Jaunary
04.01.2000 , Palestinian officials say they have
reached an agreement with Israel under which a
long-delayed transfer of Israeli-occupied West
Bank land to Palestinian control will be
implemented in the next 48 hours , according to
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
14.01.2000 , Israeli Attorney General Elyakim
Rubinstein is reportedly conducting an assessment
of possible charges against Israeli President Ezer
Weizman. Weizman is suspected of accepting
hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts between
1988 and 1993 without reporting the gifts to
authorities.
20.01.2000 , Palestinian President Yasser Arafat
arrived in Washington this morning for a meeting
with U.S. President Bill Clinton.
27.01.2000 , In the first taint of scandal to
touch his government, Prime Minister Ehud Barak's
party was fined $3.2 million for campaign finance
violations, and the attorney general said it was
opening a criminal investigation. Barak said he
hadn't known of any illegal practices, and
asserted that the campaign-finance law was
unclear. After the state comptroller, Eliezer
Goldberg, imposed the fine, the office of Attorney
General Elyakim Rubinstein said "there are grounds
to instruct the police to open an investigation"
of the matter. The probe will include past
campaign-finance practices by other parties as
well, the Justice Ministry said. Barak said that
he "honored" the comptroller's report, but said
"in light of the large fine" the party was
considering appealing to the Supreme Court.
February
02.02.2000 - In the latest round of peace talks,
the Palestinians have flatly rejected an Israeli
map that would keep large chunks of the West Bank
under Israeli control. Tayyeb Abdel Rahim
confirmed for the first time that Israel submitted
a map delineating proposed future borders.
Israel's plan would annex swaths of land on the
eastern and western fringes of the West Bank, as
well as settlement blocs, Abdel Rahim said. Israel
and the Palestinians are less than two weeks away
from a deadline for agreeing on a peace treaty
outline, but little progress has been made in
three months of negotiations.
03.02.2000 - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat held talks
this morning concerning a framework
Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
07.02.2000 - Israeli warplanes attacked three
power stations and a Hezbollah guerrilla
stronghold in Lebanon. The move was in response to
the recent killing of four Israeli army officers .
09.02.2000 - An Israeli government report
published acknowledged what Palestinians and human
rights groups have said for years - that Israel
systematically used illegal force against
Palestinian suspects during the Intifada. The
State Comptroller's report, written in 1997 but
withheld by the government until now, said Shin
Bet security agents who interrogated suspects also
systematically lied about their actions to their
superiors and to the courts. The report covers the
years 1988-92, when the Intifada, or Palestinian
uprising against Israel, was at its height.
Unprecedented numbers of Palestinians were being
arrested and interrogated.
21.02.2000 - Palestinian officials urged U.S.
envoy Dennis Ross to apply pressure on Israel to
restart the stalled Mid-East peace process.
March
21.03.2000 - Kissing Palestinian earth and warmly
welcomed by Yasser Arafat, Pope John Paul II made
a prayerful pilgrimage to the town of Jesus' birth
that also provided a powerful boost to Palestinian
statehood hopes. In a momentous day marred by rock
throwing after he left a Palestinian refugee camp,
the 79-year-old pope celebrated an open-air mass
before a crowd of thousands in Bethlehem's Manger
Square and sank to his knees in prayer in the dim
grotto where Christian tradition says Christ was
born. Amid tight security, the atmosphere was
peaceful at all the pope's appearances. But in a
graphic display of frustration and volatility in
the Palestinian lands, several hundred youths at
the Dheisheh camp - apparently angry over
heavy-handed treatment by Palestinian security
forces - engaged in a rock-throwing clash with
police just over an hour after the pope had
finished his visit there.
24.03.2000 - Israel and the Palestinian Authority
are extending their inconclusive talks into next
week, still "brainstorming" over the future of
Jerusalem, Palestinian aspirations for a state and
other knotty issues. "It's too early to know if
this will lead to anything," Hassan Abdel Rahman,
the chief PLO representative in Washington, said.
An Israeli official, meanwhile, said the
"chemistry" was good at the screened-off talks at
Bolling Air Force Base in southeast Washington.
