Quarterly Updates

The main intra-Palestinian event of the quarter was the announcement that Fatah and Hamas had agreed to form a unity government and take serious steps to reintegrate West Bank and Gaza institutions and end their divide.

Following the approval of the draft ("Oslo II") interim agreement by the Israeli cabinet (8/13) and the PA cabinet (8/ 16), negotiatorsettled into a process of five-day rounds of talks to resolve the remaining areas of disagreement (e.g., Hebron, water, joint security arrangements and settler pro

Though Syria and Lebanon continued officially to boycott all meetings attended by Israeli representatives, two unofficial contacts took place: on 6/20, Syrian and Lebanese representatives reportedly met with an Israeli delegate on the sidelines of the multilateral meeting on water; and on 7/24 se

1.  Do you support the proposed Palestinian-Israeli agreement concerning elections, redeployment, and transfer of authority in the West Bank? 

Tensions caused by the East Jerusalem land issue eased when Israel suspended its confiscation order on 5/22, with King Hussein reinstating his ban on the antinormalization rally in Amman he had previously authorized.

In May, Israel and the U.S. made several small concessions in an effort to revive talks, suspended since 4/26, including: a 5/17 Israeli offer to allow Syria to deploy an early warning station on Israeli territory in exchange for an equivalent system on Syrian soil; a 5/20 U.S.

Palestinian-Israeli Track

Although successive target dates were missed for the conclusion of the long-overdue interim agreement provided for under the Declaration of Principles (DOP), being referred to as "Oslo B" in the press, progress was achieved during the quarter.

Refugees

Donor talks this quarter revolved around meeting PA financial needs through 12/31/95 in light of the 3/31 expiration of the donor states' agreement on funding PA expenses. Two formal and two main informal donor meetings were held to this end:

Working group meetings were largely put off in favor of less formal trilateral and multilateral talks. Nonetheless, Syria and Lebanon continued to boycott all meetings attended by Israeli representatives.

On 2/28, at the request of the Arab states, the UNSC held the first of two debates this quarter on Israeli land confiscations but refused to take a decision.

• On 2/20, Arafat met with French Pres. Franqois Mitterrand and FM Alain Juppe in Paris to discuss ways of jump-starting peace talks.

Meetings

On 3/9, Israel FM Shimon Peres and PLO Chmn. Yasir Arafat met at Erez and set a target date of 7/1 for reaching a consensus on elections and Israeli withdrawal.

In late February, low-level, unofficial talks resumed in Washington under the direction of U.S. coordinator Dennis Ross, but negotiating positions remained unchanged.

Russian envoy Viktor Posuvalyuk visited Jordan and Syria 12/25-27, meeting with King Hussein, Jordanian PM Majali, and Syrian FM al-Shara' about the peace process. He returned to the region on 2/6 for five days of talks in Damascus, Beirut, and Amman.

Three UN General Assembly resolutions relating to the Middle East were voted on during this quarter:

Syrian-Israeli talks, officially suspended in February 1994, were reported by senior U.S. officials on 12/30 to have continued in about 24 secret, high-level meetings in Washington over the past six months.

An EU delegation headed by French FM Alain Juppe toured Damascus, Israel, Gaza, Lebanon from 2/8-12. The delegation expressed support for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan, met with representatives at Orient House while in Jerusalem, and called for the resumption of Palestinian talks. 

Israeli-Arab Relations

U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher visited Syria and Israel 12/6-10, primarily in effort to revive Syrian-Israeli talks. In addition to his discussions with Pres. al-Asad, PM Rabin, and FM Peres, he also met with Chmn. Arafat.

Syria and Lebanon continued to boycott all meetings attended by Israeli representatives. Meetings during the quarter were as follows:

Meetings

Meetings

Two donor meetings were held during the quarter: