The Palestine Chronology

Military Action:

Assassination attempt on PM Wazzan.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Shultz meets Begin, other Israeli officials, discusses consequences of IDF redeployment; Israeli official says redeployment is not withdrawal but entrenchment, IDF is willing to remain in Lebanon many years; Jewish religious student killed in Hebron, military government dismisses Acting Mayor Natshe and municipal council, curfew imposed, settlers ransack and burn market stalls and several stores in Hebron central market, 1 Arab killed; 2 Arabs sentenced to life imprisonment, 4 others jailed 7 to 18 years for murder of Jewish settler last year at Herodion; Jewish vigilante sentenced to 39 months imprisonment for shooting at car driven by Arab near Hebron.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: PLO mediating team returns to Damascus.

US and Other Countries: Shultz ends Middle East visit with stops in Amman and Cairo, says he can't point to any substantive achievement, would not want to try to sell proposal to Congress that US troops with MNF take over positions abandoned by IDF redeployment.

Casualties:

UNIFIL conducting formal military inquiry into March 30 shooting of Lebanese doctor by member of Fiji contingent.

Political Responses:

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Abu Jihad, in Amman, says Reagan's offer to try to halt settlements does not change PLO position of no confidence in US.

US and Other Countries: Socialist International, meeting in Lisbon, votes to accept Israeli Mapam Party as full member despite Labor Party opposition.

Casualties:

1 killed, others wounded when car bomb explodes near Iranian Revolutionary Guards building in Baalbek.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Several hundred IDF reserve soldiers reportedly return Lebanon campaign ribbon; Peace Now says it will demonstrate against proposed dedication of Upper Nablus settlement on Israel's independence day; 16 persons in Arraba and Gaza detained for helping arrange a faked epidemic; statement by Jordanian Physicians Union on West Bank describes mass illnesses as collective poisoning resulting from inhaling unknown gases, says authorities participated in preparing these criminal incidents or approved the results.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: In Kuwait, Fateh Central Committee reiterates support for Fez resolution as only acceptable basis for peace talks, opposes Hussein's representation of Palestinians; Arafat travels to South Yemen, sends Abu Jihad and Hani al-Hassan to Amman with message to Hussein.

Arab Governments: Saudi foreign minister visits Syria.

US and Other Countries: Reagan Administration promises to do its best to halt Israeli settlements if King Hussein publicly announces his willingness to enter negotiations based on UN Resolution 242; Shultz reportedly opposes using aid to pressure Israel, prefers persuasion; Kissinger says his meeting last year with PLO official was inconsequential, State Dept. says it did not complicate or delay diplomatic process with King Hussein.

Military Action:

IDF artillery fired at Syrian positions in Bekaa after Syrian tractor fortifying positions reportedly crosses cease-fire line. 

Casualties:

IDF releases Jibsheet's Sheikh Rageb Harb, whose arrest on March 18 prompted strikes and demonstrations; ICRC tells IDF that Lebanese in Sidon are threatening Palestinian refugees in camps and villages; Austrian special envoy leaves Damascus to report to Chancellor Kreisky on status of negotiations for PLO-Israel prisoner exchange.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: 7 arrested in Sakhnin for offenses during Land Day; doctors from US Center for Disease Control begin study of mass illness; chairman of West Bank Medical Association says ICRC investigator denied making statement attributed to him yesterday by Israeli authorities; schools in Jenin and Hebron districts closed for 1 week; Tulkarm and Nablus under curfew; molotov cocktail thrown at IDF patrol in Jalazon camp; 17 year-old Palestinian dies of head injuries sustained in Jenin on March 27, family says soldier struck him with bottle, IDF says he was injured by stones; IDF arrests two carloads of Palestinians said to be driving through Nablus shouting through megaphones that the water had been poisoned; IDF confiscates film, arrests 2 Israeli employees of CBS news on charges of urging hospitalized girls to act ill, charges later dropped; 2 Israelis assaulted and injured near Damascus Gate; 9 Jews arrested during demonstration outside police station where Kahane's nephew is held; 7 persons arrested in Taiba after two days of demonstrations, stoning of police jeep, in support of West Bank Palestinians.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Arafat, in Amman, meets with PLO Executive Committee and Hussein; in letter to UN Secretary General, Arafat accuses Israel of poisoning thousands of schoolgirls.

