The Palestine Chronology

Palestinian prisoners suspend hunger strike for one week after Israeli official promise to begin investigation of their demands 10/12. (ITV 10/11 in FBIS 10/13; MM, WP 10/12)

Palestinian delegation head Faisal Husseini "rejects" conditions Israel is trying to place on Palestinians participating in multilateral negotiations (see 10/8). (al-Quds 10/12 in FBIS 10/14)

Hamas announces it will meet with PLO Chmn. Arafat in Khartoum 11/10 in attempt to curtail intra-Palestinian violence. (al-Sharq al-Awsat 10/12 in FBIS 10/19)

Israeli visiting a Gaza settlement is killed by unidentified assailant; IDF troops kills 2, wound 40 in clash with stonethrowers in Nusayrat camp, Gaza. Curfew clamped on Gaza City, Khan Yunis, Rafah, and 3 camps in the Strip. (MM, WP 10/12; ITV 10/11 in FBIS 10/13)

IDF shoots, kills 2 infiltrators from Jordan, armed with knives, north of Jericho. Jordanian sourcesay the 2 were 17-year-old Palestinians from Hebron living in Amman. (MM 10/12; Qol Yisra'el, RMC 10/12 in FBIS 10/13)

U.S. officials elaborate on acting Secy. of State Eagleburger's 10/1 letter to American Jewish leaders announcing new efforts to end Arab boycott against Israel, saying U.S. ambs. in the Middle East (mostly in the Gulf ) have-been instructed to encourage Arab govts. to make gestures that could boost the peace process (see 9/24, 10/1). (WP 10/12)

Over 80 PNC mbrs. living in Amman sign memo to PLO Central Council supporting the intifada, the delegation and negotiation process, and resolutions of the 19th PNC, and calling for Palestinian and Arab unity in the peace process. (Sawt al-Sha'b 10/12 in FBIS 10/13)

Several thousand Palestinians demonstrate in Rafah and Mughazi, Gaza Strip, in solidarity with 11-day-old prisoners' hunger strike. IDF shoot and wound at least 90 in trying to disperse crowds. Nearly 500 students at Bir Zeit University embark on indefinite hunger strike until detainees' demands are met. (MM 10/7, 10/8; NYT, WP 10/8)

In Amman, Chmn. Arafat meets with PNC mbrs., then with PFLP head George Habash, the leading PLO opposition figure, to discuss the peace process. (Radio Jordan, RMC 10/7, 10/8 in FBIS 10/8; al-Hayat in MM 10/9)

State Dept. announces Secy. of State Baker has sent letters to Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinians inviting them to resume fifth round of peace talks 4/27 in Washington and to make a commitment to moving the negotiations to a venue closer to Middle East. (WP 3/31)

Israel's Palestinian citizens mark annual commemoration of Land Day with a "national holiday" instead of the traditional protests and strikes. Rally is staged in Ramiya, a village which the government does not officially recognize and whose inhabitants face eviction [see 3/22]. Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) organizes Land Day strikes in Gaza, but security forces curfew most areas. (MM 3/30)

EC "troika" arrives in Amman for discussions with Jordanian, PLO officials on peace talks, upcoming multilateral economic talks. (Radio Jordan 3/31 in FBIS 4/1)

PFLP, DFLP-Hawatima faction, Palestine Liberation Front, and Palestinian Popular Struggle Front issue statement in Damascus confirming their support for 1988 Palestine National Council decision calling for confederation between Jordan and an independent Palestinian state. (Radio Monte Carlo 3/30 in FBIS 3/31)

Israeli peace activist Abie Nathan is released from prison [see 3/291. (MM 3/31)

Israeli govt. spokesman Benjamin Netanyahu calls recent reports that Israel transferred Patriot missile technology to China a "deliberate campaign" to "slander Israel" by certain American quarters. (WP 3/16)

Responding to recent press reports that Jordan and the PLO have been discussing a plan forJordanian-Palestinian confederation [see 3/12], Nabil Sha'th, political advisor to Chmn. Arafat, states that the Palestine National Council already agreed to confederation at the Algiers meeting in November 1988. He also states that such plans presuppose existence of an independent Palestinian state. (Tunisian Republic Radio 3/15 in FBIS 3/16)

Mayor of Petah Tikva informs police he will soon put a fence around the Geha Junction in Petah Tikva to prevent Palestinian workers from congregating each morning looking for work. The mayor claims the action is to forestall possible terrorist attack against city residents. (MM 3/16)

IDF kills 3 Palestinians during gunbattle in 'Askar refugee camp near Nablus. (NYT 3/16)