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Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency and the WZO: Sallai Meridor.

Director General of the Jewish Agency: Aaron Abramovich.

Treasurer of the Jewish Agency: Chaim Chesler.

February 2: Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization Treasurer, Chaim Chesler, declares that the WZO must lead the international protest by Jewish organizations against the planned new government in Austria.

February 2: Members of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization staff committee, accompanied by Jewish Agency and WZO treasurer, Chaim Chesler, demonstrate outside the Austrian embassy in Tel Aviv, protesting at the inclusion of Jörg Haider and his Freedom Party in Austria's government.

February 16: A letter by World Zionist Organization Chairman Sallai Meridor is sent to Heads of Jewish Organizations worldwide concerning the inclusion of Jörg Haider's Freedom Party to the new Austrian Government. (More.)

February 21: The first Board of Governor meeting in the new millennium takes place in Jerusalem. Treasurer Chaim Chesler submits his report.

February 25 - March 1: Jewish journalists from all over the world meet in Jerusalem at the Eighth International Conference of the Jewish Media.

March 13: At an initiative of Jewish Agency emissaries, heads of Zionist youth movements, student organizations and the Jewish community, 6 tons of equipment are collected to be distributed to the flood victims in the South African Black Township of Alexandra near Johannesburg. The equipment includes sheets, tents and food.

March 15: A public demonstration against the phenomenon of "Haiderism" takes place in Jerusalem. This is the first mass demonstration which will take place in the Israeli capital, organized by the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency for Israel after a series of demonstrations which have taken place in capitals throughout the world. This demonstration is part of an overall campaign, which was initiated in Israel and throughout the world by the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency against racism, antisemitism and "Haiderism", with the inclusion of the extreme right-wing Austrian Freedom Party, headed by Jörg Haider, in the Austrian Government coalition.

April 7: 250 new immigrants in Israel without families are the guests at the Seder of veteran Israeli families as part of the "Yachad Baseder" initiative of the Jewish Agency. Hosts include Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Minister for Regional Development Shimon Peres, Minister of Education Yossi Sarid, members of Knesset, mayors, heads of local councils, and members of the Jewish Agency executive.

May 9: The 1 millionth immigrant since 1989 arrives.

May 24: A medical delegation leaves Israel for Ethiopia to aid the victims of the Ethiopian famine disaster. The operation is named after Abie Nathan.

May 26: The Jewish Agency initiates a world-wide delegation of solidarity with confrontation line residents to increase aid to the region.

May: The Jewish Agency for Israel flies 100 Falash Mura -- Ethiopians whose ancestors converted from Judaism to Christianity -- from Ethiopia to Israel. The group is the first to arrive since Interior Minister Natan Sharansky visited Ethiopia a month before to assess the situation of the thousands of Falash Mura who have amassed in transit camps hoping to emigrate to Israel.

June 1: The Chairman of the Jewish Agency, Sallai Meridor, sharply attacks Minister of Justice, Yossi Beilin's repeated attacks against the national institutions.

June 1: The allocations of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany in the field of Jewish education and for projects in the State of Israel will remain intact. This is decided during discussions in New York following a demand by Jewish Agency Chairman, Sallai Meridor.

June 13: Following a request by the Ukrainian Government, the Jewish Agency for Israel will expand its support for bringing to Israel for recuperation and vacation, groups of orphans and children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

July 18: 45 Chechen orphans, rescued by the Jewish Agency, arrive in Israel.

July 26: 400 Youths in the Jewish Agency Israel Experience Program cross the Sea of Galilee on 19 rafts.

July 31: Uri Gordon, Zionist leader and former head of the Jewish Agency's Department of Immigration and Absorption, dies.

September 18: Ephraim Lapid is appointed as the Director of the Jewish Agency's Spokesman's Unit.

October 12: Prime Minister Ehud Barak addresses over 200 Jewish communities worldwide by a live satellite video conference. The Prime Minister is introduced by the Chairman of the Jewish Agency, Sallai Meridor.

October: ATIDIM, a national program to develop the human resources and close the socio-economic gaps crippling Israel’s periphery through creating equal educational opportunity, is launched.

December 3: The Treasurer of the Jewish Agency for Israel Chaim Chesler is appointed to the 6-man Management Committee of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage as a representative of the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO).

