H i s t o r y
o f P a l e s t i n
e - 2000
2000
- Al-Aqsa Intifada fire
January
2000
04.01.2000
, Palestinian officials say they have reached an agreement with
Israel under which a long-delayed transfer of Israeli-occupied
West Bank land to Palestinian control will be implemented in the
next 48 hours , according to Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
14.01.2000 , Israeli Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein is
reportedly conducting an assessment of possible charges against
Israeli President Ezer Weizman. Weizman is suspected of
accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts between 1988
and 1993 without reporting the gifts to authorities.
20.01.2000 , Palestinian President Yasser Arafat arrived in
Washington this morning for a meeting with U.S. President Bill
Clinton.
27.01.2000 , In the first taint of scandal to touch his
government, Prime Minister Ehud Barak's party was fined $3.2
million for campaign finance violations, and the attorney
general said it was opening a criminal investigation. Barak said
he hadn't known of any illegal practices, and asserted that the
campaign-finance law was unclear. After the state comptroller,
Eliezer Goldberg, imposed the fine, the office of Attorney
General Elyakim Rubinstein said "there are grounds to
instruct the police to open an investigation" of the
matter. The probe will include past campaign-finance practices
by other parties as well, the Justice Ministry said. Barak said
that he "honored" the comptroller's report, but said
"in light of the large fine" the party was considering
appealing to the Supreme Court.
-
February
2000
02.02.2000
- In the latest round of peace talks, the Palestinians have
flatly rejected an Israeli map that would keep large chunks of
the West Bank under Israeli control. Tayyeb Abdel Rahim
confirmed for the first time that Israel submitted a map
delineating proposed future borders. Israel's plan would annex
swaths of land on the eastern and western fringes of the West
Bank, as well as settlement blocs, Abdel Rahim said. Israel and
the Palestinians are less than two weeks away from a deadline
for agreeing on a peace treaty outline, but little progress has
been made in three months of negotiations.
03.02.2000 - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat held talks this morning concerning a
framework Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
07.02.2000 - Israeli warplanes attacked three power stations and
a Hezbollah guerrilla stronghold in Lebanon. The move was in
response to the recent killing of four Israeli army officers .
09.02.2000 - An Israeli government report published acknowledged
what Palestinians and human rights groups have said for years -
that Israel systematically used illegal force against
Palestinian suspects during the Intifada. The State
Comptroller's report, written in 1997 but withheld by the
government until now, said Shin Bet security agents who
interrogated suspects also systematically lied about their
actions to their superiors and to the courts. The report covers
the years 1988-92, when the Intifada, or Palestinian uprising
against Israel, was at its height. Unprecedented numbers of
Palestinians were being arrested and interrogated
21.02.2000 - Palestinian officials urged U.S. envoy Dennis Ross
to apply pressure on Israel to restart the stalled Mid-East
peace process.
-
March
2000
21.03.2000
- Kissing Palestinian earth and warmly welcomed by Yasser
Arafat, Pope John Paul II made a prayerful pilgrimage to the
town of Jesus' birth that also provided a powerful boost to
Palestinian statehood hopes. In a momentous day marred by rock
throwing after he left a Palestinian refugee camp, the
79-year-old pope celebrated an open-air mass before a crowd of
thousands in Bethlehem's Manger Square and sank to his knees in
prayer in the dim grotto where Christian tradition says Christ
was born. Amid tight security, the atmosphere was peaceful at
all the pope's appearances. But in a graphic display of
frustration and volatility in the Palestinian lands, several
hundred youths at the Dheisheh camp - apparently angry over
heavy-handed treatment by Palestinian security forces - engaged
in a rock throwing clash with police just over an hour after the
pope had finished his visit there.
24.03.2000 - Israel and the Palestinian Authority are extending
their inconclusive talks into next week, still "brainstorming"
over the future of Jerusalem, Palestinian aspirations for a
state and other knotty issues. "It's too early to know if
this will lead to anything," Hassan Abdel Rahman, the chief
PLO representative in Washington, said. An Israeli official,
meanwhile, said the "chemistry" was good at the
screened-off talks at Bolling Air Force Base in southeast
Washington. After Friday's meetings the Israelis and
Palestinians scheduled a break for the Jewish Sabbath, beginning
at sundown, and plan to resume Saturday night. Rahman said they
would meet next week, as well. When the negotiations opened
Tuesday, about a week of talks was anticipated.
