On 4'th of January , Israel's Foreign Minister David Levy announced his resignation , accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of ignore the social fundamentals of Israeli society . The resignation puts intense political pressure on Netanyahu's conservative government and threatens to make an end to his administration. The main dispute between Levy and Netanyahu was the 1998 budget, which Levy claim it ignores the plight of Israel's low-income class.

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 aimes mainly for preparing the ground for meetings in Washington in 20th of this month, when President Clinton is to hold separate talks on the stalled Middle East peace process with Netanyahu and Arafat. Ross focus on four point : 1. A "significant and credible" Israeli troop redeployment . 2. The US expects Netanyahu to present plans for a pullout . 3. Israel to work with Palestinians to honor past peace pledges 4. Arafat to set up a program to ensure security for Israelis .

On 14'th of January , Israel's Cabinet issued a document calling for Palestinian authority to adhere with numerous conditions in order to move forward with the peace process . Some of this conditions include , a crackdown on guerrilla activity , a reduction in the size of the Palestinian police force, and the revision of anti-Israeli clauses in the charter of the PLO.

On 18'th of January , Israeli Cabinet delays West Bank land decision , Israel said it would delay the decision on a ceiling of the maximum amount of West Bank land it would turn over to the Palestinians and troop redeployment until after 20th on January summit in Washington between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Bill Clinton. The Israeli statement added that the withdrawal would only take place if the Palestinians fulfill their obligations.

On 20'th of January , President Bill Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Washington and failed to come up with a new strategy to move ahead with the implementation of limited Palestinian autonomy. US Sources said that the meeting went extremely well. Netanyahu said No agreement has yet been formulated .

On 20'th of January , For the second time, Netanyahu met with President Clinton to discuss the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. US Sources said that meeting was good and intensive , but did not result in a breakthrough. Clinton made proposals to bridge the gap between Israeli and Palestinian, included suggestions on the timing and scope of troop withdrawals from the West Bank.

On 21'st of January , Palestinian President Yasser Arafat arrived in Washington Wednesday to hold talks with president Bill Clinton . Arafat met Albright and planned to meet President Bill Clinton for talks Thursday at the White House. Albright told Arafat he needs to be realistic about the extent of a further Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. Palestinians have called for a 30 percent pullback, which is far more than Israel is ready to give to the Palestinians.

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 .

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.

06.02.1998 , A young Israeli was stabbed early Friday in Jerusalem's walled Old City, police said. The attacker escaped into the narrow alleys of the Old City. A number of Palestinian suspects were arrested.

10.02.1998 , Israel expanding settlements amid Palestinian anger While the world's attention is focused on the looming crisis over Iraq, Palestinians say the Israeli government has seized the moment to annex Palestinian lands and expand Jewish settlements, often without compensation.

25.02.1998 , Israeli troops searched refugee camps in the West Bank Tuesday night and arrested six Palestinians on suspicion of attackes aginst Israel an army spokeswoman said. "In the course of the operation six Palestinians were arrested on suspicion of participation in attackes against security forces and Israeli civilians," the spokeswoman said. The searches coincided with the anniversary on Wednesday of the massacre of 29 Palestinians by a Jewish settler in a Hebron mosque in 1994.

11.03.1998 , Israeli soldiers shot and killed three Palestinians at an army checkpoint near the West Bank town of Hebron Tuesday, a Palestinian doctor and Israeli security sources said. Israeli military sources claims the Palestinians driving a vehicle had tried to run down troops manning the checkpoint. "The Palestinian car came and tried to hit a soldier at the checkpoint and to go through the checkpoint. They succeeded in hitting one of our soldiers at the checkpoint and he is lightly wounded," one source said.

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. Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets at the protesters. Witnesses say the trouble took place near the entrance to Dura, the village where the funerals of the three Palestinians are to take place Wednesday afternoon.

12.03.1998 , The Israeli military has announced that West Bank commander Major General Uzi Dayan will release the three soldiers arrested in connection with the shooting deaths of three Palestinians in the West Bank Tuesday. A military spokeswoman said Army investigators are continuing their inquiry into the incident and that the three soldiers are still under investigation but there is insufficient evidence to continue holding them in custody.

12.03.1998 , Clashes flared on the West Bank Wednesday as thousands of mourners buried three Palestinian laborers killed by Israeli troops. Witnesses said soldiers firing rubber-coated metal bullets wounded 34 Palestinians around Hebron and 10 around Ramallah during protests against the killings Tuesday night at an army checkpoint. Military sources said Israeli troops throughout the Hebron area had strict orders to exercise restraint as thousands of Palestinians streamed to Dura in cars, buses and trucks for the funeral and assembled on roadsides and rooftops.

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. Injured were taken to nearby hospitals and Israeli soldiers combed the area for signs of further explosives. Tension was already high in the West Bank where Israeli security forces were reinforced following the violent protests of recent days. Hundreds of additional police were on duty in Jerusalem.

13.03.1998 , Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat sought to calm the West Bank and vowed to work toward peace. Netanyahu, in an interview with Israel Television's Arabic service, called the killings at an Israeli military checkpoint a "tragic mistake" and offered condolences to the victims' families. In Gaza, Arafat said he hoped the tensions would not affect peace moves.

