| January
1: Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat, commemorates the founding of the Fatah in 1959 by
planting an olive tree and a palm tree outside his Gaza office,
a tradition since he returned to the Palestinian territories
in 1994.
January
4: David Levy resigns
as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister due to personal
distrust between him and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Netanyahu
holds the foreign affairs portfolio until the appointment of
Ariel Sharon on October 13, 1998.
January
4: Mideast envoy Dennis Ross will proceed with a visit
to the Middle East despite the political upheaval in Israel.
But he delays his visit for one day.
January
5: Netanyahu's weakened government narrowly survives
the budget vote.
January
6: US Mideast envoy Dennis Ross and Prime Minister
Netanyahu discuss
the Palestinian autonomy. (More.)
January
7: American, Turkish and Israeli ships participate
in an operation, dubbed Reliant
Mermaid.
January
10: Several are hurt in an Israeli-Palestinian clash
in Hebron.
January
11: In a 5-4 decision the Supreme Court refuses temporarily
bar Israeli interrogators from tying a Palestinian detainee
to a tilted stool with his hands cuffed behind his back, a sack
over his head and loud music blasting in his ears.
January
11: Shas spiritual mentor Ovadia Yosef rules that it
is permitted to pick the nose on Shabbat.
January
13: The Israeli cabinet sets tough conditions
for the peace process. The document links territorial concessions
demanded by the Palestinians to a 12-page list of Israeli conditions,
including a crackdown on terrorist attacks against Israeli targets,
the revision of anti-Israeli clauses in the PLO charter and
a reduction of the Palestinian police force.
January
18: The Knesset delays
a decision on a further West Bank troop redeployment until after
the summit in Washington between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and U.S. President Bill Clinton.
January 21: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
meets
US President Bill Clinton in an unscheduled second trip to the
White House to discuss the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace
process. (More.)
January
21: Chairman Yasser Arafat arrives in Washington for
talks.
January
23: Yasser Arafat rejects
Israel's offer of a limited troop pullback in Israeli-occupied
portions of the West Bank.
January
31: The PLO's Executive Committee issues
a letter confirming that all paragraphs in the Palestinian Charter
that call for the destruction of the state of Israel have been
abolished.
February:
The Ne'eman Committee submits its conclusions, recommending
that non-Orthodox streams be given a role in the conversion
process by establishing an inter-denominational conversion institute,
while leaving actual conversions under the jurisdiction of the
(Orthodox) Chief Rabbinate. The recommendations are endorsed
by the Knesset.
February
2: Israel deploys
four U.S.-made Patriot missile batteries in its southern Negev
desert, as a precautionary measure in light of the current standoff
between Iraq and the United Nations.
February
3: The government tries to calm
the nervous public over an attack threat.
February
14: Palestinians again are attempting to juggle
longstanding sentiment and political realities as they deal
with the prospect of U.S. military action against Iraq.
February
15: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that Israel will not tolerate
attacks similar to ones made by Iraq during the Persian Gulf
War.
March
4: Ezer Weizman is re-elected
for a second term as israel's President.
March
7: Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat opens
a new session of the 88-member Palestinian legislature and runs
into criticism from lawmakers upset by allegations of corruption
and mismanagement in his administration.
March
10: Protests
break out in Hebron shortly after Israeli soldiers open fire
on a van at a West Bank army roadblock, killing three Palestinian
passengers and wounding at least two.
March
12: As many as 28 people are injured
in clashes between stone-throwing Palestinian protesters and
Israeli troops.
March
14: Infrastructure Minister Ariel Sharon, who is responsible
for the 1982 deployment (Operation
Peace for Galilee) of troops into south Lebanon says it
is time for Israeli troops to leave,
provided the Lebanese take responsibility for Israeli security.
March
17: British Foreign Minister Robin Cook on a Mideast
trip demands
an end to the Jewish settlement expansion.
March
18 : A hacker who calls himself "The Analyzer"
penetrates computer systems at the Pentagon, NASA, the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, and the US Naval Undersea Warfare Center.
The FBI teams up with the Israel Police, who zeroes in on Ehud
Tannenbaum, an 18-year-old from Hod Hasharon. After being questioned
at length, he is inducted to the IDF for compulsory service.
March
19: Pressured by impending U.S. plans to announce
a new Mideast peace initiative, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu says that "only Israel" will make the decisions
regarding its security.
March
20: UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan, during a visit in Lebanon, urges
Israel and Palestinians to work with the United States to revive
talks.
March
20: Six Israeli soldiers are wounded by shelling in
south Lebanon.
March
24: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrives
in Israel.
