Chronological Review of Events/January 1998 – DPR review

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Chronological Review of Events Relating to the

Question of Palestine

Monthly media monitoring review

January 1998

 1

Israel announced that it was opening its borders to farm produce from the Palestinian areas, as required under the “Protocol on Economic Relations between the Government of the State of Israel and the PLO, representing the Palestinian People”, signed in Paris, on 29 April 1994.  The Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said only sanitary controls would henceforth be put on imports of Palestinian-produced fruits, vegetables and animal products to the Israeli market. (AFP)

 2

The United States announced the establishment of a US$60 million equity fund to encourage US investment in the Palestinian territories and Jordan.  The fund of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a US federal agency, will invest in a variety of projects, including both service and manufacturing companies, the US Consulate General in Jerusalem said. (AFP)

 3

According to WAFA, the Palestinian Authority rejected Israeli proposals to start talks on the final status of the Palestinian territories without resolving key interim issues.  “The implementation of the main issues in the interim stage is the condition for entering the final status negotiations,” the Palestinian cabinet said in a statement. (AFP)

 4

Saudi Prince Walid ibn Talal made a 3.75 million riyal (one million dollar) donation for welfare projects in the Palestinian territories, according to his Kingdom Holding Co. (AFP)

6

According to the Foreign Ministry of Norway, former Planning Minister Terje Rød-Larsen has been appointed as special adviser for the Norwegian Government to the Middle East peace process. (AFP, Reuters)

In an interview with Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, PA Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Nabil Shaath criticised donor countries for failing to honour their commitments to the PA, which has only received 60 per cent of promised funds, with US$600 million owed for 1994 and 1995.  “The Israeli restrictions on the movement of people and the prolonging and repeated blockade of the Palestinian territories by Israel has led to losses of US$2.8 billion over the last four years,” Shaath said.  External Palestinian trade has suffered, plunging to US$631 million ast year from US$1.3 billion in 1992, while the budget deficit is running at US$352.2 million dollars, he said.  Mr. Shaath added that the Israeli restrictions were also forcing private investors to withdraw from the Palestinian territories, while bank deposits totalling almost US$2.5 billion had been moved abroad because of the lack of financial markets in the territories. (AFP)

President Chirac’s spokeswoman, Catherine Colonna, said the Vice-President of the Syrian Arab Republic Abdel-Halim Khaddam had “called on France and Europe to play a bigger role in the peace process to complement US action and work for peace more efficiently.”  She also said that Paris was continuing to work on a new initiative with its EU partners, but only as a complement to US efforts. (Reuters)

 7

Amnesty International (AI) called on Israel to bar the use of torture as the Israeli High Court of Justice met to consider the legality of “physical pressure” used by interrogators on Palestinians.  “Israel is the only country in the world known to have effectively legalized torture by officially allowing certain interrogation methods,” AI said in a statement.  “We hope for a clear ruling by the High Court that the use of these methods is unacceptable, (which) would be a key step towards ending the systematic use of torture and ill-treatment by the Israeli security services,” it said. (AFP)

Israel approved construction of 574 new homes at the Jewish settlement of Efrat in the West Bank. (Reuters)

9

In an interview with Maariv, Prime Minister Netanyahu said there would only be one withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank.  “You can’t ask us to fulfil all our commitments concerning the pullbacks when they (the Palestinians) haven't fulfilled a single one of their commitments. … So I proposed an agreement, in which we will carry out one pullback, and the rest of the territory will be handed over as part of the final status agreement,” he said.  The PA said the latest effort of the US Middle East peace coordinator Dennis Ross has failed.  “Zero, there are no results,” said PA Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo. (AP)

According to Haaretz, Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing is working on plans to build 30,000 additional homes for Jewish settlers in the West Bank, nearly doubling the number of settlers in the occupied territory.  The newspaper said 14,600 of the new housing units had already received final authorization from the Government and the rest were in earlier planning stages.  Most of the new housing is slated for construction within 15 kilometres (nine miles) of Jerusalem. (AFP)

10

Some 400 Palestinian protesters hurled stones and bottles at Israeli troops in Hebron, who fired back with rubber bullets in an hours-long clash that was interrupted occasionally to let people pass.  Seven Palestinian protesters and one Israeli border policeman were injured.  The conflict in Hebron occurred near a Jewish settlement and was apparently spontaneous, reflecting anger over the stalled peace process. (AP)