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, witnesses said. The violence flared hours after a bomb went off near Jerusalem's Old City, wounding four Palestinians fanning more tension following violent clashes over the killings this week of three Palestinian workers by Israeli troops. The witnesses said armed settlers threw stones at homes of Palestinians and beat Arabs in a neighborhood in the Israeli-controlled part of the town, injuring at least two Palestinians.

17.03.1998 , Israel and Britain agreed Monday that British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook will visit a controversial Jewish settlement project in Arab East Jerusalem accompanied by an Israeli, not Palestinian, delegation. "He's going to visit now...," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's aide said. Israel had earlier threatened to exclude the European Union from Middle East peacemaking if Cook went ahead with the visit to Har Homa settlement on a site at the edge of East Jerusalem known in Arabic as Jabal Abu Ghneim.

18.03.1998 , Israeli opposition leaders say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a mistake by turning British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook's meeting with a Palestinian official at a disputed housing project into a diplomatic incident. Cook was snubbed by Netanyahu after the meeting. The prime minister called off a scheduled dinner and a joint press conference. Labor leaders Haim Ramon and Yossi Beilin criticized Netanyahu's actions before meeting Cook for breakfast. Cook is now in Syria.

19.03.1998 , British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook completed his tour of the Mideast on Wednesday by calling on Israel to honor a 20-year-old U.N. resolution demanding its withdrawal from Lebanon. Cook flew to Beirut from Damascus, Syria, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of U.N. Security Council Resolution 425, which called on the Israelis to leave Lebanon. Israel invaded Lebanon in 1978 to drive back Palestinian guerrillas and holds an enclave in the southern part of the country.

19.03.1998 , Israel called a halt Wednesday to a diplomatic dispute over a hotly contested visit by British Foreign Secretary of State Robin Cook to the site of a Jewish settlement project in Jerusalem. "I think we can go on from here and put things behind us," a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Britain's embassy to Israel in Tel Aviv sounded a similar note. Cook infuriated Netanyahu Tuesday by surveying the building site on the edge of Arab East Jerusalem, known in Hebrew as Har Homa and as Jabal Abu Ghneim in Arabic, to show EU disapproval of Jewish settlement expansion on occupied land.

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. Ha'aretz newspaper said U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright would invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to separate meetings in Europe, where she would explain the plan before publicizing it, to try to get them to accept it. In Cairo, visiting U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he had no plans to offer an alternative to U.S. peace-brooking in the region.

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. This figure which has been mentioned in the news media, "13 percent, is unacceptable, and ... damaging to the security interests of the State of Israel," Cabinet Secretary Danny Naveh told reporters.

24.03.1998 , A representative of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel could relinquish control of no more than a further nine percent of the West Bank, less then a new American initiative that reportedly sought a 13 percent pullback. Netanyahu said on Monday Israel alone would determine the extent of a long-delayed West Bank pullback based on its security needs.

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. Israel is reportedly willing to give no more than 9 percent of West Bank territory to the Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu, however, said his government was willing to hand over more desirable land. "The only thing we are considering is the quality of the land vs. the quantity," he told reporters.

27.03.1998 , Israel took a tough line on a troop pullback from the West Bank on Thursday as U.S. presidential envoy Dennis Ross headed in on a critical bid to shore up crumbling Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. "I can't accept a dictate," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israel Radio in an interview. "We have our principles. We're not deceiving anyone, not ourselves, not the voters, not the Palestinians and not the Americans." Ross was due to arrive later Thursday armed with U.S. proposals that are reported to call for an Israeli troop withdrawal from 13.1% of the West Bank in return for Palestinian steps to fight Islamic militant attackes.

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. Neither Ross, warned by Israel not to dictate a peace deal, nor Netanyahu, under pressure from hardliners in his government not to relinquish more territory, made any comment to reporters before or after the meeting at the prime minister's office. Ross had been widely expected to present U.S. proposals which reports said called for an Israeli pullback from 13.1% of the West Bank in return for Palestinian steps to fight Muslim militant attackes.

29.03.1998 , The Egyptian government reportedly has urged Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat not to reject a U.S. peace initiative, although both the Israeli and Palestinian Cabinets have voted against it. Under the plan, Israel would cede 13.1 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinians over 12 weeks. The Palestinians have said they want 30 percent. Israel said it won't release more than 9 percent, because that figure does not compromise national security.

30.03.1998 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held two hours of talks with U.S. envoy Dennis Ross Sunday night, stating that no West Bank troop pullbacks will be made without Palestinian security pledges. When they finished, Ross headed to Gaza for talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who declined to answer questions about whether any progress had been achieved. Ross said talks with both leaders had been "thorough" and that he would return to Washington to report on the talks.

31.03.1998 , A U.S. diplomatic offensive to rescue Israeli-Palestinian negotiations neared its end on a bleak note Monday, with presidential envoy Dennis Ross citing diminishing hopes for Middle East peace. "Obviously the stalemate begins to diminish the hopes...," Ross said at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh after briefing President Hosni Mubarak. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also sounded a pessimistic note over the ability of the latest U.S. shuttle diplomacy to break the year-long peace freeze. The United States was reportedly seeking an Israeli pullback from 13.1% of the West Bank, a figure Israel says is "unacceptable" and compromises its security interests.

