians and 450 Jewish settlers, is one of the tensest spots in the West Bank. The new violence in Hebron comes at a time when the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is on hold. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the Palestinians of violating the Wye River peace agreement and has said he would not hand over more West Bank land, as required by the accord, until the Palestinians meet their obligations.

11.01.99 , Israeli military officials say they intend to end a week-old curfew in the Palestinian controlled part of the city of Hebron.

12.01.99 , A Palestinian was seriously wounded in a knife attack in Jerusalem Tuesday, an assault police said may be linked to eight other stabbings blamed on a Jewish extremist. The 50-year-old victim was found during morning rush hour in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Mea Shearim. He was taken into surgery at Hadassah Hospital, said police spokeswoman Sigal Toledo. Toledo said a bloody knife was found in the area at about 6 a.m., but despite a search of the area, the victim was not found until a passer-by came upon him 90 minutes later. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jerusalem Police Chief Yair Yitzhaki said the attack may be linked to the stabbings of eight other Palestinians in Mea Shearim since November 1997.

14.01.99 , Israeli army officials say an Israeli border guard was killed and a Palestinian seriously wounded yesterday in attacks near the West Bank town of Hebron.

25.01.99 , Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai will reportedly leave his position today after being fired for planning a move to an opposition political party. Reports from Israel say three other former officials of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party will join Mordechai in forming a new centrist opposition party: former army chief Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, former finance minister Dan Meridor and former Tel Aviv Mayor Roni Milo.

26.01.99 , Israel razed an Arab-owned home in Jerusalem Tuesday, and helmeted troops protecting the demolition equipment fired rubber bullets at Palestinian protesters who hurled stones toward the house. Four Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets, including one who was in serious condition. A fifth was treated for bruises after being clubbed by Israeli troops. One of the injured, Zaki Obeid, fell to the ground bleeding profusely after being struck in the face by a rubber bullet. He lay motionless for a few moments before being carried away to the cries of "Allah u Akbar!" or "God is great."

27.01.99 , One day after winning his party's nomination for prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has put together a team he hopes will help him win re-election. It wasn't easy. As he watched his opponents gain supporters, Netanyahu mostly counted deserters. His former defense minister, Yitzhak Mordechai, has joined forces to lead a new centrist party with a charismatic general, a popular former Tel Aviv mayor and a finance minister who quit Netanyahu's government. Under the slogan "One Nation," Ehud Barak, the leader of the opposition Labor party, is gaining support from smaller parties. At a news conference, Netanyahu introduced his partners, right-wing Likud veteran Moshe Arens, who was to replace Mordechai as defense minister, and hawkish Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon.

28.01.99 , A Palestinian man died Thursday from wounds suffered when Israeli troops shot him in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet, a hospital spokeswoman said. Zaki Obeid was critically injured Tuesday during a clash between Israeli riot police and Palestinians protesting the demolition of an Arab home in east Jerusalem. Obeid died Thursday afternoon from the bullet that lodged in the rear of his brain, Hadassa hospital spokeswoman Yael Bosom said.

February

01.02.99 , The deadline for an Israeli-Palestinian land-for-security deal passed yesterday with key provisions of last year's Wye River accord not yet implemented. Among measured not yet implemented: the release of 750 Palestinian prisoners, the opening of a route between the West Bank and Gaza, and Israeli withdrawal of troops from 14% of the West Bank.

03.02.99 , Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat is scheduled to meet today and tomorrow with U.S. Secretary of State and President Bill Clinton in Washington.

08.02.99 , King Hussein's funeral brought together sworn enemies Monday, including a PLO guerrilla leader who approached Israel's president, praised him as a man of peace, and shook his hand. The scene involving Nayef Hawatmeh and Ezer Weizman was witnessed by Weizman's adviser, Arieh Shumer, who said it was a random encounter. Weizman took Hawatmeh's outstretched hand and told him the time had come to make peace with Syria and Lebanon.

10.02.99 , Israel rejected a U.N. General Assembly call for an international conference on Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank, charging Wednesday that it violates peace accords with the Palestinians. By a vote of 115-2 with five abstentions, the General Assembly Tuesday called for a conference of the signatories of the 1949 Geneva Conventions to consider measures to stop Israeli settlement activity.

12.02.99 , In a surprise move, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat Friday revived an idea for forging a confederation between Jordan and a future Palestinian state. Arafat's proposal won a cool reception in Jordan, where an official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said any decision on a confederation must wait until the West Bank and Gaza Strip are under full Palestinian control.

19.02.99 , Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met with Pope John Paul II Friday and renewed his invitation for the pontiff to visit Bethlehem in the year 2000.

March

11.03.99 , Palestinian riot police fired in the air Thursday in Gaza to disperse stone-throwing youths protesting the killing of two people in riots the day before. The two youths died in protests sparked Wednesday when a Palestinian military court sentenced a security agent to death for his role in a shootout that killed another agent.