30.03.2000 - Palestinians staged marches in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip - and in some cases clashed with Israeli troops - to
protest the confiscation of Arab-owned land and Jewish
settlement expansion. At least 15 demonstrators were injured.
The most serious clash was in the Israeli Arab town of Sakhnin,
where police said about 400 demonstrators broke through a fence
surrounding an Israeli army base. Police fired rubber-coated
steel bullets at the demonstrators, wounding 15. The director of
the Sakhnin medical center said 12 were lightly wounded, two
suffered head wounds and another had a broken leg. Hundreds of
protesters stoned Israeli soldiers in two locations outside the
West Bank town of Nablus where troops fired tear gas and
rubber-coated steel bullets.
-
April
2000
07.04.2000
- Israeli and Palestinian negotiators began a new round of talks
against a backdrop of an Egyptian warning that Israel must agree
to a Palestinian state in order to have real peace. Negotiators
convened at Bolling Air Force base in southeast Washington, with
American mediators ready to intervene later in the day to push
for an agreement that has eluded the two sides. The negotiators
also met for dinner Thursday evening at the base, which is
screened off from the public and news media. Despite a 1979
peace treaty, Egypt told Israel on Thursday it could not expect
a warm peace unless it consented to a Palestinian state and
"dealt with Jerusalem." Egyptian Ambassador Nabil
Fahmy said Israelis "do not understand the frustration
Arabs feel that there is still occupation."
12.04.2000 - In a concession to the Palestinians, Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak accepted President Clinton's proposal to
increase U.S. involvement ahead of a May deadline for a peace
treaty outline, a senior Israeli official said. Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat complained this week that the most recent
round of U.S.-sponsored talks has not come up with anything
concrete. Arafat is demanding Israel agree to a Palestinian
state on the West Bank and in Gaza with part of Jerusalem as its
capital. A failure to meet a Sept. 13 deadline for a
full-fledged peace agreement could precipitate a complete
breakdown in negotiations and a return to violence.
26.04.2000 - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said during a
visit to France that he expected European leaders, notably
French President Jacques Chirac, to help advance the Middle East
peace process. "His excellency President Chirac is working
with all his capabilities to push forward the peace process,"
Arafat said in Paris. The Palestinian leader was meeting with
Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin later Wednesday. Arafat
was visiting France ahead of negotiations between Israel and the
Palestinians, which are due to resume on Sunday at Eilat, an
Israeli resort city on the Red Sea.
-
May
2000
01.05.2000
- A Palestinian state is already a fact, and an
Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty will simply define its
limitations, an Israeli Cabinet minister said. Haim Ramon's
comments sounded a conciliatory note a day after talks got off
to a sour start over Jewish settlement expansion in the West
Bank. However, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said he would
declare statehood sometime after Sept. 13, the peace treaty
deadline, regardless of whether he had reached agreement with
Israel by then on the terms of independence. In the Israeli Red
Sea resort of Eilat, negotiators met for a second day to try to
formulate a framework for a final peace treaty. Such a framework
is due by the end of the month.
04.05.2000 - Israel presented a map of a proposed Palestinian
entity covering about two-thirds of the West Bank to Palestinian
negotiators, who refused to consider it and broke off the
session . It was the first time Israeli negotiators outlined in
detail how they envision the future borders of what they have
said would likely be a Palestinian state. Palestinian officials,
speaking on condition of anonymity, said the entity proposed by
the Israelis on Wednesday covered about two-thirds of the West
Bank and was divided into several large parcels of land that
were not contiguous. The Palestinians want to establish a state
in all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with east Jerusalem as
its capital.
