Chronological Review of Events/May 1999 – DPR review

D i v i s i o n    f o r    P a l e s t i n i a n    R i g h t s

Chronological Review of Events Relating to the

Question of Palestine

Monthly media monitoring review

May 1999

 2

The Palestinian Authority (PA) protested to Israel after two Palestinian children, ages 4 and 12, were wounded by gunfire from an Israeli soldier in Hebron.  The Israeli army stated that the soldier’s weapon had gone off accidentally.  Family members of the injured children said the soldier opened fire intentionally after a group of Palestinian boys refused to stop playing football near an Israeli army position inside Hebron.  (AFP)

Six South American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela) had told the PA that they intended to upgrade the Palestinian representative offices in their countries to the level of embassies, according to Palestinian Minister of Planning Nabil Shaath.   He added that Ireland also intended to do the same.   (DPA)

 3

An Israeli demolition team destroyed two Palestinian homes in the Jabal al-Mukaber neighbourhood of East Jerusalem.  A heavy police and border guard force kept people away from the demolition site.  Thirteen Palestinians, comprised of two related families, had been living in the two houses.  (DPA)

The PA and the Israeli Government asked the Norwegian Government to extend the mandate of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) force by three more months.  Norway was expected to approve the extension.   (DPA)

The Peace Now movement accused the Israeli Government of scrambling to expand West Bank settlements before the 17 May elections in hopes of heading off a Palestinian State should the Labour Party win.  In a survey of new housing starts, Peace Now said the Government had expanded settlement by 15 per cent since August 1998, when the last survey was conducted.  Settler population growth in the West Bank was 3 per cent.   (AFP, AP)

 4

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu admitted publicly, for the first time, that Jewish militants were occupying hilltops outside existing settlements but denied the land grab violated promises made to the United States.    Of the hilltop settlements, he said they were exceptions due to  topographic and security considerations.  (AFP, AP)

Israel said it had banned the holding of a planned meeting with foreign diplomats at the Orient House in East Jerusalem.   Faisal Husseini, Director of the Orient House and top PLO official in Jerusalem, said he knew nothing about any meeting, charging that the Israeli Government was fabricating events.   He said, however, that the Palestinians  would invite who they wanted, when they wanted.   (AFP, DPA)

 5

Bulldozers have almost completed their work in levelling the ground for a new Jewish settlement in Jebel Haresheh in the heart of the West Bank.   The new settlement, north of Ramallah, is named “Talmon-4,” implying that it was an extension of the “Talmon” settlement about half a mile away.   At present, the new settlement consists of two families, four mobile homes clustered around the Israeli flag, a water tank and a guard post.   (AFP)

 6

Israeli Internal Security Minister Avigdor Kahalani proposed the closure of two offices in the Orient House, rather than three as originally planned.  Mr. Kahalani said he wanted the “office of international relations” and the section which “maps Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip” to be transferred immediately to Abu Dis, a Palestinian village east of Jerusalem.  He agreed that Faisal Husseini, the top PLO official in Jerusalem, could continue to operate from the building as long as he respected the law.   Meanwhile, US Ambassador Edward Walker tried to persuade Mr. Kahalani to wait  24  hours  before  closing  the  offices  while trying to reach a compromise with the Palestinians.  Mr. Husseini and several other PLO officials spent the night at Orient House in the hope of preventing police from carrying out threats to shut the offices.   Between 1993 and May 1996, the Orient House has hosted some 70 foreign delegations including France, Greece, Japan, Portugal, the US and the UN.  In 1997-1998, the Orient House hosted some 20 delegations, including Foreign Ministers from Australia, Canada, France and Turkey.   (AFP, Reuters, The Jerusalem Post)

Israel issued a tender for the construction of additional 800 homes at the Jewish settlement of “Har Homa,” at Jabal Abu Ghneim, south of East Jerusalem.   (Reuters)