15.03.99 , Campaigning among Jewish settlers Monday, Benjamin Netanyahu promised to turn this isolated West Bank community into a high-tech center and expand settlements throughout the area.

16.03.99 , Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday that Israel regarded as "null and void" a 1947 United Nations resolution calling for the internationalization of Jerusalem.

18.03.99 , Foreign diplomats and Palestinian officials met at the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Arab East Jerusalem yesterday, despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's stated intention to put an end to such meetings in that location.

22.03.99 , Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Washington to discuss the possibility that Palestinians will declare an independent state on May 4.

25.03.99 , Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has asked the United States to submit a formal proposal for postponing a Palestinian declaration of statehood and setting a new deadline for a final peace agreement with Israel, a senior PLO official said.

29.03.99 , Stepping up the battle over Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered three Palestinian Authority offices closed in the disputed city Monday, including that of the official Palestinian news agency.

30.03.99 , Dozens of Palestinian youths protesting Israeli land confiscation hurled stones at Israeli troops Tuesday, who responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. One demonstrator was hurt.

April

04.04.99 , Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Washington on Friday. Talks will center on the stalled Mid-East peace process.

05.04.99 , Israeli police served closure orders against three Palestinian offices in Jerusalem yesterday, saying that, under interim peace agreements, the Palestinian Authority has no right to conduct operations in the city. Palestinian officials characterized the move as a pre-election "stunt" by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

08.04.99 , Japan's prime minister urged Yasser Arafat not to declare Palestinian statehood before restarting talks with Israel, a government official said. Japan has been pushing Arafat not to jeopardize the Middle East peace process with such a declaration May 4.

13.04.99 , The Palestinian leadership will decide April 27 whether to declare a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip a week later or heed the world's advice and wait . The final decision will be up to the Palestinian Central Council, a 124-member PLO body stacked with loyalists of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

16.04.99 , Israeli officials have confirmed the capture of the village of Arnoun in southern Lebanon by Israeli forces.

19.04.99 , Palestinian Cabinet secretary-general Ahmad Abdul-Rahman said that Palestinians want written assurance that the U.S. will back Palestinian statehood in exchange for a delay in the declaration of such a state.

23.04.99 , Israel's decision to close Palestinian headquarters in Jerusalem smacks of electioneering and could provoke a violent response . Israeli security chiefs met to consider deploying more police in the contested city. The Palestinian compound, known as the Orient House, is a small, century-old hotel that was already serving as Palestinian political headquarters before Israel and the Palestinians started signing peace agreements in 1993. The government moved to shut down the Orient House Thursday, after Faisal Husseini, the top Palestinian official in Jerusalem, invited European consuls to the offices.

28.04.99 , Palestinian Liberation Organization Central Council leaders agreed to postpone a declaration of an independent Palestinian state until at least after Israel's upcoming general election.

May

05.05.99 , The Israeli-Palestinian Oslo peace accords expired yesterday without the declaration of a Palestinian state.

10.05.99 , Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered three offices in the PLO's Jerusalem headquarters closed , setting up a showdown with the Palestinians just a week before Israeli elections. Palestinian leaders and Israeli security officials warned that police action against the headquarters, known as the Orient House, could trigger Palestinian riots.

11.05.99 , Israel say that nation's High Court has ordered the government to delay the closing of the PLO's offices in Jerusalem for one week.

18.05.99 , Winning a crushing victory over hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak promised Tuesday to forge a secure peace with the Palestinians, pull troops out of Lebanon in a year and heal the deep divisions among Israelis. After three years at Israel's helm, a tearful Netanyahu gracefully conceded defeat and said he would step down as leader of his Likud party. In an emotional speech, Barak, Israel's most decorated soldier, promised tens of thousands of supporters that he would continue the path of peace forged by former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He spoke in Rabin Square - the plaza in Tel Aviv where Rabin was gunned down in 1995.

20.05.99 , Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak said yesterday that he intends to head the nation's defense ministry himself. Barak said the move is intended to allow himself greater control over both political and security facets of future Israeli-Palestinian peace initiatives.

27.05.99 , In the first violent confrontation since the Israeli election, club-wielding Israeli police charged into a crowd of Palestinian protesters to keep them away from a Jewish neighborhood under construction in disputed east Jerusalem. Police, some on horseback, pushed and shoved protesters and beat a bodyguard for Faisal Husseini, the top PLO official in Jerusalem. Husseini also was slightly injured in the scuffle.

28.05.99 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that he would give up his seat in Israel's parliament and leave politics.

June

01.06.99 , The Israeli-supported South Lebanon Army withdrew from outlying areas in the Jezzine region of southern Lebanon this morning.

