The Palestine Chronology

King Hussein flies to U.S. for meeting with Pres. Bush on Gulf crisis; Bush threatens to extend naval blockade to Aqaba if goods continue to flow from Jordan to Iraq [NYT, WP, LAT, WT 8/15].

U.S. admin. officials disclose Pres. Bush has secretly approved future transfer of $1 billion worth of sophisticated fighter aircraft and anti-tank missiles to Egypt; approval still must come from Congress [WP 8/15].

In Damascus, U.S. ass't. sec. of state John Kelly meets with Pres. Asad to discuss Gulf situation [DDS 8/14 in FBIS 8/ 15].

Israel's ambassador to U.S., Moshe Arad, meets with Sec. of State James Baker at Arad's request to talk about Gulf crisis [JDS 8/15 in FBIS 8/15; WP 8/16].

Bethlehem mayor Elias Frayj strongly criticizes U.S. action in Gulf, saying that Palestinians and Arabs will not allow Iraqis to starve [JDS 8/14 in FBIS 8/14].

Rabbi Moshe Levinger, Jewish settler leader, is released from prison after serving 13 weeks of sentence for killing W. Bank Palestinian in 1988 [LAT 8/15].

New York Times writes Yasir Arafat's support for Saddam Hussein has created rift in PLO leadership, with senior PLO officials deeply divided over what policy to follow and disturbed over PLO's "very negative" image in Gulf states [NYT 8/14]; Los Angeles Times reports PLO "may have written themselves out of the diplomatic script" by supporting Iraq, stance will make it nearly impossible for resumption of U.S.-PLO dialogue [LAT 8/14].

Gulf crisis has strengthened P.M. Shamir's gov't., political right seen as gaining supporters in Israel; many Israelis are purchasingas masks in event of Iraqi chemical attack. Israeli official says "the mood of Israelis is that there is no point negotiating with Palestinians who support a leader like Saddam Hussein, who wants to wipe us off the face of the earth" [LAT 8/13].

U.S. ass't. sec. of state, John Kelly, meets in Cairo with F.M. Esmat Abdel Meguid to discuss Gulf crisis [MENA 8/ 13 in FBIS 8/13]; then Kelly flies to Damascus to meet with Syrian officials [SANA 8/13 in FBIS 8/14].

Hamas leaflet distributed in O.T. calls on Palestinians to take their battle to Israeli soil, and for Baghdad to attack Tel Aviv if Iraq is attacked by Western powers [WT 8/14]. 

Iraq announces it has annexed Kuwait; first U.S. troops arrive in Saudi Arabia [WP, NYT, LAT, WT 8/9].

P.M. Shamir, Israeli leadership praise Pres. Bush's decision to send troops to Saudi Arabia; reaffirm Israel has no intention of getting involved in conflict; has not been asked by U.S. to become involved [NYT 8/9].

U.S. ass't. sec. of state for Near Eastern and South Asian affairs, John Kelly, arrives in Damascus to discuss Gulf crisis with Syrian officials [DDS 8/9 in FBIS 8/ 10].

Violence continues for 3d straight day in Jerusalem as Jewish rioters wound at least 80 Arabs to avenge killing of 2 Israeli teenagers; Police Chief Yaacov Turner says police will crackdown on violence, will use tear gas if necessary [WT 8/9].

Emanuel Christen, 1 of 2 Red Cross workers kidnapped in Sidon on 10/6/89, is released by group calling itself Palestinian Revolutionary Squads (cf. 8/13) [AFP 8/8 in FBIS 8/9; WT, WP, LAT, NYT 8/ 9].

In Amman, Arafat and King Hussein revive Jordanian-Palestinian joint committees, 1 for politics, 1 for information [QUD 4/20 in FBIS 4/24].

Interim P.M. Shamir is hurriedly seeking to establish new Jewish settlements in O.T. before his gov't. leaves office [WP, LAT 4/19].

Bulldozers, guarded by Israeli soldiers, level orange grove in Gaza Strip for construction of new Dugit settlement. Soviet F.M. spokesperson says "some circles in Israel continue to deliberately raise obstacles to a peaceful settlement in the Middle East" [WT 4/19].

Islamic Jihad says it will release one of its 3 hostages "within 48 hours" as a "goodwill initiative"; group also calls for asst. sec. of state John Kelly to come to Damascus "to coordinate final measures" [WP, LAT, WT 4/19].

Egypt's F.M. Esmat Abdel Meguid says Egypt intends to press for ban on "weapons of mass destruction" in Middle East [WP 4/19].