Arab Governments: In Damascus, President Assad meets with George Habash.

UN: Iraq calls for Security Council meeting, accuses Israel of mass poisoning of Palestinian schoolgirls, Israeli delegate rejects charges as irresponsible and unfounded; Security Council requests Secretary General to conduct independent inquiry into reported cases of poisoning.

Casualties:

Second group of 15 wounded Lebanese and Palestinian children arrive for treatment in US under American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee program.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Foreign Ministry expresses bafflement, denies Soviet statement that Israel is planning to attack Syria; 20 residents of Sakhnin and Arrabe in western Galilee arrested, charged with disturbing the peace and raising Palestinian flags during Wednesday's Land Day celebrations; Arab youth arrested after windows of Israeli department store smashed in Nazareth; police investigating Feb. 10 grenade attack on Peace Now demonstration have no suspects; AI-Fajr chief editor released on IS 5,000 bail, after police question him about alleged PLO contacts and attendance at PNC Algiers meeting; IDF lifts curfew at Jalazon camp after 24 days, residents say 2 infants died during period due to inadequate medical care; curfew resumed in Tarqumiya village after youth shot and killed by IDF, family ordered to conduct burial at night to avoid further disturbances; Israeli medical experts say illnesses of some 400 persons in Jenin district in past week were mass panic reaction triggered by possible environmental irritant in nearby village of Arraba, Health Ministry asks US Center for Disease Control in Atlanta to send team of experts to assess Israeli finding that illnesses not caused by poison; 106 persons still hospitalized.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Arafat arrives in Amman for talks with King Hussein; Lebanon negotiations continue at Kiryat Shmona, progress reported on question of joint military patrols, no agreement on role of Haddad.

US and Other Countries: Reagan says US forbidden by law to release 75 F-16s to Israel while its forces are in the position of occupying another country that has asked them to leave; Habib returns to US.

Military Action:

IDF patrol attacked with bazooka fire east of Beirut.

Casualties:

1 IDF soldier killed, 2 injured, bringing total IDF casualties since PLO evacuation to 126 killed, 212 wounded; special envoy of Austrian Chancellor Kreisky meets PLO officials in Damascus to discuss Israeli-PLO prisoner exchange.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Ibna' al-Balad (Sons of the Village) activist in Umm al-Fahm placed under 6-month house arrest for fifth time in last 3 years; 250 Druze (about 2%) in Golan Heights have accepted Israeli citizenship; youths in West Bank village of Burka throw stones at police superintendent's car; car of Israeli police chief in Nablus badly damaged by stones; Health Ministry finds no traces of poison at schools, suggests possibility of psychosomatic illness with symptoms of mass hysteria; IDF helicopters fly medical teams to jenin after renewed outbreak of symptoms of illness, hospitalization overnight of further 70-80 cases; AI-Fajr Jenin correspondent arrested.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Arafat travels to Baghdad, meets with Iraqi foreign minister, other officials; Habib returns to Beirut, meets Gemayel.

Arab Governments: Jordanian foreign minister meets with Farouk Kaddoumi in Amman; Jordan confirms that US has promised it will act to obtain freeze on Israeli settlements and will accept expelled West Bank mayors in joint Jordanian-Palestinian negotiating team if Hussein declares his intention to join peace talks; Saudi foreign minister returns for second meeting with King Hussein.