31.03.1998 , Palestinian youths clashed with Israeli troops Monday as thousands of Arabs staged protests in Israel and the West Bank against land confiscation, witnesses said. Soldiers fired rubber-coated metal bullets at protesters in several trouble spots in the West Bank, wounding three Palestinians. More than 10,000 Israeli-Arabs marched to Arrabeh village in northern Israel chanting "Long live Palestine." "Land Day represents for us a day of struggle for all Palestinians, particularly Palestinians in Israel who struggle against continuous government attempts to confiscate our land," said one protester.

01.04.1998 , Israel made an unexpected offer Tuesday to discuss with the Palestinians a third pullback on the contested West Bank. The move gave a slight boost Tuesday to the U.S. government's efforts to reopen negotiations between the two sides. The offer by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to U.S. mediator Dennis B. Ross near the end of Ross' fourth day of shuttle diplomacy in the area. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright reported "some progress" in the year-long deadlock in the peace process.

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. Hamas dismissed Israel's denial, and on Thursday threatened to carry out attacks in Israel.

03.04.1998 , Thousands of Palestinians buried a master bombmaker from the Muslim militant group Hamas Thursday with calls for attacks on Israel. Mourners paraded Muhyideen al-Sharif's body, wrapped in a blanket on a stretcher, through the streets of El-Bireh while veiled women ululated with joy at the death a "martyr" of Hamas's armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades. "Dear, dear Qassam, hit Tel Aviv!" the crowd chanted. Away from the funeral, Palestinian youths hurled stones at Israeli troops, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets.

04.04.1998 , Shouting for revenge against Israel, thousands of Palestinian demonstrators in the West Bank and Gaza vented their rage Friday over the mysterious death of a Muslim militant master bomber. "Dear Qassam, blow up Tel Aviv," crowds chanted, demanding the military wing of the fundamentalist Hamas group avenge Muhyideen al-Sharif. Israel rushed to head off revenge attacks, sending Ami Ayalon, its top secret service official, to tell Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Gaza that Israelis had nothing to do with the death of "The Engineer 2," political sources said.

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, Palestinian officials said Monday. The investigation ordered by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat cleared Israel, which had denied killing Sharif, of responsibility for the mysterious death. But Hamas rejected the findings as lies and renewed promises to launch revenge attacks against Israel. Israeli officials have said such strikes would kill chances of breaking a year-long peacemaking deadlock with the Palestinian Authority.

06.04.1998 , At least one suspect has been arrested by Palestinian police in the death of the chief Hamas bomb maker who died under mysterious circumstances last month, a source close to the investigation said Monday. The investigation also uncovered large amounts of explosives and a bomb factory, the source said on condition of anonymity. The findings of the investigation are to be made public later in the day. Mohiyedine Sharif, 32, was found dead March 29 near the scene of a car bomb explosion in a garage.

07.04.1998 , Israel, already on high alert after the death of a Hamas master bomb maker, beefed up security in Jerusalem Tuesday for fear of possible violence after police shot dead a Palestinian man in a late night car chase. Israeli police said they shot dead Bilal al-Salaymeh late Monday after he refused to stop his vehicle and tried to outrun two patrol cars in a chase along a road from Jerusalem to the Palestinian-ruled town of Ramallah. The victim's family disputed the police account. Monday night's shooting added fuel to a volatile situation and police feared Palestinian violence could erupt.

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. Al-Salaymeh's family says he was shot after stopping his car, while Israeli officials say he was shot while trying to elude police who were pursuing him.

08.04.1998 , The military wing of the Muslim militant group Hamas urged Muslims and Arabs around the world Wednesday to attack Jewish targets to avenge the death of a bomb maker whose killing it has blamed on Israel. "We call on all the free and honorable sons of our Palestinian people and...all those who care about Palestine...to level and aim attacks against Jewish and Zionist interests which have been spreading all over the world," the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades said. The group repeated its dismissal of the findings of a Palestinian Authority investigation released Monday that said bomb maker Muhyideen al-Sharif was killed by other members of Hamas.

09.04.1998 , The militant Islamic group Hamas yesterday released a video warning of retaliatory action in Israel for the death of the group's master bomb maker, Muhyideen al-Sharif. Israel has denied involvement in al-Sharif's death, and Palestinian officials say he was killed by other members of Hamas.

09.04.1998 , The Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Islamic militant group Hamas Thursday escalated a war of words over the mysterious killing of Hamas bombmaker Muhyideen al-Sharif. A senior advisor to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat threatened to detain Hamas leaders if they continued to publicly reject the findings of a inquiry by the Authority which said Sharif was killed in an internal Hamas feud. Sharif, who was accused by Israel of masterminding a string of martyr bombings, was found dead on March 29 beside a car that blew up in the Palestinian-ruled West Bank town of Ramallah. Israel has repeatedly denied any involvement.

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. Palestinian police chief Ghazi Jibali said Rantisi was being held at a Gaza police station. "Rantisi has been taken for questioning regarding statements made against our national interests and the Palestinian Authority," Jibali said. He did not say when Rantisi would be released.