 7

The Israeli army lifted a day-old blockade on Palestinian trucks passing through the Erez Crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel.  Israeli officials said the move followed a decision by the Palestinians to allow through Israeli trucks carrying cement for the Jewish settlement of “Netzarim” in the Gaza Strip.  Palestinian sources denied that they were systematically blocking the Israeli trucks and insisted that they had merely stopped for a few hours several truckloads of cement headed for “Netzarim.”  The Palestinians, however, insisted that the continued settlement expansion was a breach of the agreements.  (AFP)   

 9

Some 150 settlers, accompanied by a squad of 50 Israeli soldiers, set up a new settlement named “Bruchin” near the Palestinian village of Brukin in the north of the West Bank.  They parked 15 caravans at the site and proceeded to clear the area.  Five caravans, set up 1.5 kms. east of “Kochav Hashahar” in the Jordan Valley.  On the same day, Israel launched the construction of a new industrial zone just outside the Jewish settlement of “Kiryat Arba” near Hebron.  A trailer was also set up on “Hill 777,” three miles from the nearest Jewish settlement of “Itamar” in the West Bank.  About 20 new sites have been set up since the signing of the Wye River Memorandum.  Ha’aretz reported that the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had intervened personally a week earlier to prevent the army from removing new settlements. The US monitored settlements via satellite photography, while Israeli peace activists flew over them in single-engine airplanes with journalists on board.  (AFP, AP, DPA, The Jerusalem Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post)

The Israeli authorities offered US$5,000 to any Israeli settling in East Jerusalem.  The deal would only be available to home-buyers in “new neighbourhoods” in that part of the city.  The authorities also agreed to a four-year plan to develop infrastructure there.  On 24 March, the Israeli Cabinet had decreed that the State provide Jerusalem with an addition US$68 million in 1999.  An additional 120,000 dwellings for Jews in both East and West Jerusalem were being planned.  (AFP)

10

The Knesset Finance Committee allocated an additional US$3 million for settlement infrastructure work.  The funds were destined for 32 Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.  Haim Oron, a finance committee member from the Meretz Party, charged that the allocation had been made to develop 32 new settlements beyond the borders of existing settlements.   (AFP)

11

Justice Dalia Dorner of Israel’s High Court of Justice issued a temporary injunction demanding that the Government suspend orders to close the three Palestinian offices at the Orient House.  The ruling came in response to an appeal by a group of Israeli peace activists who claimed that the closure orders were a campaign ploy by Prime Minister Netanyahu.  The delay guaranteed that no police action could be taken until after the start of Israeli elections.  The French consul and an EU representative arrived at the Orient House immediately after the delay had been announced.    (AFP, XINHUA)

Dozens of Palestinians blocked several Israeli trucks loaded with construction materials as they tried to cross the Karni passage to a number of Jewish settlements, including “Netzarim,” a settlement south of Gaza.   The Palestinians arranged a sit-in on the main road in front of the joint passage of Karni.  According to the Palestinians, the Israeli reaction to the blocking of Israeli trucks was to prevent Palestinian trucks, workers and Palestinians holding VIP permits from crossing into Israel and the West Bank.  (DPA)

At a meeting with representatives of donor countries, the PA had requested US$40 million in foreign aid to compensate for damages caused by a drought this year.  The money would be used primarily to purchase livestock feed and build water tanks.  Shaker Judeh, head of research of the PA Agriculture Ministry, estimated the drought would cause US$253.3 million in damage, mostly in livestock and olives, a major cash crop in the West Bank.  The region had received less than half of the rainfall of the previous two years, dropping to the lowest level in decades.  The price of meat and vegetables was expected to rise and there would be a shortage of drinking water.  More than 80 per cent of the underground reservoirs in the West Bank and Gaza were controlled by Israel, which sold some of the water back to the Palestinians and diverted the rest to settlements.  (Reuters)

12

Settlers beat two Palestinian farmers with rifle butts during a dispute over a plot of land near Nablus.  Israeli army radio reported that the settlers tried to prevent the farmers from harvesting wheat near the Jewish settlement of “Yitzhar.”  An argument ensued when seven settlers put up a tent on the farmers’ land.  The Palestinian farmers were from the nearby village of Assira al-Qibliya.   (AFP, AP, DPA)

