| January
11: Finance Minister Hurvitz
resigns. His successor will be Minister of Communication Yoram
Aridor. Prime Minister Menachem
Begin proposes advancing the elections from November to
June.
January
13: Minister of Communication, Yoram Aridor, announces
that TV programs will be broadcast in color.
January
22: The one-shekel
coin is put into use. The public is irritated by its tiny
size.
February
1: The treasury announces tax reductions on cars and
electrical appliances.
February
2 - 3: The Tel
Aviv Stock Exchange crashes. Stocks drop by an average of
15%.
February
22, 24, 25: University lecturers and the entire educational
system strike.
February:
At a press interview, US President Ronald
Reagan responds to a question on the Israeli West Bank settlement
activity: "I disagreed with the previous administration
referred to them as illegal; they are not illegal."
February:
Deputy Prime Minister Yigael
Yadin announces his retirement from political life and the
dissolution of his political party, the Democratic Movement,
when the term of the Knesset ends.
March:
Strikes in all sectors continue throughout the month.
March:
The ultra-Orthodox demonstrate in Jerusalem over the opening
of a new traffic artery - the Ramot road - adjoining one od
their neighborhoods. Thousands demonstrate on the Shabbat of
14 March at the Ramot road. Passing cars are stoned.
March
6 - 7: A Palestinian terrorist using a windsurfer infiltrates
into Acco and takes a hostage. After a dramatic nightlong search,
he is apprehended asleep in an Arab village in the Galilee while
the hostage has escaped.
March
8: The Israeli freighter "Massada" sinks
in the vicinity of the Bermuda Triangle with a loss of 24 crew
members.
March
26: Maccabi
Tel Aviv wins the European basketball cup for a second time,
beating Sinudyne Bologna 80:79.
April:
Following a Syrian bombardment of Christian strongholds on the
Damascus-Beirut road, Foreign Minister Yitzhak
Shamir declares: "Israel cannot sit idly by and watch
Syrian troops massacre Lebanese Christians." A week later,
Israeli troops attack Syrian-supported terrorist targets in
Lebanon. Israel publicly acknowledges it is supplying Lebanese
Christians "with means and equipment to protect themselves."
April
16: A hot-air balloon operated by Palestinian terrorists
is brought down near Kibbutz Manara in the Galilee. The terrorists
are killed.
April
20 - 21: Intensive skirmishes take place between Israeli
forces and Palestinian terrorists in southern Lebanon. Israeli
planes attack terrorist bases. The Upper Galilee panhandle is
bombarded by Katyushas.
April
28 : Israeli warplanes shoot down two Syrian helicopters
involved in a Syrian offensive against the Lebanese Christians.
The Syrians deploy Soviet surface-to-air missiles in Lebanon's
Bekaa Valley, posing a threat to Israeli aircraft. US special
envoy Philip Habib spends the ensuing months attempting to resolve
the crisis.
April
29: Syria positions S.A.6 antiaircraft missiles in
Lebanese territory.
April:
The Reagan administration decides to sell five airborne warning
and control system planes (AWACs) and other military equipment
to Saudi Arabia. Israel opposes the sale as a grave threat to
its security.
May
19: US special envoy Philip Habib presents a proposal
for the solution of the Lebanese problem and the Syrian missile
crisis.
May:
Prime Minister Menachem
Begin demands that Syria remove its surface-to-air missiles
from Syrian territory bordering Lebanon, as well as from the
Bekaa Valley. He acknowledges that planned Israeli attacks on
the missiles had been postponed at the urging of the US.
May
28: Israeli planes destroy Libyan antiaircraft missile
positions on the outskirts of Beirut.
June
3: Prime Minister Menachem Begin declares in the Knesset:
"Should the [Lebanese] Christians be attacked by the Syrian
air force, we will help you with our air force", adding
that the "security and survival" of Lebanon's Christians
was of "vital interest" to Israel.