13.04.1998 , Palestinian police released Monday a senior member of the Islamic Jihad group who was jailed in Gaza Friday after he criticized the Palestinian Authority's arrest of other Moslem militants, relatives said. A Palestinian security official said Abdallah al-Shami had been arrested because he had criticized the arrest of several Moslem militants in a crackdown following the death of Hamas master bombmaker Muhyideen al-Sharif in the West Bank on March 29. The Palestinian Authority arrested several key figures from the militant Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas in connection with Sharif's death.

15.04.1998 , A Palestinian held without trial in Israel for more than five years was released from prison Wednesday after making a pledge of non-violence on Israeli television. Ahmed Katamesh, suspected but never charged by Israel with membership of a "terrorist" organization, was the longest-serving of its "administrative detainees," who are jailed for renewable six-month terms by the military. Israeli TV news broadcasts showed Katamesh taking a pledge of non-violence that it said had secured his release from Damon prison in northern Israel, where he had been held since Sept. 1, 1992.

18.04.1998 , Palestinian factions Friday called on the Muslim militant group Hamas to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority's inquiry into the killing of master bomber Muhyideen al-Sharif. The factions, urging an easing of tension among Palestinians, also demanded that Hamas stop issuing leaflets and media statements accusing the Authority of collaborating with Israel in Sharif's death. Jamal Zakout, coordinator of 12 national and Islamic factions, said the Palestinian Authority had decided unilaterally to refrain from issuing media statements on its investigation into the killing.

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. "The United States, we understand, has said or is going to say shortly they will invite both the president of the Palestinians and the government of Israel to bilateral meetings in London on the fourth of May," Blair told a news conference in Gaza. Arafat responded positively, saying: "We welcome this invitation." He said he wanted a meeting with Israel in which the United States and the Europeans would participate.

20.04.1998 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly agreed to attend Mid-East peace talks in London after meeting this weekend with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair is expected to seek Palestinian agreement to attend the talks when he meets with Palestinian leaders today.

21.04.1998 , British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Tuesday to discuss the agenda for planned talks in London next month to revive the stalled Mideast peace process. The two leaders met over breakfast in Tel Aviv. "The point is to make significant progress and move to the core issues to facilitate a final settlement," Netanyahu told reporters. The May 4 summit will be monitored by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who will meet separately with Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

22.04.1998 , Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak conferred Wednesday on efforts to save the Middle East peace process, officials said. U.S. envoy Dennis Ross will visit Israel and Palestinian areas at the end of this week in a fresh attempt to break a deadlock. He will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Arafat. Arafat arrived in the Egyptian capital Tuesday, where he met King Fahd on U.S. and European efforts to revive the peace process. Arafat did not speak to reporters after meeting Mubarak.

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, a U.S. official said Friday. Ross' talks are intended to pave the way for separate meetings by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat May 4 in London. "We would like to see an answer in time for the May 4 meeting. Obviously, Ross and (Assistant Secretary of State Martin) Indyk are preparing for the May 4 meetings," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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. "It would be a mistake twice over," Netanyahu said in an interview broadcast Thursday when asked about Arafat's warning that he would declare statehood if the sides failed to reach a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace accord by May 1999.

26.04.1998 , Demonstrators great Ross's motorcade at Netanyahu's residence Two senior U.S. officials on Saturday made another attempt to revive Mideast peace talks. U.S. envoy Dennis Ross and Assistant Secretary of State Martin Indyk entered talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortly after their arrival in Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the militant Islamic group Hamas staged a rally in the West Bank town of Hebron. Marchers vowed revenge against Israel for last month's death of the group's chief bomb maker.

28.04.1998 , Israeli President Ezer Weizman met yesterday with Palestinian negotiators in Jerusalem to discuss efforts aimed at re-starting the Mid-East peace process.

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. Both Arafat and Netanyahu will have separate talks in London Monday with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who is trying to break a more than year-old logjam in negotiations she says are "going around in circles." Washington wants Israel to withdraw from 13% of West Bank land in a further hand over of territory under interim peace deals in exchange for tougher steps by Arafat to deter violence.

30.04.1998 , With triumphant blasts from ceremonial rams' horns and explosions of fireworks, Israel officially kicked off its 50th anniversary celebration Wednesday evening and threw a nationwide party that was still going strong Thursday. The celebration is to climax with Jubilee Chimes, an elaborate entertainment showcase at a Jerusalem stadium. U.S. Vice President Al Gore will be on hand to represent Americans at the event.

01.05.98 , Israeli and Palestinian leaders exchanged blame Friday for a year long impasse over the scope of an Israeli troop withdrawal from the West Bank, ahead of key talks in London next week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said they hoped the London talks would lead to an agreement on a long-delayed Israeli withdrawal despite the gaps between their positions. Secretary of State Madeline Albright is scheduled to hold separate meetings with Netanyahu and Arafat in London Monday in a bid to revive negotiations.

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. Albright spent five hours trying to persuade Netanyahu to accept U.S. proposals which diplomats said centered on handing over a further 13% of occupied West Bank land to the Palestinians in exchange for tougher security

05.05.98 , The United States is tightening the screws on hardline 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. She dangled the prospect of a three-way meeting with President Clinton in Washington on May 11 to launch talks on the final status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip if Netanyahu agrees to hand over another 13% of occupied land to Palestinian rule now.

