Chronological Review of Events/June 1994 – DPR review

CHRONOLOGICAL REVIEW OF EVENTS

RELATING TO THE QUESTION OF PALESTINE

June 1994

Monitored from the press by the

Division for Palestinian Rights

1 June Israeli troops shot and injured 17 Palestinians during clashes in Ramallah. The clashes took placed in the midst of a general strike in Ramallah protesting the killing in al-Ram village a day earlier of two Hamas members by an Israeli undercover security unit.  (Jerusalem Press)

2 June Two hundred forty Palestinian families were served with notices by authorities of the Jerusalem municipality that their houses were to be demolished for lack of building permits. Some 2,000 Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem are classified by the Israeli authorities as subject for demolition due to the same reason.           (Jerusalem Press)

3 June The European Union signed a financial agreement with the PLO, laying out the conditions for a $8.6 million grant to the Palestinian police force.  Half of the  grant  will  go  to  equipment  and  the  other  half to operating costs.  (European Commission Press Release IP/94/491)

4 June A home-made grenade was hurled at an Israeli army post in downtown Hebron, injuring 6 Palestinians.  The army, immediately after the grenade hurling, opened fire at stone throwers and injured 8 of them. In a clash following this incident, 4 soldiers and 6 Palestinians were injured.  (AP)

5 June Israeli Minister of Police Moshe Shahal said that Israel will bar Palestinians from setting up new offices in Jerusalem and arrest any armed guards at existing offices.  Earlier, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was quoted as saying that Israel would limit activities of the Orient House, the PLO Headquarters in East Jerusalem, to prevent Palestinians from running their autonomy government from outside Jericho and Gaza.  (AP)

6 June A meeting of some 120 prominent leaders representing various sectors of the Palestinian society of East Jerusalem was convened to protest against what was defined as Israeli measures against Palestinians in the city.  The meeting, which was headed by Mr. Faisal Husseini, reaffirmed the need to "defend the national  institutions"  and  the  "Arab  historical  existence"  in the city.  (Jerusalem Press)

7 June A letter concerning Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem, which was sent on 11 October 1993 by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to the late Norwegian Foreign Minister Johan Holst, was published in the major Israeli press and media channels.  The letter, which Israel has denied its existence for several weeks, reads as follows (Ha'aretz):

Dear Minister Holst,

    I would like to confirm that the Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem is of high priority and will remain so.  For this reason, all Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem, including economic, social, cultural and educational, as well as all Islamic and Christian holy sites, play a critical role for the Palestinian residents.

    It goes without saying that we will not interfere with their activities, but rather that we will support their activities.

         With respect,

Shimon Peres".      

Israel and Jordan reached an agreement to expand commercial and political contact and agreed to open negotiations on boundaries and other issues, including cooperation on civil aviation. The two countries also agreed in principle to build a highway linking Israel, Jordan and Egypt. The agreement was reached at a meeting of the USA-Jordanian-Israeli Trilateral Economic Committee at the State Department in Washington.  (AP)

The daily Ha'aretz reported that the two countries also agreed on various security issues, including the prevention of any activity or act that might put the security of the other side at risk.

Israeli soldiers shot and wounded three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in an area under Palestinian self-rule.  It was reported that the soldiers were clashing with youths who stoned their post on the border with Egypt in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.  (Reuters)

Romania and the PLO signed an agreement to help rebuild infrastructure in Gaza and Jericho. After the signing ceremony, Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu said: "We plan to build roads, ports and airfields in Gaza and Jericho."  (UPI)

8 June Jordan has agreed to host an international economic conference in Amman with the participation of Israel.  Jordan has refused in the past to host such a conference with Israel's participation but after their agreement in Washington on 7 June, the Government of Jordan has removed its objection.  The conference is planned to take place early next year with the participation of businessmen and economic experts from the Arab world and other countries. (Ha'aretz)

9 June A two-day meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee of the donor countries to the Palestinian Authority ended in Paris with a grant of $42 million in immediate aid to the Palestinian Authority.  The Committee was formed after the meeting in Washington on October 1993 of a conference of donors which pledged $2 billion over five years to the new Palestinian Authority.  The meeting was attended by representatives of the European Union, the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and Saudi Arabia, which are full members of the Committee, and by the PLO, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia and the United Nations, in their capacity as associate members.  The meeting discussed means of providing immediate funds for the Palestinian Authority.  (DPA)

