The Palestine Chronology

Military Action:

Arafat forces resist rocket and artillery attack on Baddawi camp, shells fall in Tripoli,more oil storage facilities hit; cease-fire in Tripoli accepted by combatants late in day; small arms fire directed at Marine positions in Beirut; PSP and LF militias engage in fierce artillery battles south of Aley; leader of IDF-backed militia in Kharouf shot and seriously wounded.

Casualties:

F-14 naval jet fighter on training mission from carrier John F. Kennedy crashes into Mediterranean, 2-man crew missing, presumed dead; UNRWA official in Tripoli says casualties in Nahr al-Bared fighting were exaggerated, 13 civilans were killed, 45 wounded.

Political Responses:

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Factional representatives meeting in Geneva report agreement in principle on constitutional and political changes in Lebanon, including Muslim-Christian parity in parlianment, establishment of supreme court.

Arab Governments: Delegations from Tripoli and from Gulf Cooperation Council in Damascus to discuss Tripoli cease-fire.

US and Other Countries: US State Dept. says it is revolted that once again the people of Lebanon, this time around Tripoli, are subjected to terror and injury by the radical and brutal behavior of Palestinian factions and their supporters.

Military Action:

LAF and militiamen exchange artillery fire at Araya, east of Beirut; LAF positions in Burj al-Barajneh hit by sniper fire; Marines return fire in three-hour battle with gunmen after US positions at airport hit by snipers; loyalist Fateh forces in Tripoli police cease-fire between militias of IUM and Lebanese CP.

Casualties:

1 Marine killed, 1 wounded by sniper fire, US casualties since end of August are 5 killed, 43 wounded.

Political Responses:

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Amal and PSP militias suspend participation in cease-fire security committee.

US and Other Countries: Reagan meets McFarlane, senior administration officials, to review Middle East policy; Reagan and Shultz meet Gemayel's national security adviser in Washington; State Dept. reportedly has approved plan to convert military aid program to Israel from 50-50 loan-grant to all grant basis; State Dept. refused comment on reports that US has secret plan to equip two Jordanian brigades as mobile strike force.

Military Action:

Lebanese Army patrol opens fire on illegal protest against withdrawal agreement by Shiite Muslims in Beirut suburb of Bir Abed, grenade reportedly thrown at patrol; demonstration also in Baalbek; fighting in Tripoli between Palestinian forces and Muslim militia.

Casualties:

1 killed, 10 injured in Beirut protest; Syria cuts off road, telephone and telex links between Syrian controlled areas of Lebanon and rest of country; many schools in Beirut closed; 4 persons killed in Tripoli fighting.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Uri Lubrani, former senior Israeli representative in Uganda, Ethiopia and Iran, reportedly selected to coordinate relations with Lebanon under terms of withdrawal agreement.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Lebanon, Israel and US sign troop withdrawal agreement at consecutive ceremonies in Khalde and Kiryat Shemona.

Arab Governments: Saudi Arabia and Sudan support Lebanon on agreement; Libya asks Lebanese ambassador in Tripoli to leave, withdraws its ambassador in Beirut; Jordan announces that Palestinians from West Bank and Gaza can enter the country only across Jordan River bridges; Egypt Air lands first flight in Beirut since 1979.

US and Other Countries: State Dept. says Congress, but not public, will be informed of all details of secret US agreements with Israel and Lebanon; agreement with Israel reportedly recognizes its right of self-defense to retaliate against attacks in Lebanon, acknowledges that it can delay withdrawing troops until Syria and the PLO withdraw, pledges to help bring about Syrian and PLO withdrawal and to see that Lebanon lives up to its agreement with Israel; Reagan indicates he is ready to release 75 F-16 jet fighters to Israel.

Military Action:

Grenades, mortars, rockets fired in Tripoli fighting between Lebanese Communist Party rnilitia and Soldiers of God militia; land mine explodes near Khiyam; Italian MNF patrol attacked with RPGs near airport; remote-controlled bomb explodes near IDF vehicle outside refugee camp near Tyre, area closed and searched; IDF surrounds town of Barja, arrests 3 Lebanese suspected of involvement in ambushes.