March
28: The Egyptian government urges
Chairman Yasser Arafat not to reject a U.S. peace initiative
being promoted by U.S. envoy Dennis Ross. (More.)
March
29: Prime Minister Netanyahu holds talks
with US Mideast envoy Dennis Ross. No new troop pullbacks will
be made from the West Bank unless the Palestinians make reciprocal
security pledges. (More.)
March
31: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the West
Bank town of Ma'aleh Adumim. He says that the only way Israel
can achieve
its aims is by standing firm.
March:
A study released in March shows that more than half of students
in grades 6 - 11 have been victims of hooliganism or harassment
at school; some 23% of the boys and 6% of the girls report that
they carry weapons for self-defense.
April
9: The Palestinian Authority announces
the arrest of Hamas leader Rantisi.
April
13: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders
his office to stop paying for his expensive cigars in the face
of a public outcry over a newspaper report that the smoke was
costing taxpayers almost $40,000 a year.
April
15: The presidents of Egypt and Syria demand
that Israel withdraw unconditionally from southern Lebanon.
April
20: The US announces
to hold new talks with Arafat and Netanyahu in May in London.
Prime Minister Netanyahu expresses
hope for a "progress" in the London talks.
April
21: Zvi Ben-Ari (Gregory Lerner), whose detention and
trial became a cause celebre that created enormous resentment
in the Russian-immigrant community, is convicted of fraud and
bribery and sentenced to six years in prison and a 5 million
shekel fine.
April
28: Prime Minister Netanyahu meets
Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak in Cairo. Mubarak urges Netanyahu to accept the
US peace proposal.
April
29: Palestinian Minister of Higher Education Hanan
Ashrawi vows
that a Palestinian state will be born in 1999.
April
30: Israel celebrates
50 years of statehood.
May
2: During his visit
in Israel US Vice President Al
Gore warns
that the Middle East peace process has reached a "critical
moment."
May
4: The London Mideast talks continue
into a second day.
May
5: U.S. negotiators, led by Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright, give
up hope for a major agreement between Israel and Palestinians
during the peace talks in London.
May
5: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to meet
with his Cabinet for discussions that appear to hold the key
to the future of the Mideast peace talks.
May
6: A car bomb kills the Prisons Service's chief medical
officer, Dr. Ya'acov Zigelboim.
May
6: A Yeshiva student is stabbed
to death in the Old City of Jerusalem.
May
7: An Arab is stabbed
and wounded in a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem.
May
13: U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu schedule
another meeting to try to resolve the impasse over the Mideast
peace process.
May
14: Raising black flags of mourning and keys to homes
long gone, Palestinians stream into the streets for a "March
of One Million" in remembrance of their uprooting by
Israel's creation 50 years ago.
May
14: U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conclude
their second meeting in two days without finding a way to break
the impasse on the Middle East peace process.
May
18: U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and
Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat end
their London talks on the Mideast peace process without major
progress.
May
19: Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat accuses
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of intentionally prolonging
the peacemaking crisis.
May
26: Jerusalem's Mayor Ehud
Olmert foils
attempts by Jewish settlers to make new inroads into Arab east
Jerusalem, ordering the demolition of tin shacks put up by settlers
overnight in the Muslim Quarter of the walled Old City.
May
25: US House Speaker Newt
Gingrich heads a 25-member congressional delegation to Israel.
(More.)
May
31: With the Middle East peace process stalled, Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat says that he has received the go-ahead
from most of the Arab states to hold an Arab summit to coordinate
their efforts to move negotiations forward.
May:
According to the recommendation of the Neeman Commission, a
Joint Institute of Jewish Studies is set
up.
May:
According to figures presented to the Knesset, there is a murder
every 56 hours; a rape every 12 hours; an assault every 21 minutes;
and a car theft every 11 minutes.
June
4: The US Mideast
peace plan is published. The government of Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears close to accepting the U.S.
plan, which would leave 40 percent of the West Bank under full
or partial Palestinian control and restrict the expansion of
Jewish settlements. The Palestinians already have accepted the
initiative, which never has been formally unveiled but has been
widely reported. U.S. officials expect a decision from Israel
within days.
June
10:
A Palestinian man is shot to death, surprised
by Israeli troops while he and another man are planting bombs
near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza strip
June
21:
Over objections from the United States and the Palestinian Authority,
the Israeli Cabinet approves
a new development plan that will bring Jewish settlements under
the direction of an "umbrella authority" run by the
city of Jerusalem. (More.)
July
1: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat says that Palestinians
will defend
Jerusalem "in whatever way we can" from Israel's plan
to strengthen its hold on the holy city.