Israel's President Ezer Weizman met with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat at Nelson Mandela's office and the three talked for awhile.  Later, Weizman and Arafat spoke privately in another room.  Both arrived in South Africa earlier to attend Mr. Mandela's inauguration.  (Yediot Ahronot)

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said that he has ordered the Government's attorney general to draft legislation outlawing political activities of Palestinians in Jerusalem.  He was quoted as saying, "We aim to challenge the PLO attempts to set up bodies with governmental character in Jerusalem."  But Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem condemned the threat and a statement issued by the Orient House, the PLO Headquarters, called Jerusalem an "inseparable part" of the occupied territory, accused Israel of expanding Jewish neighbourhoods before the status of the city comes up for negotiation.  (AP)

10 June United States officials said that President Clinton, overriding Israeli objections, was preparing to waive legislative restrictions barring the PLO from receiving US financial assistance and from opening a diplomatic mission in Washington.  Mr. Clinton's decision was based on a June report by the State Department that found that the PLO has met obligations to renounce terrorism and to amend elements of its Charter calling for the destruction of Israel.  The executive action would remove legislative obstacles barring the Clinton administration from releasing most of the $500 million it has pledged to help the Palestinian Authority develop infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.  (UPI)

11 June Palestinian police in the Gaza Strip detained 26 people suspected of aiding Israeli military authorities.  A senior Palestinian official in Gaza said that bringing the collaborators to justice was a top priority of the fledgling Palestinian self-rule.  (Reuters)

A Palestinian woman was shot and killed by Israeli troops when they fired at stone throwers near a police station in Ramallah.  The woman was in a car when she was shot in the head. The army confirmed the death and said that it was investigating.  (AP)

A senior PLO official, Ahmed Kurei, welcomed the agreement between Jordan and Israel, reached earlier on 7 June.  Kurei, who is in charge of economic affairs in the Palestinian Authority, said that the PLO will soon sign an economic agreement with Jordan.  (Reuters)

12 June Israeli authorities, following a Cabinet meeting, eased restrictions on Palestinians by issuing work permits for 10,000 workers from Gaza and tearing down a cement barricade in the city of Hebron.  The measures were taken following assessments by the Cabinet ministers at their weekly session that the governing self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho was running smoothly and that Palestinian police were operating satisfactorily.  (AP)

A large investment group made of Palestinian businessmen living abroad visited the West Bank and plans to set up an office in the self-ruled area.  The Palestine Investment and Development Company, with a registered capital of $100 million,  is  planning  its  investments  in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  (Reuters)

Dr. Nabil Shaath, Minister of International Cooperation in the Palestinian Authority, said that Saudi Arabia had ended a "taboo" against the PLO by granting the latter $10 million at the donors' meeting in Paris, and by pressing other Arab Gulf States to fund the Palestinian Authority.  (Reuters)

13 June According to the daily Ha'aretz, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat had sent three letters to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin reaffirming his commitment to peace and proposing a lull in weeks of bickering over the status of Jerusalem.  Rabin's spokesman Oded Ben-Ami confirmed that Rabin received the letters.  It was reported that the letters were sent in response to Rabin's demands for reaffirmation following Arafat's speech on 10 May in a South African mosque when he called for jihad to liberate Jerusalem.  In the letters, Arafat reportedly proposed direct dialogue with Rabin and asked Israel not to hamper the activities of existing Palestinian institutions operating in East Jerusalem.

Israeli troops shot and injured four Palestinians during clashes in Nablus and Ramallah. (Ha'aretz)

14 June The Israeli Government decided not to initiate legislation aimed at restricting PLO political activities in East Jerusalem.  Legal advisers to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said that such legislation would not withstand an appeal to the High Court of Justice.  (Ha'aretz)

15 June Israel and the Vatican announced the establishment of full diplomatic relations in accordance with the agreement between the Holy See and Israel, signed last December.  According to the report, the Vatican will open an embassy in Jaffa (an Arab town near Tel Aviv).  (Israel Line)