13

Israel’s Cabinet released a 12-page list of “commitments” it said the Palestinian side must make before Israel will fulfil its promise to withdraw troops from the West Bank.  Among the Israeli conditions is a demand that the Palestinian Authority disarm Islamic militants, who have carried out suicide bombings in Israel.  Israel also wants the PA to hand over suspects in the killing of Israelis and to reduce the size of the security forces in the West Bank from 40,000 to the 24,000 permitted in the peace agreements.  The Cabinet demands that the Palestinian National Council meet to cancel articles in the Palestinian covenant challenging Israel’s right to exist.  Finally, the document insists that the PA halt all “illegal” political activities, primarily in East Jerusalem. (AFP, AP)

The PA rejected the list of preconditions formulated by Israel with respect to the West Bank troop withdrawal.  “I accuse the Israeli Government of deception.  This is a trick by Israel to guarantee that it will not implement anything,” said senior Palestinian negotiator and PA Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Nabil Shaath.  “This deception is directed at the United States,” Shaath said, adding that the PA rejected the conditions “100 per cent.” (AFP)

14

Israel’s Cabinet made a formal decision regarding the parts of the West Bank it would not withdraw from in a final settlement with the PA.  The Cabinet did not establish a map of the areas.  A cabinet communiqué listed eight loosely defined zones and locations it said would constitute “the basis for the interim agreement and permanent agreement with the Palestinians.”  The areas would include all 148 Jewish settlements, a buffer zone ringing the West Bank and major north-south and east-west roads.  Also included were a wide zone around Jerusalem, military bases of “strategic importance” or necessary for “deterrence”, water resources, electricity networks and “Jewish religious and historical sites.”  The Cabinet said the “vital national interests” list would determine what land Israel would be willing to cede in a final peace agreement and how much territory it would give up in an interim troop withdrawal. (AFP, AP, Reuters)

The PA rejected the decision, saying it amounted to a renunciation of the land-for-peace formula. “We will not accept any division of the West Bank or any continuation of the occupation. (With this decision) Israel is wrecking the very idea of peace,” said senior Palestinian negotiator and PA Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Nabil Shaath. (AFP)

PA Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Nabil Shaath submitted a draft three-year Palestinian Development Plan for the years 1998 to 2000 to the Palestinian Council.  He said it was the first such plan in Palestinian history.  Previous development plans have been annual and drawn up by the World Bank.  “Until we achieve independence, we will continue to depend 100 per cent for funding this plan on aid from donors.  But we have no sources of our own and there are Israeli impediments to all our attempts at developing,” Shaath told lawmakers.  “The estimated funding for this plan is around US$3.6 billion, and the donors in the Paris meeting on 14-15 December 1997 have all backed this plan and have pledged US$1.6 million, i.e. half the amount,” he added.  Priority funding was listed in the plan as:  US$1.69 billion for infrastructure projects, which constitutes 48 per cent of the plan’s projected funding, US$314 million for institution-building projects, US$856 million for the social sector, US$604 million for the production sector and US$304 million for NGOs. (Reuters)

15

Jewish settlers parked 25 caravans on a hill close to the West Bank settlement of Talmon in a bid to expand the settlement.  Six families have taken up residence in the caravans at Talmon, which is close to the Palestinian-controlled city of Ramallah.  The radio said funds for the project were collected at a demonstration by 30,000 settlers in Tel Aviv on 14 January called to warn Israel's Government not to withdraw troops from new areas of the West Bank.  The Peace Now movement issued a statement accusing the settlers of trying to construct a new settlement. (AFP)

The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation commented on Israel’s decision not to withdraw from parts of the West Bank in a final settlement.  Foreign Ministry spokesman Valery Nesterushkin said Israel’s decision “does not conform with the overall movement towards a settlement of the crisis in the region.”  He also said the Israeli position “contradicts the spirit of the Madrid accords” aimed at settling the Arab-Israeli conflict.  “We understand the reaction of Palestine and other Arab States,” Nesterushkin said, urging Israel to “pursue a balanced policy to achieve peace and stability in the region.” (AFP)

A Palestinian was moderately injured by an Israeli soldier near the Kfar Darom Jewish settlement in the central Gaza Strip.  A soldier in a look-out tower inside the settlement shot the Palestinian in the leg as he was getting out of a car outside Kfar Darom.  It was not immediately clear why the soldiers opened fire.  The injured man was taken to a local hospital. (AFP, AP)

