November 1989, Page 29

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

Compiled by Janet McMahon

Sept. 1: Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya observed the 20th anniversary of his revolution by welcoming the leaders of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, Libya's partners in the newly informed Maghreb union, along with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and PLO leader Yasser Arafat to Tripoli. On the eve of the celebrations, Libya and Chad signed a peace agreement accepting the World Court as final arbiter in the two countries' dispute over the Aouzou strip.

Sept. 2: The CIA removed the head of its Afghan Task Force following congressional complaints of a slowdown in US arms shipments to the Afghan rebels, said to be suffering a severe arms shortage.

Sept. 3: In Egypt, 26 Muslim extremists, arrested in a crackdown following the 1981 assassination of President Sadat, were convicted of attempting to kill two former Cabinet ministers and a journalist. Seven defendants were acquitted; all had pleaded not guilty.

Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani resigned as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, citing the demands of other duties. He was expected to be succeeded by Ayatollah Ali Khameini, who took over as Iran's spiritual leader following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Sept. 5: Lebanese Shi'i Muslim leader Sheikh Mogammed Hussein Fadlallah said that President Bush should take the initiative towards release of the hostages through a gesture of goodwill such as releasing US-held Iranian assets.

Sept. 7: A US helicoptor based in Cyprus evacuated Ambassador John McCarthy and the entire US Embassy staff in East Beirut following anti-US demonstrations by hundreds of Lebanese Christians. For the first time since the civil war began in 1975, the US was without diplomatic representation in Lebanon. Christian General Michel Aoun, who had told reporters the day before the evacuation that perhaps the US should suffer a dose of "Christian terrorism," termed the American withdrawal "puzzling and petulant."

Sept. 9: In an effort to expand its contacts among Afghan political figures, the Bush administration sent a senior diplomat to Rome to meet with former Afghan King Zahir Shah and discuss the king's role in a possible settlement of the Afghan civil war. The 73-year-old former king was deposed in 1974.

Sept. 10: Israel plans to expand its controversial Ansar III internment camp in the Negev desert, which currently holds 4400 prisoners, to accomodate an additional 1200. The camp has been criticized by Amnesty International and other human rights groups, as well as by diplomats, who say it violates the Geneva Convention by transferring Palestinians out of their homeland.

Sept. 11: Algerian Prime Minister Kasdi Merbah accepted his dismissal by President Chadli Benjedid two days after initially rejecting the president's order. Observers had considered the standoff between the two the most serious recent crisis within the Algerian government. Benjedid appointed Mouloud Hamrouche, a close aide, as Merbah's successor.

Sept. 12: State-run Jordan Radio announced that an agreement in principle had been reached with six banks representing the London Club of commercial lenders for the rescheduling of Jordan's $575 million debt over a two-and-a-half-year period.

Sept. 14: Top leaders of Israel's Labor and Likud parties met to discuss Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's 10-point peace program. Meanwhile, a delegation of prominent West Bank Palestinians left for Cairo to discuss the plan with Egyptian officials.

The United States and other Western nations rejected an Israeli request for aid to rehabilitate Palestinian refugee camps, citing lack of progress towards a peace settlement.

Sept. 16: The Soviet news agency Tass reported that Israel test fired an intermediate-range missile which landed about 250 miles north of Libya in the Mediterranean Sea. The US has protested the development of such weapons to the Israeli government in the past.

Sept. 18: Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani said his country may resort to force if Iraq does not return territory seized during the Iran-Iraq war.

Sept. 19: Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met in Cairo to discuss laying the groundwork for future talks between Israel and Palestinian representatives. The two leaders agreed that direct talks preceding elections in the occupied territories could take place in Egypt.

Sept. 20: Egypt terminated its participation with Iraq and Argentina in the Condor ballistic missile project, which had led to allegations of a plot to smuggle weapons technology out of the US being filed against an Egyptian American in June 1988.

Sept. 22: Israel announced the US purchase of a $140 million Israeli designed and produced top secret weapons system.

Saudi Arabia beheaded 16 Kuwaits convicted of placing bombs near the Great Mosque in Mecca during the annual pilgrimage, and accused of planning other terrorist acts. One pilgrim was killed and other were injured by the bombs, which they said were provided by the Iranian Embassy in Kuwait. The executed men were Shi'i Muslims of Iranian and Saudi origin.

Sept. 23: Lebanese Christian leader Gen. Michel Aoun accepted the latest Arab League plan for a cease-fire; the plan had already been endorsed by Syria and its Lebanese allies.

Iraq opened a new crude oil terminal on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast, as part of its strategy to decrease its reliance on the Persian Gulf for its oil exports. The terminal is fed by a 900-mile-long pipeline from the oil fields of Basra and Zubair in Southern Iraq.

Sept. 26: Yemen celebrated Revolution Day with President Saleh , one of the 1962 revolution's founding members, welcoming the leaders of Egypt, Jordan and Iraq and other heads of state to ceremonies in the capital of San'a.

Sept. 27: The Bush administration revealed that it signed a secret agreement with Israel whereby the US would "lend" materials, supplies and equipment to Israel for military research and development.

Sept. 28: The US State Dept. approved visa applications for 2 of 14 PLO officials to attend the UN General Assembly session in New York, but restricted their activities while in the US.

Sept. 29: The US informed Israel that it plans to sell 300 tanks to Saudi Arabia, and that it will take steps to meet Israel's security concerns if the Israeli government does not use its influence in the US Congress to oppose the sale.

US Secretary of State James Baker met for 90 minutes with Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens and Egyptian Foreign Minister Esmat Abdel-Meguid. After the joint meeting, Baker commented that "there may be some potential for progress" toward opening negotiations on elections in the occupied territories.