Delegations from 46 countries and international bodies met in Rabat, Morocco, to examine draft plans for regional economic development in the Middle East as part of the peace process. The meeting is the fifth in a series since the Regional Economic Development Working Group was set up after the Madrid peace conference in November 1991.  Israel was represented by a delegation led jointly by its Foreign Ministry Director-General and the Israeli Central Bank Governor.  Syria and Lebanon did not attend the meeting.  (Reuters)

The US-based Human Rights Watch accused the Israeli army and secret service of routinely torturing Palestinian detainees.  The 316-page report said that harsh methods, including beatings and pressure on the testicles are still routine, nine months after Israel agreed to begin Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.  The Israeli army denied the charges and the head of Israel's military command in the West Bank told reporters that torture allegations are "not true".  Israel has said it allows interrogators to use some pressure to extract information about imminent attacks, including prolonged standing and loud music.  (AP)

16 June The World Bank has announced that a three-year emergency rehabilitation project in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has been given a $30 million co-financing grant by Saudi Arabia.  The project aims to give Palestinians emergency relief while rebuilding vital infrastructure and institutions following decades of Israeli occupation.  (DPA)

The Regional Economic Development Working Group concluded its two-day fifth session in Rabat with several decisions on economic cooperation in the Middle East, particularly among the "near" countries which include Israel.  In an annex to the final report, the Working Group called for economic cooperation in the region aimed at integration with the world economy. Various economic projects in the region were decided upon during the meeting.  (Ha'aretz)

17 June Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin sent a letter of reply to PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat saying that Israel has significantly eased the closure order affecting the occupied territories, but will not meet Arafat's request to cancel the closure order.  The letter indicated that Israel issued 45,000 work permits to Palestinians from the territories and left the ban on boys under 15 and women to enter Israel.   (Israel Line)

The United States told Israel of its intention to open an East Jerusalem office of the U.S. Agency for International Development to oversee US aid to the Palestinian authority in Jericho. Senior Israeli officials expressed uneasiness over the announcement and said that a response will be handled directly by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.  (Yediot Ahronot)

Israeli troops shot and wounded four Palestinians during clashes in Hebron.         (Reuters)

19 July A Palestinian suspected of "collaboration" with Israel was shot dead by masked gunmen in the town of Qalqilya.  (Reuters)

20 June Israeli authorities for the first time permitted a Palestinian bank to open for business in the West Bank.  The Palestinian Commercial Bank, set up by local businessmen with a capital of 10 million Jordanian dinars ($14 million), will open its main office in Ramallah on 1 July. (Reuters)

The Palestinian Authority published its first official newspaper, al-Awda (The Return), in Jericho.  (Reuters)

King Hussein of Jordan said in Washington that he hoped for a meeting of Israelis and Jordanians soon at the highest level possible.  He added that he believed "the time has arrived to sit openly with the purpose to reach agreement that will lead to a peace treaty between Jordan and Israel."  (AFP)

21 June Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said that it was time for Israel and Jordan to meet openly and end half a century of hostility and for their leaders to meet in public.  (AFP)

22 June Israeli soldiers shot and injured 11 Palestinians in Nablus during clashes with demonstrators demanding the release of all Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.  (Reuters)

23 June Unidentified gunmen shot dead in Gaza a Hamas member who was suspected of collaborating with Israel.  (UPI)

Israeli police detained an Arab-American and a Canadian who tried to stop them from resealing a Palestinian house in Jerusalem opened a day earlier by Arab civil rights campaigners. Volunteers from the Palestinian Centre for the Study of Non-Violence opened the house as part of a campaign to unseal hundreds of homes shut by Israeli authorities because a family member was jailed for anti-Israeli activities.         (Reuters)

Palestinian youths hurled hand grenades at an Israeli jeep patrol, wounding two soldiers in an ambush in the West Bank town of Nablus.  (Reuters)

24 June Israeli troops shot and killed a young Palestinian while quelling demonstrators in Nablus demanding the release of all Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.  The release of Palestinian prisoners has recently been a disputed issue in the Israeli-PLO negotiations.  (AP)

