The Palestine Chronology

U.S. refuses Arab demand to reschedule negotiations due to Israeli refusal to attend 12/4 talks in Washington. (WP 12/6)

Islamic Resistance Movement fires rockets into Marjayun, S. Lebanon in retaliation for Israeli, SLA shelling of Shiite villages. (NYT 12/9)

Israeli communications ministry and telephone company Bezek end several days' experiment by which selected customers were allowed to call unnamed Arab countries directly through American installations. Experiment came in order to prepare Israel in the event that peace talks lead to agreement on direct communications between Israel, Arab world. Palestinian negotiator Faisal Husseini was among those who called, speaking to his brother in Jordan. (MM 12/5, 12/6)

Social/Economic/Political

Occupied Palestine/Israel: Bezek, natl. tele-communications company, cuts off 1,000 IDF telephones for non-payment of bills; Min. of Defense $75 million in debt [LAT 1/26]. Over 1,500 march through streets of Nazareth protesting discriminatory policies by govt., Histadrut towards the city in light of its 25% unemployment [FJ 2/1].

Military Action

Occupied Palestine/Israel: Gasoline bomb severely injures Israeli driving near Qalqiliya [JP 2/1]. 2 IDF vehicles destroy more than 1,100 olive trees in al-Mill (Area 9) orchards near Sakhnin, 'Arrabeh; 2nd attack since 1/9 [Fl 2/1].