New immigrants: 60,192.

The majority of the Jewish Agency absorption centers have been in continuous use for at least three decades. The Agency starts the upgrading of absorption centers in order to integrate vulnerable immigrants.

December 31 1999 - January 1 2000: Sigal Gilboa gives birth to twins born in different millennia. Dr. Yinon Gilboa, an obstetrician, assists in his wife's Caesarean section as she gives birth New Year's Eve to a daughter two minutes before midnight and a son born just after midnight.

January 2: On the eve of the Israel-Syria peace talks, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says there is "no done deal" and additional rounds of negotiations may be needed.

January 3: Negotiators from Israel and Syria gather in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

January 3: A three-way meeting among U.S. President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa is abruptly cancelled.

January 4: Israel and Syria move back on course for detailed talks on a peace deal. US President Bill Clinton convenes the meetings.

January 4: Israel and the Palestinians reach an agreement on the transfer of West Bank land from Israel.

January 4: A halachic ruling issued by prominent rabbis declares the Golan Heights a part of the Land of Israel and "forbids dismantling communities in the Land of Israel."

January 5: The peace negotiations in Shepherdstown resume.

January 7: U.S. President Clinton tries to get Israel and Syria moving forward in peace talks.

January 8: The Clinton administration presents a draft peace treaty to the Israeli and Syrian negotiators.

January 9: Israel and Syria prepare for a last full day of peace talks.

January 10: President Bill Clinton finishes another day of mediation.

January 10: More than 100,000 Israelis protest in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square against the government's willingness to relinquish the Golan Heights for peace with Syria.

January 12: The official announcement of Pope John Paul II's visit the Holy Land from 20-26 March 2000 is made simultaneously in Rome and Jerusalem.

January 16: Israel delays a West Bank pull out.

January 17: Israel and Syria peace talks are postponed.

January 17: Five people are injured in an explosion in Hadera.

January 20: Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat meets US President Bill Clinton in Washington.

January 23: President Ezer Weizman says he has no intention of resigning or taking a leave of absence in the wake of a criminal investigation into his alleged involvement in a money scandal. (More.)

January 26: The plight of Palestinian cave dwellers becomes an Israeli human rights cause.

January 27: A campaign fund-raising scandal involves Prime Minister Ehud Barak. (More.)

January 28: At least nine people die in a rare snowstorm that paralyzes traffic and cuts electricity in many parts of the country.

January 30: Israel and the Palestinians launch a new round of negotiations.

January 30: Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh says that Jerusalem's municipal boundaries could be expanded to accommodate Palestinian aspirations for a presence in the city.

January 31: Prime Minister Ehud Barak rules out further negotiations unless Syria reins in the Hezbollah guerrillas.

January 31: Prime Minister Ehud Barak, battling allegations of illegal campaign fund-raising, gets a week's reprieve after the Knesset postpones a no-confidence vote on his administration.

January 31: Multilateral talks resume in Moscow after a three-year freeze to reactivate the committees on refugees, water, environment, security, armament and economic cooperation. The meeting is attended by a Palestinian delegation, headed by Faisal Husseini, an Israeli delegation, headed by Foreign Minister David Levy, some other Arab delegations (Syria and Lebanon boycott), an EU delegation and US Secretary. of State Madeleine Albright.

January: Leading fervently Orthodox rabbis issue a religious ruling banning their followers from using the Internet out of concern it could lead to "sin" and "destruction" and lead the young astray.

February 1: Israel is willing to talk with Syria despite the Hezbollah attacks.

February 1: Israel presents a final status map to the Palestinians offering 55-60% of the West Bank and calling for annexation of the remaining 40%.

February 2: Less than two weeks before a crucial peace deadline, Palestinians dismiss Israel's opening offer for a final border as "nonsense" and say that talks are going nowhere.

February 2: Continued fighting in Lebanon prompts international concern.

February 2:The Knesset's first-ever debate on nuclear policy erupts into a shouting match between Jewish and Arab legislators.

February 3: A summit between Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat fails.

February 6: Prime Minister Ehud Barak meets with Jordan's King Abdullah II.

February 7: Israeli warplanes launch a second wave of strikes against suspected Hezbollah strongholds in Israeli-occupied southern Lebanon. Hezbollah claims that Israel's military grip in southern Lebanon is weakening.

