Washington Report, January 23, 1984, Page 6

Facts For Your Files: A Chronology of U.S.-Middle East Relations

December 22:

The Reagan Administration welcomed the December 22 meeting in Cairo between PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Egyptian President Hosni Murbarak. It said in statements read at both the White House and at the State Department: "We view renewed Egyptian-PLO discussions as an encouraging development, given Egypt's adherence to the Camp David accords, and its outspoken support for the Reagan initiative. We are hopeful that such talks will serve to persuade Mr. Arafat that peace negotiations within the framework of the President's initiative are the best means of achieving Palestinian goals."

December 23:

President Reagan said that reconciliation in Lebanon was no longer a prerequisite for reviving U.S. efforts to achieve a broader Mideast peace based on his Sept. 1, 1982 proposals. Asked if he thought progress was possible on his proposals, the President replied: "Yes, I do. I really do, because we had believed that a settlement in Lebanon had to precede going further with that (efforts to achieve a comprehensive peace). I don't think that's necessarily true now. I think enough progress has been made there (in Lebanon) that we can go forward with the peace movement."

December 24:

The White House released an interview with President Reagan, who responded to the Israeli government's charge that the December 22 meeting between Chairman Arafat and President Mubarak dealt a "severe blow" to the prospects for Middle East peace. The President said that Israeli leaders need to "look at this a little more clearly ... They will see that Mubarak, based on the experience of Egypt and its willingness to go forward for peace, is simply trying to persuade others to change their thinking." Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Avi Pazner had condemned the meeting and said that "the ultimate disappearance of this organization (PLO) from the international scene is a prerequisite for the achieving of stability and peace in the region."

December 27:

President Reagan took full responsibility for the inadequate security at the U.S. marine compound near Beirut last October 23, when 241 American servicemen were killed in a suicide truck bombing. The President said that the U.S. military was "inadequately equipped" to combat "state-supported terrorism (and) ... I do not believe, therefore, that the local commanders on the ground—men who have already suffered quite enough—should be punished for not fully comprehending the nature of today's terrorist threat. If there is to be blame, it properly rests here in this office and with this president." Mr. Reagan spoke one day before he allowed a Pentagon commission investigating the bombing to release a report which sharply criticized U.S. policy in Lebanon, including its security measures for the marines.

December 28:

A Defense Department commission headed by retired Adm. Robert L.J. Long made public its report on the October 23 bombing of the U.S. marine compound near Beirut. The report concluded that "U.S. decisions as regards Lebanon taken over the past 15 months have been, to a large degree, characterized by an emphasis on military options and the expansion of the U.S. military role..." The commission called for "a reexamination of alternative means of achieving U.S. objectives in Lebanon..."

January 3:

The Syrian government released U.S. Navy pilot Lt. Robert 0. Goodman, Jr., who had been taken prisoner December 3 after his plane was shot down by Syrian forces during an American bombing raid on Syria's positions in Lebanon. His release came in response to a request to Syria's President Hafez al-Assad by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. a Democratic presidential candidate who led a "humanitarian mission" that had spent five days in Syria.

January 3:

President Reagan sent a letter to Syria's President Hafez al-Assad in which he expressed his "appreciation" for the release of Lt. Robert Goodman, Jr. and said: "This is an opportune moment to put all issues on the table and work with the United States."

January 6:

The State Department announced that a two-year-old order banning travel by U.S. citizens to Libya had been extended for another year. The travel ban—as well as a call for U.S. nationals living in Libya to leave—was issued by President Reagan in December, 1981, at a time when the Administration was accusing the Libyan government of plotting to assassinate U.S. officials.

January 8:

A U.S. marine was killed by unidentified gunmen who opened fire on a U.S. helicopter in western Beirut while U.S. troops were unloading. The site was near the temporary U.S. embassy, located about six miles north of the U.S. marine base at the Beirut airport. The marine fatality—the first since December 4—brought to 258 the total number of U.S. servicemen killed in Lebanon since the arrival of the marines in September, 1982.

January 13:

U.S. presidential envoy Donald Rumsfeld met for over three hours in Damascus with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad. The meeting was set up during an easing of tensions between the U.S. and Syria which followed the release of the captured flier, Lt. Robert Goodman.

January 15:

Two U.S. warships off the coast of Lebanon together fired more than 100 rounds of five-inch shells into the hills overlooking the U.S. marine compound. The U.S. bombardment of the Druze-held hills came in response to heavy shelling which set a marine fuel storage tank ablaze.

January 16:

Commenting on the outcome of the January 13 meeting between U.S. presidential envoy Donald Rumsfeld and Syria's President Hafez al-Assad, Secretary of State George Shultz said: "As of now, it is not possible to report any real progress."

January 18:

Dr. Malcolm Kerr, president of the American University of Beirut, was assassinated in the hallway just outside of his university office by two gunmen who then escaped. He died from a bullet wound in the head. Four hours later, a caller to Agence France-Presse said "Islamic Jihad"—a group which has claimed responsibility for both the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and the marine compound—carried out the act. However, many intelligence sources and leading Shiite Muslim leaders in Lebanon believe that no such group actually exists, and that it is probably a front for one or more other organizations.