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. U.S. President Bill Clinton has invited the Mideast leaders to Washington for talks next week on the condition that Israel accept a U.S. plans for the return of more of the West Bank to Palestinian control.

A Jewish seminary student was stabbed to death in Jerusalem and a Jewish settler in the West Bank shot dead a Palestinian attacker in separate incidents Wednesday. In a morning attack, the seminary student on was stabbed in Jerusalem's Old City and police blamed Palestinian militants. Later Wednesday, a Jewish settler shot a Palestinian man who attacked him with a knife at the West Bank settlement of Eli . The latest killings took place a day after U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright failed in talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to break 14 months of deadlock in peace negotiations

07.05.98 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that he may turn down an invitation to visit the U.S. next week if doing so would imply Israel's "bowing to U.S. dictates" concerning the Mid-East peace process.

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. Neither man spoke to reporters immediately afterward. Ross was expected to stay in Israel. Only hours before Ross arrived Friday, aides to Netanyahu rejected a U.S. backed proposal for Israel to hand over 13% more of the West Bank to Palestinian rule.

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.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat Monday accused Israel of trying to humiliate the U.S. administration by refusing President Clinton's invitation to hold urgent peace talks. Arafat called on the United States and the international community as parties to the Oslo peace accord to put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept an American compromise plan in a land-for-peace deal.

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.

The founder of Hamas has declared that the militant Palestinian group will continue fighting Israel, Kuwaiti newspapers said Tuesday. "Certainly we will continue military operations. As long as Israel remains on our land, we will continue the armed struggle," the Arab Times daily quoted Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as saying. Yassin is in Kuwait as part of a regional tour. He described the Oslo peace accords as "unfair and unbalanced" and said they were "imposing conditions of the strong on the weak," al-Rai al-Aam newspaper said. Hamas opposes Israeli-Palestinian peace moves, calling them a sell-out.

13.05.98 , Israeli and Palestinian historians met in Paris Wednesday to seek common ground between wildly divergent views of what happened when the first Arab-Israeli war erupted 50 years ago this week. The central question was why up to 800,000 Palestinians left their homes during the fighting. Although the historians quickly disagreed on reasons for the exodus, they hailed the importance of their meeting, possibly the first public one of its kind. Some said it portended reconciliation between peoples, if and when their leaders reached a peace settlement.

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. Albright issued a "wake-up call" to Israeli and Palestinian leaders to make compromises before the peace process collapses, but made clear her remarks were aimed mainly at Israel. She said Tuesday that Washington would revive its idea for a Middle East summit if she could reach agreement with Netanyahu over the scale of the next Israeli troop withdrawal from the West Bank. The U.S. plan calls for 13% withdrawal, but Israel insists on a 9% pullback.

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.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at U.N. headquarters Friday for talks with Secretary-General Kofi Annan expected to focus on the Middle East in general and southern Lebanon in particular. He made no statement to reporters as he was accompanied by U.N. officials, including protocol chief Nadia Younes, an Egyptian, to Annan's 38th floor suite. Netanyahu and his party were later guests at a lunch given by the secretary-general.

Palestinians threw rocks at Jews in Jerusalem Friday a day after Israeli troops shot dead nine Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza strip.

18.05.98 , U.S. Sec. of State Madeleine Albright and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat are scheduled to meet today in London to discuss possible new advances in the Mid-East peace process. unconfirmed reports from Israel say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed his willingness to agree to turn over control of 13% of the West Bank to Palestinians if plans for a future third troop redeployment in the area are nullified.

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.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday of intentionally prolonging their peacemaking crisis. Arafat lashed out at Netanyahu after the right-wing Israeli leader rejected a U.S. proposal under which Israel would hand over another 13% of the West Bank to the Palestinians in return for stronger moves against Muslim militants. Israel has offered 9%, saying a deeper pullback under interim peace accords would jeopardize its security. "It is clear Netanyahu is escalating in the direction against agreements and is trying to create a crisis," Arafat said in the self-ruled town of Bethlehem.

Israel tortures at least 850 Palestinian detainees a year, a leading Israeli human rights group said Tuesday ahead of a court hearing on petitions to ban violent interrogations. The B'Tselem group presented estimates at a news conference that Israel's General Security Service interrogates between 1,000 and 1,500 Palestinians a year. Urging Israel to come out of the "dark ages," B'Tselem also demonstrated the physical pressure Israeli admits it uses against suspected guerrillas including: placing hoods and shackles on prisoners, putting them in painful positions, sleep deprivation and violent shaking.

21.05.98 , Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to resume direct negotiations with the Palestinians and hold a summit with Yasser Arafat to break an impasse in negotiations, an Israeli official said today. A senior Palestinian negotiator, however, accused Israel of stalling tactics, saying there was no point to holding "meeting after meeting." "I don't think any talks will help any more. It's time to stop this game of process," said Saeb Erekat, adding Israel should now accept the U.S. plan for a West Bank troop withdrawal. David Bar-Illan, a senior aide to Netanyahu, said Israel wanted to see the resumption of direct Palestinian negotiations which have been stalled since March 1997. He said the Israeli leader brought up the idea of a summit with Arafat in talks this past week with U.S. Mideast envoy Dennis Ross.

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.

