Chronological Review of Events/September 1995 – DPR review

CHRONOLOGICAL REVIEW OF EVENTS

RELATING TO THE QUESTION OF PALESTINE

September 1995

Monitored from the media by the

Division for Palestinian Rights

1 September Representatives of the Israeli Labour Union Histadrut and the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions met in Oslo, Norway, and discussed the closure of  the self-rule areas and the resulting unemployment.  A  joint statement was issued which called for regulation in the labor market, abolishment of black-market trade, and preventing Palestinian laborers, who enter Israel without a permit.  It also appealed to the Israeli government to reduce the number of foreign workers.  (Reuter)   

PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres met at a symposium in Cernobbio in northern Italy, and reviewed the peace talks on expansion of Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank.  Both leaders agreed on a timetable for further meetings.  (Reuter)

 

2 September Libyan leader Muammar Al-Qadhafi, in a speech to mark the 26th anniversary of his rise to power, called on Arab states to expel Palestinians to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.   A spokesman of the Palestinian Authority denounced Qadhafi's declaration, and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat called on Libya to end this provocation.  (AFP)

The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, formed a committee  to study turning   the movement into a political party.   It was reported that the Palestinian Authority supported the groups transformation into a political party despite its rejection of the Declaration of Principles signed in 1993 by Israel and the PLO.  (AFP)

   

PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat met with Pope John Paul at the Popes  residence in Castelgandolfo, Rome, and expressed the Palestinian people's appreciation for the Holy Sees support of the Palestinian cause.  The Pope expressed the hope that both Palestinians and Israelis would soon enjoy the fruits of their labor.  (Reuter)

3 September A retired Israeli army colonel who sped through a Palestinian police roadblock in the Gaza Strip  was shot dead when he refused to stop.  Palestinian and Israeli police said they suspected that the man intended to commit suicide.  (The Washington Post)

4 September The Israeli City Hall of Jerusalem began a 15-month program of festivities to mark the 3,000th birthday of Jerusalem.  Muslim religious leaders, some Christian leaders, and international bodies, notably the European Union (EU), indicated that they would  boycott all events held under Jerusalem 3,000".   EU notified Israel  that it would withdraw subsidies for EU-funded bodies participating in the festivities.  (The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times)

5 September An Israeli settler from Maaleh Mikhmash settlement, near Ramallah in the West Bank, was stabbed to death and his wife was injured.   An anonymous caller claimed responsibility for the attack in the name of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.  (The Washington Post)

6 September The Palestinian Authority charged that the Israeli troops had massacred 450 Palestinians in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip during the 1956 Suez War and demanded an inquiry.  (AFP)

8 September Five armed men in Israeli army uniforms, some of them masked, forced their way  into private homes in Halhoul town in the West Bank and interrogated the residents.   During  the  assault  they shot dead a young Palestinian man as his father watched. A Jewish extremist organization claimed responsibility for the attack.  (The Washington Post)

  

9 September Jewish settlers raided a Palestinian girls school in Hebron, West Bank, beat the schools headmistress  and injured four pupils who took part in a street protest.  (The Washington Post, The New York Times)

10 September The Lebanese authorities allowed the entry of about 400 Palestinians with Lebanese travel documents who had been expelled by Libya, but denied entry to several hundred others.  (Reuter)

11 September PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat met with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in Alexandria and urged him to intervene with Libya to stop the expulsion of thousands of Palestinians.   An unidentified PLO official said that Muammar Al-Qadhafi had ordered the expulsion of about 30,000 Palestinians working in his country and  begun gathering them in camps in Bengazi and in Tripoli.   (The New York Times)

The Government of Japan pledged $18 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) for 1995.   The pledge includes $11 million for the Agency's regular programme in 1995 and $500,000 for university scholarships for Palestine refugee students.   Japan had also pledged $6.5 million to the Agency's Peace Implementation programme, including $4.2 million for the Gaza Strip to construct and equip three new schools and to improve the sewerage system in Beach Camp.   The balance of $2.3 million was allocated to projects of the programme in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank.  (UN Press Release)

Palestinian, Jordanian, and Israeli delegations met in Amman, Jordan, and agreed to promote a plan calling for an economic confederation.  The proposed plan would provide coordinated efforts in energy and water supplies, transportation, trade, ports and airports.  (The Christian Science Monitor)

13 September Hundreds of Israelis demonstrated outside Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's residence in Jerusalem to protest  the second anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Principles.  The police reported that during the clash with the demonstrators nine police officers were injured and 22 protestors were arrested.  (The New York Times)

In a letter, the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States (LAS),  Esmat Abdel Meguid, asked Libyan leader Muammar Al-Qadhafi to stop expelling Palestinian workers  and to allow the return of those already expelled. (AFP)

