Chronological Review of Events/May 1995 – DPR review

CHRONOLOGICAL REVIEW OF EVENTS

RELATING TO THE QUESTION OF PALESTINE

May 1995

Monitored from the media by the

Division for Palestinian Rights

1  May PLO  Chairman Yasser Arafat met in Gaza City for the first time with Mr. Sinai Kehat, member of Israel's main opposition Likud Party.  Although the Likud Party still opposes the Declaration of Principles, Mr. Kehat expressed the view that in the near future, the Likud Party would support the peace process.  (Reuter)

Palestinians and Israeli ministers from the Meretz Party protested against the confiscation of Arab land in Jerusalem.  After meeting a delegation from Peace Now in Gaza City, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat said, "We have no alternative but to continue in our effort to achieve peace in this land between our people".  Mr. Arafat also said that he would not halt the peace talks with Israel because of the land expropriation.  (AFP)

2  May Israel and Jordan signed, in Eilat, an agreement for free passage of goods between the two countries as well as the Gaza Strip and Jericho.  According to the agreement, goods would be transported via the border post on the River Jordan where a special terminal would be built.  (AFP)

4  May PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat called for an urgent meeting of the Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) over Israel's decision to confiscate Palestinian lands in Jerusalem.  Mr. Arafat made the appeal in a telephone call to King Hassan of Morocco, Chairman of that Committee.  (AFP)

The Palestinian Authority and Jordan signed a trade agreement in Amman, drawing up a list of customs-free goods to boost trade between the two sides.  The agreement was signed by Trade Minister of Jordan Ali Abu el-Ragheb and his Palestinian counterpart Ahmad Korei.  (AFP)

The Palestinian Authority allocated $6 million to set up a telephone network aimed at installing 700,000 lines in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank over the next 10 years. The funds were to come from the Arab Bank, Palestinian-owned foreign companies, El-Akkad Investments in Saudi Arabia, and Palestinian investors in Jordan.  (AFP)

6  May The foreign ministers of the League of Arab States met in Cairo and urged the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting to discuss Israel's decision to confiscate 53 hectares (131 acres) of land in East Jerusalem.  (AFP)

Egypt recognized the new Palestinian passports issued by the Palestinian Authority. (AFP)

The Israeli telephone company, Bezek, warned that telephone lines to the Gaza Strip and Jericho would be cut off because of unpaid bills.  Israeli Communications Minister Shulamit Aloni urged the Israeli Finance Ministry to pay the telephone bill out of the money it owed the Palestinian Authority in tax rebates.  (AFP)

 

The PLO decided to repatriate 200 of its officials and their families to the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian representative to Tunisia, Hakkam Balaoui, said he would personally supervise their departure and the PLO would oversee their relocation and employment in the self-rule areas.  The PLO, also decided to move the military and civilian officials from its former headquarters in Tunis to the Gaza Strip.  (AFP)

7  May Israeli Finance Minister Abraham Shohat pledged $14.5 million for the first industrial park to be built in the Gaza Strip at Karni, near the Nahal Oz checkpoint.  (Reuter)

8  May PLO chairman Yasser Arafat congratulated Mr. Jacques Chirac on his election as President of France and urged him to continue supporting the Palestinian cause. (AFP)

Israel released 37 Palestinian prisoners, out of a total of 258 expected to be freed soon.  All prisoners were close to the end of their sentences.  (AFP)

9  May PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat urged the United States Government to resist congressional pressure to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem and to continue backing the peace efforts.  (AFP)

Israel has agreed to allow the Palestinian Authority to fly two helicopters on official business between the Gaza Strip and Jericho.  (AFP)

Israeli Housing Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said that another 120 hectares (300 acres) would soon be confiscated in East Jerusalem as a first stage of a major construction plan.  He added, "This is a fight for the destiny of Jerusalem and no one can dictate to Israel what to do on its sovereign territory in Jerusalem."  (Maariv)

10 May U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher opposed a bill by the Congress to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.  Christopher criticized Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole's legislation proposal and described it as "ill-advised and damaging" to Middle East peace negotiations.  (Reuter)

