Chronological Review of Events/August 2000 – DPR review

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Chronological Review of Events Relating to the

Question of Palestine

Monthly media monitoring review

August 2000

 3

Israeli Army Radio reported that, despite the uncertain future, a construction boom was continuing in the West Bank settlements.  Some 570 new families were about to be settled in “Mateh-Binyamin” communities in the following few months.  According to Palestinian Authority sources, the continuing settlement construction demonstrated the Israeli Government's real intentions.  (Israeli Army Radio)

 8

Israeli settlers resumed construction work at eleven outposts in the West Bank, in some cases building permanent houses and access roads.  The outposts were being erected near existing settlements close to Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron.  The Regional Council of West Bank Settlements had declared its intention to start construction work in other outposts soon thereafter, reportedly for fear of an agreement between Prime Minister Barak and Chairman Arafat.  According to an Israeli Interior Ministry statement in the previous month, the number of Jewish settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory had increased by 7.5 per cent in the last 12 months to some 200,000.  (AFP)

11

Speaking after a meeting with Palestinian Authority Minister for Planning and International Cooperation, Nabil Shaath, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique stated that plans were being drawn for a Middle East peace conference in Madrid the following year, ten years after the 1991 Madrid conference, which launched the Middle East peace process; these plans had the backing of US Secretary of State Albright and the Palestinian Authority.  If there were an Israeli-Palestinian agreement by that time, the conference could seek to consolidate the peace process and the economic viability of a Palestinian State, otherwise it would be a good opportunity for the European Union to make a contribution towards reaching a settlement.  (AFP, DPA, Reuters)

In an interview with Al-Hayat, US President Clinton said that he could proceed to open an American embassy in the capital of a Palestinian State if there were an agreement between Israelis and Palestinians by the end of the year.  He also reiterated his intention to review, by the end of the year, moving his country’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  (AFP)

Following Chairman Arafat’s talks with Russian President Putin and Foreign Minister Ivanov, the latter reiterated Russia’s long-held support for a Palestinian State but cautioned that the optimal moment for taking up statehood should be determined after a thorough consideration of all possible developments.  Russia’s efforts for a Middle East settlement would be stepped up according to Minister Ivanov.  (Itar-Tass, Reuters)

14

Israeli bulldozers destroyed two Palestinian houses in the Silwan neighbourhood of East Jerusalem.  The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions said that the latest action brought to 10 the number of Palestinian homes destroyed in East Jerusalem this year, with another 13 demolished in the rest of the West Bank.  (AFP)

In a statement after his meeting with Chairman Arafat, Chinese President Jian Zemin expressed support for the Palestinian people and for the stance of its leadership but suggested that an appropriate time should be chosen for the declaration of statehood, so that the best possible results could be achieved. (AFP, DPA, Reuters, XINHUA)

15

A total of 1,816 plots of land in the Israeli settlements went up for sale in the first seven months of 2000, accounting for some 13 per cent of building in Israel and more than the level of construction carried out in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, according to figures obtained by Knesset Member Mussi Raz (Meretz) from the Israel Land Administration.  (Ha’aretz)

16

Israeli Acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami met with senior Palestinian negotiators Saeb Erekat and Mohammed Dahlan, resuming peace talks between the two sides aimed at reaching a preliminary accord by early September to pave the way for a new summit.  (AFP, DPA, Ha’aretz, XINHUA)

Israeli soldiers shot dead a 73-year old Palestinian in the West Bank village of Surd.  The Palestinian Authority condemned the killing and accused the Israeli army of breaching agreements on security in the area, which was under Palestinian civilian authority but Israeli security control. The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and Environment, known as LAW, said that the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli authorities and Jewish settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory had reached 24 since the beginning of the year.  (AFP, The Jerusalem Post)

17

Palestinian residents of Luban Gharbieh village, near Ramallah, clashed with Israeli soldiers when the latter uprooted and tried to move away more than 150 olive trees, in what the residents believed was an attempt to open a new road for a nearby Jewish settlement.  (DPA)

19

Clashes between hundreds of Jewish settlers and Palestinian residents of Hebron resulted in several injuries.  Israeli troops fired rubber bullets to disperse stone-throwing Palestinians.  Three Palestinians were hospitalized with beating injuries.  As for the cause of the clashes, Palestinians said settlers had blocked the road leading to their homes to Palestinian traffic, while Israeli police claimed that a Palestinian taxi had struck and slightly injured a settler boy.  (Newsday)

20

A 13-year-old Palestinian boy was killed when he apparently stepped on abandoned military ammunition in the West Bank village of Al-Burj, 30 kilometres south-west of Hebron.  The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem criticised Israel’s army for endangering Palestinians by leaving behind live ammunition shells after holding exercises in the West Bank, often close to inhabited areas.  B’Tselem also criticised the army for not thoroughly investigating such incidents, for failing to prosecute those responsible and for not having appropriate procedures to compensate victims and their families.  (AFP, Reuters)