After Friday's meetings the Israelis and
Palestinians scheduled a break for the Jewish
Sabbath, beginning at sundown, and plan to resume
Saturday night. Rahman said they would meet next
week, as well. When the negotiations opened
Tuesday, about a week of talks was anticipated.
30.03.2000 - Palestinians staged marches in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip - and in some cases
clashed with Israeli troops - to protest the
confiscation of Arab-owned land and Jewish
settlement expansion. At least 15 demonstrators
were injured. The most serious clash was in the
Israeli Arab town of Sakhnin, where police said
about 400 demonstrators broke through a fence
surrounding an Israeli army base. Police fired
rubber-coated steel bullets at the demonstrators,
wounding 15. The director of the Sakhnin medical
center said 12 were lightly wounded, two suffered
head wounds and another had a broken leg. Hundreds
of protesters stoned Israeli soldiers in two
locations outside the West Bank town of Nablus
where troops fired tear gas and rubber-coated
steel bullets.
April
07.04.2000 - Israeli and Palestinian negotiators
began a new round of talks against a backdrop of
an Egyptian warning that Israel must agree to a
Palestinian state in order to have real peace.
Negotiators convened at Bolling Air Force base in
southeast Washington, with American mediators
ready to intervene later in the day to push for an
agreement that has eluded the two sides. The
negotiators also met for dinner Thursday evening
at the base, which is screened off from the public
and news media. Despite a 1979 peace treaty, Egypt
told Israel on Thursday it could not expect a warm
peace unless it consented to a Palestinian state
and "dealt with Jerusalem." Egyptian Ambassador
Nabil Fahmy said Israelis "do not understand the
frustration Arabs feel that there is still
occupation."
12.04.2000 - In a concession to the Palestinians,
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak accepted
President Clinton's proposal to increase U.S.
involvement ahead of a May deadline for a peace
treaty outline, a senior Israeli official said.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat complained this
week that the most recent round of U.S.-sponsored
talks has not come up with anything concrete.
Arafat is demanding Israel agree to a Palestinian
state on the West Bank and in Gaza with part of
Jerusalem as its capital. A failure to meet a
Sept. 13 deadline for a full-fledged peace
agreement could precipitate a complete breakdown
in negotiations and a return to violence.
26.04.2000 - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said
during a visit to France that he expected European
leaders, notably French President Jacques Chirac,
to help advance the Middle East peace process.
"His excellency President Chirac is working with
all his capabilities to push forward the peace
process," Arafat said in Paris. The Palestinian
leader was meeting with Chirac and Prime Minister
Lionel Jospin later Wednesday. Arafat was visiting
France ahead of negotiations between Israel and
the Palestinians, which are due to resume on
Sunday at Eilat, an Israeli resort city on the Red
Sea.
May
01.05.2000 - A Palestinian state is already a
fact, and an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty will
simply define its limitations, an Israeli Cabinet
minister said. Haim Ramon's comments sounded a
conciliatory note a day after talks got off to a
sour start over Jewish settlement expansion in the
West Bank. However, Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat said he would declare statehood sometime
after Sept. 13, the peace treaty deadline,
regardless of whether he had reached agreement
with Israel by then on the terms of independence.
In the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat,
negotiators met for a second day to try to
formulate a framework for a final peace treaty.
Such a framework is due by the end of the month.
04.05.2000 - Israel presented a map of a proposed
Palestinian entity covering about two-thirds of
the West Bank to Palestinian negotiators, who
refused to consider it and broke off the session .
It was the first time Israeli negotiators outlined
in detail how they envision the future borders of
what they have said would likely be a Palestinian
state. Palestinian officials, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said the entity proposed
by the Israelis on Wednesday covered about
two-thirds of the West Bank and was divided into
several large parcels of land that were not
contiguous. The Palestinians want to establish a
state in all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with
east Jerusalem as its capital.
08.05.2000 - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat failed to bridge
"very large gaps," making it unlikely a peace
treaty outline will be ready by next week's target
date, summit participants said . Barak, meanwhile,
confirmed for the first time that he wants to hand
three West Bank suburbs of Jerusalem to full
Palestinian control, but said he may not be able
to go through with the plan for weeks or even
months because of strong opposition - including
from members of his own coalition. The
Palestinians have been angered by Israel's
proposal to annex one-third of the West Bank.
