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January 1989, Page 20 Facts For Your Files: A Chronology of US-Mideast Relations October 25: Israel suspended the press credentials of three foreign correspondents, two from Reuters and one from the Financial Times, who wrote reports of Israeli undercover death squads operating in the occupied territories. Israeli spokesmen denied the charges about the death squads and said the reporters violated Israeli military censorship rules. October 26: The State Department reported that Japanese officials have assured the United States that no Japanese nationals or companies are working at an industrial site in Libya where the US says a chemical weapons plant is under construction. US officials had said a Japanese metal works plant there could manufacture containers for poison gas made at the site.
October 27: Rabbi Meir Kahane, speaking at a Silver Spring, MD, Jewish center, called the banning of his Kach party from participating in the 1988 elections "a tragedy" for the Jewish people. Kahane's party was banned under an Israeli law prohibiting racism.
October 30: An Israeli woman and her three small children burned to death when Arab youths firebombed an Israeli civilian bus in the town of Jericho. The Israeli army imposed a curfew on Jericho and rounded up 150 suspects, three of whom reportedly confessed to the attack. Their houses were then demolished, along with hundreds of date palms and orange and banana trees in the field where the men waited for the bus. October 31: The State Department said it believes Palestinian terrorist Abdullah Abd al-Hamid Labib was responsible for an April 1986 explosion aboard TWA Flight 840 that killed four Americans. Labib, alias Col. Hawari, described by the State Department as head of the Special Operations Group of Fatah, was convicted in absentia by a French court earlier in the month for his role in terrorist attacks against Syrian, Libyan, and US targets in Western Europe.
November 1: Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's Likud Bloc won 40 and Shimon Peres' Labor Coalition won 39 Knesset seats in the Israeli elections. Four small orthodox religious parties won 18 seats, giving them the potential balance of power in the formation of a new government by either of the two major parties. Both Shamir and Peres scheduled meetings with the leaders of the parties, but did not rule out the possibility of another coalition government of Labor and Likud.
November 2: Jordanian Prime Minister Zaid Rifai said the Israeli election results would freeze the peace process and usher in a period of "violence, extremism, and terrorism" in the Middle East. November 3: The United Nations General Assembly voted 130-2 to condemn Israel for violating the human rights of Palestinians in the occupied territories. The US and Israel voted against the resolution. November 4: The Soviet Union announced that it had suspended the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan because of the worsening political situation there.
November 5: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, under pressure from both American Jews and Israeli religious parties, refused to say whether a controversial amendment to the Law of Return would become law. The religious parties favor the amendment, which would make only conversions to Judaism by Orthodox rabbis legal. American Jews, the vast majority of whom identify with Jewish Conservative or Reform movements, rather than Orthodox tradition, strongly oppose the measure. November 8: The Palestinian uprising erupted in the Israeli-Arab town of Taiyiba, where youths set up barricades and threw rocks to protest the demolition of 15 homes that Israel's Ministry of the Interior declared illegal structures. November 9: The PLO submitted a visa application for its chairman, Yasser Arafat, to come to the United States to address the United Nations.
November 10: The New York Times reported that Israeli President Chaim Herzog has received thousands of letters from Israeli citizens asking for another Labor-Likud "national unity" government that would prevent religious parties from becoming the decisive factor in Labor and Likud's attempt to form a new government following the inconclusive general elections. November 11: The Israeli army confined the 650,000 residents of the Gaza Strip to their houses, sealed off the West Bank, and deployed hundreds of soldiers to forestall the protests expected with the upcoming proclamation of a Palestinian state.
November 14: The Washington Post, citing documents it had received, said the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the top proIsrael lobbying group, was involved with political action committees (PACs) raising money for candidates in 1988 Senate races. AIPAC had denied such charges before, which, if true, could be in violation of FEC regulations.
November 15: After a three-day meeting in Algiers, the Palestine National Council (PNC) proclaimed an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with its capital in East Jerusalem. The PNC, meeting in Algiers, called for an international peace conference based upon UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. The Israeli government called the PNC statement a propaganda move. In Washington, Reagan administration officials said the Palestinian declaration did not meet the requirements needed to open direct talks with the PLO. Peaceful celebrations in the West Bank and Gaza greeted the declaration. Thirteen countries extended immediate diplomatic recognition to the newly-declared state.
November 16: Israel ordered its diplomats abroad to attempt to persuade the countries to which they are accredited to support Israel's rejection of the PLO declaration. Within the first 48 hours, at least 24 countries had extended diplomatic recognition to the Palestinian state. Seven other countries, including Egypt and the Soviet Union, welcomed the Palestinian action but stopped short of extending formal recognition. In addition, the 12 nations of the European Community welcomed the Palestinian initiative.
November 17: US officials revealed that Abdul Ghaffar Lakanwal, deputy foreign minister of the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan, has asked for political asylum in the US.
November 18: American Jewish leaders warned Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir that he risks losing vital support among American Jews if he agrees to demands made by Israeli religious parties. November 19: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev charged the US and Pakistan with violating the Geneva accords on Afghanistan by providing rebels with military aid. November 20: Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, reversing his previous position, said that he would join in another coalition government with the Likud Bloc, but later announced that he would not join any government that did not commit itself to an international peace conference.
November 24: Iran and Iraq began to exchange sick and wounded prisoners of war. Three days later Iran, citing an uneven exchange of prisoners, suspended the exchange.
November 25: Twenty-one Israeli non-commissioned officer candidates were sentenced to one to two weeks in jail for smashing cars and windows in a rampage at the Kalandia refugee camp. November 26: US Secretary of State George Shultz, citing "association with terrorism," denied PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat a visa to enter the US to address the UN on the Palestinian issue. The UN said the decision, described as "deeply personal" by Shultz aides, violated the 1947 agreement that the US would not hinder the movements of people with business at the UN. After first calling on the US to reverse the decision, the 159-member General Assembly voted 153-2, to hold a session in Geneva so that Arafat could be heard. Israel and the US were the only countries to vote against the move. November 28: OPEC reached an agreement to limit oil production and boost prices. December 1: Pakistan People's Party leader Benazir Bhutto was named prime minister, becoming one of the youngest leaders of a major country and the only women to head a modern Islamic state. She has pledged to keep close ties with the US.
December 3: The Los Angeles Times reported that terrorism experts agree international violence committed by Palestinians is on a sharp decline and most of it is carried out not by the main PLO group, but by splinter groups who are Arafat's adversaries. A State Department "fact sheet" stated that the main body of Arafat's Al Fatah group was involved in attacking Israeli targets, but no US targets.
December 6: PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat met with a group of American Jewish leaders in Stockholm for talks aimed at clarifying PLO statements from Algiers and revitalizing the peace process. An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said the meeting would damage relations between Israel and Sweden.
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