In a statement issued on the eve of the 31st anniversary of an arson attack on the Al-Aqsa mosque, the Arab League called on the international community to denounce and reject Israel’s Judaization practices, which infringe on the Islamic and Christian sanctities of Jerusalem.  The incessant Israeli violations and arbitrary practices would not weaken the Palestinian resolve to hold on to East Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent Palestinian State, the statement said.  (XINHUA)

The Russian President’s Middle East envoy, Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Sredin, and the European Union Middle East envoy, Miguel Moratinos, both visiting the region and holding talks with senior Palestinian and Israeli officials, issued a joint statement after their meeting in Jerusalem, urging the two sides to show restraint, refrain from unilateral moves and step up constructive negotiations to take advantage of the current real chance to historic reconciliation.  They came out for effective assistance in this regard by the international community, above all Russia and the United States, as co-sponsors of the Middle East peace process, and also by the European Union.  (Itar-Tass)

22

Jordan’s King Abdullah held “in depth” talks with Chairman Arafat in Ramallah, during which he reiterated his country’s support for Palestinian rights. Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah El-Khatib said Jordan recognized that East Jerusalem was the capital of the Palestinian State and rejected Israeli sovereignty over the holy sites, which, he said, was “an Arab and Islamic right”, stressing that Security Council resolution 242 (1967) applied to East Jerusalem as well.  King Abdullah also met Prime Minister Barak in Tel Aviv.  (AFP, DPA, Ha’aretz, Reuters)

24

In interviews to Israel’s two main radio stations, Prime Minister Barak said that if the peace talks failed he would direct his attention to domestic problems and would ask the opposition Likud party to join his Government. The Prime Minister assessed at 50-50 the chances of reaching a peace deal with the Palestinians and said that the outcome would become clear in the coming weeks.  (AFP, AP, Reuters)

Following his talks with the President and the Prime Minister of Egypt, the Israeli Acting Foreign Minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, stated that proposals raised at the Camp David summit would serve as the basis for further negotiations with the Palestinians.  (AFP, Ha’aretz, The Jerusalem Post)

25

In statements after his meetings with Prime Minister Barak and Chairman Arafat, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Thorbjørn Jagland, urged the two sides to move forward in their peace talks and expressed his optimism that an agreement could be reached in the autumn.  He suggested that even a compromise over the status of Jerusalem was not beyond reach and added that his country could help in a solution for the Palestinian refugee problem.  (AFP, DPA, XINHUA)

26

The Palestinian human rights group LAW denounced the “barbaric” conduct of Israeli commandos, who “randomly opened fire” during a night-time operation in the northern West Bank town of Assira Al-Shamaliya, near Nablus.  The target of this botched operation, Hamas leader Mahmoud Abu Hanoud, was injured and finally surrendered to Palestinian police, while three Israelis soldiers were killed and one injured, possibly by friendly fire.  In the course of the operation the Israeli army also wounded and arrested Hamas activist Nidal Daghlas and bulldozed his house.  In its statement, LAW condemns the house-to-house searches by the Israelis, the body searches and the cruel treatment of the injured Mr. Daghlas.  (AFP, AP)

28

The Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which held its 18th meeting in Agadir, Morocco, at the Foreign Ministers’ level, called for world recognition of a Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital and expressed its opposition to any limits on Palestinian sovereignty in East Jerusalem.  The Committee also called for “equitable peace” and continued negotiations.  It appealed to the United States not to transfer its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  (AFP, AP, Reuters)

A Palestinian boy died when an Israeli explosive blew up while he was playing in sand dunes outside his West Bank village of Beit Dajan, some 45 kilometres north of Jericho.  The Israeli Army said that the boy had wondered into an area clearly marked as a military firing zone.  (AFP, Reuters)

On a visit to Turkey, Prime Minister Barak rejected Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit’s offer to open the Ottoman archives on Jerusalem, in an effort to reconcile some of the disputed claims on the city.  (Ha’aretz)

29

Heavily armed Israeli forces sealed off the Shu’fat refugee camp near Jerusalem and demolished three Palestinian houses built there without permits.  The Palestinian Authority issued a statement saying that it “considers this latest Israeli aggression to be another sign that while Israel talks peace at the negotiation table, its actions on the ground reflect a war mentality”.  (AFP, Reuters)

30

Following a meeting between President Mubarak and Chairman Arafat in Alexandria, Egyptian Foreign Minister Amre Moussa reiterated that East Jerusalem should be the capital of a Palestinian State and cautioned that any departure from UN Security Council resolutions would lead to “serious consequences”.  Mr. Moussa also said that Egypt felt Jerusalem should be declared an “open city”, containing both the capital of Israel in the west and the capital of the future Palestinian State in the east.  Other issues discussed at the meeting, apart from Jerusalem, were further Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the return of refugees and water.  (AFP, XINHUA)

The idea of placing the holy sites of Jerusalem under “divine sovereignty” was endorsed by the Israeli right-wing Mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert, and the PA Cabinet Minister Ziad Abu Ziyyad, albeit for different reasons.  The former interpreted it as a continuation of the current status quo, while the latter saw in it a recognition of the Palestinian people as “the landlord” of the sites.  (AP, The Jerusalem Post)

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