July
3: A tense standoff
between Israeli and Palestinian troops ends without major violence
after the two sides scuffled and later pointed guns at one another
from hastily dug fortifications outside Jewish settlements in
the southern Gaza Strip.
July
7: In an overwhelming vote of support for Palestinians
amid the stalled Mideast peace process, the U.N. General Assembly
passes
a resolution
upgrading Palestinian status to just short of statehood. The
United States oppose the measure, saying it would harm peace
efforts.
July
10: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says that
the United States is "patiently working" to revive
the stalled Mideast peace talks, but she also concedes that
"we are coming to the end" of that patience.
July
13: The US State Department announces
that Israel and the Palestinians will resume direct negotiations.
July
16: Israeli businessman Nahum
Manbar is convicted of selling material for the production
of chemical weapons to Iran. He is sentenced to 16 years in
prison for treason. (More.)
July
18: For the first time in months, high-level Israeli
and Palestinian negotiators will sit down face
to face, trying to break an impasse that is threatening
to derail the Middle East peace process.
July
19: Israel and the Palestinians continue
direct negotiations after both sides indicate they made some
progress.
July
22: Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak
Mordechai urges
the United States to send Middle East troubleshooter Dennis
Ross to the region immediately and call a three-way U.S.-Israeli-Palestinian
summit to bridge the gaps.
July
23: The Clinton
administration tells Palestinian negotiators it sees no chance
that Israel will accept
a U.S. peace proposal for a further pullback in the West Bank.
July
24: The Palestinians agree
to resume talks with Israel on day-to-day problems.
July
25: Palestinian leaders plead
for US help in peace talks.
August
1: The Palestinians threaten to end
the talks with Israel.
August
5: Two Jewish settlers are killed
outside the Jewish settlement of Itzhar in the West Bank.
August
17: The Israeli Cabinet votes
to erect a barrier along the Green Line, pre-1967 border between
Israel and the West Bank.
August
18: Water
emerges as the latest topic of dispute in the stagnant peace
talks between Israel and the Palestinians. (More.)
August
21: Rabbi Shlomo
Raanan of Hebron is stabbed to death by a Palestinian. The
Israeli army seals Hebron.
August
25: Israelis and Palestinians mark
the 5th anniversary of the Oslo
Accords while Palestinians, Jewish settlers and Israeli
soldiers clash in the divided West Bank town of Hebron.
August
27: A small bomb explodes
in Tel Aviv, near the main synagogue, injuring at least 20 people.
August
28: Hebron youths throw
rocks after the curfew is lifted.
September
1: Israelis and Palestinians blame
each other for their failure to reach an agreement on Israeli
withdrawal from the West Bank.
September
2: The deaths of two Palestinian children are blamed
on the curfew
Israel imposed on Hebron.
September
6: An Israeli court rules that a U.S. teenager wanted
for murder in the United States can be extradited
despite his claim of Israeli citizenship.
September
11: Two leading figures of the military wing of Hamas
are killed
in a shoot-out with Israeli troops near Hebron.
September
12: At least 16 Palestinians and an Israeli soldier
are injured in street
clashes triggered by the slaying by Israeli forces of two
top militants of the Islamic group Hamas.
September
20: US Mideast envoy Dennis Ross starts an 11-day Mideast
shuttle.
September
24: A bomb explodes
at a Jerusalem bus-stop during morning rush hours, injuring
an Israeli soldier and wrecking the station's shelter.
September
25: Former US President Jimmy
Carter marks the Camp
David anniversary. "The Israeli mothers want peace,
the Palestinian mothers want peace, Lebanese mothers want peace
and Syrian mothers want peace," Carter says. "To me
that's the foundation of hope." (More.)
September
28: Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu hold their first face-to-face meeting
in nearly a year. (More.)
September
29: Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat is
willing to accept
a joint security arrangement over a small portion of the 13
percent of land in the West Bank that Israel has agreed in principle
to turn over to Palestinian authorities.
October
6: U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright starts
a three-way meeting
with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority
President Yasser Arafat.
October
8: Palestinians stage
a general strike and clash with Israeli forces in Hebron to
protest an eight-day blockade of the divided West Bank town
and a curfew in the downtown area.
October
11: A forest fire
spreads to a residential area forcing thousands of Israelis
in a suburb of Haifa to flee their homes.
October
13: Two Palestinian militants kill
an Israeli and wound another critically near Jerusalem.
October
14: The Mideast summit begins
at the Wye River Conference Centers in Maryland, US. It is aimed
at breaking a 19-month stalemate in the peace process.
October
16: The summit continues.