11 May Amnesty International, the UK-based human rights organization, reported that Israeli and Palestinian authorities have committed numerous human rights violations in the first year since the two sides signed the Declaration of Principles.  (Reuter)

The first two Palestinian helicopters arrived at the former Egyptian aerodrome at Karni in the Gaza Strip to facilitate travel to Jericho for PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and his officials. The two Russian-made Mi-8 aircraft were blocked in Egypt since last year when Israel refused to authorize their entry because they were not registered in any country. (AFP)

12 May PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, admitted, for the first time publicly, that he had been "negligent" in negotiating some of the issues of the Declaration of Principles.  Arafat called for Palestinian unity and warned of dangers in the situation if Israel continued to confiscate more land in Jerusalem.  (AFP)

More than 1,000 Palestinian workers were caught in Israel without permits and expelled over the last week.  Police also found 75 Israelis who employed Palestinians without permission.  (AFP)

14 May The Israeli Government voted  to implement the confiscation of Palestinian-owned land in East Jerusalem to build Jewish neighbourhoods.  Meretz Cabinet members, who opposed the seizure of 131 acres, forced the vote but were unable to halt the planned expropriation.  Shulamit Aloni, Cabinet member, told reporters that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin promised that there would be no further land confiscations unless the Palestinian Authority agreed.  Palestinian officials said that Rabin's promise not to take more land did not resolve the issue.  (Washington Post)

15 May Sweden's Deputy Prime Minister Mona Sahlin cut short a visit to Jerusalem after being told by Israel not to meet Palestinian leaders in the Orient House, the PLO headquarters in Jerusalem.  Sahlin flew home a day early and cancelled talks with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Faisal Husseini, the highest ranking PLO official in Jerusalem.  (AFP)

The League of Arab States decided to hold a summit on Israel's decision to confiscate Palestinian land in East Jerusalem.  Dr. Esmat Abdel Meguid, the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, said in Cairo, that Rabin's decision was "dangerous, because it means that Israel is continuing its aggression and ignoring the feelings of Arab and Islamic countries".  (AFP)

16 May Mr. Terje Larsen, the United Nations Special Coordinator in the occupied territories, warned that "if there is no significant improvement within the next two months, the Gaza Strip will be a social explosion".  He said that the present situation was untenable and unsustainable, urging an action plan to raise more funds. (AFP)

  Five hundred Palestinians demonstrated outside a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip against Israeli land confiscations.  (AFP)

17 May The United States cast its first UN Security Council veto in five years to block a resolution criticizing Israel for plans to confiscate land in East Jerusalem.  The draft resolution based on an Arab proposal, was endorsed by 14 states out of the 15 Security Council members.  (AFP)

18 May Arab leaders, in response to the United States veto of a UN Security Council resolution on Israeli land confiscation in East Jerusalem, warned that the action threatened the faltering Middle East peace talks.  Arab leaders proposed an Arab summit conference to discuss ways of countering the Israeli plans for land confiscations. (The Los Angeles Times)

19 May Israel rejected a Palestinian proposal to begin talks immediately on the future status of Jerusalem.  (Reuter)

The Egyptian airline Egypt Air has launched a new route for Palestinians travelling between the Gulf and the Gaza Strip through the al-Areesh in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. (Reuter)

King Hassan of Morocco sent an envoy to Jerusalem to test the ground for holding an Arab summit on Israel's confiscation of Arab land in East Jerusalem.  The King, who is Chairman of the Jerusalem Committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, wrote a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin protesting Israel's decision to confiscate the land.  (Reuter)

PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat inaugurated a $10 million, Japanese-funded project, to provide homes for 250 Palestinian police families.  The project, would be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Palestinian Housing Council.  (AFP)

20 May A bomb exploded in a greenhouse in the Netzarim settlement in the Gaza Strip.  An Israeli settler was injured.  (AFP)

21 May Mr. Faisal Husseini, the highest ranking PLO official in Jerusalem, warned that a "total intifada" would break out over Israel's confiscation of Arab land in Jerusalem. He added that the intifada would not be only in Jerusalem or only in the occupied territories but in the entire Middle East as well.  (AFP)

