Washington Report, February 25, 1985, Page 8

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

February 4:

A memorandum issued by Senator Alan Cranston's (D-CA) office said that a total of 62 Senators had signed a letter to President Reagan, urging him to have "thorough consultations" with Congress before deciding to sell new arms to Saudi Arabia. The letter was dated January 29, one day before the Administration announced that further arms sales to the Mideast were on hold pending the completion of a "comprehensive review of our security interests and our strategy" in the Middle East.

February 4:

The Reagan Administration submitted a $14.77 billion FY 1986 foreign aid budget to Congress. It proposes a $125 million increase in military aid to Egypt and a $400 million boost in military aid to Israel. No change is proposed in the $815 million Egypt now receives in economic support funds, while the Administration withheld its request for economic aid to Israel and will submit it separately later this year. There were no major changes in the amounts requested for other Middle Eastern countries.

February 6:

The Pentagon notified Congress of its plans to sell Egypt its fifth E-2C reconnaissance aircraft. The cost, including spare parts, is estimated at $50 million.

February 7:

Egyptian Foreign Minister Esmat Abdel Meguid called on the Reagan Administration to play "a reactivated and vigorous role" in the search for peace in the Middle East. He said a lack of progress on the peace process would play into the hands of extremists in Israel and in the Arab world. Mr. Meguid, who was in Washington to prepare for the visit next month of President Hosni Mubarak, made his remarks at the American Enterprise Institute.

February 8:

William P. Clark, outgoing Secretary of the Interior Department, ruled that Kuwait has "reciprocal" status under the 1920 Mineral Lands Leasing Act, thus giving Kuwait permission to own leases for mineral exploration on U.S. federal land. The ruling was a reversal of a 1983 decision by former Interior Secretary James Watt, who had charged that Kuwait had barred U.S. companies from holding oil concessions.

February 11:

King Fahd of Saudi Arabia arrived at the White House for two days of talks with President Reagan. At a welcoming ceremony, the King urged Mr. Reagan to engage the U.S. "more vigorously" in trying to bring peace in the Middle East, and to recognize that "the Palestinian question is the single problem that is of paramount concern to the whole Arab nation and affects the relations of its peoples and countries with the outside world." Mr. Reagan said that a solution to the Palestinian problem should be based on U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, and that "the security of Israel and other nations of the region and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people can and should be addressed in direct negotiations."

February 11:

Jordan's official news agency announced that King Hussein of Jordan and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat had agreed upon a "framework for common action" as a joint approach to settling the Palestinian problem with Israel. Details of the framework were not released, but press reports indicate it contains an endorsement of the basic principle of U.N. Resolution 242—an exchange of Israeli-held territory in return for peace—though it reportedly does not mention that Resolution by name.

February 13:

President Reagan said that he was "being optimistic" about the Jordan-PLO negotiating "framework" that was announced February 11. A senior Administration official who briefed reporters said: "Before, there bad never been a Palestinian commitment to the peaceful resolution of the problem. Now there is."

February 13:

State Department spokesman Bernard Kalb said publicly that the Arab-Israeli negotiating formula of exchanging land for peace—as envisioned in U.N. Security Council Resolution 242—applies to all Israeli-held territories seized by Israel in the 1967 war, "including the Golan Heights." Since Resolution 242 was adopted in 1967, U.S. policy consistently has been that all Arab territory captured by Israel is subject to negotiations under the U.N. formula. However, the Reagan Administration seldom has referred specifically to the territory seized from Syria in 1967 and "annexed" by Israel in 1981.

February 14:

State Department spokesman Bernard Kalb said that planned U.S.-Soviet talks on the Middle East "will not constitute negotiations, nor are they intended to lead to broader negotiations." He added, "I also want to underscore that these talks are not the precursor of any agreements, nor are we going to seek any agreements in Vienna," where the meetings are scheduled to be held February 19 and 20.

February 14:

Jeremy Levin, the Beirut bureau chief of Cable News Network who was kidnapped in Beirut 11 months ago, escaped from his abductors and walked to a Syrian Army post near Baalbek in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. He was taken into Syrian custody and turned over to U.S. officials in Damascus.

February 15:

Edward P. Djerejian, a State Department spokesman, said the U.S. is "very appreciative of the Syrian government's role" in ending American journalist Jeremy Levin's 11-month captivity in Lebanon.

February 16:

Israel completed the first phase of a three-stage withdrawal from southern Lebanon by pulling back from the city of Sidon, two days before a self-imposed deadline. Nearly 2,000 soldiers of the Lebanese Army's 12th brigade immediately took up positions in the city, along with members of a Shiite militia known as the National Resistance Front.

February 20:

The U.S. and the Soviet Union completed two days of talks on the Middle East. Richard Murphy, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, and Vladimir Polyakov, head of the Near East Division of the Soviet Foreign Ministry, met for about five hours each day at their respective embassies in Vienna.