February 8: An Israeli soldier and a pro-Israeli militiaman are killed in fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon.

February 8: Prime Minister Ehud Barak, under heavy public pressure, unleashes Israel's heaviest air raids on Lebanon in eight months. (More.)

February 10: Israel and Jordan renew an agreement on cooperation in environmental protection and nature conservation.

February 10: An Israeli government report, released five years after it was compiled, admits that the internal security service, Shin Bet, uses systematic torture on Palestinian suspects.

February 11: Israeli representatives pull out of a meeting on the conflict in southern Lebanon, and Israel launches a fresh round of airstrikes after one of its soldiers is killed by Hezbollah guerrillas.

February 11: International monitors gather at a U.N. base in southern Lebanon. (More.)

February 12: Hezbollah guerrillas mount a fresh attack against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.

February 13: Israel and the Palestinians fail to meet the deadline to agree to the framework for a permanent peace settlement, which is expected to be reached by mid-September.

February 14: With the aid of its parliamentary opposition, Prime Minister Ehud Barak's government survives a no-confidence.

February 14: Israeli police tear-gasses and fires rubber bullets at a group of Druze Arabs throwing stones as part of an annual protest of Israel's 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights.

February 16: The Cabinet gives Prime Minister Ehud Barak power to order immediate retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah.

February 21: US Mideast envoy Dennis Ross arrives.

February 21: Yedioth Ahronoth reports that official data from the Construction and Housing Min. reveals that construction is presently starting on 7,120 housing units. In comparison, during former Prime Minister Netanyahu's term in office, construction started on only 5,400 housing units. In addition, since assuming office, the Ministry has issued tenders for 3,196 new settler housing units (2,500 of these in the Greater Jerusalem area).

February 22: The Israeli army chief of operations hints that occupation forces will pull out of south Lebanon by the end of the year, even if there is no peace with Syria.

February 23: French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin visits Israel. The streets of Jerusalem are festooned with flags - which turn out to be those of the Netherlands and not the French.

February 25: Israeli aircraft attack suspected guerrilla positions north of Israel's occupation zone in southern Lebanon.

February 25: The Cabinet holds a marathon debate on Lebanon.

February 26: Palestinian President Yasser Arafat apologizes for an incident in which students throw stones at French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.

February 28: Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that a simple mistake by his wife is the basis of the bribery and fraud charges.

February 28: In Al-Mughayyir village, near Ramallah, Israeli settlers protected by Israeli troops destroy over 700 olive trees.

February 29: 40 years after the execution, Adolf Eichmann's prison diary is released.

February: Israel's interior minister, Natan Sharansky, says his ministry will recognize civil marriages performed in foreign consulates based in Israel.

March 1: Five militiamen are killed in an Hezbollah attack in southern Lebanon.

March 1: By a 60-to-53 vote, the Knesset backs a measure that would require a treaty with Syria to be approved by a majority of eligible voters instead of actual voters.

March 2: Three Palestinian militants are killed by Israeli security forces. (More.)

March 3: Officials in Israel and Syria deny a report from Israel's Channel One television that a peace deal between the two nations could be four to five weeks away.

March 5:The Israeli cabinet votes to pull troops out of south Lebanon by July, ending the 18-year occupation. Prime Minister Ehud Barak warns his Arab neighbors against post-pullout attacks in southern Lebanon.

March 7: Syria welcomes Israel's decision to withdraw from Lebanon.

March 7: Minister of Education Yossi Sarid's proposal to include Palestinian poets like Mahmoud Darwish on the Israeli high school reading list sparks controversy in Israel.

March 9: Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Ehud Barak are in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for their third consecutive day of talks.

March 14: Nine years after Iraqi missiles fell on Tel Aviv during the Persian Gulf war, Israeli military officials roll out a battery of missiles designed to repel any such attacks in the future.

March 14: Facing opposition pressure and complaints from his own Cabinet, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak abandons plans to include a Jerusalem suburb in land his government plans to hand over to Palestinian control.

March 19: Israel's security Cabinet narrowly approves a long overdue 6.1 percent land transfer to West Bank Palestinians, raising the proportion of the territory ruled by Yasser Arafat to just under 40%. The moves precedes yet more peace talks, aimed at bringing about a final settlement by September.