Mr. Faisal Husseini, the leading PLO official in the West Bank, cast doubt over whether PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat would visit Jericho in the near future.  Husseini said that Arafat cannot come under existing conditions and would never suffer restrictions like those imposed on PLO chief negotiator Nabil Shaath during his visit to Jericho earlier in the week.  Mr. Shaath accused Israel of violating the peace accord when it barred him from visiting Allenby Bridge, the main link between the West Bank and Jordan just outside Jericho.  Mr. Shaath was also briefly detained at several Israeli roadblocks.  (Reuters)

26 June A government commission investigating the massacre of 29 Muslim worshippers on 25 February at the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron concluded that an Israeli settler, Dr. Baruch Goldstein, had acted alone and was the only person to blame for the killing.  The five members of the Commission criticized Israeli army and border police security procedures in the mosque and cited lapses in law enforcement before the massacre.  The Palestinian mayor of Hebron, Mustafa Natshe, while accepting the conclusion that Goldstein did it alone, was quoted as saying, "But the atmosphere which was created by his colleagues, the settlers, has helped him commit this crime."  Saeb Erakat, member of the Palestinian Authority in Jericho, said that the Israeli Government and the policy of Jewish settlement carry "complete responsibility" for this ugly crime".  (The New York Times)

The Palestinian Authority of the interim self-government, held its first meeting in Gaza city and discussed the state of negotiations with Israel.  Thirteen delegates of the Authority attended the meeting.  (DPA)

27 June The Israeli mayor of Jerusalem announced plans to fly in Jews from abroad to stand in the way of any visit by PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat.  Mayor Ehud Olmert vowed a week earlier to muster a million people to keep Mr. Arafat out of East Jerusalem.  A day earlier, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said that Mr. Arafat has the right to make a pilgrimage to the Muslim holy places in the city.  (Reuters)

Israeli diplomatic sources indicated that Israel and Jordan agreed to open three border points of entry between the two countries.  One point will be between Eilat and Aqaba, another point in the Jordan Valley and the third one will link Irbid in the north with Tiberias.  The three points of entry are outside the Palestinian areas of self-rule.  (Al-Hamishmar)

28 June The second phase of the negotiations on Interim Self-Government Arrangements started at a joint liaison office at the entrance to the Gaza Strip.  The two negotiating teams headed by Dr. Nabil Shaath, representing the Palestinians, and by the Israeli General, Danny Rothschild, started their talks on the extension of Palestinian self-rule to the other parts of the occupied West Bank.  (DPA)

Pope John Paul named Archbishop Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo as the Vatican's first Ambassador to Israel.  The appointment followed the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Israel on 15 June.  (Reuters)

A Palestinian man was shot dead and three others were wounded by a Palestinian gunman in the West Bank town of Tulkarm.  A young Palestinian stabbed and seriously injured an Israeli man who was fixing his car in East Jerusalem.  (AP)

29 June Israel received a request from PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat for a three-day visit, starting Friday, 1 July, to the Gaza Strip, and possible Jericho.  Minister of Environment Yossi Sarid said that according to the Gaza-Jericho Agreement, this type of visit must be coordinated with Israel at least two weeks in advance.  He added that the Prime Minister has the authority to shorten this period.  It was also reported that the PLO requested the Rafah crossing border from Egypt to be the entry point of Mr. Arafat.  As a response to this planned visit, Jewish settlers called for mass demonstrations against Mr. Arafat and the Government's policy of peace.    (Israel Line)

The Minister of Economy in the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Ahmad Qureih, said that the World Bank and other donors have approved an emergency release of $620 million aid to the Gaza Strip and Jericho.  Mr. Qureih, who just concluded a visit to Washington where he negotiated with the United States administration and the World Bank urgent aid to the Palestinian Authority, said that the PLO, the World Bank and the U.S. Government agreed on 25 projects to start immediately.  He said that $320 million of the funding would be used for transportation, water, sewage, environment, electricity and communications projects.  The  remainder  would go towards health care and workers' salaries.  (DPA)

30 June The Israeli Government launched an urgent operation putting security forces on alert for the visit of PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat to Gaza on Saturday, 2 July.  Police Minister Moshe Shahal announced that 8,000 police were braced for the threat of non-stop Israeli demonstrations against Mr. Arafat's return to Gaza.  The tension the visit has created erupted into violence outside the Jericho synagogue where shots were fired in the air as Jewish settlers and Palestinian police faced off.    (Reuters)

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