June
4 : Menachem Begin and Anwar
al-Sadat hold a summit meeting at Sharm el-Sheikh.
June
7 : Israeli warplanes completely destroy Iraq's Osirak
nuclear reactor near Baghdad. Prime Minister Menachem Begin
justifies the preemptive attack because Israel believes that
the Iraqis intend to produce atomic weapons and use them against
Israel. Neither the US nor Egypt had advance information of
the attack, which comes three days after the Begin-Sadat meeting
and several weeks before the elections. The operation is criticized
by Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin, who describe it as an election
ploy.
June
19 : The US joins other Security Council members in
condemning
the Israeli raid on the Iraqi nuclear reactor. An Israeli statement
asserts it "will continue with all means available to it
to protect its people and prevent its enemies from developing
weapons of mass destruction.
June
30 : Israel holds national elections of the 10th
Knesset, with 1,937,366 votes cast. Likud wins 48 seats;
the Alignment 47 seats; and the National Religious 4 seats.
July
10 - 24: Violence flares in northern Israel and southern
Lebanon, with Israeli attacks on terrorist targets in Lebanon
and the PLO shelling of population centers in northern Israel.
The town of Kiriat Shmonah is virtually abandoned and thousands
of Galilee families are forced to dwell in air raid shelters.
Israeli warplanes bomb PLO headquarters in Beirut. Several hundred
persons are killed. In reaction, the US postpones delivery of
F-16s to Israel. On 24 July, a cease-fire, arranged by US special
envoy Philip Habib, takes place.
July:
Israel, Egypt, and the US sign an agreement on the nature of
multinational force that is to monitor security arrangements
after Israel evacuates the Sinai in April 1982.
July:
The feeling at the end of the month in Jerusalem is of military
and political defeat. The IDF and the Israeli air force had
failed to break the PLO in southern Lebanon.
August
3 : A dispute erupts between the archaeological activities
at a site in Jerusalem's City of David. Orthodox authorities
wish to halt the excavation because they believe the site to
be an ancient Jewish cemetery. The Supreme Court will rule that
excavation at the site is legal.
August
5: The new government is installed, with Menachem
Begin Prime Minister, Ariel
Sharon as minister of defense, and Yitzhak
Shamir as minister for foreign affairs. David
Levy is deputy prime minister.
August
7 : Saudi Crown Prince Fahd announces an eight-point
peace plan for the Middle East to replace the Camp
David Accords. It is rejected by Israel and the PLO.
August
24: A new power station at Hadera links up with the
national grid.
August
25 : Menachem Begin and Anwar al-Sadat hold a summit
meeting at Alexandria and discuss the resumption of autonomy
talks.
Summer:
The IDF general staff begins to improve two basic operational
plans. "Little Pines" covers an invasion of southern
Lebanon, designed to destroy the PLO military presence. Implicit
is avoidance of a clash with the Syrians. "Big Pines"
is a more invasive operation, reaching as far north as Beirut,
and possibly also ejecting Syrian units from the southern and
central Lebanon and the southern Beka'a. From the start Defense
Minister Ariel Sharon pushes "Big Pines".
September
22: Talks on the autonomy of the West Bank and Gaza
Strip resume between Israel and Egypt.
September
24 - 26: An Israeli missile boat runs aground off the
Saudi coast. It is extricated after contact is made with the
Saudis through the Americans.
September:
Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets with US President Ronald
Reagan in Washington. An agreement is reached on wide-ranging
cooperation on military matters. The US will purchase 200 million
dollars of Israeli-produced military equipment. In an apparent
misunderstanding, Begin continues to denounce the proposed US
sale of arms, including AWACs to Saudi Arabia.
September:
The new Northern Command Operations Commander (OC), Major-General
Amir Drori, is given both versions of the Invasion plans.
