April/May 1997  pgs. 115-117

Facts For Your Files: A Chronology of U.S.-Middle East Relations

Compiled by Janet McMahon

Jan. 1, 1997: An off-duty Israeli soldier who said he wanted to block an Israeli-Palestinian agreement on Hebron opened fire with his M-16 assault rifle on Hebron’s crowded Palestinian market, injuring six people. U.S. President Bill Clinton, who called to express his condolences, told Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to “bear down and get done with” an agreement, as negotiations continued into the night.

Jan. 2: Police disabled five letter bombs sent to the Washington, DC offices of the Saudi ownedAl Hayat newspaper and three to Leavenworth Prison in Kansas, all postmarked from Alexandria, Egypt.

Palestinian negotiators said they would not sign an agreement on Hebron until Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu committed his government to a detailed timetable for further withdrawal from rural areas of the West Bank.

Saying it was linked to attacks on Syrian interests in Lebanon, Syria accused Israeli agents of bombing a bus in central Damascus, killing 9 people and wounding 44.

Libya announced the execution of six military officers and two civilians convicted of using CIA-supplied espionage equipment. Western commentators speculated that the executions represented a crackdown on Islamist opposition by Libyan leader Gen. Muammar Qaddafi.

For the first time since protests against the annulment of Nov. 17 Serbian municipal elections began, the Serbian Orthodox Church issued a statement accusing the regime of President Slobodan Milosevic of “crushing the will of the people” and calling on Milosevic to honor the election results.

Jan. 3: Jewish settlers moved seven mobile homes onto a hill overlooking the West Bank settlement of Beit El, agreeing to leave only in exchange for a promise to meet with Israeli officials to discuss their demands to enlarge the settlement.

Rejecting recommendations by the 54-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Serbian government acknowledged opposition victories only in some small municipal elections, not including Belgrade or Nis, causing opposition leaders to term the concessions “lies and tricks.”

Jan. 5: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian President Arafat, in a pre-dawn meeting at the Erez Crossing between Israel and Gaza, failed to reach an agreement on the overdue withdrawal of Israeli troops from Hebron.

Tens of thousands of Serbians defied a police ban on demonstrations and, honking horns and banging pots and pans, marched through the streets of Belgrade.

Jan. 6: A new survey of Israeli Jews indicated flexibility on the borders, and hence the control, of Jerusalem.

Jan. 8: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu proposed a two-year delay in the previously agreed September 1997 date for withdrawal of Israeli troops from additional areas of the West Bank.

In its biggest concession yet, the government of Slobodan Milosevic acknowledged the opposition election victory in Nis, Serbia’s second largest city, but made no mention of Belgrade results. Opposition leaders pledged to continue their protests, in their seventh week.

Jan. 9: PNA Minister of Education Dr. Hanan Mikhail-Ashrawi arrived in Washington, DC to urge the Clinton administration not to “micro-manage” Israeli-Pales- 
tinian negotiations but rather to focus on the larger issues, telling a Washington audience, “The mediator [Amb. Dennis Ross] should not try to compromise an agreement that was already signed and witnessed.” State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns called her comments “extraordinarily unwise.”

Two pipe bombs exploded in a run-down section of Tel Aviv, wounding 13 people. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu threatened to suspend negotiations on Hebron “if it becomes clear that the terrorists…came from the Palestinian Authority.”

Jan. 12: In an effort to break the deadlock in Hebron negotiations, Jordan’s King Hussein flew to the Gaza Strip to meet with Palestinian President Arafat.

Jan. 13: The U.S. threatened to cut off all economic aid to South Africa if the government of Nelson Mandela proceeded with reported sales of laser-guided tank targeting systems to Syria.

A new series of letter bombs were sent to the Arabic-language Al Hayat newspaper's offices at the U.N. and to its headquarters in London, where two security guards were injured when one of the bombs exploded.

Jan. 14: Belgrade’s municipal electoral commission accepted preliminary election results giving the opposition coalition Together 60 of 110 city council seats.

Jan. 15: After negotiating through the night, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian President Arafat reached an agreement calling for withdrawal of Israeli troops from 80 percent of Hebron and from other areas of the West Bank by mid-1998.

South African President Nelson Mandela angrily rejected U.S. warnings against reported arms sales to Syria. South Africa’s weapons system had been developed in a technology-sharing deal between Israel and the former apartheid regime.

Jan. 16: After some 12 hours of bitter debate, the Israeli cabinet approved the Hebron agreement by a vote of 11 to 7. Science Minister Ze’ev “Benny” Begin, the son of former terrorist and Likud Prime Minister Menachem Begin, resigned in protest.

In Gaza City, the Palestinian cabinet voted 15-2, with 3 abstentions, to approve the Hebron agreement, while Hamas issued a statement condemning the accord, saying that “the last and highest word remains in the hands of the Israeli army.”

Jan. 17: Following the pre-dawn withdrawal of Israeli troops from 80 percent of Hebron, the last occupied city on the West Bank reverted to Palestinian control after nearly 30 years.