Casualties:

2 killed, 7 wounded in Tripoli fighting, schools and shops closed in old quarter of city; 9 Italian MNF wounded in 2 Beirut attacks, 2 vehicles destroyed; Lebanese Army informs residents of Burj al-Barajneh camp in Beirut that government prohibits repairs of bombed-out roofs, arrests 15 on charges of abusive construction, threatens to arrest additional 34 tomorrow.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Defense Minister Arens orders drastic cuts in ministry's National Security Unit, expanded by Sharon to proportions of alternative general staff; Arens tells Knesset Foreign Affairs committee there is no need to freeze West Bank settlements to entice King Hussein to enter peace negotiations; Cabinet selects Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Moshe Levy to replace IDF Chief of Staff Eitan; Central Bureau of Statistics says inflation rate is 130% a year; 3 suspects in attempt to take over Temple Mount released on bail; Nazareth municipal employee sentenced to 3 months in jail for participating in illegal Land Day demonstration in 1982; two new Chief Rabbis elected for 10-year terms, say that West Bank and South Lebanon are part of Israel; Bedouins call off hunger strike after Agriculture Ministry official agrees to meet them; curfews remain in force in Halhoul, Dheisheh, Aida, Jalazon and Ein Beit Alma, new curfew imposed on Balata camp; IDF seizes house opposite al-Amari camp for lookout post; 5 Village League members armed with automatic rifles enter village of Nuba, threaten to destroy it unless alleged demonstrators are turned in, IDF later arrests 3 residents,on charges of calling Hebron Village League head a traitor.

Arab Governments: Syrian officials say troops will not be withdrawn from Lebanon if any Israeli-Lebanese agreement provides for Israeli troops in Lebanon and formal trade, tourist, or diplomatic ties; Egyptian and Israeli officials hold second round of talks in Cairo on reviving trade relations.

US and Other Countries: State Department announces progress after third day of talks between Shultz and Shamir, emphasizes proposals for increased US responsibility for security, including training and equipping elite Lebanese force to patrol border, expansion in size and responsibility of MNF, and creation of a joint Lebanese- Israeli-US military commission to oversee security zone in South Lebanon; US officials say incentives to Israel such as high aid levels and release of F-16s are likely to accompany agreement to troop withdrawal accord; in statement read to conference on Soviet Jewry, Reagan says plight of Soviet Jews who are denied right to emigrate will remain in forefront of US foreign policy and human rights concerns.

Military Action:

Druze-Phalange militia gunbattles in Maarufiye-Bsada region, near Baabda; Lebanese internal security forces deployed in areas of Tripoli to monitor cease-fire.

Casualties:

Government offices, banks, shops and many schools reopen in Tripoli.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Israeli officials say Government is prepared to allow UNIFIL a 2 month extension, to operate around Palestinian refugee camps above 25 mile security zone, do not want UNIFIL within security zone; MK Yitzhak Rabin says war in Lebanon was illegal use of IDF for far-reaching political goals; Defense Ministry informs Umm al-Fahm residents that 15,000 dunums of their land is declared a military zone and cultivation must cease; troops raid Najah University, remove Palestinian posters and flags; military authorities close Kadri Tukan high school after border police injured by stones following celebration of 18th anniversary of Fateh in Nablus; all Nablus and neighboring Balata camp under undeclared curfew; Israeli traffic stoned in Ramallah and Bethlehem, with total of 5 settlers injured during week; Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs spokesman Avraham Hoffmann says $150,000 promotion campaign will encourage Israelis to settle in West Bank, and provide clearing house for information on available housing, World Zionist Organization goal is 100,000 settlers by 1985, current number is 25,000.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Arafat meets with Jordanian Prime Minister Mudar Badran, holds press conference in Amman in which he praises the Reagan plan for calling for a settlement freeze, and criticizes plan for denying Palestinian right to independent state; Abu lyad says meeting of Fateh Central Committee in Kuwait on 6 January rejected the Reagan plan; Lebanese-Israeli-US talks held in Khalde deadlocked over agenda as US compromise proposals are unacceptable, but new proposals submitted.