March 20: Pope John Paul II arrives in Jordan to begin his Middle East visit. (More on the visit.)

March 21: Israelis and Palestinians resume talks in Washington.

March 26: U.S. President Bill Clinton meets with Syrian President Hafez Assad.

March 27: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urges Israel to return the annexed Golan Heights to Syria.

March 28: The police recommends corruption charges against former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara.

March 29: Israel's high court orders that about 700 Palestinians be allowed to return to their traditional homes in caves in the southern West Bank.

March 30: At least 23 Israeli and Palestinian Arabs are injured in clashes with Israeli security forces during an annual day of protests.

March: The Knesset passes a law granting equal rights to women, including equality in the workplace and the military, the right of women over their bodies and protection from violence and sexual exploitation.

April 4: Foreign Minister David Levy meets with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

April 5: The US-Syrian summit fails.

April 6: A police investigation into the conduct of Israeli President Ezer Weizman recommends that no charges should be brought because the statute of limitations had expired on the alleged offenses.

April 6: The Israeli Army removes settlers from a West Bank hilltop.

April 11: Prime Minister Ehud Barak meets with U.S. President Bill Clinton in a bid to put the troubled Mideast peace process back on track. (More.)

April 12: Chinese President Jiang Zemin arrives in Israel for a state visit.

April 18: The Supreme Court agrees to hear a last-minute appeal against its order to release 13 Lebanese detainees.

April 19: Israel releases 13 Lebanese detainees.

April 20: US President Bill Clinton and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat meet. (More.)

April 25: Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are due to meet again.

April 26: Jordan's King Abdullah II and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat discuss peace talks.

April 28: Israeli warplanes carry out retaliatory attacks in southern Lebanon.

April 30: Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations resume under a cloud of bitter Palestinian protest over Israel's plans to expand Ma'aleh Adumim. (More.)

April: In a reversal of an earlier decision allowing women to serve in combat units, the Israeli army announces it will not open its air force rescue unit to women until it can be determined whether women can meet the unit's physical demands.

May 1: Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails begin a hunger strike to draw attention to their poor conditions.

May 2: Israeli fighters turn back an Egyptian civilian aircraft from the Gaza airport.

May 4: Israeli warplanes bomb two Lebanese power stations.

May 5: The Israeli army allows residents of northern Israel to leave bomb shelters. The security Cabinet decides not to retaliate for a new rocket attack from Hezbollah guerrillas.

May 6: Clashes on the streets of the West Bank town of Ramallah between Israeli troops and Palestinian youths leave six Palestinians wounded.

May 7: Peace talks between Israel and Palestinian officials resume after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat meet.

May 10: Israel celebrates the 52nd anniversary of its independence.

May 11: Prime Minister Ehud Barak pledges Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon will proceed.

May 12: A critical deadline for the peace process passes without agreement.

May 15: U.S. Middle East envoy Dennis Ross is expected to meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

May 15: The Israeli Cabinet approves a recommendation to transfer two neighborhoods on the outskirts of Jerusalem to Palestinian control. (More.)

May 15 - 17: Demonstrations commemorating the 52nd anniversary of the Palestinian nakba turn violent as the protestors clash with Israeli troops who try to disperse them. Three people are killed and hundreds are injured.

May 17: Prime Minister Ehud Barak finds himself fighting political skirmishes on several fronts.

May 17: Guerrillas shell Israeli outposts in Lebanon; Israeli planes retaliate.

May 19: A firefight breaks out at a Palestinian police checkpoint.

May 19: In Eilat, Israeli negotiators hand their Palestinian counterparts a proposed final status map comprising of separate Palestinian autonomous cantons on 66% of the West Bank; Israel will annex 20% of the West Bank and the remaining 14% will remain under Israeli control and be negotiated in the future.

May 20: Increased violence in southern Lebanon and in Palestinian areas force Prime Minister Ehud Barak to postpone his trip to Washington.

May 21: Hours after a firebombing attack that critically burns a little girl in the West Bank town of Jericho, Israel calls its envoys back from peace talks being held with Palestinians in Sweden. (More.)