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of the militant Palestinian organization Hamas, said Tuesday he expected the elimination of Israel and the establishment of a Palestinian state during the first quarter of the next century. Addressing a news conference in Damascus, Sheikh Yassin said Hamas would continue its fight against Israel "until the liberation of all Palestine." He praised President Hafez al-Assad, saying he had "extended all support for our struggle." Sheikh Yassin said there was cooperation between Hamas and the pro-Iranian Lebanese Shi'ite organization Hizbollah which is fighting Israel's occupation of territory across south Lebanon.

27.05.98 , Ehud Olmert, the mayor of Jerusalem, has reportedly ordered the demolition of shacks set up recently in a Muslim quarter the city by the jewish Ateret Cohanim nationalist group.

29.05.98 , The 88-member Palestinian legislature has reportedly scheduled a no-confidence vote for Saturday concerning Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. recent polls among Palestinians are reported to have shown less than 40% confidence in Arafat's leadership.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was quoted Friday as saying the United States would continue to press for its own Middle East peace initiative, but did not reject a Franco-Egyptian proposal for an international summit. Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jacques Poos said Albright had made the comment to him in a private meeting at which they discussed U.S.-led efforts to break a 14-month stalemate in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Poos said they had discussed the idea of a European-Arab or a European-American initiative to try to resurrect peace talks if the faltering U.S. push for an Israeli withdrawal from a further 13% of the West Bank failed

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. Yassin, who is touring Arab capitals, is reported to have raised tens of millions of dollars for Hamas .

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. In one of two letters to Secretary-General Kofi Annan circulated Thursday, the PLO's U.N. observer, Nasser Al-Kidwa, said Israel had begun archaeological excavations in the area of Burj alLaqlaq in the Old City of Jerusalem "as part of preliminary activities to build an illegal new Jewish settlement in the heart of occupied Arab East Jerusalem." He said the work was being done "following a failed attempt by the extremist Jewish settler group Ateret Cohanim on May 25, 1998 to establish the nucleus of a new settlement" in that area.

15.06.98 , Israeli authorities demolished three Palestinian homes Monday which they said were built without permits in Arab East Jerusalem. While Palestinian families stood quietly next to salvaged electrical appliances and furniture, an Israeli bulldozer razed the stone dwellings in accordance with court orders issued between 1994 and 1996. Rights groups have accused Israel of using bureaucratic and legal pretexts for decades to deny Arabs building permits and demolish their houses while encouraging Jewish settlement expansion in occupied areas to advance a political policy.

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. The draft plan envisages widening Jerusalem's boundaries to include land west of the city, in Israel proper, and creating an "umbrella municipality" with administrative powers over nearby towns in Israel and some West Bank settlements. It also calls for accelerated construction of roads linking West Bank Jewish settlements with the city.

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. Israel has not announced whether it will allow Yassin back home. Israel radio quoted Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai as saying Wednesday he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had made no final decision whether to allow Yassin back to Gaza. "The defense minister said the decision would be made at the appropriate time, though he said that the (defense ministry) is ready for the possibility of Yassin's return," said the radio, monitored by the BBC.

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. The Israeli army said Palestinian police were "deliberating causing disturbances at various intersections" in the Gaza Strip.

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. The fiery attack by Labor party leader Ehud Barak blazed a new path in the opposition's campaign to nudge Netanyahu towards a deal with the Palestinians or push him out of office should he fail to fulfil promises to achieve "peace with security." In response, Netanyahu said gaps over the further handover of West Bank land to self-rule "had been greatly narrowed" in U.S.-brokered negotiations but a deal would be sealed only when Palestinians fulfilled their security commitments.

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. "What has happened here as a result of this long stalemate, it is increasingly difficult...for the Israelis and the Palestinians to talk with each other," she said. "We don't think that this impasse can be resolved...if they do not talk with each other.... It is essential that the parties talk with each other," she stressed.

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. Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are not expected to take part in the talks directly.

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. the U.N. Security Council has called has called for Israel to cancel the expansion plans and to not take any other steps that could affect the outcome of permanent U.N. membership negotiations with Palestinians.

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. Israel's Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai will meet senior Palestinian negotiator Mahmoud Abbas in Tel Aviv Sunday after the United States said last week the two could only resolve their differences in face-to-face talks. "In the wake of contacts between Israel, the Palestinians and the United States it was agreed that there will be a meeting on Sunday between Defense Minister Mordechai and Mahmoud Abbas," said a Defense Ministry spokesman.

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. "There is still a lot of work. I don't want to create illusions," Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai said. Palestinians, coaxed by Washington into the three hours of talks with Mordechai at a Tel Aviv hotel late Sunday, said they were still waiting for Israel to agree to a U.S. land-for-security plan to break a 16-month-old deadlock.

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. Palestinian officials say the agreement to hold the talks was contingent upon only the troop withdrawal and the PLO charter being on the agenda for discussion.

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. The Palestinian official, who asked not to be identified, said the United States had told the Palestinians to enter direct negotiations with Israel because it could not obtain Netanyahu's acceptance of U.S. ideas to break the peace deadlock.

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.

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 hardline 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 the 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."

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 flash point blamed Jewish settlers for the violence, which flared in the heart of the city close to one of their enclaves. Details were unclear.