US and Other Countries: US State Department confirms several encounters between IDF and Marines in Beirut; Special Envoy Habib confers with Reagan, Shultz and Bush before leaving for Middle East, amid growing Administration frustration that delay in Israeli and Syrian troop withdrawals impede Jordan's involvement in peace negotiations as proposed in Reagan Plan; B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League releases report that anti-Semitic violence in US decreased by 15% in 1982, to 829 incidents, mostly in New York, California, New Jersey and Massachusetts; New York City Mayor Koch presents key to city to President Navon, pledges support of Israel, Navon tells Yeshiva University students to settle in Israel; Italian Defense Minister Lelio Lagorio, in Beirut, announces Italy considering sending another battalion to Lebanon, bringing total troops to 4,000.

UN: Senegal, Fiji, Norway, Ireland, Holland, Ghana, Finland, France, Sweden and Italy will keep troops in UNIFIL; Nigeria will remove troops from UNIFIL.

Military Action:

IDF bus in Kfar Sil ambushed by Lebanese National Resistance using rocket propelled grenades and machine guns, IDF returns fire into groves alongside road; artillery, rocket and hand-to-hand fighting in Tripoli.

Casualties:

21 IDF wounded in ambush, bringing total IDF casualties in 3 weeks to 25 wounded, 6 dead, and since Sept. 1, total IDF casualties are 104 killed, 203 wounded; one attacker killed by IDF; 19 killed in Tripoli fighting.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: MK Charlie Biton, at lunch hosted by PLO in New York, calls for Palestinian state on the West Bank, urges US to negotiate directly with the PLO, Israel to cut military spending; Bedouin whose herds were seized in December win order nisi from Israeli High Court calling for Defense Ministry, Chief of Staff and Nature Reserves Authority (Green Patrol) to give reason within 10 days why the herds should not be returned; Palestinian union activists, journalists, writers and poets from Nablus, Tulkarm and Hebron arrested and detained by military authorities now number over 300 in Fara'a prison.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: PLO Chairman Arafat in Kuwait calls on Arab states to exert economic pressure on US, then goes to Damascus for celebration of 18th anniversary of Fateh; Lebanese and Palestinian women from Bourj al-Barajneh protest detention of relatives; 3-week training by US Marines of Lebanese Army air assault battalion completed with display of heliborne hit and run attacks; $10 million worth of US military equipment, including 24 APCs, trucks and spare parts, for Lebanese Army arrives at Beirut port.

Arab Governments: Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tarik Aziz says Iraq is encouraging the PLO to negotiate with Jordan, and does not oppose peace negotiations between Israel, the PLO and Arab partners.

US and Other Countries: US expresses official concern to USSR over construction of SA-5 missile sites in Syria, as USSR Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin is called to the State Department to meet with Undersecretary for Political Affairs Lawrence Eagleburger; Senator Paul Tsongas (D-MA) meets with Begin, then Hussein, tells reporters if Syria is obstacle to peace and troop withdrawal from Lebanon, this obstacle must be removed, and that Begin told him he accepts Hussein in the peace process but will never freeze settlements

Military Action:

Lebanese Government announces security forces sent to disengage Sunni and Alawite militias fighting in Tripoli.