British Foreign Office Minister Derek Fatchett said he had brought a “clear political message” to Prime Minister Netanyahu that a long overdue handover of more West Bank land to Palestinian control had to be “meaningful and significant.  “We’ve also made the point that this should not be mechanistically conditional or on terms that would be humiliating and unacceptable to the Palestinians,” he said after a two-day visit to Israel and Palestinian self-rule areas.  “I don’t think you can have a situation in which, if you like, the ‘prize’ of redeployment is dangled in front of the Palestinians and then removed maybe whimsically or arbitrarily,” Fatchett said when asked about the recent Israeli Cabinet’s decision not to withdraw from vast areas of the West Bank in a final settlement. (Reuters)

16

The European Commission called on European Union States to review EU relations with Israel in the light of the current Israeli Government’s attitude to the peace process.  In a report to Foreign Ministers, the Commission warned that an agreement on Palestinian economic development signed by Israel after the 1991 Madrid peace accord could not survive if the Israeli Government continued its closures of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  The EU should seek to overcome these problems through a political dialogue with Israel, the Commission said.  But it could not continue to do so indefinitely “without any tangible results,” the Commission warned.  “The Joint Dialogue needs to make rapid progress towards eliminating all obstacles to Palestinian economic development,” the report said.  “Failing this, the Joint Dialogue would have to be re-evaluated.” (AFP)

18

Israel’s Cabinet put off a decision on how much West Bank land to withdraw from in a final settlement with the Palestinian Authority.  An Israeli cabinet communiqué said an unspecified “ceiling” would be set only after Prime Minister Netanyahu returned from his meeting with President Clinton.  Although the Cabinet gave Mr. Netanyahu ample leeway to elaborate on its decision to hand over more territory to the PA, it did not specify the precise geographical areas to be evacuated.  “On the Prime Minister’s return from the US, the Cabinet will consider the implications of further redeployment up to the limit defined by Israel's vital interests," the communiqué said.(AFP, AP, Reuters, The Jerusalem Post)

19

The following is a summarized list of demands of the Palestinian side, as released to the media, for its negotiations with Israel in Washington, D.C., beginning on 20 January:  Israel must “implement the further redeployment phases from the West Bank”; Israel must “stop its unilateral actions in Jerusalem”; Israel must “refrain from initiating or taking any step that may change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and thus should cease all settlement activities”; Israel must “honour the implementation of the agreement concerning the safe passage of persons, vehicles and goods between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip”; Israel must “remove all forms of closure imposed on the West Bank and Gaza Strip”; and Israel must “implement the provision relating to the establishment of the Gaza sea port.” (Reuters)

20

Prime Minister Netanyahu said in an interview with Israeli television that he and President Clinton failed to reach an agreement in their talks in Washington, D.C..  “We did not reach an agreement.  We examined the parameters which will allow (us) to reach final agreements with the Palestinians. … We tried to work together to advance the peace process in a spirit of cooperation taking into account our basic national interest,” he said. (AFP)

PA President Arafat, World Bank President James Wolfensohn and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres signed a memorandum of understanding in Paris starting the first private fund to invest in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  The Peace Technology Fund, backed by the World Bank’s International Finance Corp., is part of a multibillion dollar effort by donors to boost the Palestinian economy.  So far, the fund consists of about US$50 million from a variety of investors – about US$15 to US$20 million from the Israeli side, the same amount from the Palestinian side and US$10 million from the IFC.  The fund will be managed by Israeli partner Evergreen Canada-Israel Investments Ltd. and US/Palestinian partner Capital Investment Management Corp.  The fund is aimed at linking the Israeli, Palestinian and international business sectors. (Reuters, The Jerusalem Post)

During President Clinton’s second meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, the President reportedly presented ideas for the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.  Most notably, President Clinton presented a new approach to the best way to carry out what under earlier accords is supposed to be a three-phase West Bank withdrawal.  Rather than carry out the next phase of this withdrawal in one swoop, President Clinton and other administration officials suggested proceeding in a succession of smaller withdrawals.  In exchange, the Palestinians would adopt a series of concrete security measures, including arrests, intelligence sharing and removal of supporters Hamas from mosques and schools. (AP)

21

The Israeli army and police arrested four Palestinians who were protesting against confiscation of land in a West Bank village near the town of Hebron. (Reuters)

According to Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, the US Secretary of State Albright agreed with PA President Arafat that Israel should carry out a “credible” withdrawal from the West Bank.  “Arafat has all the reasons to consider that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) should abide by the terms of the (peace agreements) and thus implement a credible redeployment,” she said in an interview with the newspaper. (AFP)

