February 1989, Page 22

Facts For Your Files: A Chronology of US-Mideast Relations

December 7: PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, meeting in Stockholm with five American Jews, said that the PLO recognized Israel and condemned all forms of terrorism. US Secretary of State George Shultz, however, said that the PLO had not yet met the required conditions to open talks with the US.

December 8: Three reports released by human rights organizations criticized the methods used by Israel to quell the Palestinian uprising. The reports, issued by Al Haq, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, and a joint effort by the Committee to Protect Journalists, and a group entitled Article 19, focused on the Israeli government's policy of administrative detention without trial, the conditions of the refugee camps, and censorship of the press.

The central committee of Israel's Labor party, headed by Shimon Peres, voted to re-open talks with Yitzhak Shamir's Likud Bloc on forming a new, broad-based Israeli government. The vote was 638-349.

The intifadah began its second year as shopkeepers called for a two-day general strike to mark the anniversary. A 17-year-old Palestinian boy was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers during a demonstration in the West Bank village of Kfar Rai.

December 9: Israeli commandos raided the Lebanese headquarters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), killing 20 and wounding dozens more. The raid, Israel's deepest incursion into Lebanon since its 1982 invasion, drew widespread international criticism, including disapproval from Secretary of State Shultz.

December 12: The Lebanese kidnappers of American hostage Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins threatened to kill him in retaliation for the Israeli raid three days earlier on the PFLP-GC headquarters. Higgins, the last of nine Americans to be kidnapped and held in Lebanon, was head of an observer mission attached to a UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.

December 13: PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat addressed a special session of the United Nations General Assembly in Geneva after the US refused Arafat a visa to enter the US to address the UN. Arafat appealed for an international peace conference, but US officials maintained Arafat had not met the required conditions to open a dialogue with the US. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir called Arafat's statement "double talk."

In the occupied West Bank, two Israelis and one Palestinian were killed in a skirmish near Burin. The deaths of the Israelis, one a soldier and one a settler, brought to 13 the number of Israelis killed during the Palestinian uprising. At least 350 Palestinians have died since the intifadah began a year ago.

December 14: In a major policy change, the US agreed to begin direct talks with the PLO following a press conference by PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat in which he dearly recognized Israel and renounced terrorism. Robert Pelletreau, the US ambassador to Tunisia, was designated as the official spokesman for the talks.

Three Palestinians were deported from the Gaza Strip to the Bekaa, bringing the total number of Palestinians deported to Lebanon to 36. Israeli spokesmen said the deportations were unrelated to the Palestinian uprising because the men's offenses predated the intifadah. The US strongly condemned the deportations as illegal.

The US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have "strongly deplored" the Dec. 9 Israeli raid on a Palestinian base in Lebanon. The council's other 14 members voted in favor of the resolution.

December 15: The UN General Assembly voted to call for an international conference On the Middle East, an Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab territories, and for those territories to be placed under UN supervision. A separate resolution, passed by a large majority, acknowledged the November 1988 proclamation of the state of Palestine.

America's Western European allies hailed the US decision to open talks with the PLO as a "step forward" to peace in the Middle East. Britain, France, West Germany, and the Soviet Union all praised the US decision. In Western Europe, there is widespread feeling that Israel, not the PLO, is the main obstacle to Middle East peace.

December 16: US Ambassador to Tunisia Robert Pelletreau met with PLO officials in Tunis, the first official US contact with the PLO in 13 years. Pelletreau said the discussions were "very practical."

Three Irish soldiers serving with the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon were kidnapped by Lebanese gunmen demanding the release of Jawad Kasfi, identified by Israel as the leader of the Religious Resistance Front, a faction affiliated with Hezbollah. Kasfi was seized Dec. 15 by Israeli soldiers in the village of Tibnin, which is inside the area patrolled by the UN force in south Lebanon.

A Swiss Red Cross worker was released after being held for a month by gunmen loyal to Abu Nidal's Palestinian Fatah Revolutionary Council.

December 17: PLO leaders accused Israel of engaging in state terrorism and urged the US to hold Israel to the same standards on terrorism as it does the PLO. In addition, Yasser Arafat pledged to "do all our best" to stop Palestinian terrorism, not including the resistance against Israeli occupation in the occupied territories.

The three Irish soldiers kidnapped by a pro-Iranian Shi'ite Muslim group in south Lebanon were rescued by the mainstream Shi'ite Muslim militia Amal.

December 19: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, shocked by the US decision to open talks with the PLO and international pressure to agree to an international peace conference, agreed to form another coalition government with his rival Shimon Peres. Upon ratification by the parties, Shamir would remain prime minister while Peres would become finance minister.

Jordan's King Hussein reshuffled his Cabinet, removing Taher Masri, Jordan's foreign minister and a voice of dissension to Hussein's decision in July 1988 to sever Jordan's administrative ties to the West Bank and relinquish his claim to it to the PLO.