01.10.98 , Israeli soldiers fired rubber-coated bullets to disperse around 200 Palestinian demonstrators who lobbed rocks and petrel 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.

02.10.98 , Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said Friday no "substantive" progress had been made in his talks with U.S. President Bill Clinton in Washington this week on breaking the impasse in Middle East peacemaking. "No substantive progress can really be cited, no substantive steps or even changes in the behavior on the ground can be cited," Arafat said in a speech delivered in English by a top Palestinian negotiator.

05.10.98 , U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright left Washington for the Middle East Monday in the hope of breaking 19 months of deadlock in talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The trip, her first to the region in more than a year, should pave the way for a summit between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and President Bill Clinton in the United States on Oct. 15. She plans to spend about two days in the region but two aides, Assistant Secretary of State Martin Indyk and special Middle East envoy Dennis Ross, are traveling with her and could stay on to tie up any loose ends.

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.

14.10.98 , Israel put a positive gloss on prospects for a U.S. Middle East peace summit Wednesday, predicting success if Palestinian President Yasser Arafat meets Israeli demands to crack down on militants. U.S. President Bill Clinton hosts the summit, which begins Thursday at the Wye Plantation outside Washington.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said Wednesday he was optimistic about the prospects for a U.S.-brokered summit with Israel designed to unblock the stalled Middle East peace process. "Personally I believe this is a window of opportunity, not only for us Palestinians, not only for the Israelis, but for the entire Middle East," he said after meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

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.

19.10.98 , At least 59 civilians and soldiers were wounded this morning in a bus station in southern Israel when two grenades exploded at the location. reports say the attack was made by a Palestinian man. Palestinian authorities engaged in peace talks in the U.S. have condemned the attack as an attempt to undermine the peace process.

20.10.98 , The Mid-East peace summit being held in the U.S. has been extended for another day as negotiations continue between Israeli and Palestinian authorities over a land-and-security agreement. the summit was scheduled to have ended Sunday.

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.

Reports say about 50 Jewish settlers took part in protests yesterday on the West Bank against the Israeli pursuit of a peace deal with Palestinians.

Crisis struck the Middle East peace summit in Maryland Wednesday when the Israelis threatened to walk out, accusing the United States of going back on its word and the Palestinians of evasion. The U.S., which has already nursed the talks through six days of roller-coaster negotiations on land and security, said it would pursue its efforts and submit a new draft agreement to the Israelis and Palestinians. "We are at a critical moment.... We can't answer the question of which way this will go. The United States can only do so much," said State Department spokesman James Rubin.

22.10.98 , Reports say a final draft of an interim peace agreement is expected to be presented this morning to Israeli and Palestinian negotiators taking part is talks in the U.S. today marks the seventh day of the peace summit.

23.10.98 , Reports say Palestinian and Israeli negotiators are close to reaching a peace-for-land deal and that such a deal is likely to be finalized and signed later today. some reports, notably one from Reuters, cites Palestinian sources as saying that a deal had already been reached and that a final draft of the agreement was being completed.

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.

27.10.98 , A no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was defeated yesterday in Israeli parliament. the legislative body voted 21-8 against the motion, with 15 members abstaining. the vote came in response to opposition to the recent peace-for-land agreement between Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

30.10.98 , Israeli forces have barred Palestinians from leaving or entering the Gaza Strip following a car bomb attack yesterday that killed one Israeli man.

Israel's Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon said Friday that real peace with the Palestinians would "take years" to achieve, and called violence by Islamic militants a strategic threat to the Middle East. "Speaking about peace is not only a matter of signing a document," he said. Sharon, speaking to reporters at his farm in southern Israel, condemned an attempted martyr bomb attack on a bus carrying Jewish settler children in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. He cautiously welcomed a crackdown by the Palestinian Authority on the militant group Hamas following the attack but said tougher security steps were needed if Israel was to honor a land-for-security deal signed last week at the White House.

02.11.98 , Israeli spokesman Aviv Bushinsky says work will begin today to expand the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba in the West Bank. the settlement is adjacent to the town of Hebron.

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.

Yasser Arafat said Wednesday the Palestinian Authority had already arrested 12 of the 30 Palestinians that Israel has named as being responsible for the deaths of nearly 100 Israelis. Palestinian leader Arafat told reporters during a visit to Spain to explain the Middle East peace agreement that the Palestinians would continue to work "100%" towards detaining the remaining people. Israel named 30 Palestinians Wednesday, including 12 it said were members of the security forces, whom it insisted the Palestinian Authority had to arrest on suspicion of killing or trying to kill Israelis.

05.11.98 , Israel's cabinet is scheduled to begin consideration of the recent Mid-East peace agreement with Palestinians today. Israeli officials say the consideration could last for two days, but that it is expected that the agreement will be ratified.

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.

10.11.98 , Reports say Israel's cabinet will resume consideration of the recent Mid-East peace deal tomorrow. discussion of the agreement was halted last week due to a bombing attack in Jerusalem.

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.

16.11.98 , Reuters cites Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon as saying that Jewish settlers should grab land in the West Bank. the Israeli government has reportedly indicated that Sharon's remark reflects official policy.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday Israel's handover of West Bank land was on hold until Yasser Arafat publicly retracted his warning that a Palestinian armed uprising could flare up again. "I don't intend to carry out any redeployment under these conditions, not even the first, until this is rectified publicly and unequivocally," Netanyahu told parliament in a speech opening a debate on his peace deal with the Palestinians. Israel was to begin the first phase of a three-stage pullback in the West Bank later this week under the U.S.-brokered interim .

