H i s t o r y
o f P a l e s t i n e - 1980-1995
1981
- President Sadat assassinated
On
October 6th, President Mohammed Anwar el Sadat of Egypt was
murdered by Islamic fundamentalist gunmen in Cairo. The shooting
happened at 1 p.m. during the annual military parade to
commemorate the beginning of the Egyptian attacked in the 1973
Arab-Israeli war . A lorry in the procession stopped in front of
the rostrum where the President and other luminaries were
watching a fly-past of Egyptian Air Force jets. Armed men
climbed out and ran toward Sadat, hurling grenades and opening
fire with automatic weapons. The President and seven others fell,
mortally wounded. Sadat was flown to the Maadi military hospital
where he died an hour and 40 minutes later. Sadat's funeral on
October 10th was attended by only one Arab head of state. He had
isolated himself in the Arab world by the rapprochement with
Israel which had won him and Menachem Begin the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1978 and led to a peace treaty between the two
countries in 1979. Iraq, Libya, Syria and the Palestinian
Liberation Organization openly applauded his assassination.
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1982 - Lebanon invasion
In 1982
Israel launched an invasion of Lebanon aimed at wiping out the
PLO presence there. By mid-August, after intensive fighting in
and around Bayrut, the PLO agreed to withdraw its guerrillas
from the city. Israeli troops remained in southern Lebanon,
however, and the cost of the war and subsequent occupation
drained the already troubled Israeli economy.
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1982
- PLO leave Beirut
Some of
the 1,500 Palestinian fighters forced to leave the war-torn city
of Beirut give victory signs to supporters gathered to greet
them at the harbour gate in Larnaca , Cyprus. In further
attempts to destroy guerrillas bases, Israeli jets had bombed
Moslem West Beirut, despite appeals for restraint from the US
government. The guerrillas were allowed to go with one gun each,
leaving behind grenade-launchers and other sophisticated
weaponry.
-
1985
- Falasha airlift stopped
Ethiopia
in 1985 forced the Israeli government to stop its covert airlift
of Falasha - Ethiopian Jews - to Israel. Since beginning the
airlift in 1974 (when persecution of the Falasha increased after
the fall of Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie), Israel had
airlifted some 12,000 members of the ancient Jewish sect, which
had existed in isolation from the rest of the Jewish world since
about the second century BC.
Israel resumed the airlift in 1989,
and within a few years most of the approximately 14,000
remaining Falasha had emigrated.
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1987-1991
- The Intifada
Relations
between Israel and the Palestinians entered a new phase in the
late 1980s with the intifada, a series of uprisings in the
occupied territories that included demonstrations, strikes, and
rock throwing attacks on Israeli soldiers. The harsh response by
the Israeli government drew criticism from both the United
States and the UN.
-
1988
- Jordan gave up the West bank
1988,
Nov. 15 : Jordan gave up the West Bank, in favour of the
Palestinian people. The West Bank had still a strong majority of
Palestinians. The West Bank was also under boundless Israeli
control, which it had been since the occupation of 1967.
-
1988
- PNC declared the State of Palestine
On
14-04-1988 , Abu Jihad, Palestinian leader, was gunned down in
his home in Tunis by the Israeli Mossad.
On 15-11-1988 , The PNC meeting in Algiers declared the State of
Palestine as outlined in the UN Partition Plan 181 , and a flag
for the new state is presented. The new state is recognized only
by states that have not recognized Israel.
On 09-12-1988 , British Junior Foreign Minister William
Waldegrave met with Bassam Abu Sharif President Arafat's adviser,
thus upgrading Britain's relations with the PLO.
Following the US government refusing President Arafat a visa to
enter the US, the UN General Assembly held a special session on
the question of Palestine in Geneva.
-
1989
- Madrid Conference
On June
28, 1989 , EEC Madrid Conference issued a new declaration
calling for the PLO to be involved in any peace negotiations.
On August 3, 1989 , Fateh, the mainstream PLO organization, at
their 5th Conference endorsed the PLO strategy adopted at the
PNC in Algiers in November 1988.