Jan. 19: Palestinian President Arafat, in Hebron to proclaim the city “liberated,” addressed Hebron’s Jewish settlers, saying, “we don’t want a confrontation, we want a just peace,” and calling the Hebron agreement one of “peace with all Israeli people, with Labor, with Meretz, with the Likud, with Shas, Kahalani and with others.”

Jan. 20: Referring the matter to another court and thus delaying the decision, a Belgrade court refused to rule on challenges to the recent electoral decision awarding a majority of city council seats to the opposition coalition.

Jan. 22: FBI Director Louis Freeh complained that the Saudi government had provided the U.S. little more than “hearsay” in its investigation into the truck bombing of a U.S. military housing complex in Dhahran, killing 19 American airmen.

The South African cabinet voted to defer a decision on a $640 million weapons sale to Syria.

Israeli Defense Minister David Levy said he had been exchanging messages with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq Charaa and appealed to him to resume peace negotiations. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk joined in the call, saying, “When Yasser Arafat calls Bibi Netanyahu his friend and partner, then why shouldn’t the others do the same?”

Jan. 23: In her weekly news conference, Attorney General Janet Reno sharply criticized the Saudi government, saying it had “not furnished us with some very important information” on the investigation into the bombing of the Khobar Towers military residence in Dhahran.

The Washington Post reported that in August 1996, four months after signing the 1996 Antiterrorism Act which barred financial transactions with countries on the State Department’s terrorism list, President Clinton exempted two of those countries—Syria and Sudan—from the act’s provisions. The exemption of Sudan permitted the Occidental Petroleum Co. of California to negotiate with Khartoum on a $930 million oil deal, while an official said Syria was exempted to encourage Damascus to participate in the Middle East peace process.

Jan. 24: In a televised address to the nation, Algerian President Liamine Zeroual blamed “foreign interests” for the increased violence in the country and vowed to toughen his stand against militant Islamists, after the massacre of 40 people in the village of Ouled Ali south of Algiers brought the total of deaths in the first two weeks of Ramadan to more than 200.

Jan. 25: A group of legislators from the Labor and Likud parties agreed on a set of proposals calling for Israel eventually to grant Palestinians a self-ruled “entity” and for no Jewish settlers to be removed forcibly from their illegal settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Jan. 26: Appearing on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press,” Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright said the U.S. would continue its “dual containment” policy toward Iran and Iraq.

Jan. 28: Hamas political leader Mousa Abu Marzook, held in solitary confinement since he attempted to re-enter the U.S. from a trip abroad in July 1995, said he would give up his fight against extradition to Israel, having lost faith in the U.S. judicial system.

Jan. 29: Israel and the U.S. disputed Syria’s claim that during U.S.-sponsored talks in 1995, Israel’s Labor government had agreed to withdraw from the Golan Heights.

Five days before national elections, Pakistan’s Supreme Court rejected former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s bid to regain her office, ruling that her government had indeed been corrupt.

Jan. 30: Palestinian leaders warned the U.S. that the extradition of Hamas political leader Mousa Abu Marzook to Israel, where torture of Palestinian political prisoners is legal, could result in “a wave of violence we could do without.”

Following the killing of three Israeli soldiers by a roadside bomb in occupied southern Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called upon Syria to end “a ceaseless war against Israel and Israeli soldiers in Lebanon through Hezbollah.”

Saudi Arabia was reported ready to purchase up to 102 Lockheed F-16 fighters, worth $5-15 billion, from the U.S.

Feb. 1: The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment said that Yussef Ismail al-Baba “died from wounds inflicted from torture during interrogation by the Palestinian military intelligence” in a Nablus prison.

Feb. 2: With barely 30 percent of Pakistan’s electorate casting a vote, Nawaz Sharif overwhelmingly defeated Benazir Bhutto to become the country’s new prime minister.

At an international economic summit in Davos, Switzerland, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and accepted an invitation to make an official visit to Cairo in the spring.

Feb. 3: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu met in Rome with Pope John Paul II, with the two leaders promising to meet again “as soon as possible” in Jerusalem. “God bless Israel,” the pope said.

Feb. 4: Following 11 weeks of anti-government demonstrations, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic announced he would accept opposition victories in Nov. 17 municipal elections in Belgrade and 13 other cities. Opposition Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic said Milosevic’s concession was “a first step, but it is not enough,” and declared that demonstrations would continue.

Two Israeli helicopters transporting troops and ammunition to southern Lebanon collided and crashed over northern Galilee, killing 73 soldiers and crewmen.

In what was seen as a warning to the Islamist government of Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, the Turkish army sent a column of tanks and armored cars down the main street of Sincan, a town 25 miles west of Ankara where a pro-Islamist demonstration had followed a talk by Iran’s ambassador to Turkey.

Feb. 6: State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said the Bosnian government had assured the U.S. that it had severed all military and intelligence relationships with Iran.

Feb. 8: Several Israeli lawmakers, at an unusual meeting at the home of Knesset member and former deputy chief of Shin Bet Gideon Ezra, advocated Israel’s unilateral withdrawal of its occupying forces from southern Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu urged the Knesset to refrain from such a debate.