May 22: Prime Minister Ehud Barak's Security Cabinet meets to discuss Israel's next steps in turbulent south Lebanon, where Israel's allied militia retreats in disarray ahead of Muslim guerrilla fighters.

May 23: The head of the South Lebanon Army leaves Paris to join his disbanding militia, which is scattering out of southern Lebanon. Israel promises not to abandon SLA members.

May 23: The last Israeli troops leave Lebanon. (More.) Convoys of Israeli soldiers drive out of Lebanon at daybreak in tanks and jeeps.

May 23: The Israel-allied Lebanese militia releases all the inmates at the infamous El-Khiam prison.

May 24: Israel ends the occupation of Lebanon. Beirut celebrates.

May 24: The Hezbollah flag is raised as Israeli troops withdraw from Lebanon. (More.)

May 24: Prime Minister Ehud Barak tours northern Israeli towns.

May 24: The bribery case against President Ezer Weizman is closed.

May 25: Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss rejects concerns that Hezbollah guerrillas are controlling the streets of southern Lebanon.

May 25: U.N.'s Middle East envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen arrives in Lebanon for security talks. (More.)

May 27: President Weizman announces he will resign within six weeks.

May 27: Israel leaves outposts on edge of disputed Shebaa farms area.

May 28: Transportation Minister Yitzhak Mordechai resigns amid harassment charges.

May 29: An Israeli court postpones a decision on whether to release two Lebanese guerrillas held without trial for years.

May 29: Settlers warn Prime Minister Ehud Barak he could be killed if he uproots settlements.

May 31: Prime Minister Ehud Barak and US President Bill Clinton meet in Lisbon, Portugal. (More.)

May: Israel accepts an invitation to join the United Nations' Western Europe and Others Group, giving the country a stronger voice in U.N. affairs. Israeli leaders and their backers say they are concerned about some of the membership conditions -- that Israel can only participate in WEOG activities coming out of the U.N.'s New York headquarters and that Israeli representatives will be barred for two years from running for positions on U.N. councils.

June 5: Lebanon sentences two pro-Israel militiamen.

June 5: In a groundbreaking decision in May the Supreme Court lifted the ban on women reading from the Torah scroll and wearing the prayer shawl at the Western Wall. Orthodox Jews react angrily to the sight of hundreds of women asserting their right to pray out loud at the wall while wearing shawls and skullcaps.

June 6: US cartographers mark the final Israel-Lebanon border.

June 6: US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visits the region.

June 7: A bill, calling for early elections, passes the Knesset 61-48 in the first reading.

June 8: Prime Minister Ehud Barak fights to reshape his government after a parliamentary defeat that brings the future of the Middle East peace process into question.

June 10: Hafez Assad, Syria's autocratic president dies at 69. His son Bashar is nominated to replace him.

June 13: Bashar Assad meets with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and vows his commitment to peace with Israel.

June 13: Shas resigns from Prime Minister Ehud Barak's coalition, leaving a minority government of 52 out of 120 MKs.

June 13: Ha'aretz reports that Israel will sign the convention establishing an international court for war crimes, but will not accede to its jurisdiction, mainly because the establishment of civilian settlements in occupied territory is defined as a war crime.

June 15: Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat arrives at the White House. (More.)

June 15: Some 4,000 settlers demonstrate outside PM Barak's home to protest any deal with Palestinians that includes evacuation of settlements or their transfer to Palestinian jurisdiction.

June 18: The UN Security Council endorses Israel's pullout of Lebanon.

June 20: Hezbollah leader Sheikh Nasrallah meets UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and warns against Israeli border violations.

June 20: Prime Minister Ehud Barak's coalition hangs in the balance as Shas threatens to leave.

June 21: Yossi Sarid, leader of Meretz, annouces, his party will drop out of the government to save it. The exit of Meretz from the coalition could allow Shas ministers, who have been fighting with Sarid over the fate of their bankrupt school system, to reverse course and stay with Barak.

June 21: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrives in Israel from Jordan. (More.)

June 22: Prime Minister Ehud Barak tries last-minute efforts to save the government. Meretz steps down and Shas stays.

June 23: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says that Syria is ready to resume talks with Israel.

June 23: According to an American document Israel is prepared to give Palestinians part of Jerusalem and all of the Jordan Valley.

June 26: U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright faces tough bargaining to clear the way for Presi