22

At a meeting in Washington, D.C., PA President Arafat presented President Clinton a letter outlining revisions made to the Palestinian National Charter aimed at nullifying provisions calling for the destruction of Israel.  “As far as we are concerned, this issue has been put to rest,” Mr. Arafat said. (AFP)

23

In a meeting with Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that construction would soon begin at the Jewish settlement of Har Homa south of East Jerusalem. (AFP)

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told Reuters that Prime Minister Netanyahu had rejected US proposals for an Israeli troop pullback from at least 10 per cent of the West Bank.  “The Americans told us that Netanyahu has rejected two digits for the redeployment and he insists on cancelling the third phase of further redeployment. … The gaps between us and Mr. Netanyahu are very big because what Netanyahu is offering is totally alien to the Oslo accord,” he said. (Reuters)

Israeli soldiers shot and seriously wounded a 17-year-old Palestinian near the Jewish settlement of Neveh Dekalim in the Gaza Strip during clashes near the settlement.  The director of Gaza’s Shifa hospital said the Palestinian youth, Ismail Wadi, was hit in the abdomen with live ammunition. (Reuters)

25

PA President Arafat called for an urgent Arab summit to discuss the deadlocked Middle East peace process. (Reuters)

The PLO said it rejected an Israeli demand to convene the PNC to amend the Palestinian covenant, insisting articles calling for Israel’s destruction were already annulled.  During a news conference held in Jericho, senior PLO negotiator Saeb Erakat commented on the issue:  “The PNC will not reconvene.  It convened in 1996 and cancelled the articles which contradicted the mutual letters of recognition. … After receiving our clarifications there was an American understanding of our position regarding the PNC charter and security issues.” (Reuters)

26

Speaking at a news conference in New Delhi, French President Jacques Chirac said the whole world had invested great hope in the promises that had been made, but then suddenly everything was halted.  “We are very worried, very worried about this peace process,'' he said.  “The new Israeli Government has not wanted to continue along the same road as its predecessors. … My wish is that, with the friendly advice of the international community – which today is unanimous – the road to peace can be rejoined with respect for the pledges that had been taken and which had been founded on a simple idea – the exchange of land for peace.” (Reuters)

27

PA President Arafat rejected a US proposal for a phased Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.  Asked if he agreed to a phased withdrawal, Mr. Arafat told reporters in Gaza City: “Definitely not.” (AFP, Reuters)

The PA said an Arab-European summit could be held in a bid to front to force Israel off hard-line positions they said have brought the peace process to a “dead end.”  “There is Arab diplomatic motion now which I think will lead to an Arab summit.  The only question is whether it will be a full summit or a mini summit,” said senior Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath.  “I also do not rule out the possibility of a mini-summit including leaders of some Arab and some European countries in order to save the situation. … The European role is not apathetic and it is not just an economic role.  Europe insists on having a role of participation and initiative,” he added. (AFP)

Pierre Schori, Minister for International Development Cooperation of Sweden, signed the aid package in Gaza with Nabil Shaath, PA Minister for Planning and International Cooperation.  It said US$15 million of the package was Sweden’s annual aid to the PA and was earmarked for infrastructure projects and creating jobs.  Another US$5 million was to go to civil groups working in the field of democracy and human rights, while US$20 million was Sweden’s contribution to UNRWA. (Reuters)

28

In the Gaza Strip, dozens of Palestinians gathered near the fence of the Katif bloc of Jewish settlements and threw stones at Israeli soldiers.  The soldiers reportedly shot at the Palestinians and wounded one of them. (AP)

29

Israel released 23 Palestinian prisoners in what it called a “goodwill gesture” for the Moslem holiday of Id al-Fitr.  An army announcement did not identify the prisoners. (AFP, Reuters)

30

Dozens of Palestinians hurled rocks at Israeli soldiers manning a road block on the main Jerusalem-Bethlehem link road after a funeral for a Bethlehem teenager who Israeli police said had committed suicide in jail.  Israeli soldiers fired rubber-coated metal bullets to disperse the protesters.  One Palestinian was hit in the leg by the Israeli fire, and was taken to hospital. (AFP, Reuters)

Some 400 Palestinian women and children bearing portraits of husbands, fathers and brothers jailed by Israel held a protest march in Gaza City near the ICRC office to demand their release. (AFP)

31

The PLO Executive Committee, meeting in Ramallah, took no action on amending articles in the Palestinian charter which Israel views as seeking its destruction.  The PA Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told reporters the committee had only “reviewed” a letter PA President Arafat had given to President Clinton, listing the charter clauses annulled by the PNC. (AFP, Reuters)

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CR13/06.02.98