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1990
- Arafat addressed UN In Geneva
On
20-05-1990 , Seven Palestinian workers from Gaza were massacred
by an Israeli gunman near Tel Aviv.
Yasser Arafat addressed the UN Security Council In Geneva after
the massacre in which he called for the deployment of a UN
emergency force to provide international protection for the
Palestinian people to safeguard their lives, properties and holy
places.
The US vetoed a motion which called for the Security Council to
send a fact finding mission to the area. At the end of their
hunger strike, Palestinian leaders in the Occupied Territories
decided to boycott the US.
The Arab Summit in Baghdad pledged support fort he Palestinian
Intifada and strongly denounced the settlement of Soviet Jews
with in the Occupied Territories.
On 20-06-1990 , The US suspended its dialogue with the PLO after
the PLO refused to denounce a military operation in the sea by
the PLF.
On 26-06-1990 , The EEC in Dublin issued a new declaration on
the Middle East which condemned Israeli human rights violations
and the settlement of Soviet Jews in the Occupied Territories.
It also doubled its economic aid programme to the Occupied
Territories.
On August-1990 , The Gulf Crisis erupted.
On 20-12-1990 , UN Security Council adopted Resolution 681.
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1991-1992
- Peace Talks
 |
Abdul
Shafe, Hayder (Head of Palestinian negotiating team)
The
first comprehensive peace talks between Israel and delegations
representing the Palestinians and neighboring Arab states began
in October 1991. After Likud lost the parliamentary election of
June 1992, Labor party leader Yitzhak Rabin formed a new
government.
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-
1993
- Deported Palestinians
In
Jan'93 , Israel deported 415 Palestinian men to a buffer zone in
southern Lebanon on Dec. 17, 1992. This occurred during Israel's
peace talks with Arab states and led to a temporary breakdown in
the negotiations. Southern Lebanon had frequently been a staging
area for attacks on Israel's northern settlements. The deported
Palestinians were said by Israeli authorities to be active
members of the militant Islamic resistance movement known as
Hamas. Late in January, Israel's High Court ruled that the
deportation was legal. The government of Israel nevertheless
announced that all the deportees would be allowed to return home
within a year.
-
1993
- Washington peace agreement
Events
in the Middle East took a surprising turn in 1993. After secret
negotiations, Prime Minister Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser
Arafat flew to Washington, D.C., and agreed to the signing of an
historic peace agreement. Israel agreed to allow for Palestinian
self-rule, first in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of
Jericho, and later in other areas of the West Bank that are not
settled by Jews.
In Sept,93 , At a ceremony in Washington, D.C., representatives
of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed
an agreement designed to end 45 years of confrontation between
the Israelis and Palestinians. The actual signing was done by
Israel's foreign minister, Shimon Peres, and PLO foreign policy
spokesman, Mahmoud Abbas. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel
and PLO leader Yasser Arafat met and shook hands on the White
House lawn, as President Bill Clinton of the United States and
3,000 guests looked on. The agreement was limited in scope; it
provided for transfer of the Gaza Strip and Jericho to
Palestinian rule within a few months. But the accord was
regarded as a first step in resolving years of violent conflict
between Jews and Palestinians. The agreement had been worked out
secretly in Oslo, Norway, with the mediation of Norway's foreign
minister, Johan Jorgen Holst. Following the signing, a long
process of negotiation began on the means of transferring power
in the occupied lands.
-
1994
- Hebron mosque massacre
In
Feb.1994 , An American-born Jewish settler in Hebron, Baruch
Goldstein, opened fire in al-Haran al-ebrahime crowded mosque,
killing 29 Muslims and wounding 150 more. Additional Muslims
were crushed to death in the panic to flee the mosque and in
rioting that followed. The attacker used an assault rifle to
shoot at more than 400 Muslims, who were in the mosque for early
morning prayers during the holy month of Ramadan. The mosque
itself was part of a complex of buildings sacred to both Jews
and Muslims, because it was believed to contain the
4,000-year-old burial tomb of Abraham and his wife Sarah. As
such, the place had long been a site for religious
confrontations. News of the massacre immediately led to riots in
Hebron and the rest of the occupied territories. The crime
called into question the possibility of continuing the peace
talks between Israel, the Palestinians, Jordan, and Syria. In
late 1993 Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization had
signed an agreement designed to bring peace between the two
group.