US President Clinton has decided to invoke a national security exception to suspend congressional legislation directing the Administration to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem the following   month.    A   group   of   US   lawmakers,  led  by  Senators  Kyl  (R-Arizona)  and  Lieberman (D-Connecticut), was working on a joint statement demanding that President Clinton agree to move the embassy, threatening passage of new legislation if he did not.  Administration officials said relocating the embassy now would undercut Washington’s attempt to serve as an honest broker in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.  (The Los Angeles Times)

Fouad Bseiso of the PA said the Palestinian territories were losing up to US$600 million annually because of a lack of a national currency.  He added that indirect losses were even much greater because national currency had played a key role in attracting investments.  Contacts were underway with the Arab Monetary Fund, the Central Bank of Egypt and other Arab banks to learn from their experience in currency matters.  Mr. Bseiso also said that the possibility of holding a special conference of experts in September 1999 had been discussed with the League of Arab States Secretary-General Dr. Esmat Abdel Meguid.  (AFP)

13

Eleven Palestinian youths were injured in clashes with Israeli soldiers over the building of an industrial park near the Jewish settlement of “Kiryat Arba,” near Hebron.  The youths were injured by ricocheting shrapnel and rubber bullets, with one sustaining a leg injury from a live bullet.  Bulldozers began levelling the ground after the clashes.   (AP)

The Israeli army razed four Palestinian homes near Hebron.  Wrecking equipment, guarded by Israeli soldiers, demolished two houses in the village of Adayrat, southeast of Hebron and another two houses in the village of Bwib.   The Army said the houses had been built in zones still under full Israeli control  (AFP, DPA)

14

The US Ambassador to Israel Edward Walker has established a secondary residence in Jerusalem to try to head off congressional pressure to move the embassy to the city, according to Ha’aretz.  Ambassador Walker had leased a condominium in the Hilton Hotel complex in West Jerusalem and would use it to host delegations visiting from the US, as well as Israeli delegations, according to a US official.  (Reuters)

Skirmishes erupted between Israeli troops and Palestinian protestors on a hilltop in the Shuyoukh area near Hebron, where Israeli bulldozers began work on an industrial zone for the settlement of “Kiryat Arba.”   The troops fired rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas on the protestors, who used sling shots and stones against the troops.  Four Palestinians were injured and 10 were overcome by tear-gas fumes during the clashes.   Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinians from the village of Yasouf, near Nablus, held Friday prayers near the settlement of “Tapuah” where settlers had set up a mobile home and a water tank on an outlying hilltop.  Israeli troops fired tear gas to disperse the Palestinians.     (AP, Reuters)

16

Construction work started at the proposed Jewish settlement of “Har Homa,” at Jabal Abu Ghneim south of East Jerusalem, to make way for the first 150 houses planned.  Housing Ministry spokesman Moshe Eilat said that the start of the digging was a decision of the construction companies, not the Government, and had nothing to do with the elections.   On the same day, settlers grabbed another hilltop, moving nine mobile homes several hundred meters from the settlement of  “Halamish,” located between Ramallah and Nablus.   The site is located about five kilometers  (three miles) northwest of Bir Zeit.  (AFP, AP)

17

The  Israeli  Army  announced  that  it  would  impose a 24-hour closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip for the 17 May elections.  An Israeli Defence Ministry spokesman said election day would be a non-working day in Israel, so there was no need for Palestinian workers to be in Israel.  He added that humanitarian cases would be excluded from the ban, as well as PA officials with VIP passes and doctors with special permits.  (Reuters)

According the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Palestinian unemployment stood at 13.9 per cent of the workforce in the first three months of 1999, up one percentage point from the first quarter of 1998.  The Bureau put the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip at 18.9 per cent, and 11.8 per cent in the West Bank.  About 23.8 per cent of Palestinian labourers work in Israel and Jewish settlements, up from 22.1 per cent in the final quarter of 1998.  Overall, unemployment in the final quarter of 1998 was 12.8 per cent.  The services sector was the biggest employer in the Palestinian areas.  It accounted for 29.1 per cent of the labour force, ahead of construction (21.4 per cent), commerce (17.6 per cent), industry (15 per cent) and agriculture (12.7 percent).   (Reuters)

