The Palestine Chronology

Social/Economic/Political

Occupied Palestine/Israel: Over 700 Israeli border police and security forces gather in 4 Druze villages in the Golan Heights to prevent rallies and demonstrations the 40th anniversary of Syria's independence; busloads of sympathizers from the occupied territories areturned back at roadblocks [JP 4/18].

Other Countries: Ecuador, a member of OPEC, recently repaid a $5 million debt to Israel in oil despite an embargo by OPEC on sales to Israel, according to a report in Ha'Aretz [JC 4/17].

Military Action

Arab World: Bodies of 1 kidnaped American, Peter Kilburn, and 2 kidnaped Britons, Philip Padfield and John Leigh Douglas, are found near Beirut with note stating they were killed in retaliation for Britain's role in the U.S. bombing raids on Libya; note is signed by "Arab Fida'iyyin Cells" [NYT, WP, FT 4/18; LT. 4/19].

Social/Economic/Political

Occupied Palestine/Israel: Deputy advisor on antiterrorism to P.M. Peres, Gideon Mahanayimi, states "best way" to fight terrorist organizations is by assassinating their leaders [BG 1/12]. American Enterprise Institute (Washington, D.C.) and Arab Council for Public Affairs (East Jerusalem) cosponsor panel in which Palestinian political scientists respond to papers prepared by AEI academics [FJ 1/171.

Arab World: Islamic Conference Organization concludes annual conference with condemnation of U. S. economic sanctions against Libya, fails to adopt concrete response [CSM 1/13].

Military Action

Occupied Palestine/Israel: Israeli Druze policeman Jamil Faris is shot to death, another policeman, 4 Palestinian passers-by wounded in Nablus by unidentified gunmen; round-the-clock curfew is imposed, house-to-house searches are conducted, number of Palestinians are arrested [WP, JP 1/12; JTA 1/13; FJ 1/17].

Social/Economic/Political

Other Countries: Reagan administration announces economic sanctions against Libya, orders U.S. oil companies, Americans working there to leave Libya or face criminal penalties [NYT 1/8; LAT, PI 1/9]. U.S. State Department announces U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Nicholas Veliotes will resign in April [WP 1/8; LT 1/9].