The Palestine Chronology

PM Netanyahu, FM Sharon stop in Amman to brief Crown Prince Hassan on talks with the PA before heading to Washington. (MM 10/14; RJ 10/14 in WNC 10/15; NYT 10/14; JTV, al-Dustur 10/15 in WNC 10/17; YA 10/18 in WNC 10/20; MM 10/19; al-Watan al-Arabi 11/6 in WNC 11/12)

1,000s of right-wing Israelis outside PM Netanyahu's home demonstrate against FRD. (ITV 10/14 in WNC 10/16)

Turkey announces preparations for talks with Syria. (MENA 10/14 in WNC 10/15; MIL, Sabah 10/14 in WNC 10/16; IRNA 10/19 in WNC 10/20) (see 10/13)

The UN secures the Taliban's agmt. to hold talks with Iran in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, toward ending the military standoff along their common border. (WP 10/17) (see 10/8)

Nr. Nablus, a Palestinian boy is critically injured, his mother lightly wounded when a munition fr. an IDF firing range 700 meters away that had landed unexploded in the family's olive grove detonates. (Infopal News Bulletin [Internet] 10/14)

Construction begins on 1,200 new houses for Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Contractors claim the new buildings are an expansion of Alei Zahav settlement, which is over a mile away. Alei Zahav has 330 residents (90 families). (Infopal News Bulletin [Internet] 10/15)

In Amman, Arafat consults with Crown Prince Hassan on upcoming Washington talks. (RJ 10/12, al-Dustur 10/13 in WNC 10/14)

Egyptian FM Musa shuttles btwn. Ankara, Damascus to mediate their dispute. Turkey, Syria say that they see signs of defusing the crisis. (MM 10/12; ATL, al-Hadath, MENA, SATN 10/12, MENA 10/13 in WNC 10/14; WP, WT 10/13; AFP, MENA, Sabah 10/13, SA 10/14 in WNC 10/15; MEI 10/16)

In Tehran, Iran, Turkey set up comm. to demarcate their common border. (IRNA 10/12 in WNC 10/14)

Secy. Albright, envoy Ross, Asst. Secy. of State Martin Indyk arrive in the Middle East to prepare for talks in Washington beginning 10/15. Albright meets with Netanyahu, then travels to Gaza to meet with Arafat. (MM 10/5; HA [Internet], WT 10/6)

Turkish pres. Demirel postpones mtg. with Egyptian pres. Mubarak that was set for today. Jordan's Crown Prince Hassan phones Demirel to urge him to find a diplomatic solution to crisis with Syria. (MM 10/5; ATL, JT, RJ, RL 10/5 in WNC 10/6; IRIB Television, JTV, Petra-JNA, SATN 10/5, IRNA, Petra-JNA, Sabah 10/6 in WNC 10/7; CSM 10/6; MEI 10/16) (see 10/4)

In a mtg. with outgoing Lebanese pres. Ilyas Hrawi in Damascus, Syrian pres. Asad taps army chief Gen. Emile Lahoud as the next Lebanese pres. Lahoud is widely considered to be an incorrupt, popular "new face," untainted by politics and unlikely to draw the military into the government. (RL, SANA 10/5 in WNC 10/6; AFP, RL al-Safir, SANA 10/5, RL, VOL 10/6 in WNC 10/7; MM, WP, WT 10/7; RL 10/7 in WNC 10/8; RL, RMC 10/8 in WNC 10/9; al-Watan al-Arabi 10/9 in WNC 10/15; Petra-JNA 10/11 in WNC 10/14; MM 10/12; MEI 10/16)

In s. Lebanon, Amal detonates 2 bombs as an IDF-SLA patrol passes, killing 1 IDF soldier, wounding 4. (AFP, RL, VOL 10/5 in WNC 10/6)

Egyptian pres. Mubarak meets with Syrian pres. Asad in Damascus on 1st leg of shuttle aimed at reducing avoiding military conflict btwn. Syria, Turkey. Syria also accepts Iran's offer to mediate. To reassure Syria, Israel scales back its routine maneuvers in the Golan. (IRIB Television, Radio Kuwait, SATN 10/4, ATL, MENA, RL, VOA 10/5 in WNC 10/6; CSM, MM, NYT, WP, WT 10/5; HUR, Sabah 10/5, MA, al-Quds 10/6 in WNC 10/7; al-Quds al-Arabi 10/5 in WNC 10/14; MM 10/6, 10/7; WP 10/8) (see 10/3)

U.S. holds 1-day naval exercise with Algeria as part of a quiet effort to rebuild ties; says maneuvers are a reward to Algeria for allowing foreign groups to investigate human rights allegations, not backing of it's war against Islamists. However, State Dept. says that "we're not going to . . . join their war until we're sure they are for reform and the human rights situation gets better." (WP 11/12)

Clashes btwn. Palestinians, IDF continue in Hebron, spread to Halhul. IDF says curfew will remain in place indefinitely. PSF arrests 2 prominent Hamas activists, 10 other suspected Hamas mbrs. in Hebron. (ITV 10/4 in WNC 10/6; HA [Internet] 10/6; PR 10/9)

Jewish settlers at the Ma'ate Hever settlement nr. Hebron move their boundary fences to enclose another 7 acres of Palestinian land. (MEI 10/16)

Israel seals borders with the occupied territories to prevent what DM Mordechai claims are plans for an "unprecedented, horrific" attack by Hamas. (MM 10/2; ITV 10/2 in WNC 10/6; WT 10/3)

Syria calls for dialogue with Turkey on security issues, accuses Israel of being behind Turkey's recent belligerent tone. (MM 10/2; SANA 10/2 in WNC 10/5; Sabah, SATN 10/2, ATL, JT, SA, SATN 10/3 in WNC 10/6; WP, WT 10/3; NYT 10/4; Anatolia 10/5 in WNC 10/7) (see 10/1)

A British analysts claims that Israel is the government referred to in a passage of the Starr report (see 9/19) in which Lewinsky testified that Clinton said that he suspected a foreign emb. of tapping his phones. The analyst claims that Mossad installed the tap after the FBI began looking into reports of an Israeli mole, Mega, in the administration (see 5/6/97); used its recordings of more than 30 sexually explicit calls btwn. Lewinsky, Clinton to force Clinton to call off the Mega investigation. A Washington source confirms that Israeli bugging, blackmail halted the FBI hunt. (MEI 10/2; see also MM 9/18)

In Hebron, 7 Palestinians are injured as clashes with the IDF continue. (WT 10/3)

Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar settlement nr. Nablus fire on Palestinians in the neighboring village of Burin. In East Jerusalem, settlers throw molotov cocktails at a Palestinian home causing light damage. (PR 10/9)

U.S. special envoy Ross, Asst. Secy. of State Indyk discuss upcoming London mtgs. with Arafat in Gaza, hold 2d mtg. with PM Netanyahu. (ITV 4/26 in WNC 4/27; CSM, MM, NYT, WP, WT 4/27; PR 5/1)

In Ankara, the presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey hold follow-up mtg. on transporting Caspian oil to Turkish ports, recreating a Eurasian transport corridor, spurring regional economic growth. (ITAR-TASS 4/26, Bakinskiy Rabochiy [Baku], Sabah [Istanbul] 4/28 in WNC 4/30; Milliyet [Ankara] 5/11 in WNC 5/13) (see 3/2)