08.05.2000 - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat failed to bridge "very large gaps,"
making it unlikely a peace treaty outline will be ready by next
week's target date, summit participants said . Barak, meanwhile,
confirmed for the first time that he wants to hand three West
Bank suburbs of Jerusalem to full Palestinian control, but said
he may not be able to go through with the plan for weeks or even
months because of strong opposition - including from members of
his own coalition. The Palestinians have been angered by
Israel's proposal to annex one-third of the West Bank. Barak
said the final borders must be drawn in such a way that the
absolute majority of the 200,000 Jewish settlers in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip will come under Israeli sovereignty.
12.05.2000 - Palestinians demonstrated throughout the West Bank
Friday to demand the release of Israeli-held prisoners, as
Israeli radio stations reported secret meetings between Israel
and the Palestinians in Europe. A few Palestinians were injured
in Bethlehem from inhaling tear gas shot by Israeli soldiers,
Israel's army radio reported. There were also clashes in
Ramallah and Qalqilya. About 400 Jewish settlers also protested
Friday in the West Bank, demanding that the Israeli army move a
checkpoint that they say causes security problems. No
disturbances were reported, according to the army spokesman.
15.05.2000 - In some of the worst violence in years, Israeli
troops and Palestinian police fought fierce gun battles , and at
least three Palestinians were killed and more than 320 injured
as protests swept the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak told parliament he knew of at least four
Palestinians killed, but Palestinian hospital officials could
not confirm that. In one tense standoff, Israeli snipers
commandeered a West Bank hotel, forcing dozens of guests and
staff, including nine Americans, to seek cover in the lobby.
Across the West Bank and Gaza, thousands of Palestinians battled
with Israeli troops, hurling stones and firebombs. The violence
came despite a decision Monday by the Israeli Cabinet to
transfer three West Bank villages near Jerusalem to Palestinian
control in a goodwill gesture.
19.05.2000 - In its largest offer so far, Israel has proposed
that the Palestinians take control of 90% of the West Bank. The
offer was rejected by the Palestinian. The offer was made and
turned down during last week's round of talks in Sweden.
24.05.2000 - The last Israeli troops and tanks rolled out of
Lebanon , completing a swift and dramatic pullout from the
southern zone Israel occupied for nearly two decades. Muslim
guerrillas swiftly moved into territory left behind by the
Israeli troops and their allied militia, seizing several tanks
and vehicles.
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June
2000
13.06.2000
- With a White House admonition that "time is short,"
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are resuming their
sputtering talks on an overall settlement that their governments
pledged to conclude by mid-September. It is supposed to
determine the future of Jerusalem and how much land Israel will
cede to the Palestinians for a state. Refugee and water problems
also were on the agenda for the talks at Andrews Air Force Base
in suburban Maryland and at Bolling Air Force Base in
Washington. While negotiators at one site wrestle with
long-range issues, the other negotiators will consider how much
land Israel will surrender in a West Bank pull back due this
month.
16.06.2000 - After denouncing Israel's prime minister as lacking
a desire to conclude a peace accord, Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat met with Israel's chief negotiator. Shlomo Ben-Ami and
Arafat talked at Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland,
one of the two sites of the slow-moving negotiations between
Israel and the Palestinians. Negotiations in Washington have
sputtered, partly broken off by the Palestinians to protest
Israel's refusal to release 250 prisoners and to agree to
Arafat's terms for a pull back this month on the West Bank.
27.06.2000 - Adopting a tough stance ahead of Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright's arrival, Palestinian officials said the
time was not right for a Mideast summit and suggested that
Palestinian statehood will be proclaimed this fall with or
without Israel's blessing. Albright was in a route to the
Mideast to assess prospects for a U.S. hosted summit in which
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat would try to form the outlines of a final peace treaty.
Barak is eager to attend such a top-level gathering. Arafat is
reluctant to agree to a summit, saying the gaps are still too
wide. Palestinian officials have said Arafat fears U.S.
mediators will side with Israel on many issues and he will be
pressured into concessions.
-
July
2000
05.07.2000
- In a high-risk bid to bring peace to the Middle East,
President Clinton announced Israeli and Palestinian leaders
would meet with him next week at the Camp David presidential
retreat to try to reach an accord by mid-September.
13.07.2000 - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat held their first one-on-one summit talks (since
the summit started in 11'th July) as the two sides grappled with
the "tough issues" standing in the way of a peace
agreement. The meeting last night in Arafat's cabin at the Camp
David presidential retreat, came at the two leaders' initiative.
