The Palestine Chronology

PA asks Israel to return the bodies of 100s of Palestinians killed over the yrs. in border skirmishes with the IDF, attempted crossborder infiltrations. The bodies are buried in a desert graveyard in the Jordan Valley. (WP 7/9; CSM 7/18)

Jordan's the Civil Aviation Authority says that it is considering an Israeli request to perform maintenance on Israeli commercial planes. (JT 7/9 in WNC 7/13)

Turkish FM Cem meets with Arafat, tours Jerusalem with Orient House head Faisal Husseini. (Anatolia 7/9 in WNC 7/13; CSM 7/10)

Based on details provided by SLA defector Ward, Lebanon's military prosecutor charges 77 persons--17 of whom are under arrest--with spying for Israel. (MM 7/10; Tishrin 7/11 in WNC 7/15) (see 7/6)

Orient House head Faisal Husseini makes 1-day trip to Ankara to meet with Turkish pres. Demirel, FM Cem. (Anatolia 7/2 in WNC 7/6)

Syrian pres. Asad appoints Gen. Ali Aslan to replace Gen. Hikmat Shihabi, who is retiring, as chief of staff for the Syrian armed forces. Aslan, an Alawite with a distinguished military career and no record of political involvement, is currently dept. chief of staff. (MM 7/3; al-Quds al-Arabi 7/3, al-Aswaq 7/4 in WNC 7/7; al-Quds al-Arabi 7/5 in WNC 7/13; PR 7/17)

The UN asks Spain to provide a brigade of soldiers to work in UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to replace Norwegian troops. Norway decided in 6/98 to reduce its UNIFIL force by 66% at the end of 1998 for financial reasons. (ABC [Madrid] 7/3 in WNC 7/7)