Thursday, February 6, 1992

Secy. of State Baker tells Congress that U.S. will not comply with Israeli requests for aid if it feels the aid would be used to further policies the U.S. opposes. (NYT, WP 2/7)

19 Knesset members send letter to PM Shamir demanding inquiry into 2/4 death of Palestinian detainee Mustafa 'Akkawi. Demand notes that as a carrier of Israeli identity card, 'Akkawi should have been detained inside Israel and not in the o.t. (MM 2/6)

Concerned over possibility that peace talks could lead to Palestinian autonomy in o.t., Council of Jewish Settlements in o.t. passes resolution urging permanent IDF presence and continuation of settlement activity in o.t. (Ha'Aretz 2/7 in FBIS 2/11)

Following several corrections of the information it originally issued, IDF admits to Israeli press that bus fired on by IDF soldier 2/3 in Gaza was actually several kilometers from the checkpoint it supposedly failed to observe and that it could not explain why the soldier had shot at it, killing a Palestinian passenger. IDF also suspends the officer commanding the soldier's unit after it determined the soldier "did not observe regulations". (MM 2/6)

Dir. gen. of International Atomic Energy Agency arrives in Syria to secure Syrian ratification of IAEA safeguards treaty, which provides for IAEA inspection of nuclear facilities. IAEA decided to discuss the treaty with Syria following disclosures that China has agreed to sell a 24-megawatt reactor to Syria. Syria has not signed the safeguards treaty because it did not possess any nuclear facilities and because of Israeli refusal to allow IAEA inspection of its own nuclear facilities. (Radio Monte Carlo 2/6 in FBIS 2/10; WP 2/11)