The parties were grappling with tough issues that involve their
vital interests. The most contentious issues being addressed
include the status of disputed Jerusalem, the fate of Jewish
settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and whether more
than 2 million Palestinian refugees will be given the right to
return to homes in Israel.
19.07.2000 - Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak was reported to
have sent a letter to his summit host complaining that the
Palestinians were not negotiating in good faith. Clinton sent
the summit into overtime when he delayed a trip to Japan for a
day. As the president met Wednesday morning with Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat - their second talk in 12 hours - Israel
said "it seems" that Barak had decided to stop the
talks and return home. Since the summit began July 11, Clinton
has been shuttling between the two sides, trying to shepherd
them toward an accord on the most painful and divisive issues.
25.07.2000 - The Middle East peace talks at Camp David collapsed
in a deadlock over the future of Jerusalem. Conceding failure,
President Clinton said the Israelis and Palestinians "couldn't
get there." Clinton returned to the White House to say that
the gaps between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had not been bridged, but
forecast that they will be "because I think the alternative
is unthinkable." The Israeli and Palestinian delegations
said in a statement they intended "to continue their
efforts to conclude an agreement on all permanent status issues
as soon as possible." Barak and Arafat spent two weeks at
Camp David with Clinton as the sponsor and sometimes personal
mediator in the peace talks.
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August
2000
16.08.2000
- Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 70-year-old Palestinian
after the man opened fire from the roof of his home. The victim,
Mahmoud Abdullah, a U.S. citizen, was critically wounded by a
shot in the head. Israeli officers kept medics away from the
scene for more than an hour.
16.08.2000 - Israel and the Palestinians resumed high-level
peace talks , three weeks after the collapse of negotiations at
Camp David.
18.08.2000 - In Prime Minister Ehud Barak's clearest statement
yet about Palestinian statehood, he offered the Palestinians an
independent state if they formally end their conflict with
Israel. The remarks came as U.S. State Department negotiator
Dennis Ross began talks to see if the two sides were ready to
move toward a peace accord.
25.08.2000 - Making a case for Israeli sovereignty over all holy
shrines in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Barak said that under
Israeli rule no harm would ever come to the two major mosques in
the disputed city. The Palestinians dismissed Barak's assurances
and said they would not sign a peace treaty without being
granted sovereignty over east Jerusalem, which includes the
walled Old City.
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September
2000
07.09.2000
- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has rejected U.S. compromise
proposals on Jerusalem. Sounding a similar tone, Israel Prime
Minister Ehud Barak said "Some of the ideas he has raised
are beyond what we believe we can accept. Nevertheless, If
Chairman Arafat is ready to take Clinton's ideas as the basis
for negotiations, we will be ready to contemplate it and to
enter into such negotiations."
13.09.2000 - Sept. 13 was supposed to be Palestinian
independence day. Instead, a deadline for establishing a state
was missed for the second time in 16 months, and Palestinian
leaders desperately tried to maintain some credibility by
announcing gradual steps toward statehood, including general
elections. Over the weekend, the PLO's top policy-making body,
the Central Council, decided to postpone a statehood
proclamation at least until Nov.15.
14.09.2000 - The Clinton administration reopened talks with the
Palestinians in a bid to end a deadlock over the future of
Jerusalem.
18.09.2000 - Prime Minister Ehud Barak ruled out Islamic
sovereignty over a key Jerusalem shrine, closing the door to a
Palestinian compromise proposal. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
are hung up because of a sovereignty dispute over the compound
known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif or Noble Sanctuary. Barak
and Arafat accused each other of intransigence and blamed each
other for the deadlock.
20.09.2000 - Israel and the Palestinians resumed contacts, a day
after Israel made conflicting announcements about the fate of
negotiations, first declaring a time-out, then saying talks were
back on track.
28.09.2000 - Israeli riot police fired rubber bullets at
hundreds of Palestinian stone throwers at a Jerusalem holy site.