Casualties:

PLO says it has moved 8 Israeli POWs from Lebanon to undisclosed location because it had information a military operation was being planned to free them.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Senior IDF officers receive Peace for Galilee campaign ribbon, Yesh Gvul (There's a Limit) movement holds demonstration, calls ribbon mark of Cain; Sharon attacks Arens' Lebanon negotiating position in Cabinet meeting, says Israel is conceding too much for too little, other ministers call for unilateral withdrawal to Awali river; foreign and defense ministers tell Habib there can be no agreement unless Haddad forces play key security role; 300-480 children, mostly girls, in 5 Jenin schools taken ill with dizziness, headaches, fainting spells and stomach pains, Jenin Mayor SI wki suspects settlers of spreading poison gas, government accuses radical Palestinian factions, Civil Administration medical officer says victims definitely inhaled poison gas; Jenin under curfew after stone-throwing demonstrations; border police jeep assaulted near Sakhnin, 4 youths arrested.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Arafat postpones visit to Amman, has talks with King Fahd in Riyadh.

Arab Governments: Saudi Arabia says it will support any PLO-Jordanian agreement.

US and Other Countries: NY businessman creates special legal defense fund, supported by private American contributions, for settlers accused of violating Israeli law when retaliating against attacks by Palestinians.

Military Action:

PLO makes withdrawal of 7,000 troops from Bekaa and Tripoli areas contingent on safety guarantees for half million Palestinians living in Lebanon; IDF sets up fortified position 100 yards from British forces' headquarters.

Casualties:

European Community grants $20 million for rebuilding Beirut drinking water system; Phalangists have evicted 70 Palestinian families from apartments in Sidon in past two weeks and forced them to move to Ain el-Hilweh camp; UNRWA HQ in Vienna, responding to intimidation of Palestinians in South Lebanon, calls on IDF to ensure safety of civilians in areas under its control.

Politicial Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Israeli Cabinet fails to reach agreement on whether to carry out Commission of Inquiry recommendation that Sharon and three senior generals leave their posts, considers early elections; Sharon says he has no intention of resigning; demonstrations outside Cabinet meeting; representatives of West Bank and Gaza settlements meet Begin and oppose removal of Sharon; Sharon welcomes Zaire's Defense Minister on official visit in Tel Aviv; Chief of Staff Eitan testifies in court-martial of 7 Israeli soldiers accused of beating, kicking and clubbing students in Hebron, defends orders from his office to harass West Bank Palestinians by repeated arrests, punishment of parents, collective punishment, etc.; Foreign Minister Shamir reiterates that Israel will not talk to PLO even if it recognizes Israel.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Chairman of PNC Foreign Relations Committee Khaled Hassan says revolutionary tactics is only option, which means violence until success; Arafat flies from Amman to Jeddah for talks with Saudi leaders.

Arab Governments: President Mubarak meets Bethlehem Mayor Freij in Cairo.

US and Other Countries: Defense Secretary Weinberger rejects proposal that Israel share military information it obtained in Lebanon because of Israeli conditions; American Jewish leaders praise Commission of Inquiry Report as evidence of Israeli democracy and moral strength; Austria mediating arrangements to exchange 6,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel for 8 Israelis held by PLO; trade between Britain and Israel in 1982 totals £498 million.

Military Action:

Druze militia takes control of Aley in Chouf, destroys Phalange headquarters; IDF arming and assisting Palestinian Village League style administration in Ain el-Hilweh camp; IDF announces written peace agreement between Druze and Phalange forces and will enforce its provisions for a cease-fire, removal of road blocks, exchange of hostages; artillery exchanges continue at night; three men arrested while reportedly setting rocket launchers near site of Israeli-Lebanese-US negotiations in Khalde.

Casualties:

2 IDF wounded by gunfire in Sidon; 25 Phalange killed in Aley, bringing to 60 number killed in past week of fighting between Phalangist Lebanese Forces and Druze Progressive Socialist Party; French soldier loses leg when land mine explodes.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Report of the Kahan Commission of Inquiry into Beirut massacres delivered to Begin.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: President Gemayel says Israeli conditions for troop withdrawal are impossible and Lebanon is not prepared to accept them; South Lebanon village brigades, acting as vigilantes, receive uniforms and arms from IDF; Arafat meets with King Hussein in Amman, who reportedly wants PNC approval for non-PLO Palestinians to join Jordanian delegation for talks with US and Israel.