-
1994
- Israel withdrew from Jericho and Gaza Strip
In
May'94 , At a ceremony in Cairo, Egypt, attended by 2,500 guests,
Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO), and Yitzhak Rabin, prime minister of Israel, signed the
final version of the Declaration of Principles that had been
signed in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 13, 1993. The accord was
regarded as a start toward bringing peace between Israelis and
Palestinians after 45 years of conflict. Within 24 hours of the
signing, Israeli military forces were scheduled to leave the
Gaza Strip and Jericho, ending 27 years of occupation of those
territories. A Palestinian police force was ready to move into
the areas to keep order. Among the foreign visitors at the
ceremony were Secretary of State Warren Christopher of the
United States, Foreign Minister Andrei V. Kozyrev of Russia, and
Foreign Minister Koji Kazikawa of Japan. In spite of the accord,
Jewish and Palestinian extremists in Israel vowed to prevent its
full implementation.
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1994
- Jordan signed a peace agreement with Israel
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Jordan-Israel Peace
In July 1994 Prime Minister Mr.
Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan signed a peace agreement ending
46 years of war and strained relations. The agreement, which was
signed at the White House in the presence of U.S. President Bill
Clinton, laid the groundwork for a full peace treaty.
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1994
- Arafat returns to Palestine
In July
1, Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO), returned to Palestine for the first time in 33 years.
Israel's control of Palestine had prevented his visiting the
region because he was a sworn enemy of Israel and, in turn, was
regarded by Israelis as a terrorist. The agreement between
Israel and the PLO, signed in September 1993, had made possible
Arafat's return. He went first to Gaza City in the Gaza Strip,
where he was welcomed by a crowd estimated at 200,000. Three
days later he flew by helicopter to the city of Jericho. Both
areas had been granted Palestinian rule by the treaty.
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1994
- Nobel peace prize awarded
In
Oct.14 , The Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway, announced that the
peace prize was being awarded to Israel's Foreign Minister
Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and to Yasser
Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
The award came one year after a peace agreement was signed
between Israel and the PLO following decades of mutual hostility
and violence. There was some controversy among members of the
committee making the award: committee member Kare Kristiansen
resigned, saying Arafat's violent past should have disqualified
him from receiving the award.
-
1995
- Martyr bombs kill 19 in Israel
In
Jan.23 , Nineteen Israelis died and more than 60 others were
wounded when two martyr bombs exploded at a crowded bus stop
near Netanya, north of Tel Aviv. Most of the dead and wounded
were soldiers. The militant group Islamic Jihad claimed
responsibility for the attack, the sixth such incident since
April 1994. During that time, Islamic guerrillas killed 54
people and wounded nearly 200 in their efforts to derail the
fragile peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Israeli
President Ezer Weizman denounced the bombings and called for a
halt in talks with the Palestine Liberation Organization, though
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and his cabinet decided to continue
negotiations for a peace settlement.
-
1995
- Summit in the Middle East
In Feb.2
, In an effort to make progress in the stalled Middle East peace
talks, Egypt invited representatives from Israel, Jordan, and
the Palestine Liberation Organization to a summit meeting in
Cairo. The meeting was the first regional summit in which an
Israeli official participated. After nearly six hours of talks,
the leaders issued a joint statement in which they agreed to
forge ahead with efforts for peace, condemned political violence,
and called for more international assistance for the Palestinian
Authority, the governing body in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The peace talks, which began in 1992, had been threatened by
increasing Islamic militant attacked against Israelis.