The violence broke out just moments after the leader of Israel's
hard-line opposition, Ariel Sharon, entered the compound. Chants
of "Murderer, get out" followed Sharon. Near the West
Bank town of Ramallah, about 200 Palestinian university students
angered by Sharon's visit threw stones at Israeli troops who
fired rubber-coated steel bullets. Four Palestinians were
injured.
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29.09.2000
- Israeli army and riot police fired rubber bullets and live
rounds at hundreds of stone throwing Palestinians, killing four
protesters in the bloodiest clashes in four years at a Jerusalem
holy site. Scores of Palestinian protesters were injured. Number
of police, including the Jerusalem police chief, were hurt by
rocks during the violence in the compound. Tensions have been
running high since the Israeli opposition leader, Ariel Sharon,
visited the compound to demonstrate that Israel was in control.
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October
2000
03.10.2000
- The death of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy killed by Israeli
fire shocked the world. The death of the boy, Mohammed Jamal
al-Durah, was captured by French television. The images of his
terrifying last moments have come to symbolize the nature of the
violent confrontations of the past few days and the use of live
bullets of the Israeli army against the civilian Palestinians.
04.10.2000 - Secretary of State Madeleine Albright brought
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat together to try to get them to return to "the
psychology of peacemaking." Barak said talks won't resume
until the violence ends. Albright held two rounds of separate
meetings with the two Mideast leaders and then convened a
three-way session. Arafat condemned the "virulent attacks
against our people" and said he would see Barak only if
there was a guarantee that Palestinians would be protected and
an inquiry was launched into violence on the West Bank and Gaza.
In weeklong strife, more than 60 Palestinian have died.
12.10.2000 - Israeli helicopters rocketed Yasser Arafat's
residential compound, police stations and broadcasting centers
in a swift retaliation for the killings of two Israeli soldiers
by a Palestinian mob. The violence was some of the worst in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip since the 1967 Mideast war. One of the
missiles struck just 50 yards from Arafat's headquarters, with
the Palestinian leader inside the building during the attack.
16.10.2000 - In an atmosphere of high tension and mistrust,
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat met warily at an emergency summit aimed at halting bloody
clashes in the Mideast. "We cannot afford to fail,"
President Clinton warned. He implored both sides "to move
beyond blame" after more than two weeks of clashes on the
West Bank and Gaza that left about 100 Palestinians dead. The
summit was hosted by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who
unmistakably blamed Israel for the violence.
21.10.2000 - Leaders from the Arab League have begun their first
emergency summit in four years in a bid to form a unified
response to the violence between Israelis and Palestinians. The
summit convened with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat addressing
the conference as widespread anti-Israeli demonstrations
throughout the Arab world placed increased pressure on the
leaders to show the depth of their commitment to the Palestinian
cause. The leaders are expected to denounce Israel for its
treatment of the Palestinians and for failing to complete its
promised withdrawal from occupied land in the West Bank and
Gaza.
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November
2000
02.11.2000
- A powerful car bomb exploded near a crowded outdoor market in
the heart of Jerusalem, killing two bystanders. Both of those
killed near the Mahane Yehuda market were Israeli Jews. 11
people were injured most of them only slightly.
09.11.2000 - Israeli combat helicopters rocketed a pickup truck
full of Palestinian killing one and critically wounding another.
Two passers-by were killed and 11 others were injured.
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December
2000
15.12.2000
- Israeli troops fatally shot Hani Abu Bakr a member of Hamas at
a military checkpoint, the fourth day in a row that a known
Palestinian activist has been gunned down another two
Palestinian passengers were wounded.
20.12.2000 - As Israeli and Palestinian delegations headed into
preliminary consultations in Washington, clashes in the West
Bank injured at least six Palestinians. A stone-throwing clashes
broke out near the West Bank town of Hebron after Jewish
settlers blocked a roadway and attacks the Palestinians.
30.12.2000 - Israel closed off the West Bank and Gaza Strip in
response to bomb attack. A Palestinian policeman Mahmoud Nasser,
a 20-year-old was killed by a shell in Israeli attack in the
Gaza Strip near the Erez point. Also, 15 Palestinians were hurt
when Israeli troops used live and rubber-coated bullets fired at
Palestinian during a rally in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Three months of intifada have killed nearly 350 Palestinians.
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