The Palestine Chronology

Social/Economic/Political

Occupied Palestine/lsrael: PLO Executive Committee member Salah Khalaf (Abu lyad) addresses (via videotape) Jerusalem-based International Center for Peace in the Middle East, urges direct PLO-Israeli talks [FBIS WP 2/23].

Arab World: In Cairo Israeli F.M. Arens meets with Soviet F.M. Shevardnadze [NYT 2/23].

Military Action

Occupied Palestine/lsrael: Israeli soldiers, disguised as Arabs, shoot, kill 57-year-old Palestinian shopkeeper. In Gaza suspected collaborator is shot, killed [MET 3/7].

Military Action:

2 122mm Katyusha rockets fired over residence of US ambassador while Secretary Shultz and other officials are sleeping there.

Casualties:

2 Israeli POWs held by PFLP-GC seen on videotape in Vienna, POWs to be turned over to PLO Executive Committee, visited by Red Cross.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Window of IDF vehicle smashed in Nablus; curfews on central Nablus, and Balata, al-Aza and Askar refugee camps; Jacobo Timerman's son Daniel jailed for second time for refusing military service in Lebanon.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Arafat in Damascus for meetings with PLO military and political officials.

US and Other Countries: Shultz continues meetings in Beirut, then travels to Jerusalem, meets Shamir, Arens and Begin, also meets families of 4 Israeli POWs who ask him to intervene for their release; IDF marching band leads 19th Salute to Israel Parade down Fifth Avenue in New York.

Military Action:

Italian MNF attacked 4 times in Beirut, returns fire; IDF completes massive military exercise in South Lebanon and Golan Heights, Arens tells IDF in eastern Lebanon to be patient; 500 Iranian Revolutionary Guards reportedly arrive in Baalbeck.

Casualties:

1 Italian soldier wounded in Beirut; in South Lebanon, Dutch UNIFIL soldier stabbed.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: After talks in Cairo, Trade Ministry Director General says Egyptians promised to resume issuing licenses for import of Israeli goods; indictments for conspiring to incite hostility between Muslims and Jews, other acts, filed against 29 Jews in connection with Temple Mount incident; head of Islamic Committee in Jerusalem asks UN Secretary General to protect al-Aqsa from further attacks; fourth school in 10 days closed in Beit Sahour after students demonstrate, raise Palestinian flag.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: PLO Executive Committee meets in Tunis.

US and Other Countries: US Ambassador to Israel Samuel Lewis gives Shamir detailed, written proposals for security arrangements in South Lebanon as part of agreement for Israeli troop withdrawal; Pentagon releases US Marine Corps Commandant letter to Defense Secretary Weinberger saying that IDF has been deliberately threatening lives of US officers in Lebanon, reveals previously classified incidents; Garter, in Damascus, says Reagan Administration suggestion that Syria has become puppet of Soviet Union is ridiculous.

Military Action:

Syria permits US helicopters to enter Syrian-held territory to aid in rescue of blizzard victims, with deaths now numbering 47.

Political Response:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Begin tells visiting American Jews no Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon without adequate security arrangements, no halt to settlements, no deviation from Camp David, no independent Palestinian state; Foreign Minister Shamir says Reagan offer to guarantee security of northern border cannot replace a direct agreement between Israel and Lebanon, calls PNC meeting a deception and a fraud, repeats Israel's willingness to conduct negotiations with King Hussein only in framework of Camp David agreement, not in order to return Jerusalem to the PLO; one man remanded in custody by Jerusalem court in connectin with threats to life of Peace Now demonstrator; 500 Jews assemble near Dahariya village on West Bank to mourn death of woman hit by stones thrown at car, Rabbi Levinger of Kiryat Arba says there comes a moment for vengeance and the moment is now; Defense Minister Arens says Israel might resort to pre-emptive strike against Soviet SA-5 missiles based in Syria if build up continues and Israelis conclude they are faced with a mortal threat.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: PNC re-elects Arafat as Chairman of PLO Executive Committee, approves Political Committee recommendations, modifying one on Reagan plan to state that PNC refuses to consider it as sound basis for a just and lasting soution to the Palestine problem, authorizes Executive Committee to pursue contacts with Jewish progressive and democratic forces; Abu Iyad tells press conference that PLO would step aside and let West Bank mayors negotiate with US or Israel if Reagan recognized Palestinian right to self-determination and creation of a state; 17th session of Lebanese-Israeli-US talks takes place at Netanya.

Arab Governments: Syria says it will withdraw all its 30,000 troops from Lebanon after all 30,000 Israeli troops have left.

US and Other Countries: Reagan says King Hussein should be supported in efforts to set up a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation to negotiate future of West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem, and that US is prepared to take all necessary measures to guarantee the security of Israel's northern borders in the aftermath of the complete withdrawal of the Israeli army; Weinberger tells House Foreign Affairs Committee agreement near on transfer of Israeli military and intelligence data from Lebanon war to US, says delay in shipment of 75 F-16s to Israel due to examination of whether Israel had used US supplied weapons strictly in self-defense, says Israel does not need to develop the Lavi jet except to promote exports.