US and Other Countries: Reagan criticizes Israel for unnecessarily delaying troop withdrawal from Lebanon, being technically in the position of an occupying force; Habib returns to Middle East.

UN: UN documents IDF harassment of villages in South Lebanon, instructs UNIFIL to prevent IDF setting up village militias.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Shamir says purpose of surveillance station in South Lebanon is to prevent return of PLO terrorists, if other means are available Israel will study them but so far none have been presented; Sharon at Cabinet meeting says Lebanon must pay a price for having allowed Palestinians to operate at will in previous years, that US must change position on future arrangements and security in Lebanon or Israel will consider other ways of obtaining an agreement with Lebanon, that Saad Haddad must play a role in security along border, and that survelliance stations will be military bases manned by a company each; Begin, Shamir and Sharon meet for 90 min. with Habib who then returns to US; Bethlehem Mayor Freij dismisses Deputy Mayor George Hazboun then leaves for Amman and Cairo for 3 week trip, saying there must be peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians and a halt to West Bank settlements.

Arab Governments: Egyptian Foreign Minister Kamal Hassan Ali meets with Israeli Ambassador Moshe Sasson in Cairo; ministers of Syria, Iran and Libya meet in Damascus, agree to support Lebanon financially and materially to end Israeli occupation.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: US envoy Habib and Prime Minister Begin hold 90 minute meeting during which Habib presents Begin with letter from Reagan; Defense Minister Sharon postpones departure to Zaire, takes 100 Herut Party members on tour of Israeli military positions in Lebanon, Sharon meets Saad Haddad in Marjayoun, says any peace agreement will have a role for Haddad as he is trustworthy friend of Israel; Sharon holds afternoon press conference in Kiryat Shemona, simultaneously with official press conference announcing agreement on Lebanon talks agenda, creating tension with Foreign Minister Shamir, Sharon notes de facto normalization has preceded diplomatic normalization, that since Nov. 15, 12,000 people and 1,100 vehicles have entered Ilsrael from Lebanon and 1,100 Israeli vehicles transported goods to Lebanon; Labor Party political bureau approves Histadrut companies involvement in construction of settlements in occupied territories; Energy Minister Yitzhak Modai urges strong posture on US pressure, says control of Judea and Samaria is vital for security; Civil Administration declares as state land 20,000 dunums in Dahariya, south of Hebron, gives Palestinians 21 days to appeal, area planned for land reserve along 1967 green line; 30 Kach members break into Hebron home of Moshe Levinger, demanding that Meir Kahane's Kach settlement nearby receive support and services from Kiryat Arba as does Levinger's group in Hebron.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: PLO Chairman Arafat in Moscow press conference releases communique that Soviet Union shows understanding of the PLO position on confederation on the basis of voluntarity between an independent Palestinian state and Jordan; following Habib-Begin meeting, Israel and Lebanon, in talks held in Kiryat Shemona, agree on agenda for talks (including concurrent discussion on "termination of the state of war; security arrangements; framework for mutual relations, including issues such as liaison, ending hostile propaganda, the movement of goods, products and persons, communications, etc.; program of complete withdrawals, conditions for Israeli withdrawal, within the context of the evacuation of all foreign forces; possible guarantees"); Lebanese Parliament delegation visits Amman seeking Jordanian support in talks with Israel.

Arab Governments: Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam, at non-aligned conference in Nicaragua, says Syria will resist any agreement which does not call for Israeli withdrawal from all occupied territories and does not recognize inalienable rights of Palestinians.