The Times of London reported that the PLO will appoint a government in exile within three months, based on the better-than-expected response to its Nov. 15 declaration of an independent Palestinian state.

December 21: After 50 days of negotiations, Israel emerged with another coalition government as the Labor party's central committee ratified by a 2 to 1 margin an agreement putting it on an equal political footing as the Likud Bloc. The next day the government was presented to and approved by the Knesset.

President Reagan said the US is "discussing" with its allies the possibility of taking military action to destroy a Libyan chemical factory the US considers a chemical weapons production facility, but no plans were underway to do so.

Sudanese officials announced that police had uncovered a plot by supporters of former President Jaafar Nimeri to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Sadiq Mahdi.

Pan Am Flight 103, originating in Frankfurt, exploded on the London-New York segment of the flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 270 aboard. The explosion was later determined to be caused by a bomb. Pro-Iranian extremists said the flight was destroyed as retaliation for the downing of Iranair Flight 655 last July 3 in the Persian Gulf by the USS Vincennes with the loss of 290 lives. Iranian government spokesmen disowned the claims.

December 23: Egypt and Syria announced the beginning of a reconciliation after a decade of estrangement over Egypt's 1978 decision to sign a peace treaty with Israel.

Palestinian guerrillas and Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim militiamen announced an agreement to end three years of fighting in southern Lebanon. The "pact of understanding" was signed by leaders of Amal, the main Shi'ite militia, and the PLO.

Pope John Paul If met with Yasser Arafat and reaffirmed his belief that both Palestinians and Jews have an "identical fundamental right" to their own countries.

December 24: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he was willing to visit Israel to help revive the Middle East peace process, if it would help lead to peace in the area. Mubarak has refused to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir during the last two years, though he has met with Shamir's political rival Shimon Peres twice since 1986. Meanwhile, Shamir announced he would reveal a new peace initiative but refused to release any details.

Italy told US officials that Libya had agreed to accept all international controls on banning the use of chemical weapons.

Soviet officials asked exiled King Mohammad Zahir Shah of Afghanistan to take part in talks on forming a broad-based Afghan government.

December 25: Israeli troops shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian and wounded 16 others in clashes with demonstrators in Bethlehem.

December 26: US officials proposed talks with Israel and Egypt to explore steps to limit the use and development of ballistic missiles in the Middle East.

December 27: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, clarifying his statement about a possible trip to Israel, said he was prepared to make the visit only if Israel agreed to talk to the PLO.

The New York Times reported that Iranian officials informed mediators that Iran will intercede on behalf of Western hostages only if its own missing nationals in Lebanon are found.

President Reagan ordered a six-month extension on sanctions against Libya, citing terrorism as the reason.

December 29: Six members of the radical Palestine Liberation Front and the Fatah Revolutionary Council, trying to undermine the US-PLO dialogue, launched attacks into Israeli territory. Israeli troops surrounded and killed all six Palestinians.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told the West German magazine Der Spiegel that Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir was stubborn and the Camp David accords were out of date.

Two French girls were released after being held hostage by Abu Nidal's Fatah Revolutionary Council for 14 months. The girls' mother is still being held hostage by the group.

Sudanese police fired on demonstrators in Khartoum, killing two and wounding 28 as rioting and strikes continued in the capital and other parts of the country in response to price hikes on consumer goods even though the government had rescinded the increases.

January 1, 1989: Israel expelled 15 Palestinian activists accused of leading the intifadah, the largest number of deportations carried out in one day.

The Israeli government enacted an austerity program designed to hold off a looming economic crisis. Finance Minister Shimon Peres announced increases in subsidized goods and another devaluation of the shekel, and he proposed deep budget cuts in education, social services, and health.

The US accused a West German company of helping to design and build a huge chemical plant in Libya, which US officials claim is used to produce chemical weapons. The West German government agreed to investigate the claim.

January 2: The US asked and the PLO agreed to provide any information it has concerning the terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 103.

West Bank lawyers announced they will boycott military courts for one month to protest lack of due process for Palestinian detainees.

January 3: The Reagan administration, saying that Libya does not have the technology needed to produce poison gas without foreign help, called on all industrial nations to prevent their citizens from aiding the Libyan chemical plant.

Afghan rebels announced a plan for an assembly to govern the country and confirmed further talks with the Soviet Union. Western diplomats meanwhile said the withdrawal of Soviet troops, suspended two months ago, seemed to be back on track to meet the February 15 deadline specified by last year's Geneva accords.

January 5: Los Angeles police said they would question Jewish Defense League leader Irv Rubin about a pig's carcass left four days earlier in the driveway of Jewish liberal activist Stanley Sheinbaum. It was Sheinbaum who had arranged for a December 6 meeting between five American Jews and Yasser Arafat in Stockholm.