Feb. 10: Palestinian President Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, in a “constructive” meeting at the Erez checkpoint between Israel and Gaza, agreed to begin within a week detailed talks on further implementation of the peace accords.

Feb. 11: Israel released its 30 remaining Palestinian women prisoners more than 16 months after it promised to do so. Prime Minister Netanyahu said he would seek presidential pardons for Jews jailed for killing Christian and Muslim Palestinians.

Israeli planes bombed a Hezbollah radio station in the ancient Lebanese city of Baalbek, as well as targets outside Beirut and near the Syrian border.

The Serbian parliament adopted a “special law” reinstating Nov. 17 opposition victories in 14 municipal elections.

Feb. 12: Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gad Yaacobi said he had received in late 1994 “very hard and strong information” that newly appointed Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was Jewish and that he had so informed Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, but “didn’t think I should share this information with people who might misinterpret it.”

Feb. 13: Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with President Clinton, who urged the resumption of peace talks with Syria, and Secretary of State Albright as he began a two-day visit to Washington.

Feb. 14: South African Defense Minister Joe Modise, briefing reporters and diplomats shortly before the scheduled arrival of U.S. Vice President Gore, reiterated his country’s right to sell arms to Syria, saying, “I’ve never heard anybody ask whether the countries selling equipment to Israel concerned themselves with the feelings of the neighbors…No thought is given to the Palestinians and their sufferings.”

Feb. 15: Shouting “Down with shariah,” thousands of Turks, most of them women, marched in Ankara to protest the Islamist policies of the Refah Party-led government.

Feb. 17: Returning from his U.S. visit, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed to strengthen Israel’s hold over all of Jerusalem, saying he would soon decide about the construction of a new Jewish settlement, Har Homa, in Arab East Jerusalem.

Feb. 18: Israel shelled three villages in southern Lebanon, killing one woman and wounding two other people, in retaliation for Hezbollah attacks on Israeli occupying troops and in violation of a U.S.-brokered cease-fire agreement banning the shelling of civilian targets.

Israeli police questioned Prime Minister Netanyahu for four hours regarding an alleged deal with indicted MK Aryeh Deri, leader of the Shas party, in the short-lived appointment of Roni Bar-On as attorney general, whereby Bar-On would pardon Deri in exchange for crucial Shas support of the Hebron agreement.

U.S. Ambassador to India Frank Wisner urged India to show “accommodation” in bilateral talks with Pakistan over Kashmir.

Feb. 19: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu informed the Knesset that his government would proceed with the building of the 6,500-unit Jewish-only Har Homa settlement in the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal Abu Ghneim.

On a visit to the U.S., Turkish State Minister Abdullah Gul reiterated his country’s ruling Islamist Refah party’s “strong bonds of friendship and partnership with our American and European allies.”

Feb. 22: Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Bandar Bin Sultan called Israeli objections to the sale of up to 100 U.S. F-16 warplanes to Riyadh “a disturbing issue from the past,” and called on Israel to dispel doubts about its commitment to peace with its Arab neighbors.

Feb. 23: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu hired a top criminal attorney to represent him in the ongoing corruption investigation involving the circumstances of his appointment of Attorney General Roni Bar-On, who was forced to step down after a day in office.

Feb. 25: In the West Bank village of Hizme, an undercover Israeli death squad murdered Mohamad Abad al-Aziz Hilu when he tried to come to the aid of his son-in-law who had gone to investigate the presence of the three death squad members hiding behind a wall outside his house.

Saudi Minister of Defense Prince Sultan bin Abd al-Aziz, brother of King Fahd, met with President Clinton to allay U.S. concerns about the investigation into the June 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Dhahran which killed 19 American airmen. Prince Sultan and five other senior ministers later held separate meetings with Vice President Al Gore, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Secretary of Defense William Cohen.

As Turkey’s chief of general staff Gen. Ismail Hakki Karadayi began a visit to Israel, the military held a briefing for the Western press in which it announced it had virtually crushed the 12-year-old Kurdish rebellion in the south, was concerned about Islamists and the country’s relationship with Greece, and expressed frustration with the delay in the scheduled delivery of U.S. arms.

Feb. 26: The Israeli Knesset approved the construction of the Jewish-only Har Homa settlement in occupied territory.

Feb. 27: As officials of his Fatah party reined in some 2,000 demonstrators marching from Beit Sahour to Jabal Abu Ghneim, site of the newly planned Jewish-only Har Homa settlement, Palestinian President Arafat called the decision to build the settlement in Arab East Jerusalem a breach of the existing peace agreement and U.S. guarantees, as well as of longstanding United Nations resolutions.

Rep. Benjamin Gilman, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, wrote President Clinton to protest a Washington Times report that senior foreign affairs positions were not being filled because “there are too many ‘white Jewish males’ in senior State Department positions.”

Feb. 28: Four Hezbollah guerrillas and an Israeli soldier were killed in the bloodiest fighting in Israeli-occupied southern Lebanon in a month.

Major earthquakes hit southwestern Pakistan and northwestern Iran, killing at least 150 people.