The Palestine Chronology

Military Action:

French jets from carrier Clemenceau attack positions of Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Islamic Amal militia, east of Baalbek; RPGs fired at French position in Beirut; fighting continues around Souq al-Gharb; pockets of Fateh loyalists continue to resist on fringes of Baddawi, shells fall in Tripoli; roadside bomb hits IDF patrol south of Sidon; US Marines begin 4 day rotation, 1400 new troops, veterans of Grenada invasion, to come ashore.

Casualties:

Lebanese police say 39 killed, 150 wounded in Baalbek air raid, several buildings destroyed; 1 IDF soldier killed, 5 wounded in Sidon explosion; Air France cancels Beirut flights until further notice; wave of arrests of civilians by IDF reported in South Lebanon.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: 2 students wounded by IDF during Gaza demonstration; 4000-6000 dunums confiscated from Beit Ula near Hebron.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Arafat says no one can liquidate the PLO, it is not a military base, his forces will fight to defend Tripoli against Syrian plan of conquest.

Arab Govements: Saudi, Kuwaiti and Qatari officials meet in Damascus with FM Khaddam, seek to mediate cease-fire in Tripoli.

US and Other Countries: France says air attacks are necessary to prevent new terrorist actions against French forces in Lebanon by intervening first; US says it had advance notice of French air raids.

Military Action:

Cease-fire reduces shelling in and around Beirut; 200 Marines of Alpha Company evacuate position near university school of science, move to base on 6th Fleet ships, 1400-1500 Marines remain onshore; heavy fighting continues around Baddawi, Arafat forces establish positions in Tripoli, area around Arafat's HQthere is shelled.

Casualties:

Amal reports 2 civilians killed, nearly 80 injured in recent fighting with LAF; Beirut airport reopens; general strike in South Lebanon to protest closing of Awali bridges, schools, shops in West Beirut closed in support.

Political Responses:

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Arafat meets mayor of Tripoli, other leaders, promises to do everything he can to avert all out fighting in city.

Arab Governments: Kuwait's parliament votes to halt $265 m. annual aid to Syria because of alleged support of PLO rebels; foreign ministers of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, North Yemen, Tunisia and Algeria fly to Damascus to consult Assad on PLO fighting.

US and Other Countries: Reagan Administration reportedly plans to establish closer political, economic, and strategic relations with Israel as keystone of Middle East policy, Eagleburger's visit last week to Israel laid groundwork; House approves foreign aid bill with largest sum ever for Israel, $2.61 b. in military and economic aid.

Military Action:

Phalange and Druze exchange artillery and small arms fire in Chouf after Druze sheikh killed by land mine in Kfarhim.

Casualties:

23 killed, up to 100 kidnapped in Chouf fighting.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Detectives investigating murder of 2 Russian nuns suspect fanatical Jewish opponents of Christian activity in the Holy Land, Russian convent and other Christian institutions in Jerusalem recently daubed with swastikas; 90% of government-employed doctors refuse to work in escalation of strike actions for higher wages begun March 2; High Court rules that Druze residents of Golan Heights must carry Israeli identity cards; Chief of Staff Levy says reserve duty will average 60-65 days this year if IDF remains in Lebanon for protracted period; Cabinet formally ratifies agreement with Lebanon.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: Lebanese Foreign Minister Salem, in Paris, says Syrian position on Lebanese-Israeli-US accord is not final; Habib arrives in Beirut for meetings with Lebanese officials.

Arab Governments: Iraq says US-arranged Lebanese-Israeli accord constitutes a chain on Lebanon's sovereignty; Kuwait minister says agreement is an infringement on the rights of the whole Arab nation; Col. Qaddafi says rebellion in PLO has his material and moral support.

Military Action:

Explosion 400 yards from Lebanon Beach Hotel in.Khalde delays talks for 30 min., Israel charges was 107mm Katyusha rocket fired from behind Marine lines in Hay el-Sellom, Phalange says was rocket-propelled grenade, Lebanon state radio says was 120mm mortar, Lebanese Army says shell was detonated by explosives on the spot; IDF tries to use road under MNF jurisdiction.

Casualties:

1 IDF at checkpoint near hotel wounded; IDF detains 4 Lebanese in Khalde area, cuts off road.

Political Responses:

Israel/ Occupied Territories: Government defeats 2 no-confidence motions on social policies put forward by Labor and Democratic Front following release of survey that shows 300,000 Israelis live under poverty line; General Amir Drori criticizes US Marines for failing to prevent guerrilla infiltration from its sector; General Yaacov Even, IDF chief spokesman, says Marines are buffer for PLO's hit and run attacks, that since Dec. 22, 9 incidents near US lines resulted in 1 IDF killed, 25 wounded; Government denies reports that relations with Ethiopia have improved and Israeli advisers are now in Addis Ababa; week long Canal Founders Conference of Israel Bonds begins, attended by 200 Jewish leaders from US and Canada; security forces arrest 2 from Gaza who admit to Jan. 8 Tel Aviv grenade attack, say they are members of Fateh and were trained in Egypt.

Palestinians/ Lebanese: After 6 hours, negotiations stalled on Israel's demand to have IDF remain in security installations in Lebanon and nature of future relations, with Lebanon proposing protocol accord to regulate ties.

Arab Governments: King Hussein returns to Jordan from tour of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.

US and Other Countries: State Department denies press reports that Reagan is prepared to sign document drafted by National Security Council, State and Defense Departments to cut off military aid to Israel; Reagan Administration says it is extremely concerned over slow pace of Lebanon negotiations, following Habib's return to US, with 2 stumbling blocks of normalization and surveillance stations; National Executive Committee of the Zionist Organization of America is told by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) that Reagan Administration is not a mediator in the Middle East but coddles Saudi Arabia and entices King Hussein to peace table with airplanes and missiles, that it was never disclosed publicly that intelligence officials told the State Department that armed PLO members remained in Beirut; ZOA President Ivan Novick says Reagan Administration uses West Bank settlements to divide American Jews, but Jewish settlements are valid based on right to security and self-defense, historical connection, and according to international law Israel holds better title to this land; British press reports that secret documents accidently released recently indicate that Britain dissuaded Jordan, Syria and Iraq from concluding peace agreements with Israel in 1949.

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