October 1989, Page 37

Facts for Your Files: A Chronology of US-Mideast Relations

Compiled by Fred Donovan

Aug. 2: An Israeli official said Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid, the Shi'i spiritual leader kidnapped by Israel, told interrogators that US hostage Lt. Col. William R. Higgins was alive when Obeid was seized on July 28. A Shi'i group claims to have hung Higgins in retaliation for the kidnapping, although CIA and Israeli officials said that Higgins might have been killed by his captors as early as December 1988.

Aug. 3: A group of Palestinians from the occupied territories met with US Assistant Secretary of State John Kelly. The Palestinians told Kelly that they considered the meeting part of the "ongoing dialogue with the United States and the PLO."

PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat defended his concessions for peace before a meeting in Tunis of his Fatah General Congress, the first such congress in 10 years. The congress endorsed Arafat's leadership, but also reaffirmed armed struggle as a "legitimate weapon" against Israeli occupation and a stepping stone toward the creation of a Palestinian state.

Aug. 4: Iran's president-elect Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani offered to help end the hostage crisis in Lebanon, an offer President Bush said he would explore "to the fullest." Rafsanjani delivered his remarks at a weekly prayer sermon at Tehran University, saying that "the freedom of the hostages is solvable" if the US comes "along wisely."

Aug. 7: UN envoy Marrack Goulding concluded five days of meetings with Muslim leaders in Lebanon, saying that a solution to the Lebanese hostage crisis would require patient diplomacy, but that "circumstances may be more conducive" to a settlement than in the past.

Aug. 8: A uniformed Jordanian soldier crossed into southern Israel, opened fire on several kibbutz workers, and took a woman soldier hostage, according to Israeli officials. After several hours of negotiations, Israeli trrops stormed the site annd shot the Jordanian to death.

Aug. 9: A Shi'i cleric detonated an explosive-laden truck alongside an Israeli military convoy in southern Lebanon, injuring six Israeli soldiers in the attack. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah claimed that the attack was carried out by a friend of Sheikh Obeid and was meant to "declare our loyalty to the Imam Khomeini."

Aug. 10: The Bush administration criticized the PLO for proposing to "escalate armed action" against Israel, referring to the political program issued by Arafat's Fatah wing of the PLO at its general congress in Tunis. A State Department spokesman said that Fatah's "derogatory rhetoric on Israel, its tone of confrontation and violence, and its preference for unrealistic principles and solutions instead of practical ideas for peace are unhelpful."

Aug. 11: Israel's Defense Ministry issued an order extending the period that Palestinians in Israeli-occupied territories could be held in detention without formal charges or trial from six months to a year. Administrative detention has been criticized by many in Israel and the US as contrary to international law.

Aug. 13: Lebanese Christian militias repelled an attempt by Muslim militias backed by the Syrian army to penetrate the mountain stronghold of Suq al-Gharb, the gateway to the Christian-held areas, including the presidential palace. The attempt to seize the territory marked a further escalation in the intense shelling that has engulfed Beirut, resulting in around 100 deaths and 300 injuries in four days.

Aug. 14: The United States increased its efforts, during meetings with PLO officials in Tunis, to persuade the PLO to agree to Israel's election proposal for Palestinians in the occupied territories. The PLO is seeking prior assurances from the US that it supports Palestinian self-determination as "a political solution" for the occupied territories.

Aug. 17: Iranian President Rafsanjani, in his inaugural address, warned hard-line factions in the Iranian government they would have to moderate their extremism in favor of a vigorous economic recovery program because "dams cannot be built by slogans" alone.

Aug. 18: The Israeli government implemented a new system of passes to control the entrance of Palestinian workers from the Gaza Strip into Israel, touching off a critical test of strength with the Palestinian leadership.

The Bush administration called for "a total and immediate cease-fire" in the fierce fighting in Beirut between Christian and Syrian-supported Muslim militias.

Aug. 19: Three Israeli men posing as tourists in Bethlehem opened fire on a group of Arabs who threw rocks at a nearby army jeep, killing one of the Arabs, witnesses said. Hospital officials said that four other youths were injured by the gunfire.

Aug. 20: The Revolutionary Justice Organization, a pro-Iranian group holding two American hostages in Lebanon, warned that French interference in Lebanon would endanger their lives. France had dispatched an aircraft carrier and frigate to the eastern Mediterranean to bolster a diplomatic effort aimed at halting the latest round of violence.

Aug. 22: PLO Chairman Arafat said in Amman, Jordan, that the PLO might rethink its peace initiatives unless the US and Israel respond to them. He indicated that he might convene the Palestine National Council to reconsider its decision last November to pursue a moderate policy based on a Palestinian state coexisting with Israel.

Aug. 26: The New York Times reported that the Bush administration is bracing for a potential diplomatic crisis over whether PLO Chairman Arafat will be granted a visa to attend a forthcoming session of the UN in the fall. A senior PLO official said in an interview that Arafat was "seriously considering" applying to the US for a visa.

Aug. 27: Israel deported five Palestinians for allegedly leading the uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The deportations raised to 60 the number of Palestinians expelled during the 20-month intifada. Among those deported was Taysir Aruri, a prominent physicist, who received support from physicists around the world.

Israeli police opened an investigation of Israelis suspected of training death squads for Colombian drug barons. The Israeli role was exposed by NBC television reports.

Aug. 28: Disputes between Afghan guerrilla factions have erupted into open warfare in two regions of Afghanistan, with 70 guerrillas reported killed in one battle in the south and several hundred casualties claimed in separate clashes in the north, according to rebel officials and Western diplomats.

Aug. 30: According to an Israeli army spokeswoman, the general staff of the Israeli army has drawn up a long-term plan for occupation of the West Bank and Gaza into the next century.

Aug. 31: Libya ended a 15-year conflict with Chad by accepting the World Court as final arbiter on ownership of the Aouzou Strip, a disputed mineral-rich section of the Libyan-Chad border.