04.06.99 , Thousands of Palestinians are reported to have taken part in protests against the expansion of Jewish settlements. At least 18 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers were injured in protest-related clashes in the West Bank and Gaza.

14.06.99 , Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the government to bring thousands of Jews left behind in Ethiopia to Israel quickly. Some 2,500-3,500 Jews in the Quara region of Ethiopia were left behind when some 21,500 others came to Israel years ago, and have been trying to reach the Jewish state ever since.

22.06.1999, The Palestinian Liberation Organization has reportedly postponed a meeting of its central committee to discuss the declaration of a Palestinian state until after the formation of a new Israeli government

26.06.1999 , Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat met yesterday to discuss Mid-East peace efforts.

06.07.1999, Ehud Barak took office as Israel's new prime minister. Barak announced that he would be meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Sunday in a bid to revive the Mid-East peace process.

July

11.07.1999 , Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met to discuss the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. This was the first Israeli-Palestinian summit in seven months.

14.07.1999, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak suggested that the U.S. should scale back its role as "policeman and judge" in the Mid-East peace process. Barak, who is on his premier visit to the U.S., said it is up to those parties involved to push the peace process forward.

18.07.1999, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said that he expects to determine within 15 months if Israel can achieve a major breakthrough in Mid-East peace negotiations.

20.07.1999, Reports say Palestinian President Yasser Arafat could meet as early as this month with leaders of two Syria-based PLO groups long opposed to his peace deals with Israel. This would involve meetings with the leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

29.07.1999, Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, general secretary of the cabinet of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, said that areas under Palestinian control could "explode" if Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak fails to fully implement the Wye River land-for-security accord.

August

01.08.1999, A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak indicated that withdrawals of Israeli troops from the occupied West Bank would begin on October 1 .

06.08.1999 , Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has appointed Israel's first Arab deputy foreign minister. Nawaf Massalha is expected to play key roles in future peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

09.08.1999 , Palestinian President Yasser Arafat yesterday agreed to an Israeli proposal to begin implementing the Wye River land-for-security deal in September. Some aspects of implementation, however, are still under discussion, such as the timetable for turning over control of the West Bank to Palestinians.

09.08.1999, At least six Israeli soldiers were injured when a Palestinian man drove his car into a group of soldiers at an intersection between Jerusalem and Gaza.

15.08.1999, Reports say Palestinians and Israelis failed to reach an agreement concerning implementation of the Wye River land-for-security peace deal following six hours of negotiations .

25.08.1999, Palestinian authorities said that they had reached a compromise with Israeli negotiators over the timetable for the final withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank. Negotiations concerning the release of at least 500 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails are still ongoing.

30.08.1999, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are continuing work today to resolve issues which have prevented the full implementation of last year's Wye peace accord.

September

01.09.1999 , Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President are scheduled to fly to Egypt tomorrow where they will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to discuss the ongoing Middle East peace process.

03.09.1999, Palestinian officials say an agreement has been reached with Israel concerning the release of Palestinian prisoners. Such release was a major point of contention in negotiations concerning the implementation of the Wye River peace accord.

07.09.1999 , The latest version of the Wye River land-for-security Mid-East peace agreement, signed by Palestinian and Israeli leaders, calls for continued negotiations to begin next Monday and end by September 12, 2000.

09.09.1999 , Israel began the process of freeing Palestinian prisoners this morning as part of the recently renewed Mid-East peace process. 199 prisoners were released today.

10.09.1999, Israel transferred administrative control of 7% of the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority this morning. The move came after Palestinian President Yasser Arafat approved the designation of areas to come under Palestinian civil administration.

13.09.1999 , Israeli and Palestinian negotiators formally launched talks on a final peace settlement that is expected to be achieved within one year.

21.09.1999, Reports say Palestinian President Yasser Arafat met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak this morning to discuss the latest Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

22.09.1999, Reports say Jordanian security officials detained three leaders of the militant Palestinian group Hamas this morning. Khaled Meshal, Musa Abu Marzook, and Ibrahim Ghosheh were taken into custody when they arrived at Amman's international airport.

October

05.10.1999 , Israel and the Palestinians agreed Tuesday to establish the first open land link between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip - seen by Palestinians as a vital step toward eventual statehood. Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat approved the deal, which would allow Palestinians for the first time to move relatively freely between the areas, traveling on a fixed set of highways across the breadth of Israel. The so-called "safe passage" route will provide Arafat with one of the key underpinnings of the state he has long sought, and is the most significant achievement of the newly revived peace process.

11.10.1999 , The Israeli cabinet gave Prime Minister Ehud Barak the power yesterday to close unauthorized Jewish outposts in the West Bank . In the other hand, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak yesterday approved the building of 2,600 new apartments in West Bank settlements. - Barak said, however, that unauthorized Jewish settlers will not be allowed to remain in the territory.