October
17: Israel's new foreign minister, Ariel Sharon, makes
his diplomatic debut
when he and Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai join
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Mideast summit. (More.)
October
18: U.S. President Bill Clinton on hopes to forge
an agreement among Israeli and Palestinian leaders that will
lead to a long-sought interim Mideast peace deal. (More.)
October
18: Behind
the scenes of the summit.
October
19: A Palestinian man throws
two hand grenades near a crowded bus-stop in Beersheva. At least
66 people are injured in the attack. US spokesman at the peace
talks, James Rubin, publishes a statement
in behalf of Prime Minister Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat: "We
agree not to give in to efforts of extremists to destroy the
hope for peace and security for both our peoples."
October
19: The Middle East peace talks in Wye Mills continue.
October
21: The framework of a Middle East interim peace agreement
is taking
shape.
October
22: Israel and the Palestinians reach
an interim accord which will be called the Wye
River Memorandum.
October
24: Jewish settlers protest
the new Middle East peace accord. (More.)
October
26: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu loses
the first of several expected political battles over the new
interim peace accord with the Palestinians. The extreme rightwing
Moledet party submits a non-confidence motion.
October
27: Israel and Jordan sign an agricultural cooperation
agreement that will initiate a model project in which Awassi
sheep from Israel, along with the appropriate technology and
equipment, will be sent to Jordan to establish a herd in the
southern part of that country. The aim is to improve the genetic
composition of the sheep and the yield of sheep's milk and dairy
products.
October
29: A Palestinian motorist drives
a car into an Israeli convoy of army jeeps and a school bus
in the Gaza Strip and detonates explosives, killing himself
and an Israeli man. (More.)
October
30: Hours after a Palestinian suicide bomber attempts
to blow up a busload of Jewish settler children, Yasser Arafat
launches an unprecedented crackdown
on Islamic militants. Sheikh Yassin, the spiritual leader of
Hamas, is put under house arrest.
October
31: Israel and the US sign a pact
to counter the Mideast weapon buildup.
November
1: The Hamas threatens
the Palestinian Authority in response to the crackdown in their
activities.
November
4: Israel insists
on the arrest of 30 Palestinians.
November
5: Following three delays Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
convenes
his Cabinet to begin the process of approving the U.S.-brokered
land-for-security deal with the Palestinians.
November
6: A blast
in central Jerusalem leaves two suspected bombers dead and at
least 20 people injured, threatening the Middle East peace process.
November
7: Palestinian security officials arrest
several members of the militant Islamic Jihad group, blaming
them for the attack. The Israeli Cabinet delays action on a
new peace accord following the violence.
November
7: Prime Minister Netanyahu vows
to build more settlements in Jerusalem, including Har Homa.
November
9: Prime Minister Netanyahu delays
the phased withdrawal of soldiers from 13 percent of West Bank
land. (More.)
November
11: More than 10,000 Jewish settlers and their political
supporters rally
against the Wye River Memorandum.
November
12: In a move
seen as an attempt to ease strident domestic opposition to the
land-for-peace agreement with the Palestinians, 1,025 homes
will be built in the Har Homa neighborhood in east Jerusalem.
November
14: The Palestinians mark the 10th anniversary of the
PLO's declaration
of independence. Speaking
before a crowd of thousands, Palestinian is greeted by cheers
when he says he will declare an independent state when the Oslo
Peace accords expire in May 1999.
November
15: Israeli police close
down a theater in Arab East Jerusalem and station troops
outside to prevent a Palestinian political gathering.
November
16: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspends
a further troop withdrawal from the West Bank because of Yasser
Arafat's threat to declare Palestinian independence.
November
17: The Knesset approves
the Wye River agreement by a vote of 75-19, with nine abstentions.
(More.)
November
17: Israeli and Palestinian negotiators meet
to try to conclude an agreement on a land route for Palestinians
between the West Bank and Gaza.
November
20: Israel withdraws
its troops from parts of the West Bank and frees dozens of Palestinian
prisoners. (More.)
November
21: Palestinians say that only 100 of the 250 released
were political prisoners,
while the rest were common criminals.
November
24 : The Gaza International Airport is opened
in Rafah at the Egyptian-Gaza Strip border.
November
27: The pro-Iranian Hezbollah group claims
responsibility for the ambush, which brings the number of Israeli
soldiers killed in the region to seven in the past 11 days alone.
Prime Minister Netanyahu cuts
short his trip to Europe.
November
27: Israeli troops and Palestinians clash
in Hebron.
November
28: Israel launches
an air and artillery strike against Hezbollah positions in southern
Lebanon, while under intense pressure to retaliate for the recent
killing of several soldiers.
