1981 - President Sadat assassinated
On October 6th, President Mohammed
Anwar el Sadat of Egypt was
murdered by
Islamic fundamentalist gunmen in Cairo. The shooting happened at 1 p.m.
during the annual military parade to commemorate the beginning of the
Egyptian attacked in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war . A lorry in the
procession
stopped in front of the rostrum where the President and other
luminaries
were watching a fly-past of Egyptian Air Force jets. Armed men climbed
out
and ran toward Sadat, hurling grenades and opening fire with automatic
weapons. The President and seven others fell, mortally wounded. Sadat
was
flown to the Maadi military hospital where he died an hour and 40
minutes
later. Sadat's funeral on October 10th was attended by only one Arab
head
of state. He had isolated himself in the Arab world by the
rapprochement
with Israel which had won him and Menachem Begin the Nobel Peace Prize
in
1978 and led to a peace treaty between the two countries in 1979. Iraq,
Libya, Syria and the Palestinian Liberation Organization openly
applauded
his assassination.
1982 - Lebanon invasion
In
1982 Israel launched an invasion of Lebanon aimed at wiping out
the PLO
presence there. By mid-August, after intensive fighting in and around
Bayrut, the PLO agreed to withdraw its guerrillas from the city.
Israeli
troops remained in southern Lebanon, however, and the cost of the war
and
subsequent occupation drained the already troubled Israeli economy.
1982 - PLO leave Beirut
Some of the 1,500 Palestinian
fighters forced to leave the war-torn
city of
Beirut give victory signs to supporters gathered to greet them at the
harbour gate in Larnaca , Cyprus. In further attempts to destroy
guerrillas
bases, Israeli jets had bombed Moslem West Beirut, despite appeals for
restraint from the US government. The guerrillas were allowed to go
with
one gun each, leaving behind grenade-launchers and other sophisticated
weaponry .
1985 - Falasha airlift stopped
Ethiopia in
1985 forced the Israeli government to stop its covert
airlift
of Falasha - Ethiopian Jews - to Israel. Since beginning the airlift in
1974 (when persecution of the Falasha increased after the fall of
Ethiopian
emperor Haile Selassie), Israel had airlifted some 12,000 members of
the
ancient Jewish sect, which had existed in isolation from the rest of
the
Jewish world since about the second century BC. Israel resumed the
airlift
in 1989, and within a few years most of the approximately 14,000
remaining
Falasha had emigrated.
1987-1991 - The Intifada
Relations between Israel and the
Palestinians entered a new phase in
the
late 1980s with the intifada, a series of uprisings in the occupied
territories that included demonstrations, strikes, and rock throwing
attacks on Israeli soldiers. The harsh response by the Israeli
government
drew criticism from both the United States and the UN.
1988 - Jordan gave up the West bank
1988, Nov. 15 : Jordan gave up the
West Bank, in favour of the
Palestinian
people. The West Bank had still a strong majority of Palestinians. The
West
Bank was also under boundless Israeli control, which it had been since
the
occupation of 1967.
1988 - PNC declared the State of
Palestine
On 14-04-1988 , Abu Jihad,
Palestinian leader, was gunned down in
his home
in Tunis by the Israeli Mossad.
On 15-11-1988
, The PNC meeting in Algiers declared the State of
Palestine
as outlined in the UN Partition Plan 181 , and a flag for the new state
is
presented. The new state is recognized only by states that have not
recognized Israel.
On 09-12-1988
, British Junior Foreign Minister William Waldegrave met
with
Bassam Abu Sharif President Arafat's adviser, thus upgrading Britain's
relations with the PLO.
Following the
US government refusing President Arafat a visa to enter
the
US, the UN General Assembly held a special session on the question of
Palestine in Geneva.
For the full text of
State of Palestine
Declaration
of Independence , Click here
1989 - Madrid Conference
On June 28, 1989 , EEC Madrid
Conference issued a new declaration
calling
for the PLO to be involved in any peace negotiations.
On August 3,
1989 , Fateh, the mainstream PLO organization, at their
5th
Conference endorsed the PLO strategy adopted at the PNC in Algiers in
November 1988.
For the full text of
Madrid declaration ,
Click here
1990 - Arafat addressed UN In Geneva
On
20-05-1990 , Seven Palestinian workers from Gaza were massacred
by an
Israeli gunman near Tel Aviv.