14 September Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli troops in Hebron, and a Palestinian girl and a cameraman from the International Network were injured.   It was also reported that tear-gas fired by Israeli troops had overcome dozens of children.  (Reuter)

Mr. Ilter Türkmen, Commissioner-General of UNRWA,  pledged his organizations assistance to stop the expulsions of  Palestinians from Libya by intervening with the Governments concerned.  (AFP)

15 September Libya decided to suspend its mass expulsions of Palestinian workers and their families.   It was reported that the decision came after intense Arab pressure on Libyan leader Muammar Al-Qadhafi.  (AFP)

Foreign Minister of South Africa Alfred Nzo visited the Gaza Strip and met with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat.   Mr. Arafat and Mr. Nzo signed the first cooperation agreement since they established diplomatic relations in February.  Mr. Arafat urged the Government of South Africa to support Palestinians in their self-rule negotiations with Israel.  (AFP)

18 September In his first visit to the Middle East, Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama visited the Gaza Strip and met with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and pledged $200 million to the Palestinian Authority (PA) over the next two years.  The new aid would be channeled directly through the PA.  (Reuter)

19 September Palestinian businessmen donated $4 million to a fund allocated to help the Palestinian Authority establish institutions to be operated by professionals.   It was reported that the decision was taken on 14 September in Gaza at a meeting of Palestinian and Jordanian investors including members of the Palestine Development and Investment Company (PADICO).  (Reuter)

20 September Israel  sealed  off  the  Gaza Strip giving no reason for the measure. (AFP)

Two Palestinian men were shot dead by Israeli soldiers and 11 others were injured in clashes after youths threw stones at an Israeli patrol in Nablus.  Another Palestinian man from Gaza City died of head wounds sustained two years ago during clashes with the Israeli army.  (AFP)

Israeli security forces detained the mother of Yahya Ayyash, a Palestinian man believed to be a bomb-maker and wanted for planning suicide bombings in Israel.  The arrest was believed to have been done to pressure her son to turn himself in.  It was reported that she suffers from diabetes and from a heart condition.  (Reuter)

22 September Libya offered to take back temporarily 150 Palestinians who were expelled and left stranded on the border with Egypt.  All but seven Palestinians refused the offer. The representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cairo Panos Moumtzis, said that Libya's decision was unlikely to change the fate of the stranded Palestinians.   Meanwhile, a group of 153 Palestinians left Salloum after Jordan gave them permission to enter, but they were stuck in the Jordanian port of Aqaba awaiting Israeli permission to cross into Gaza.  Lebanon also eased entry restrictions against Palestinians with Lebanon travel documents.  (Reuter)

26 September The Executive Committee of the PLO approved, in principle, the Israeli- Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank, which was concluded in Taba, on condition that redeployment would start 10 days after its signing and according to the agreed timetable.  (Reuter)

Israel agreed to release about 3,000 out of 5,000 Palestinian prisoners, including 2,100 political prisoners and 960 prisoners with criminal charges.  They would release the prisoners in three stages.  (Reuter)

The representative of the UNHCR in Cairo, Panos Moumtzis, said Libya had ordered 1,500 Palestinians to leave the country in a new wave of expulsions to protest against the peace accord between the PLO and Israel. Mr. Moumtzis visited the Salloum crossing point and distributed food and blankets to 21 Palestinians currently stranded there.  (Reuter)

27 September The Israeli Cabinet overwhelmingly, 18 in favor and none against with two abstentions, approved the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank which was concluded in Taba on 24 September.  (AFP)

The Israeli army sealed off the occupied West Bank and decided to maintain the closure of the Gaza on the eve of the signing of the Interim Agreement in Washington for security reasons.  The measure prevented more than 30,000 Palestinians from going to their jobs in Israel.  (AFP)

28 September Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and  PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank, in the White House in Washington. President Clinton presided over the signing ceremony while Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Hussein witnessed the signing. The agreement detailed several issues, including redeployment of Israeli troops from the West Bank; elections for an 82-member Palestinian Council; transfer of civil power, prisoners release, and revocation of provisions in the Palestinian Covenant. Boundaries, the nature of the Palestinian entity, Jewish settlements, sovereignty over Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, were among the issues to be negotiated in the second stage of the negotiations.  (The New York Times, The Washington Post)

30 September More than 580 expelled Palestinians crossed from Libya into Egypt.  Eleven of them were going to the Gaza Strip through the Egyptian border at Rafah while the rest headed to Jordan through the Egyptian Red Sea Port of Nuwiba.  The Libyan authorities provided 170 large tents on their side of the border, medical care, food, water and toilet facilities for future deportees.  The Palestinian Authority condemned both Libya and Israel over the plight of those stranded on Egypt's borders.  (AFP, Reuter)

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