CHRONOLOGICAL REVIEW OF EVENTS
RELATING TO THE QUESTION OF PALESTINE
October 1996
Monitored from the media by the
Division for Palestinian Rights
2 October President Bill Clinton met at the White House, first separately and then jointly, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the President of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat. Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Arafat held a two-day summit meeting in Washington to resolve differences between them. The meeting ended without an agreement, but the two leaders agreed to resume negotiations, at the Erez crossing, on 6 November, on the redeployment of Israeli troops from most of Hebron City. (The New York Times)
4 October Israel and the Palestinian Authority reached an agreement on the reopening of a truck route to transport food to the Gaza Strip. A Palestinian official said that the agreement included "no changes in the procedure" at the Karni terminal. (AFP)
5 October Representatives of the EU agreed to send a joint letter to Mr. Arafat, Mr. Netanyahu, and US President Bill Clinton as a response to Mr. Arafat's plea for EU involvement in the peace negotiations. It was reported that although they were divided on whether to seek representation at the peace talks scheduled to start on 6 October, they would send Irish Minister Dick Spring and a fact-finding mission to the region by the "troika" of the EU ministers. (AFP, Reuter)
6 October A new round of talks between the Israeli and the Palestinian negotiators began at the Erez crossing. The two parties reiterated their commitment to the Oslo agreement and its implementation and agreed that the Hebron committee would hold its first meeting on 7 October at Erez. It was also decided that other committees on civilian, economic and security matters would also be activated. (Reuter, The Washington Post)
Irish Foreign Minister Dick Spring arrived in Israel on behalf of the EU to promote the peace process. Mr. Spring met with Mr. Netanyahu and Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy. Later he arrived in the Gaza Strip and met with Mr. Arafat. (AFP)
7 October A Palestinian policeman, wounded in the September's clashes with the Israeli army, died of his injuries. This brought the number of people killed to 84, including 68 Palestinians, 15 Israeli soldiers and one Egyptian. (AFP)
8 October Mr. Arafat made his first public visit to Israel and met with President Ezer Weizman in Caesarea, northern Israel. Mr. Arafat announced that he had given "permanent orders" to his police force not to open fire at Israeli soldiers. Both leaders said that their meeting had strengthened peace efforts shaken by three days of gun battles between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian policemen in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in September. (The New York Times)
9 October A young Palestinian died of wounds after being shot in the head by Israeli soldiers on 26 September during violence in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll among Palestinians to 69. (Reuter)
11 October Israeli Defence Minister Yitzhak Mordechai confirmed that Israel wanted to bring changes to the accord on Hebron which was signed by the previous Israeli Government. The PLO rejected Israel's demand and insisted that the signed agreement must be honored. (Reuter)
14 October The World Bank has approved a bank credit for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip worth $12.5 million. The credit will be allocated to a project aimed at improving access to capital for Palestinian businesses employing 10 workers and under. (AFP)
15 October King Hussein of Jordan made his first visit, since 1967, to the West Bank town of Jericho accompanied by Mr. Yasser Arafat. The visit was hailed by Palestinians as evidence of growing solidarity between Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. During the visit, King Hussein pledged his full support to the peace talks and to Arafat's efforts to establish an independent State. (Financial Times, The New York Times)
16 October The international medical charity, Médecins Sans Frontiéres (MSF), reported that 271 Palestinians stranded at the Egyptian-Libyan border were living in inhuman conditions and could not stand another winter. The MSF also reported that 74 children were not in school for the second year and six pregnant women needed medical attention. MSF said it would coordinate with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees visits to the camp once every two weeks as well as the purchase of new tents. (Reuter)
17 October About 30 Israeli settlers, mostly teenage students, began fencing off a Palestinian-owned hilltop in the Hebron area, near the Kiryat Arba settlement. (Reuter)
23 October French President Jacques Chirac, who was on the second day of a two-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian self-rule areas, said that only a Palestinian State would bring security to Israel. During his visit to Ramallah and addressing the Palestinian Council, President Chirac urged the Palestinian people to shun violence as they seek a State of their own. Mr. Chirac also criticized the Israeli policies that included expansion of Jewish settlement in the West Bank and its refusal to relinquish its hold over East Jerusalem. (Financial Times, AFP)
24 October Israeli police shot and injured a Palestinian man who was reportedly fleeing a security checkpoint at the Morasha junction near Tel-Aviv after refusing to stop when ordered by the police. (Reuter)
26 October More than a thousand Palestinians gathered in Gaza City to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shaqaqi in Malta, believed to have been assassinated by Israeli secret agents. (AFP)
27 October The Palestinian Authority barred Israeli fruits and vegetables from entering Gaza in retaliation for an Israeli closure of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip that prevented Palestinian products from leaving the area. (Reuter)
28 October A 10-year-old Palestinian boy from Hussan Village near Bethlehem died of injuries he sustained a day earlier after a Jewish settler beat him unconscious while the boy was returning home from school. (The Washington Post, Reuter)
29 October The Israeli army arrested a Palestinian man from the Gaza Strip suspected of trying to enter Israel through the Erez crossing. According to the Israeli police report, the man was carrying an explosive-package mobile telephone similar to that reportedly used by Israeli agents to assassinate Yehiya Ayash in January. (AFP)
30 October Mr. Yasser Arafat arrived in Spain to mark the anniversary of the 1991 peace conference in Madrid which began the current Middle East peace process. Mr. Arafat met with King Juan Carlos and Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. (Reuter)
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Document Type: Chronology, Report
Document Sources: Division for Palestinian Rights (DPR)
Subject: Palestine question
Publication Date: 31/10/1996