Chronological Review of Events/February 2000 – DPR review

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Chronological Review of Events Relating to the

Question of Palestine

Monthly media monitoring review

February 2000

1

The push to focus on economic development after the first multilateral Middle East peace talks in nearly four years came after pressure from donor nations, diplomats and analysts.  The 12 countries participating in the two-day talks which ended the day before, headed by Russia and the US, had revived four working groups to oversee regional economic development, the environment, Palestine refugees and water issues.  Negotiators failed to agree to re-launch a sensitive fifth group to oversee arms control and regional security.   According to the final statement of the meeting, the EU would head a regional economic development committee that would hold its first meeting in May.  The question of Palestine refugees would be on the agenda of the meeting of the working group on refugees scheduled for May 16-18 in Canada.   (AFP)

 7

PA Secretary-General of the Palestinian Cabinet Ahmad Abdel Rahman said that all contacts with Israel had been frozen, complaining that Israel had not respected its commitments under the signed agreements.   The Palestinians declared a crisis after the summit between PA President Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Barak a day earlier, had broken down.  Mr. Arafat was reported to have been furious that the Israelis had not consulted the Palestinians about maps outlining a delayed troop withdrawal from 6.1 per cent of the West Bank.  Palestinians have called for an increased US mediating role, but Israel said it wanted to keep the talks on a bilateral level.  (AFP, BBC)

PA Minister of Finance Mohammad Zudhi Al-Nashashibi said that the PA was opposed to the Israeli decision to close Erez checkpoint in northern Gaza to Palestinian trucks, denying access to Mentar checkpoint, the only trade outlet of the Gaza Strip.  Hundreds of workers staged a sit-in protesting the decision was to would take effect on 1 March.  Gaza Governor Mohammed Al-Qudwah said the decision constituted a blow to the Palestinian economy and transport fleet, into which the Palestinians put a great deal of their investments.   (XINHUA)

German public television station ZDF signed a cooperation agreement with the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC).  The deal would allow both stations access to news and archive material and to promote mutual production support.  ZDF would receive news pictures from Palestinian sources on the current Middle East peace process and gain access for the first time to the PLO’s news archives which were administered by the PBC.    (DPA)

PA Minister of Culture and Information Yasser Abed Rabbo called on the Arab and Islamic world to launch lobbying efforts to prevent the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions from holding a conference in Jerusalem.  Mr. Abed Rabbo said the group, which used the term “Jerusalem, Israel,” had plans that violated international resolutions that considered Jerusalem to be an occupied city.    (AFP)

10

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak secured cabinet-level approval to uproot rogue Israeli settlements in the West Bank.   The decision of the ministerial committee cleared the way for Mr. Barak to decide the fate of 42 stronghold outposts.  Palestinians have said that all settlements were illegal, rejecting Israel’s position that some Jewish settlements were legal and should remain in place.   (Newsday)

A Palestinian woman from the West Bank town of Hebron died of a heart attack after Israeli soldiers delayed her transfer to a hospital while they were searching her house.   Hebron municipal sources said Fatimah Abu Rmeileh, 62, began feeling ill and her husband asked for an ambulance, while 10 soldiers sealed and searched their house.   The Army said it found weapons and anti-Israeli propaganda during routine checks.    (Reuters)  

14

In a statement issued after their regular monthly meeting held in Brussels, the EU Foreign Ministers expressed regret and concern that the parties in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations had been unable to conclude a framework agreement on permanent status issues.  It reiterated the EU’s commitment to exert its maximum efforts and to work with all parties supporting the peace process.  (AFP)

15

The Vatican and the PA signed an accord formalizing the Catholic Church’s activities in areas of Palestinian self-rule, making it clear to Israel that any unilateral decisions affecting Jerusalem would be morally and legally unacceptable.  The agreement established, for the first time, a legal framework to provide services and security to Catholic churches in the autonomous Palestinian areas and included a commitment by the Palestinians to protect freedom of religion. It further called for a special statute for Jerusalem, internationally guaranteed, and for the proper identity and sacred character of the city and cultural heritage to be safeguarded.  Israeli described the accord as an interference in the Middle East peace negotiations.  The Vatican countered that it had nothing to do with the peace process and did not touch on sensitive territorial or sovereignty issues.   (AFP, AP, Reuters)

Palestinians imposed an indefinite blockade on some Israeli goods to protest the closure of the Beit Hanun (Erez) crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip for commercial use.  Palestinians complained that the Israeli decision to close Erez to commercial traffic, forcing them to use the nearby crossing pont at Qarni, would cause delays and create new obstacles for Palestinian companies that depended on transporting goods between Israel and the Gaza Strip.  (AFP)   

16

Paltrade, a Palestinian trade group in the West Bank and Gaza Strip called on Israel to drop plans to ban goods moving to and from Gaza, saying the plan broke international trade accords.   A statement from Paltrade said that the move by Israeli authorities was in breach both of the Paris economic protocol regarding the free movement of people, goods and services, and contrary to GATT as an illegal restraint on trade.  (Reuters) 

20

Representatives of Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the PA met in Tel Aviv to discuss the fate of Palestinians uprooted from their homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 war.  The meeting follows an earlier decision made at the Foreign Minister level, that a technical committee made up of diplomats from the four sides to meet once every two weeks to reach agreement on the modalities of admission of persons displaced from the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967.    It was agreed that a second ministerial meeting be held no later than three months. (DPA)

German President Johannes Rau laid the cornerstone for a new industrial zone in the northern West Bank  town of Jenin which was expected to provide thousands of new jobs in the area. Development of the project had been stalled until the area was transferred to the administration of the PA.  Mr. Rau said establishing such industrial zones would contribute to the establishment of a real peace.  The ceremony was attended by PA Industry Minister Saadi al-Krunz and his Israeli counterpart Ran Cohen.  Mr. al-Krunz said he expected the zone to create 30,000 jobs for Palestinians.   (AFP, DPA)

22

The Israeli Government cut by 82 per cent the budget it allocated to protect Israeli settlements in the West Bank, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.   It said the cut from $34.5 million to $6.2 million was made because the entire defence ministry budget had been cut.  A spokesperson for the Deputy Defence Minister, said the cut had been also due to an $18.5 million decrease in U.S. aid outlined in a 1998 Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.  A spokesperson for the YESHA Council of Jewish Settlers said if the Government did not provide adequate security, settlers would take to the streets in protest.   (Reuters)

24

During a visit of an EU delegation in Beirut, Parliamentary speaker Nicole Fontaine said that the EU, the main financial donor in the Middle East, should have a greater role in the region’s peace process.   The issue of the 367,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon had been raised during talks with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and his cabinet.   The delegation also called for improvements in the living conditions in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.   (AFP)

25

In its recent report, the World Bank said Israel and Israeli settlers consumed up to 90 per cent of the water resource of the West Bank while the Palestinians consumed the remaining part.   The per capita share of water in the Israeli settlements ranged between 640 and 1,480 cubic meters annually while the Palestinian per capita did not exceed 156 cubic meters.  According to the report, the Palestinian population in the area reached 2 million while the Israeli settlers were estimated at just 160,000.   (XINHUA)

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