-
1995
- Six killed in Gaza martyr bombing
In April
9, Two militant Muslim groups launched a pair of martyr car
bombings against Israelis in the Gaza Strip, killing eight
people and wounding more than 45. In the first attack, which
took place near Kfar Darom, an Israeli settlement about 10 miles
(16 kilometers) southwest of Gaza City, a van loaded with
explosives was detonated next to a passenger bus, killing seven
soldiers and one American tourist, and wounding more than 40
others. Two hours later, several people were injured when a
martyr bomber drove a car-bomb into an Israeli convoy on the
road to the settlement of Netzarium, about 6 miles (10
kilometers) away from the site of the first attack. The Islamic
militant groups Hamas and Jihad (Holy War) claimed
responsibility for the bombings. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin denounced the attacks and warned that unless the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) worked to crush the militant
groups operating in its territory, Israel would oppose expanding
Palestinian self-rule.
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1995
- Martyr bomb rips through bus near Tel Aviv
In July
24 , A Palestinian martyr bomber set off a crude pipe bomb
aboard a bus making its way through morning rush hour in a
suburb of Tel Aviv, Israel, killing himself and six others. More
than 32 passengers were wounded in the attack. The bombing was
the first major instance of attacks against Israel in more than
three months, and it came one day before negotiators from Israel
and the Palestine Liberation Organization were to have reached
an agreement on extending Palestinian self-rule in the West
Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin vowed that the
attacks would not stop the talks from moving forward, and he
credited Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian Authority for taking
positive actions to prevent such attacks from taking place.
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1995
- Martyr bomber kills five in Jerusalem
In Aug.
21 , In the second such attack in a month, a Palestinian martyr
bomber attacked a crowded bus in West Jerusalem, killing five
Israelis and himself. More than 107 others were injured in the
blast. The attack was denounced by the Israeli government and
Palestinian leaders, and both sides vowed to keep fragile peace
negotiations on track. Hamas, the Islamic group opposed to the
peace process, claimed responsibility for the attack. Israeli
authorities arrested more than 60 Hamas members between August
23 and August 27, charging them with planning the July 24 and
August 21 bombings.
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1995
- Oslo II Agreement signed in Washington
In Sept.
24 , Israeli and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
officials meeting in Taba, Egypt, finalized agreement on the
second stage of eventual Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian
lands. Under the pact, which was officially signed on September
28 in Washington, D.C., Israeli forces were scheduled to be
removed from six Arab cities and 400 villages in the West Bank
by early 1996, after which elections would be held for a
82-member Palestinian council, which would possess legislative
and executive power in the West Bank and Gaza.
Special arrangements were agreed upon for the West Bank city of
Hebron, where Israeli soldiers will remain to protect the 450
Jewish settlers living there. Disagreement over the status of
Hebron almost scuttled the agreement, and it took almost a week
of non-stop negotiations between PLO leader Yasser Arafat and
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to resolve the issue.
The pact was the second stage in a three-step process agreed
upon in the Declaration of Principles, a framework for eventual
Palestinian autonomy signed by the PLO and Israel in September
1993. The first phase in the process was finalized in May 1994,
when an accord was signed in Cairo, Egypt, for the pullout of
Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of
Jericho and the handing over of administrative duties to the
Palestinian National Authority, led by Arafat. The third stage
will tackle such contentious issues as the status of Jerusalem,
the fate of Israeli settlers, and the final borders between
Israel and the Palestinian state that many analysts believe is
close to becoming a reality. Negotiations concerning the last
phase of the peace process were scheduled to begin in May 1996,
with any agreement to be implemented before the end of the
century.
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1995
- Israeli Prime Minister Rabin assassinated
In Nov.4
, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated in Tel
Aviv by a right-wing extremist who considered Rabin's crusade
for peace a betrayal of the Jewish state. The prime minister was
shot three times as he was getting into his car to leave a peace
rally at 9:30 PM local time. He was rushed to nearby Ichilov
Hospital but had no heartbeat or blood pressure when admitted to
the emergency room. Doctors tried without success to revive
Rabin, but he was pronounced dead at 11:10 PM. Israeli Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres took over leadership of the Labor
government upon Rabin's death.
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