November
28: Violent clashes
between Israeli authorities and Palestinian demonstrators break
out in three cities, as Palestinians demanding the release of
prisoners from Israeli jails hold a series of demonstrations
in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
November
29: The Israeli Cabinet calls
for retaliation against Lebanon.
November
29: The Palestinian Legislative Council calls
for an emergency meeting following a second day of disputes
between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip.
November
30: The public pressure
for a withdrawal from Lebanon mounts.
November
30: US President Bill Clinton meets
with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
December
1: Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat says
he reserves
the right to declare a Palestinian state in May 1999, even if
Israelis and Palestinians fail to reach a final peace agreement.
December
1: The testimony
of an Israeli interrogator confirms what human rights organizations
and Palestinian detainees have long contended, that Israeli
interrogators are using force to try to extract information
from Palestinian suspects.
December
2: In the wake of the latest outbreak
of violence in the West Bank, the Israeli Cabinet decides to
suspend any further troop withdrawals until the Palestinian
Authority meets a new set of conditions.
December
2: An Arab man is stabbed
to death in Jerusalem.
December
4: The Palestinians say they will proceed
with the Wye accord.
December
5: Palestinian protesters and Israeli troops clash
in the West Bank.
December
6: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accuses
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat of "making a farce"
of the Wye accords.
December
7: In a sharp disagreement
with Israel, the Clinton administration insists that a pullback
of soldiers from the West Bank must proceed on time despite
recent violence by Palestinians.
December
8: U.S. Middle East envoy Dennis Ross shuttles
between Israeli and Palestinian leaders to salvage their land-for-security
agreement.
December
9: Palestinians stage
a general strike and hurl stones at Israelis throughout the
West Bank on the 11th anniversary of the start of the intifada,
or uprising, against Israeli occupation.
December
9: Israeli soldiers shoot
and kill a Palestinian teenager during violent protests near
a Jewish settlement outside Ramallah.
December
10: Prime Minister Netanyahu says he has ordered an
Israeli crackdown
on Palestinian unrest ahead of the visit by U.S. President Clinton
aimed at fostering peace.
December
12: US President Bill Clinton starts a three-day trip
to the Middle East.
December
13: President Bill Clinton addresses
students in Jerusalem: "There are 12 million Jews in the
world, driven from their homeland, subject to holocausts, subject
to centuries of prejudice. And yet, here you are. If you can
do this after 4,000 years, you can make this peace."
December
14: US President holds
a joint meeting at the Israeli-Gaza border with Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President
Yasser Arafat. (More.)
December
14: Rising from their seats and voting
by raising their hands, the Palestine National Council votes
nearly unanimously to remove clauses from the Palestine Liberation
Organization charter that call for the destruction of Israel.
December
16: Israel confirms
it will not proceed with further handovers of West Bank land
as scheduled under the Wye River land-for-security deal.
December
16: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces
he will call early elections if Israel's parliament fails to
support his Middle East peace policies.
December
17: The Israeli army announces
it will deploy U.S.-supplied Patriot anti-missile systems, if
necessary, and urges the public to make sure they have working
gas masks.
December
20: The Cabinet's vote - unanimous except for one abstention
- affirms
Netanyahu's position not to withdraw more troops from the West
Bank until the Palestinians meet certain demands.
December
21: The Knesset votes 81 to 30 to approve
the first reading of a bill calling for new general elections.
The bill must survive two more readings, but the wide margin
of support virtually ensures it will pass. (More.)
December
23: Violence escalates
along the Israeli-Lebanese border. Rockets are fired.
December
24: Hundreds of Palestinians and tourists are on hand
in Bethlehem to welcome the annual Christmas Eve procession
of Latin Patriarch, the region's top Roman Catholic cleryman.
December
24: Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, Israel's top soldier until
five months ago, formally retires
from the army and clears the way to form a centrist party to
challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
December
27: The Likud Party of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu meets
to set a date for its primary ahead of next year's general election.
Uzi Landau, a hard-line Likud ideologue, announces he will challenge
Netanyahu for the party's leadership.
December
28: Benjamin Begin, the son of Israel's Nobel Prize-winning
Prime Minister Menachem Begin, announces
his candidacy for prime minister.
December
29: The Israeli army demolishes
two Palestinian homes.
December
31: The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv is closed
after receiving a "credible and specific" threat.
December:
A group of MKs who have left the Likud, the Labor Party, and
Tzomet, form the Center
Party.
The
last native speaker of Bijil
Neo-Aramaic dies in Jerusalem.
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