October
6 : Egypt's president Anwar al-Sadat is assassinated
during a military parade marking the 8th anniversary of the
Yom
Kippur War. The assassins are Muslim fundamentalists opposed
to Sadat's peace with Israel and his liberal interpretation
of Islamic law. He is replaced by Vice President Hosni
Mubarak.
October
10 : Prime Minister Menachem Begin attends Sadat's
funeral in Cairo and later meets with President Mubarak. They
pledge "to each other peace forever."
October
16: Moshe
Dayan dies aged 66.
October
27: An Israeli-Egypt agreement on the completion of
Israel's withdrawal from Sinai is signed.
October:
Ariel Sharon declares in front of the General Staff that he
supports the implementation of "Big Pines" and encourages
the IDF and IAF to continue and increase their preparations
for an Invasion of Lebanon that "includes Beirut".
November
1: The
Hebrew University begins the academic year in its campus
on Mount Scopus after a hiatus of over three decades.
November
8: A new military airfield in the negev, Uvdah, is
inaugurated.
November
20: The first Israeli woman undergoes in vitro fertilization.
November
30 : Israel and the US sign a Memorandum
of Understanding on Strategic Cooperation to deter Soviet
threats in the Middle East. In response to Arab criticism, the
US notes that the memorandum is not addressed to any other country
than the Soviet Union.
December
1: The settlers of Yamit in northern Sinai barricade
themselves in their settlement in protest against the scheduled
evacuation.
December
7: Defense Minister Ariel Sharon visits the settlement
of Yamit and promises to act on the issue of compensation.
December
14 : Israel adopts the Golan
Heights law extending the "Israeli law, jurisdiction,
and administration" to the Golan Heights. Although reported
as a annexation, it is not: the Golan Heights are not declared
to be Israeli territory.
December
18 : The US suspends a memorandum of strategic cooperation
it signed with Israel on 30 November after Israel adopts the
Golan Heights law.
December
20: Defense Minister Ariel
Sharon submits "Big Pines" to the cabinet. He
tells the ministers that the IDF does not intend to assault
Beirut, this would be left to the Phalange. Prime Minister Begin
demands that the plan is approved immediately. The cabinet,
led by Interior Minister Yosef
Burg, refuses.
December
23: A slash in subsidies of basic commodities result
in cost-hikes of 20% - 25%.
December
24 - 25: Talks between the Yamit settlers and the minister
of finance on the issue of compensation break down.
In
1981, Israel's annual inflation rate is 101.5%.
"Spiritual
Resistance: Art from Concentration Camps, 1940-1945", a
selection of drawings and paintings from the collection of Kibbutz
Lohamei HaGetaot,
is published.
A
Museum for Jewish
Art from Italy opens in Jerusalem. Mainly from the collection
of U. S. Nahon, the museum houses almost 1,000 objects, including
the original synagogue
of Conegliano Veneto, which was built in 1701 and brought
to Israel in 1952.
Ziva
Amishai-Maisels, Israeli scholar of Jewish art, writes "Jacob
Steinhardt: Etchings and Lithographs", which contains a
classified catalogue of 246 etchings and lithographs. Jacob
Steinhardt, painter and printmaker and an early disciple
of German expressionism, left Germany for Palestine in 1933.
T.
Carmi, Hebrew poet and historian, edits "The Penguin
Book of Hebrew Verse", in which he traces the development
of Hebrew poetry from biblical times to the contemporary period.
The
Israel Museum
in Jerusalem exhibits "Hebrew Micrography: One Thousand
Years of Art in Script" and "The Jews of Kurdistan:
Daily Life, Customs, Arts and Crafts."
The
Museum of the
Diaspora in Tel Aviv exhibits "La Nación"
- The Spanish and Portuguese Jews in the Carribean"; "Jews
from the Konkan: The Bnei Israel Communities in India";
"The Wonderful Island of Djerba: An Ancient Jewish Community
on the Tunisian Coast"; and "The Jews in France under
the Revolution and the Empire."
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