US and Other Countries: Pentagon refuses to sign draft agreement on US access to Israeli military data due to unreasonable restrictions; secret plan revealed for mini-Rapid Deployment Force in Jordan to guard internal stability, respond to emergencies in friendly Gulf States, and possible use in inter-Arab wars; Henry Kissinger says Lebanon crisis has consequences helpful to prospects for peace, shows USSR can supply arms but not solutions, rout of PLO restores US military credibility; Representative Council of French Jewry protests French Middle East policy, says Foreign Minister Cheysson's recent statements show anti-Israel bias, asks government to close PLO Paris office and expel PLO representative Ibrahim Suss.

Military Action:

Marines prevent IDF from entering Bourj-al-Barajneh for second time, but IDF moves into Lailaki using random anti-tank grenades and machine gun fire to search area; after fourth encounter between IDF and Marines in 1 week, US Embassy in Beirut expresses concern; truce in Tripoli policed by PLO because Lebanese security forces refuse to patrol area so long as opposing forces maintain positions.

Casualties:

1 PLO member killed, 3 wounded in Tripoli.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Israeli Government rejects US-proposed compromise on agenda for Lebanon negotiations; at Cabinet meeting Begin promises Deputy Premier David Levy and Communications Minister Mordechai Zipori, both Herut Party critics of Sharon, that Cabinet will hold special debate on Lebanon; Young Guards of Labor Party elects as chairman Moshe Cohen, a political centrist who will seek to end leftward lurch of party, to terminate Labor's alignment with Mapam and a rapprochement with religious parties; all police units launch anti-terrorist drive following attack on bus, reveal several bomb incidents since summer, including 280 kg bomb in car in Negev defused, bomb under bench in Herzliya which wounded 4, 4.5 kg bomb in Jerusalem defused, security forces played down and withheld information on incidents; Israeli trade with Lebanon valued at $8 million each for November and December; Peace Now group demonstrates outside Prime Minister Begin's office; dozens of Palestinians arrested in Tel Aviv after yesterday's grenade attck, 2 molotov cocktails thrown at police station in Dheisheh refugee camp, no injuries, security forces seal area, search but no arrests; 10 Najah University students arrested, charged with incitement; Kiryat Arba residents pull down Hebron municipality electricity poles for second time, and Acting Mayor Mustafa Natshe says he received threatening letter from Kiryat Arba council demanding removal of the utility poles; Elon Moreh settlers fire shots into Nablus Dal al-Tafel kindergarten and its bus, military authorities seal off Nablus market area.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Arafat holds talks with King Hussein in Amman, also attending are members of Joint Committee, as Hussein tells Arafat his talks with Reagan were positive and successful; Lebanese Director General of Internal Security Forces Hisham Shaar says conscription may be necessary to keep balance of Christians and Muslims in police force; reports circulating in Beirut that AUB President David Dodge, kidnapped during war, may be alive and held in Bekaa Valley; Internal Security Chief Hisham Shaar and Syrian Deputy Chief of Staff General Ali Aslan meet in Tripoli, agree to patrols there by Lebanese security forces.

Arab Governments: Egyptian President Mubarak calls on Hussein and Arafat to negotiate on the basis of the Reagan plan, before US presidential elections and more settlements make it too late to reach agreement, says that only thing that bothers him about US foreign policy is US Congress' decision to increase aid to Israel; Egyptian Foreign Minister Kamal Hassan Ali says Egyptian ambassador to Israel will return to his post as soon as agreement is reached on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon; Saudi King Fahd holds series of meetings with Walid Jumblatt, Moroccan Foreign Minister Mohammed Boucetta, Fateh Executive Committee member Abu Mazen.

US and Other Countries: Senator Charles Percy (R-IL) states support for Israeli position that withdrawal from Lebanon should be accompanied by business-like relations; columnist Jack Anderson publishes opinion poll of the world's worst leaders with Menahem Begin ranking fifth after Khomeini, Qaddafi, Mobutu and Duvalier; 1,500 New York area Jews who have applied for aliya attend speech by Israeli President Navon in synagogue.