15.10.1999 , Israel freed 151 Arab security prisoners Friday, moving its peace agreement with the Palestinians back on track after minor delays. Cheering relatives greeted convoys of buses at drop-off points in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Prisoners leaned out of windows, flashing victory signs, their hands still tied with plastic cuffs. "Mother, he's out," a teen-age boy shouted into a cellular phone when he saw his brother on one of the buses. Prisoner releases are an emotional issue . Palestinians consider the inmates heroes in the struggle for independence.

25.10.1999 , Israel opened a 27-mile safe passage route along existing roads this morning that connects the Palestinian areas of West Bank and Gaza.

26.10.1999 , Israel tore down the home of three Palestinian families in east Jerusalem on Monday despite a promise to slow the pace of such demolitions. Israel's police minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, opposes demolishing Palestinian homes built without permits and has been re-examining the practice. Since moderate Prime Minister Ehud Barak took office July 6, only four homes have been razed. The owner of the house destroyed Monday, Fouwad Khader, said he had been warned by police that his home would be demolished and obtained a court order in an effort to block the action.

November

01.11.1999 , President Clinton said Monday he hopes to inject "renewed energy" into the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and encouraged both sides to move quickly toward agreement on a final treaty within 10 months. "This is the hard part, the really hard part, and we all need to support them," Clinton told reporters during a question-and-answer session with Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik.

04.11.1999 , Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and U.S. President Bill Clinton ended two days of peace talks in Oslo, Norway.

08.11.1999 , Israeli and Palestinian negotiators began negotiations on a final peace treaty today in the West Bank town of Ramallah. - two hours of talks were held this morning despite a bomb attack that wounded at least 30 people in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya yesterday.

10.11.1999 , Prime Minister Ehud Barak's Cabinet Wednesday approved a troop withdrawal from 5% of the West Bank, hours after Israeli troops dragged hundreds of Jewish settlers, some kicking and others hurling red paint, out of a key encampment. The confrontation at Havat Maon was one of the most dramatic between settlers and the government since 1982, when Israel leveled the Yamit settlement in the Sinai Peninsula as part of its peace treaty with Egypt. The eviction was followed by the Cabinet's 17-1 vote to approve next week's Israeli troop withdrawal.

15.11.1999 , Reports say Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have failed to finalize a plan for the turnover of an additional 5% of the West Bank to Palestinian control. - the exchange was to have been made this morning.

15.11.1999 , The 11th Palestinian independence day had all the right ingredients - cheering crowds, boy scouts and military parades. But for many Palestinians, Monday's celebration was a painful reminder of what they are missing - a state of their own. The mood was also dampened by the delay of an Israeli troop pull back from 5% of the West Bank, originally scheduled for Monday. The two sides disagreed over the pull back, with the Palestinians saying the areas Israel offered to hand over were too sparsely populated and failed to connect the isolated enclaves already under Palestinian control.

17.11.1999 , Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and U.S. President Bill Clinton are expected to discuss the stalled hand over of West Bank territory to Palestinian control when they meet today in Istanbul, Turkey.

23.11.1999 , Reports say about 15 Jewish settlers occupied a new site in the West Bank this morning in protest against Israeli policies that are removing such settlements. - the settlement is near the Palestinian-controlled town of Bethlehem.

December

01.12.1999 , Israel's proposals for surrendering West Bank land to Palestinian control topped the agenda of Wednesday's talks between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Speaking to reporters before leaving Cairo to return to Gaza, Arafat said discussions focused on the current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and Palestinian objections to the maps of a proposed Israeli troop withdrawal from 5% of the West Bank and Jewish settlements in the territory. The withdrawal was scheduled to take place Nov. 15 under the Israeli-Palestinian accord signed in September after U.S. mediation. But the Palestinians rejected Israel's proposed redeployments, saying they vacated areas that were too thinly populated and not contiguous.

02.12.1999 , Palestinian lawmaker Mouawiyah al-Masri, who was wounded by a gunman yesterday, suggested today that he was shot because he signed a leaflet accusing Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat of encouraging corruption.

15.12.1999 , Peace talks between Israel and Syria resume today in Washington, DC, following a four-year break. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara will meet with U.S. President Bill Clinton this morning.

29.12.1999 , After several weeks of delay, Israel Wednesday released 26 Palestinian security prisoners as part of the latest interim peace accord with the Palestinians. Buses carrying the 26 inmates left two prisons in the southern Negev Desert and the coastal city of Ashkelon Wednesday afternoon. The releases had been held up for several hours by a Supreme Court appeal filed by relatives of Israelis killed in attacks. In the end, the justices refused to stop the releases. The release is the third and final one under an interim peace accord signed in September. In the two earlier releases, 350 Palestinians convicted of anti-Israel offenses were set free. The Palestinians complained that many of those freed Wednesday have only a few months left to serve. They had demanded that a much larger number of prisoners be released, including those sentenced to long terms .