Barak said the final borders must be drawn in such
a way that the absolute majority of the 200,000
Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
will come under Israeli sovereignty.
12.05.2000 - Palestinians demonstrated throughout
the West Bank Friday to demand the release of
Israeli-held prisoners, as Israeli radio stations
reported secret meetings between Israel and the
Palestinians in Europe. A few Palestinians were
injured in Bethlehem from inhaling tear gas shot
by Israeli soldiers, Israel's army radio reported.
There were also clashes in Ramallah and Qalqilya.
About 400 Jewish settlers also protested Friday in
the West Bank, demanding that the Israeli army
move a checkpoint that they say causes security
problems. No disturbances were reported, according
to the army spokesman.
15.05.2000 - In some of the worst violence in
years, Israeli troops and Palestinian police
fought fierce gun battles , and at least three
Palestinians were killed and more than 320 injured
as protests swept the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak told parliament
he knew of at least four Palestinians killed, but
Palestinian hospital officials could not confirm
that. In one tense standoff, Israeli snipers
commandeered a West Bank hotel, forcing dozens of
guests and staff, including nine Americans, to
seek cover in the lobby. Across the West Bank and
Gaza, thousands of Palestinians battled with
Israeli troops, hurling stones and firebombs. The
violence came despite a decision Monday by the
Israeli Cabinet to transfer three West Bank
villages near Jerusalem to Palestinian control in
a goodwill gesture.
19.05.2000 - In its largest offer so far, Israel
has proposed that the Palestinians take control of
90% of the West Bank. The offer was rejected by
the Palestinian. The offer was made and turned
down during last week's round of talks in Sweden.
24.05.2000 - The last Israeli troops and tanks
rolled out of Lebanon , completing a swift and
dramatic pullout from the southern zone Israel
occupied for nearly two decades. Muslim guerrillas
swiftly moved into territory left behind by the
Israeli troops and their allied militia, seizing
several tanks and vehicles.
June
13.06.2000 - With a White House admonition that
"time is short," Israeli and Palestinian
negotiators are resuming their sputtering talks on
an overall settlement that their governments
pledged to conclude by mid-September. It is
supposed to determine the future of Jerusalem and
how much land Israel will cede to the Palestinians
for a state. Refugee and water problems also were
on the agenda for the talks at Andrews Air Force
Base in suburban Maryland and at Bolling Air Force
Base in Washington. While negotiators at one site
wrestle with long-range issues, the other
negotiators will consider how much land Israel
will surrender in a West Bank pull back due this
month.
16.06.2000 - After denouncing Israel's prime
minister as lacking a desire to conclude a peace
accord, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met with
Israel's chief negotiator. Shlomo Ben-Ami and
Arafat talked at Andrews Air Force Base in
suburban Maryland, one of the two sites of the
slow-moving negotiations between Israel and the
Palestinians. Negotiations in Washington have
sputtered, partly broken off by the Palestinians
to protest Israel's refusal to release 250
prisoners and to agree to Arafat's terms for a
pull back this month on the West Bank.
27.06.2000 - Adopting a tough stance ahead of
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's arrival,
Palestinian officials said the time was not right
for a Mideast summit and suggested that
Palestinian statehood will be proclaimed this fall
with or without Israel's blessing. Albright was in
a route to the Mideast to assess prospects for a
U.S. hosted summit in which Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
would try to form the outlines of a final peace
treaty. Barak is eager to attend such a top-level
gathering. Arafat is reluctant to agree to a
summit, saying the gaps are still too wide.
Palestinian officials have said Arafat fears U.S.
mediators will side with Israel on many issues and
he will be pressured into concessions.
July
05.07.2000 - In a high-risk bid to bring peace to
the Middle East, President Clinton announced
Israeli and Palestinian leaders would meet with
him next week at the Camp David presidential
retreat to try to reach an accord by
mid-September.
13.07.2000 - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat held their first
one-on-one summit talks (since the summit started
in 11'th July) as the two sides grappled with the
"tough issues" standing in the way of a peace
agreement. The meeting last night in Arafat's
cabin at the Camp David presidential retreat, came
at the two leaders' initiative. The parties were
grappling with tough issues that involve their
vital interests. The most contentious issues being
addressed include the status of disputed
Jerusalem, the fate of Jewish settlements in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip, and whether more than 2
million Palestinian refugees will be given the
right to return to homes in Israel.