Casualties:

22 killed, 52 wounded in Tripoli fighting in past 4 days.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Israel announces another 20 Jewish settlements to be built in West Bank in next year, 10,000 to be settled in Gaza Strip over next five; Israelis remain silent in face of US criticism, deride Hussein's suggestion that PLO recognize Israel as basis for peace process; Dhahriyeh (south-west of Hebron) put under curfew after children stone passing IDF vehicles; settler group urges Israeli military commander of West Bank central region to deport any person who participates in stone-throwing.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: PLO General Mutik Abu Taha, commander of PLO forces in North Lebanon and Bekaa, says official Arab acceptance of Egypt "almost certain"; Lebanese government announces plans to resume collecting shipping fees at ports on November 22 (Phalange reportedly collecting $120 million per year in several ports to finance public services and support militia in Phalange-controlled areas; government estimates its losses at around $300 million per year, seeks to end private financial structures and bring down prices.

Arab Governments: Egypt asks Israel to halt plans to build 5 more settlements on West Bank; Saudi King Fahd meets King Hassan in Morocco.

US and Other Countries: American Jewish Congress plans appeal to force Treasury Department to disclose Arab dollar holdings in the US; British Foreign Office protests deportation from West Bank of British lecturer at Bethlehem University; French minister Claude Cheysson says Hussein, not Hassan, will lead 7-member Arab League group in talks on Arab-Israeli peace later this month in Paris, Moscow, China; US officials in Beirut say Reagan Administration will not press Gemayel to seek action against Phalange militiamen who massacred Palestinians in September (Reagan reportedly did not mention massacre to Gemayel during Washington visit; decision reportedly provokes controversy within State Department.)

Military Action:

Lebanese Army, aided by French troops, seals off downtown West Beirut, paralyzing commercial area, as troops check identification papers door-to-door; cease-fire in Tripoli after 36 hours of street-fighting between rival factions.

Casualties:

450 detained by Lebanese Army, some driven away blindfolded (total arrested in past 2 weeks now estimated at 2,000, prompting urgent talks between Italian and US Ambassadors); bulldozers clear rubble from South Lebanon camps to make tent sites (clearing delayed by unexploded bombs); IDF estimates 5,000 refugees remain in camps, UNRWA estimates 13,000; Israeli Minister Meridor visits Ein al-Hilweh.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Begin tells Draper all PLO forces must leave before Israeli and Syrian simultaneous withdrawal; Begin will allow senior IDF officers to review Cabinet meeting minutes concerning decision to enter West Beirut before testifying at Board of Inquiry; Reserve Brigade puts ad in Tel Aviv paper asking Sharon to apologize for saying their unit does not fight; Eitan says IDF likely to leave Lebanon before winter.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Lebanese radio asserts all foreign forces will leave by Nov. 22 (39th anniversary of Lebanese independence from France); PLO to open information office in Hague (had hoped for diplomatic status); Wazzan says Lebanon will not sign peace treaty with Israel; PLO's Shafik al-Hout sends condolences to Amin Gemayel over death of Bashir.

Arab Governments: Saudi Ambassador meets with Gemayel.

US and Other Countries: Habib en route to Washington to brief Reagan; Reagan asks State Department to accelerate plans for withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon; Pentagon sources say they received first indications of massacre on Friday, day before Phalangists are pulled out of camps.

UN: Anti-Israeli resolution submitted to UNESCO Executive Board.

Military Action:

Phalange forces, backed by IDF, have artillery duels with Syrian-supported Lebanese leftist militia; Phalange-Druze conflicts reported (nephew of Gemayel reportedly killed); Muslim/Christian conflicts around Tripoli; 2 Israeli generals visit Jumblatt's center, demand that his forces surrender artillery and mortars; Phalange moves into Chouf and Sidon, replacing Lebanese gendarmerie; Israeli jets hold mock battles over Beirut, dropping flares over Palestinian refugee camps; PLO bolsters positions inside W. Beirut; Phalange shoot from behind IDF lines.

Casualties:

Israeli government developing plans for security of southern Lebanon not involving international help (arms and uniforms given to villagers); observers report more physical damage in Tyre than Sidon (where casualties higher); Lebanese bankers protest IDF attempt to violate bank secrecy in Sidon; IDF asks Druze/Phalange leaders to stop fighting between followers (Phalange reportedly using arms against Druze; IDF caught in cross-fire); villages of Jumblatt refuse to be disarmed (Druze Likud Knesset member asks Sharon to restrain Phalangists "who draw their strength from the Defense Minister").