Yasser Arafat addressed the UN Security Council In Geneva after the
massacre in which he called for the deployment of a UN emergency force
to
provide international protection for the Palestinian people to
safeguard
their lives, properties and holy places.
The US vetoed a motion which called for the Security Council to send a
fact
finding mission to the area. At the end of their hunger strike,
Palestinian
leaders in the Occupied Territories decided to boycott the US.
The Arab Summit in Baghdad pledged support fort he Palestinian Intifada
and
strongly denounced the settlement of Soviet Jews with in the Occupied
Territories.
On 20-06-1990 , The US suspended its dialogue with the PLO after the
PLO
refused to denounce a military operation in the sea by the PLF.
On 26-06-1990 , The EEC in Dublin issued a new declaration on the
Middle
East which condemned Israeli human rights violations and the settlement
of
Soviet Jews in the Occupied Territories. It also doubled its economic
aid
programme to the Occupied Territories.
On August-1990 , The Gulf Crisis erupted.
On 20-12-1990 , UN Security Council adopted Resolution 681.
For the full text
of UN Resolution
681 , Click here
1991-1992 - Peace Talks
Abdul
Shafe, Hayder (Head of Palestinian negotiating team)
The
first comprehensive peace talks between Israel and delegations
representing the Palestinians and neighboring Arab states began in
October
1991. After Likud lost the parliamentary election of June 1992, Labor
party
leader Yitzhak Rabin formed a new government .
1993 - Deported Palestinians
In Jan'93 , Israel deported 415
Palestinian men to a buffer zone in
southern Lebanon on Dec. 17, 1992. This occurred during Israel's peace
talks with Arab states and led to a temporary breakdown in the
negotiations. Southern Lebanon had frequently been a staging area for
attacks on Israel's northern settlements. The deported Palestinians
were
said by Israeli authorities to be active members of the militant
Islamic
resistance movement known as Hamas. Late in January, Israel's High
Court
ruled that the deportation was legal. The government of Israel
nevertheless
announced that all the deportees would be allowed to return home within
a
year.
1993 -
Washington peace agreement
Washington
peace agreement
Events
in the Middle East took a surprising turn in 1993. After
secret
negotiations, Prime Minister Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat flew
to
Washington, D.C., and agreed to the signing of an historic peace
agreement.
Israel agreed to allow for Palestinian self-rule, first in the Gaza
Strip
and the West Bank town of Jericho, and later in other areas of the West
Bank that are not settled by Jews.
In Sept,93 , At a ceremony in Washington, D.C., representatives of
Israel
and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed an agreement
designed to end 45 years of confrontation between the Israelis and
Palestinians. The actual signing was done by Israel's foreign minister,
Shimon Peres, and PLO foreign policy spokesman, Mahmoud Abbas. Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and PLO leader Yasser Arafat met and
shook
hands on the White House lawn, as President Bill Clinton of the United
States and 3,000 guests looked on. The agreement was limited in scope;
it
provided for transfer of the Gaza Strip and Jericho to Palestinian rule
within a few months. But the accord was regarded as a first step in
resolving years of violent conflict between Jews and Palestinians. The
agreement had been worked out secretly in Oslo, Norway, with the
mediation
of Norway's foreign minister, Johan Jorgen Holst. Following the
signing, a
long process of negotiation began on the means of transferring power in
the
occupied lands.
For the full text of
OSLO I agreement ,
Click here
1994 - Hebron
mosque massacre
In
Feb.1994 , An American-born Jewish settler in Hebron, Baruch
Goldstein,
opened fire in al-Haran al-ebrahime crowded mosque, killing 29 Muslims
and
wounding 150 more. Additional Muslims were crushed to death in the
panic to
flee the mosque and in rioting that followed. The attacker used an
assault
rifle to shoot at more than 400 Muslims, who were in the mosque for
early
morning prayers during the holy month of Ramadan. The mosque itself was
part of a complex of buildings sacred to both Jews and Muslims, because
it
was believed to contain the 4,000-year-old burial tomb of Abraham and
his
wife Sarah. As such, the place had long been a site for religious
confrontations. News of the massacre immediately led to riots in Hebron
and
the rest of the occupied territories. The crime called into question
the
possibility of continuing the peace talks between Israel, the
Palestinians,
Jordan, and Syria. In late 1993 Israel and the Palestinian Liberation
Organization had signed an agreement designed to bring peace between
the
two group.