18

In a telephone conversation between PA President Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister-Elect Barak, both pledged to work together to pursue peace.  A Palestinian spokesman said President Arafat had also pressed for talks on the final status of the occupied Palestinian territory.    (BBC News Middle East)

19

Clashes broke out between Palestinians and Jewish settlers who were trying to take over a road in the south of the West Bank.  The fighting broke out when some 20 Palestinians from the village of Al-Khadr, west of Bethlehem, found about ten settlers from the nearby settlement of “Efrat” working on the road.  Further south, near Hebron, Israeli authorities destroyed two water wells on the grounds that they were not licensed.  In Beit Dajan, near Nablus, Israeli soldiers uprooted dozens of olive trees.  The soldiers beat up three photographers covering the event, and one required hospital treatment.  (AFP)

21

France’s Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine said his Government was keen to play a role in a Middle East peace process unblocked by the election of Ehud Barak as Israel’s Prime Minister.   He stated that conditions were ripe for Israel to resume negotiations with the Palestinians, Syria and Lebanon, and that France was well-placed to help.  He believed France was the only country which had such old, close and current relations and could thus be a partner and a friend for each of them in difficult times and provide guarantees.  (Reuters)

22

Shocked by the scale of Ehud Barak’s victory,  Jewish  settler  leaders  met to discuss whether to fight Mr. Barak’s plans to hand over more territory to the Palestinians, or to cooperate with him in the hope of saving as many settlements as possible from evacuation.   There were deep divisions among them as some settlers favoured demonstrating in the streets of Jerusalem and seizing hilltops while others were prepared to support Mr. Barak’s proposal to evacuate some of the small, isolated settlements if this was the price of a permanent settlement with the Palestinians.    Pinhas  Wallerstein,  leader  of  the  settlers’  organization  YESHA,  resigned after Mr. Netanyahu’s defeat.  Among those in the running to succeed Wallerstein was Benny Kashriel, mayor of the biggest West Bank settlement of “Maale Adumim,” who was regarded as a pragmatist.  (AFP, AP)

Palestinian demonstrators clashed with Israeli troops near the Jewish settlement of “El Kana,” near Nablus.  Dozens of Palestinians had gathered to protest after settlers parked caravans on a hilltop near “El Kana” a few days earlier.    (AFP, AP)

24

Israel has shifted responsibility for gathering intelligence in Palestinian areas from the Shin Beth internal security agency to the Israeli Defence Force, a move regarded by some as implicit recognition of Palestinian statehood.  The Army intelligence service, already responsible for gathering information concerning foreign Governments, had been authorized to handle research on political, economic and strategic questions concerning the PA.  Shin Beth would continue to handle counter-terrorism activities in the Palestinian areas and coordinate with the PA police agencies.   (AFP)

Saeb Erakat, senior PA negotiator, said UN resolution 181(II) remained the basis of negotiations, countering Israeli and US leaders who had dismissed the resolution as outdated.  Israel rejected resolution 181(II), stating it was nullified by subsequent events, a view backed by US Vice President Al Gore.     (AP)  

25

In a 10-point programme presented by Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak to potential coalition partners, he included Jerusalem as remaining united under Israeli sovereignty. He stated Israel would not withdraw from all of the West Bank and Gaza.  Mr. Barak had also said that peace with the Palestinians was a top priority, while saying that he wanted Jewish settlers to live in large settlement blocs under Israeli sovereignty.   (AP, The Jerusalem Post)

The Israeli Peace Now movement said the nuclei of three new Jewish settlements had been set up in the West Bank.  Six new buildings or expansions of illegal sites had been seen near Nablus in the northern West Bank.  A tent and a generator were set up some 600 meters outside the settlement of “Yitzhar,” south of Nablus, while two buildings, a generator and a water tank had been sighted near “Kedumim A,” a settlement established last October.  Information had been gathered from aerial photos taken by Peace Now during a flight over the West Bank on 23 May.   (AFP, Reuters, The Jerusalem Post)