UNRWA reports that 50 percent of houses in 6 Palestinian refugee camps near Sidon/Tyre are destroyed, 40 percent of refugees have fled, UNRWA convoy scheduled to leave Jerusalem for Tyre today (draws on stocks in Gaza and West Bank); two-thirds of two camps near Tyre destroyed (no clear report on third camp); Ain el-Hilweh reportedly "virtually wiped out," Rashidiyeh suffers less damage; 200,000 tons of aid from France, West Germany, Denmark waiting in Cyprus for IDF permission to ship; Canadian physician who worked in Sidon says 50 percent of 10,000 killed by IDF invasion were children under 13 (his hospital was bombed 4 times, he saw pellet bombs dropped on refugee camps, and saw Palestinian prisoners beaten with clubs and metal-tipped whips).

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Begin disagrees with message from Haig that PLO should be allowed token political presence in Lebanon if Lebanon agrees (says that despite his statement in the US that Israel had no intention of entering Beirut, with IDF on Beirut's periphery "it was another matter," and urges Beirut residents to "flee for your lives"); Israeli Cabinet agrees to give negotiations more time, extends "deadline"; officials indicate Saudi plans for airlift might be acceptable; Foreign Ministry condemns EEC call for involvement of PLO in negotiations; Labor Alignment resolution opposing military action in Beirut gets 47 votes (Likud resolution gets 60, reference to multinational policing of 28-mile zone conspicuously absent); cost of war put at $2.5 billion for Israel ($1 b. in direct costs, $1.5 b. in indirect costs from resultant economic slowdown; equals 10-15 percent of GNP); IDF service extension for those essential for war effort being discussed; officials claim PLO takes advantage of peace negotiations; 200 protest Israeli invasion near Prime Minister's office (including 15 reservists back from Lebanon, who say they have signatures of 200 soldiers opposed to the war); trial of 20 Palestinian youths for guerrilla actions begins in Lydda and Ramal-lah; Israeli Druze leader asks Begin to restrain Phalange attacks on Lebanese Druze.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Phalange party plans to nominate Bashir Gemayel for Lebanese President; negotiations stall as no Arab countries indicate willingness to accept all PLO fighters; Lebanese continue to flee Beirut, leaving streets deserted; Wazzan puts civilian deaths at 15,000 (IDF Colonel Kadar says deaths number only a few thousand-in excess of 440 civilian deaths cited by Begin last week); Wazzan, after meeting with Habib, rejects Israeli conditions; PLO forces in Tripoli vow to fight on regardless of any settlement in-volving PLO forces in Beirut; PLO privately reiterates willingness to leave Lebanon (form of evacuation and surrender of arms left un-resolved); PLO meets with Salam.

Arab Govemments: Saudis reported active diplomatically; Arab League representatives meet in Taif to continue discussion of common approach to IDF invasion (includes Syrian, Saudi, Lebanese, PLO, Algerian and Kuwaiti envoys).

US and Other Countries: Reagand enies giving Israel "green light" for invasion, says it resulted from PLO rocket attacks on Israel; Senator Percy says IDF invasion of W. Beirut would be "unacceptable" because of civilian casualties; State Department official warns of risk of renewed fighting if PLO and Lebanon do not come to terms soon; Haig sends message saying PLO should be allowed some political presence in Lebanon if Lebanese authorities agree; French Foreign Minister Cheysson, after meeting with Egyptian envoy Ghali, speaks of PLO as representing Palestinian people; Greek Ministry of Culture supervises huge concert in Athens to aid Palestinian children; Nigerian parliament passes resolution condemning Israel; protests held in cities in USSR; USSR accuses Israelis of using chemical weapons in Lebanon supplied by US.