1994 - Israel withdrew from Jericho and Gaza Strip
In May'94 , At a ceremony in Cairo,
Egypt, attended by 2,500 guests,
Yasser
Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and
Yitzhak Rabin, prime minister of Israel, signed the final version of
the
Declaration of Principles that had been signed in Washington, D.C., on
Sept. 13, 1993. The accord was regarded as a start toward bringing
peace
between Israelis and Palestinians after 45 years of conflict. Within 24
hours of the signing, Israeli military forces were scheduled to leave
the
Gaza Strip and Jericho, ending 27 years of occupation of those
territories.
A Palestinian police force was ready to move into the areas to keep
order.
Among the foreign visitors at the ceremony were Secretary of State
Warren
Christopher of the United States, Foreign Minister Andrei V. Kozyrev of
Russia, and Foreign Minister Koji Kazikawa of Japan. In spite of the
accord, Jewish and Palestinian extremists in Israel vowed to prevent
its
full implementation.
For the full text of the
Economic protocol
, Click here
For the full text of
Gaza Strip and Jericho
Agreement , Click here
For the full text of
Transfer of the power
Agreement , Click here
1994 - Jordan signed a peace agreement with Israel
Jordan-Israel
Peace
In
July 1994 Prime Minister Mr. Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan
signed a
peace agreement ending 46 years of war and strained relations. The
agreement, which was signed at the White House in the presence of U.S.
President Bill Clinton, laid the groundwork for a full peace treaty.
1994 - Arafat returns to Palestine
In July 1, Yasser Arafat, head of the
Palestine Liberation
Organization
(PLO), returned to Palestine for the first time in 33 years. Israel's
control of Palestine had prevented his visiting the region because he
was a
sworn enemy of Israel and, in turn, was regarded by Israelis as a
terrorist. The agreement between Israel and the PLO, signed in
September
1993, had made possible Arafat's return. He went first to Gaza City in
the
Gaza Strip, where he was welcomed by a crowd estimated at 200,000.
Three
days later he flew by helicopter to the city of Jericho. Both areas had
been granted Palestinian rule by the treaty.
1994 - Nobel peace prize awarded
In
Oct.14 , The Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway, announced that the
peace
prize was being awarded to Israel's Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and
Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and to Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO). The award came one year after a peace
agreement was signed between Israel and the PLO following decades of
mutual
hostility and violence. There was some controversy among members of the
committee making the award: committee member Kare Kristiansen resigned,
saying Arafat's violent past should have disqualified him from
receiving
the award.
1995 - Martyr bombs kill 19 in Israel
In Jan.23 , Nineteen Israelis died
and more than 60 others were
wounded
when two martyr bombs exploded at a crowded bus stop near Netanya,
north
of Tel Aviv. Most of the dead and wounded were soldiers. The militant
group
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, the sixth such
incident since April 1994. During that time, Islamic guerrillas killed
54
people and wounded nearly 200 in their efforts to derail the fragile
peace
talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Israeli President Ezer
Weizman
denounced the bombings and called for a halt in talks with the
Palestine
Liberation Organization, though Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and his
cabinet decided to continue negotiations for a peace settlement.
1995 - Summit in the Middle East
In Feb.2 , In an effort to make
progress in the stalled Middle East
peace
talks, Egypt invited representatives from Israel, Jordan, and the
Palestine
Liberation Organization to a summit meeting in Cairo. The meeting was
the
first regional summit in which an Israeli official participated. After
nearly six hours of talks, the leaders issued a joint statement in
which
they agreed to forge ahead with efforts for peace, condemned political
violence, and called for more international assistance for the
Palestinian
Authority, the governing body in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The
peace
talks, which began in 1992, had been threatened by increasing Islamic
militant attacked against Israelis.
1995 - Six killed in Gaza martyr bombing
In April 9, Two militant Muslim
groups launched a pair of martyr car
bombings against Israelis in the Gaza Strip, killing eight people and
wounding more than 45. In the first attack, which took place near Kfar
Darom, an Israeli settlement about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southwest
of
Gaza City, a van loaded with explosives was detonated next to a
passenger
bus, killing seven soldiers and one American tourist, and wounding more
than 40 others. Two hours later, several people were injured when a
martyr
bomber drove a car-bomb into an Israeli convoy on the road to the
settlement of Netzarium, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) away from the
site
of the first attack. The Islamic militant groups Hamas and Jihad (Holy
War)
claimed responsibility for the bombings. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin denounced the attacks and warned that unless the Palestine
Liberation
Organization (PLO) worked to crush the militant groups operating in its
territory, Israel would oppose expanding Palestinian self-rule.