The Israeli and Palestinian commanders of the Regional Security Committees, set up after the Oslo accords, met in Jericho.  Lt. Col. Kobi Michaeli (Israel) and Brig. Gen. Ribhi Arafat of the PA regional security forces in the West Bank spoke to reporters and stressed the importance of cooperation between the two sides.  They spent the day with the joint patrols at the District Coordinating Office.   (The Jerusalem Post)

26

King Abdullah of Jordan visited the Gaza Strip for talks with PA President Arafat on how to forge a unified Arab position on peace talks with Israel.  There was some concern among Palestinian officials that the Israeli Prime Minister-Elect Barak would press ahead with negotiations with Syria and Lebanon, and leave a deal with the Palestinians for last.   PA President Arafat planned to hold a five-way summit with the leaders of Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan.    (AP)

France called for the suspension of new construction in the neighbourhoods of Jabal Abu Ghneim and Ras al-Amud, both in East Jerusalem. France’s spokesperson said it opposed the colonization of the occupied territories, notably in Jerusalem, and that what was important was to create an atmosphere for the restarting of the peace process.   (AFP, Reuters, XINHUA)

27

Israeli police clashed with Palestinian demonstrators during a protest against the construction of a Jewish housing project in the neighbourhood of Ras al-Amud in East Jersualem.  Baton-wielding police beat back the protestors, who included Faisal Husseini, PLO official in Jerusalem, and Hanan Ashrawi, member of the legislative Council.   Jewish-American businessman Irving Moskowitz, who is funding the construction, had received permission last year to build 133 housing units in a settlement at the site, but had been prevented by the Netanyahu Government to build under pressure from the United States.  This time, construction began immediately after Mr. Netanyahu’s defeat in the recent Israeli elections. (AFP, Reuters, XINHUA)

The Israeli Army closed three Palestinian schools in Av-Ram, a town which lay between Ramallah and East Jerusalem.  The Israeli authorities informed Palestinian liaison officials that the Al-Umma College, Al-Umma High School and the Husni Al-Ashab Elementary School, were to be closed for a day because of stone throwing by pupils at Israeli vehicles.  Abdel Rahim Barbar, Director of the High School, said the army clampdown disrupted end-of-year exams that had begun earlier in the week.  (AFP)

The World Bank approved $21 million in aid to the PA for a West Bank water and sanitation project.  The cost of the project was $62.9 million and the European Investment Bank was expected to contribute $35.68, according to a World Bank statement.  It said the remaining $6.2 million would be contributed by local Palestinian councils.  The statement further said that the project, which would benefit the citizens of Bethlehem and Hebron, was expected to improve water distribution.  (Reuters)

28

Outgoing Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Arens gave final approval of the plan to add four square miles to the settlement of “Maale Adumim,” east of Jerusalem.  The project enlarged the settlement of “Maale Adumim,” located 5 kilometers (3 miles) east of Jerusalem, by 1,300 hectares (3,250 acres or 12,500 dunams), according to Avi Kalstein, a Ministry spokesman.  The extension involved the effective annexation of land near the two villages of A-Zaim and Isawiyet, both part of East Jerusalem.  Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, demanded that Prime Minister-Elect Barak rescind the decision.  He also sent a letter to US Mideast Envoy Dennis Ross, asking him to pressure Israel to stop all settlement activity in Jerusalem as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip.   (AFP, Reuters, The Jerusalem Post)

30

At the National Conference to Confront Settlements held in Ramallah, the PA sent a strong-worded message to Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak, urging him to break his silence and stop the intensified Jewish settlement activities in the West Bank.  The conference, which was attended by 300 Palestinian grassroots and officials, was held after the Israeli Government decided a week last week to expand “Maale Adumim,” the biggest Jewish settlement in the West Bank, to link it to East Jerusalem.  Palestinian Information Minister Abed Rabbo declared that 3 June would be a “Day of Anger,” when Palestinians would be allowed to vent their feelings of resentment toward the settlements.  (Reuters, XINHUA)

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