Israeli Finance Minister Avraham Shohat met with his Palestinian counterpart Ahmed Korei in Jerusalem and agreed to pay the Palestinian Authority 100 million shekels ($33 million) in taxes and duties collected from Palestinian workers. Shohat and Korei also discussed ways to export goods from the Gaza Strip through Israeli ports.  (AFP)

22 May Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres met with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat in Gaza City.  Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to a July first target date for extending Palestinian self-rule to the West Bank.  (Reuter)

23 May Arab leaders postponed a mini-summit in Morocco, scheduled for 27 May, following Israel's decision to suspend its seizure of Palestinian land in East Jerusalem.  Israel's decision came after five Arab Knesset deputies raised a no-confidence motion in parliament threatening to bring down the government in protest of the confiscation. Arab Knesset deputies were expected to be backed by Likud deputies who supported the land seizure but sought to undermine the Rabin Government.  (AFP)

24 May PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and King Hussein of Jordan met in Amman and discussed the implementation of the joint cooperation agreement concluded in January 1995.  They also discussed common positions on the issue of East Jerusalem.  The two leaders urged more than 100 businessmen to invest in Jordan and the Palestinian self-rule areas.  (UPI)

More than 300 Palestinians from Egypt, Jordan, the United States, Canada and France began a two day conference in East Jerusalem aimed at boosting investment in Palestinian industry and tourism.  The event was organized by the Palestinian media institute WAVE. (UPI)

25 May PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo. Both leaders reviewed the state of the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, the question of redeployment of the Israeli army and Palestinian elections.  (AFP)

Thirty-one Arab founders have established a $100 million fund for the creation of the Arab-Palestinian Investment Company (APIC) aimed at boosting industry and tourism as well as other ventures in the Palestinian self-rule areas. (AFP)

26 May The Palestinian Authority and the Arab Contractors Company of Egypt and Fara Partners signed a contract to build the first Palestinian civilian airport in the Gaza Strip near the Egyptian border.  The ceremony was held in Gaza City and attended by PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Palestinian pilots and other senior officials.  Work will start soon and the first Palestinian passenger aircraft is expected to land in January 1996.  (AFP)

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Victor Posuvalyuk visited Israel and the Gaza Strip where he met separately with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. Arafat said that he sent an "important" message to Russian President Boris Yeltsin on developments in the Palestinian self-rule areas.  (AFP)

27 May PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and King Hassan II of Morocco held a meeting in Rabat aimed at activating negotiations on Palestinian self-rule.  In a joint statement, Mr. Arafat and Mr. Peres confirmed their commitment to meet the 1 July deadline for an agreement involving the redeployment of the Israeli army from Palestinian towns in the West Bank and the holding of Palestinian elections.  The communiqué also committed the parties to consolidate economic cooperation and increase trade between the Palestinian self-rule areas, Israel, Egypt, and Jordan. (Financial Times)

Mr. Anouar Abu-Aicheh, a member of the Palestinian Olympic Committee, said that the Palestinians will be represented at next year's Olympic Games in Atlanta by six athletes and two officials.  The announcement came after Abu-Aicheh met in Lausanne with Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the International Olympic Committee.  (AFP)

28 May More than 400 Palestinians demonstrated at the Erez checkpoint to assert Palestinian claims on East Jerusalem as their future capital and to protest Israeli land confiscation and Jewish settlements.  (AFP)

29 May A terminal opened for the transfer of goods between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.  Eight trucks loaded with 150 tonnes of food supplies crossed from Egypt to the Gaza Strip under the supervision of Israel.  (AFP)

30 May Two Palestinian fishermen were injured by shots fired from an Israeli army base, north of the Gaza Strip.  (AFP)

Israel agreed to have a Palestinian television station based in Ramallah in the West Bank.  (AFP)

31 May PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat met with King Fahd of Saudi Arabia in Jeddah.  The meeting focused on Palestinian self-rule, negotiations with Israel and the future of Jerusalem.  Arafat also sought financial support for the Palestinian police force to be deployed in the West Bank following an Israeli army withdrawal.  On the same day, Arafat visited Sanaa (Yemen) and met with President Ali Abdallah Saleh with whom he discussed the same issues.  (AFP)

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