1995 - Martyr bomb rips through bus near Tel Aviv
In July 24 , A Palestinian martyr
bomber set off a crude pipe bomb
aboard
a bus making its way through morning rush hour in a suburb of Tel Aviv,
Israel, killing himself and six others. More than 32 passengers were
wounded in the attack. The bombing was the first major instance of
attacks
against Israel in more than three months, and it came one day before
negotiators from Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization were
to
have reached an agreement on extending Palestinian self-rule in the
West
Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin vowed that the attacks would
not
stop the talks from moving forward, and he credited Yasser Arafat and
his
Palestinian Authority for taking positive actions to prevent such
attacks
from taking place.
1995 - Martyr bomber kills five in Jerusalem
In
Aug. 21 , In the second such attack in a month, a Palestinian
martyr
bomber attacked a crowded bus in West Jerusalem, killing five Israelis
and
himself. More than 107 others were injured in the blast. The attack was
denounced by the Israeli government and Palestinian leaders, and both
sides
vowed to keep fragile peace negotiations on track. Hamas, the Islamic
group
opposed to the peace process, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Israeli authorities arrested more than 60 Hamas members between August
23
and August 27, charging them with planning the July 24 and August 21
bombings.
1995 - Oslo II Agreement signed in Washington
In Sept. 24 , Israeli and Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO)
officials
meeting in Taba, Egypt, finalized agreement on the second stage of
eventual
Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands. Under the pact, which was
officially signed on September 28 in Washington, D.C., Israeli forces
were
scheduled to be removed from six Arab cities and 400 villages in the
West
Bank by early 1996, after which elections would be held for a 82-member
Palestinian council, which would possess legislative and executive
power in
the West Bank and Gaza.
Special
arrangements were agreed upon for the West Bank city of Hebron,
where Israeli soldiers will remain to protect the 450 Jewish settlers
living there. Disagreement over the status of Hebron almost scuttled
the
agreement, and it took almost a week of non-stop negotiations between
PLO
leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to
resolve
the issue.
The pact was
the second stage in a three-step process agreed upon in
the
Declaration of Principles, a framework for eventual Palestinian
autonomy
signed by the PLO and Israel in September 1993. The first phase in the
process was finalized in May 1994, when an accord was signed in Cairo,
Egypt, for the pullout of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the
West
Bank town of Jericho and the handing over of administrative duties to
the
Palestinian National Authority, led by Arafat. The third stage will
tackle
such contentious issues as the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Israeli
settlers, and the final borders between Israel and the Palestinian
state
that many analysts believe is close to becoming a reality. Negotiations
concerning the last phase of the peace process were scheduled to begin
in
May 1996, with any agreement to be implemented before the end of the
century.
1995 - Israeli Prime Minister Rabin assassinated
In Nov.4 , Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated in
Tel
Aviv by a right-wing extremist who considered Rabin's crusade for peace
a
betrayal of the Jewish state. The prime minister was shot three times
as he
was getting into his car to leave a peace rally at 9:30 PM local time.
He
was rushed to nearby Ichilov Hospital but had no heartbeat or blood
pressure when admitted to the emergency room. Doctors tried without
success
to revive Rabin, but he was pronounced dead at 11:10 PM. Israeli
Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres took over leadership of the Labor government upon
Rabin's death.
1996 - National elections
Details
of the year
1996 events
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1996 events , Click
here to visit the 1996 Calendar
1997 - No progress in the peace negotiations
Details
of the year
1997 events
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1997 events , Click
here to visit the 1997 Calendar
For the full text of
Hebron agreement ,
Click here
1998 - Peace process up and down
Details
of the year
1998 events
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1998 events , Click
here to visit the 1998 Calendar
1999 - End of the century events
Details
of the year
1999 events
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1999 events , Click
here to visit the 1999 Calendar
2000 - Al-Aqsa Intifada fire
Details
of the year
2000 events
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2000 events , Click
here to visit the 2000 Calendar
2001 - Current year events
Details
of the year
2001 events
For the details of
2001 events , Click
here to visit the 2001 Calendar
2002 - The daily Intifada
Details
of the year
2002 events
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2002 events , Click
here to visit the 2002 Calendar
2003 - Current year events
Details
of the year
2003 events
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