17.11.98 , Palestinian President Yasser Arafat yesterday retracted statements alluding to possible armed action against Israel as a means of resolving problems with the recent Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

The U.S.-brokered Israeli-Palestinian peace deal appeared to be back on track Tuesday after Palestinian President Yasser Arafat met Israel's demand to retract warnings over possible renewed armed struggle. "I...reiterate that any problems concerning final-status negotiations will be resolved through amicable and peaceful ways and through negotiations, but not through any other means," Arafat told a news conference. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had put a West Bank land handover due later this week on hold in the war of words, called the statement a positive step.

18.11.98 , The Israeli Parliament voted 75-19, with nine abstentions, yesterday to ratify the recently-reached Mid-East peace deal with Palestinians.

Palestinian police said Wednesday they would start confiscating illegal weapons next week in compliance with a new peace deal with Israel. The action, required under the land-for-security accord, will be among issues examined by Israel's cabinet on Thursday when it meets to decide whether to carry out a first withdrawal of troops from part of the West Bank. "We will start next week collecting all illegal weapons in all Palestinian governorates. We will be implementing the Palestinian law," said Ghazi al-Jabali, Palestinian police chief.

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.

Israel ordered the first withdrawal of troops from the occupied West Bank in nearly two years Thursday, honoring its new peace deal with the Palestinians. The cabinet gave its go-ahead after ministers agreed that the Palestinians had met their initial security obligations under the three-stage accord signed at the White House on Oct. 23. "The government today decided to approve the first stage of the further redeployment in the West Bank," a Cabinet Secretary said after the meeting. An official said the pullback was expected to take place Friday in the northern West Bank, along with the long-delayed opening of a Palestinian airport in Gaza.

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.

30.11.98 , Reports say President Clinton is scheduled to visit Israel, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank during a Mid-East trip December 12-15.

02.12.98 , Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat said yesterday that he reserves the right to declare an independent Palestinian state next year, even if no final peace agreement is reached between Israelis and Palestinians.

Two dozen Palestinians ambushed an Israeli soldier in a car Wednesday, smashing its windshield then dragging him out and beating him with stones in a brutal assault that was captured by news cameras. The soldier cowered by the car door, holding his hands up to fend off blows as several Palestinians struck his head with rocks. After a minute of relentless attack, the soldier ran away, bleeding from the head. His assailants stole his rifle, threw more stones at him, then set his car on fire. In Jerusalem, a 41-year-old Palestinian street cleaner, Osama Musa Natche, was stabbed to death Wednesday in what police believe was an attack by an Israeli extremist blamed for six other stabbings.

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

08.12.98 , New clashes erupted Tuesday in the West Bank as domestic pressure mounted on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abandon the Wye River land-for-security agreement with the Palestinians. The renewed violence and Israel's political turmoil came just a days before President Clinton's visit to Israel and the Palestinian areas next week. The trip was intended to shore up the Wye agreement and restore calm to the region, but appeared to be having the opposite effect. In the West Bank town of Ram just north of Jerusalem, several dozen Palestinian high school students overturned garbage dumpsters Tuesday and hurled stones at Israeli soldiers, who responded with rubber bullets. Four students were injured

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.

Despite U.S. appeals to stop violence, Palestinians stoned Wednesday Israeli troops and motorists in the most widespread West Bank clashes in months. Israeli army gunfire killed one Palestinian. Troops also fired rubber-coated steel pellets and tear gas to contain the violent protests on the 11th anniversary of the start of the Palestinians six-year uprising against Israel. In all, at least 67 Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets and three by live rounds. The death came just four days before the start of President Clinton's visit to Israel and the Palestinian areas, and was likely to trigger new violence

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.

11.12.98 , On the eve of President Clinton's arrival, Israeli troops opened fire Friday on hundreds of Palestinian stone throwers, killing two and injuring 27 during a protest against Israel's refusal to release prisoners. The violence and Israel's positions concerning the peace agreement Clinton is coming to promote raised new concerns that the presidential visit will be plagued by problems. Earlier today, Israel rejected a U.S. compromise on the release of Palestinian prisoners and also affirmed it will not withdraw troops in the West Bank unless the top Palestinian decision-making body holds a vote to annul clauses of the PLO charter calling for Israel's destruction.

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 pullback 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 .

16.12.98 , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet yesterday that Israel would not proceed with a scheduled handover of more of the West Bank to Palestinians on Friday. Netanyahu said that Palestinians have not satisfied the requirements for such a handover to take place.

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.

23.12.98 , The Palestinian Authority freed the spiritual leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas Wednesday from nearly two months of house arrest. The release of Sheik Ahmed Yassin is likely to heighten tensions between the Palestinians and Israel, coming as the two sides accuse each other of stalling the Wye River land-for-security accord. Outside Yassin's house in a slum neighborhood of Gaza City, a crowd of rejoicing followers surrounded the frail, ailing sheik in his wheelchair, kissing and greeting him. Word of Yassin's release drew new criticism from the Israel.

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.