19.07.2000 - Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak was
reported to have sent a letter to his summit host
complaining that the Palestinians were not
negotiating in good faith. Clinton sent the summit
into overtime when he delayed a trip to Japan for
a day. As the president met Wednesday morning with
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat - their second
talk in 12 hours - Israel said "it seems" that
Barak had decided to stop the talks and return
home. Since the summit began July 11, Clinton has
been shuttling between the two sides, trying to
shepherd them toward an accord on the most painful
and divisive issues.
25.07.2000 - The Middle East peace talks at Camp
David collapsed in a deadlock over the future of
Jerusalem. Conceding failure, President Clinton
said the Israelis and Palestinians "couldn't get
there." Clinton returned to the White House to say
that the gaps between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had not
been bridged, but forecast that they will be
"because I think the alternative is unthinkable."
The Israeli and Palestinian delegations said in a
statement they intended "to continue their efforts
to conclude an agreement on all permanent status
issues as soon as possible." Barak and Arafat
spent two weeks at Camp David with Clinton as the
sponsor and sometimes personal mediator in the
peace talks.
August
16.08.2000 - Israeli soldiers shot and killed a
70-year-old Palestinian after the man opened fire
from the roof of his home. The victim, Mahmoud
Abdullah, a U.S. citizen, was critically wounded
by a shot in the head. Israeli officers kept
medics away from the scene for more than an hour.
16.08.2000 - Israel and the Palestinians resumed
high-level peace talks , three weeks after the
collapse of negotiations at Camp David.
18.08.2000 - In Prime Minister Ehud Barak's
clearest statement yet about Palestinian
statehood, he offered the Palestinians an
independent state if they formally end their
conflict with Israel. The remarks came as U.S.
State Department negotiator Dennis Ross began
talks to see if the two sides were ready to move
toward a peace accord.
25.08.2000 - Making a case for Israeli sovereignty
over all holy shrines in Jerusalem, Prime Minister
Ehud Barak said that under Israeli rule no harm
would ever come to the two major mosques in the
disputed city. The Palestinians dismissed Barak's
assurances and said they would not sign a peace
treaty without being granted sovereignty over east
Jerusalem, which includes the walled Old City.
September
07.09.2000 - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has
rejected U.S. compromise proposals on Jerusalem.
Sounding a similar tone, Israel Prime Minister
Ehud Barak said "Some of the ideas he has raised
are beyond what we believe we can accept.
Nevertheless, If Chairman Arafat is ready to take
Clinton's ideas as the basis for negotiations, we
will be ready to contemplate it and to enter into
such negotiations."
13.09.2000 - Sept. 13 was supposed to be
Palestinian independence day. Instead, a deadline
for establishing a state was missed for the second
time in 16 months, and Palestinian leaders
desperately tried to maintain some credibility by
announcing gradual steps toward statehood,
including general elections. Over the weekend, the
PLO's top policy-making body, the Central Council,
decided to postpone a statehood proclamation at
least until Nov. 15.
14.09.2000 - The Clinton administration reopened
talks with the Palestinians in a bid to end a
deadlock over the future of Jerusalem.
18.09.2000 - Prime Minister Ehud Barak ruled out
Islamic sovereignty over a key Jerusalem shrine,
closing the door to a Palestinian compromise
proposal. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are hung
up because of a sovereignty dispute over the
compound known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif or
Noble Sanctuary. Barak and Arafat accused each
other of intransigence and blamed each other for
the deadlock.
20.09.2000 - Israel and the Palestinians resumed
contacts, a day after Israel made conflicting
announcements about the fate of negotiations,
first declaring a time-out, then saying talks were
back on track.
28.09.2000 - Israeli riot police fired rubber
bullets at hundreds of Palestinian stone-throwers
at a Jerusalem holy site. The violence broke out
just moments after the leader of Israel's
hard-line opposition, Ariel Sharon, entered the
compound. Chants of "Murderer, get out" followed
Sharon. Near the West Bank town of Ramallah, about
200 Palestinian university students angered by
Sharon's visit threw stones at Israeli troops who
fired rubber-coated steel bullets. Four
Palestinians were injured.
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