June 1989, Page 24

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

April 1: According to a New York Times poll, an overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews oppose peace negotiations with the PLO at this time, but more than half favor talks if the PLO further moderates its behavior. Forty-four percent thought a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza is inevitable.

* The US asked Syria to restrain the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command in its terrorist activities.

April 2: The PLO Executive Committee elected Yasser Arafat as president of the newly proclaimed Palestinian state.

April 3: President George Bush said he supported the idea of a "properly structured" international conference on the Middle East "at the appropriate time." Speaking after his meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Bush said that "Egypt and the United States share the goals of security for Israel, the end of occupation, and achievement of Palestinian political rights."

*Twelve people were reported killed as heavy artillery "changes between Christian and Muslim forces in Beirut continued into their third week, raising the death toll to 120 since the intensified fighting began on March 14.

April 4: Egyptian President Mubarak gave qualified support to President Bush's confidence-building measures to reduce tensions in the West Bank and Gaza, saying: "I don't think there are great differences between our two positions."

* US administration officials charged that the Soviet Union had sold high performance bombers and refueling aircraft to Libya, giving Libya the capability to threaten Israel as well as other states in the region.

* Envoys from the Arab League arrived in Beirut to negotiate a cease-fire between Christian and Muslim militias. The envoys, Arab League Secretary General Chadli Klibi and Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sabah Al-Ahmed met with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Charaa to discuss the Arab league cease-fire proposal.

April 6: President Bush met in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Shamir, who proposed elections in the West Bank and Gaza to choose representatives for negotiations. Bush said that the "United States believes that elections in the territories can be designed to contribute to a political process of dialogue and negotiations." With regard to final status of the territories, Bush said that the US did not support either "Israeli sovereignty" or "an independent Palestinian state."

* Seven out of every 10 Americans surveyed in a Washington Post-ABC News poll supported direct talks between Israel and the PLO, and 8 out of 10 said that peace would not be possible without such talks,

April 7: Israeli authorities fired tear gas and rubber bullets at a group of Palestinian youths they said threw rocks down on Jewish worshippers at the Wailing Wall from the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The disturbances began after 20,000 Muslim worshippers finished noontime prayers marking the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.

* President Bush said that the visits of Egyptian President Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Shamir had "moved things forward a little bit" toward restarting the Middle East peace process. PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat called Shamir's proposals for elections in the occupied territories "inappropriate."

April 9: Israeli Finance Minister Shimon Peres said that "the United States is at this moment a mediator between us and the Palestinians, including the PLO, even though this isn't to our liking."

April 10: A top political adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Shamir said that Israel would not agree to the land-for-peace formula embodied in UN resolution 242 and supported by the US. Yosef Ben-Aharon, director general of Shamir's office, said that the Israeli prime minister was irritated by President Bush's call for Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

* A man in an Israeli army uniform opened fire on four Palestinians gathered outside of Jerusalem's old city, killing one and wounding three. An underground Jewish group called sikirkim claimed responsibility for the shooting.

April 11: Jordanian officials announced that Jordan's new electoral law which excludes residents of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza and eliminates seats for Palestinians in Jordanian refugee camps-was ready for endorsement by the cabinet.

April 12: The leader of an Israeli settlers' movement, Rabbi Moshe Levinger, was indicted for manslaughter and damaging property Levinger is accused of killing a Palestinian shopkeeper with indiscriminate gunfire in Hebron.

* King Hussein of Jordan met with Egyptian President Mubarak to formulate a common response to Shamir's election proposals in the West Bank and Gaza. Mubarak said as he was leaving that the Arab assessment of the plan depended on the PLO's response.

April 13: At least five and possibly seven Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli forces in a predawn raid on the village of Nahalin, near Bethlehem. The incident, described as "a massacre" by hospital officials who treated the wounded, was the one of the deadliest since the intifada began.

* Israeli Prime Minister Shamir told the American Society of Newspaper Editors that Israel would be "undefendable" if it were to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza.

April 14: A delegation of Palestinian leaders from the West Bank and Gaza met with Egyptian officials in Cairo and offered a counterproposal to Shamir's call for elections. The delegation, which included Faisal Al-Husseini and Said Kenaan, recommended that PLO Chairman Arafat accept an election proposal for the occupied territories which included: an Israeli withdrawal from Arab towns, followed by elections to choose representatives to negotiate a two-year interim agreement, leading eventually to an international peace conference and direct Israeli-PLO negotiations on final status of the territories.

* The Bush administration is mounting a diplomatic campaign to block the PLO's bid to become a full member in the World Health Organization and other affiliated bodies, according to a report in the Washington Post.

* Israeli police prohibited Palestinians from outside Jerusalem from attending prayers at the Al Aqsa Mosque, one Islam's holiest shrines.

April 16: At least 23 people were killed during shelling by Christian and Muslim militias in Beirut, including the Spanish ambassador to Lebanon. More than 100 others were wounded during artillery exchanges between Syrian troops and their Muslim allies and the Christian militias.

* Israeli forces killed three Palestinians, including a 10-year-old boy, during "Day of Rage" protests called to mark the first anniversary of the killing in Tunis of PLO military chief Khalil al-Wazir.

April 17: Israeli Prime Minister Shamir rejected any withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied areas prior to the holding of elections to choose Palestinian representatives. Earlier, PLO Chairman Arafat had said the PLO would not oppose elections held under UN supervision after an Israeli withdrawal, and leading Palestinians from the occupied territories had suggested a plan involving Israeli withdrawal from Arab cities prior to elections.

April 18: Riots over price increases erupted in Maan in southern Jordan. At least 25 people were injured as about 4,000 rioters attacked shops and cars.

* President Bush approved a plan of French President Francois Mitterand to send UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar to Lebanon to seek a halt in the intense fighting there.

April 19: King Hussein of Jordan refused to endorse a US-supported Israeli plan to hold elections in the occupied territories, following meetings between the king and President Bush in Washington. King Hussein did, however, support Bush's overall efforts to bring peace to the Middle East, saying the president was "the right leader, in the right office, at the right time. The king warned that peace was not possible "without PLO participation

* Gen. Michel Aoun, commander of the Christian military forces in Lebanon, criticized members of the parliament and the head of the Maronite Church, who had appealed earlier in the week for an end to the fighting in Beirut.

April 20: King Hussein, reversing himself from the previous day, gave qualified endorsement to an Israeli plan to hold elections in the West Bank and Gaza, in remarks following a meeting with Secretary of State Baker. Hussein said that "the idea of elections" might be acceptable if it were part of a process leading to "a final settlement" of the occupied territories.

* The death toll from three days of riots in southern Jordan reached 10, as protests over price increases spread to towns near the capital of Amman.

* The Arab League proposed a plan for the civil war in Lebanon that involves a league-monitored cease-fire, negotiations with Syria over its future role in Lebanon, and talks among Lebanon's Christian and Muslim leaders to choose a new form of government.

April 21: Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani announced that Iranian security officials had discovered and broken up an American spy network. The announcement was seen as part of the purge of pro-Western elements and supporters of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri.

April 23: Israeli troops wounded a total of 88 Palestinians in the span of 24 hours, according to Palestinian sources. The casualty toll marks the highest for a single day since the intifada began.

* At least 265 people were killed in battles between Afghan government forces and rebel guerrillas that took place in four provinces, including a rocket attack on the capital, Kabul. Pakistani government officials denied press reports that Pakistan had ordered the attack by Afghan rebels on the city of Jalalabad early in March. The New York Times reported that Pakistan had ordered the attack at a meeting attended by the US ambassador to Pakistan.

April 24: Jordanian Prime Minister Zaid AI-Rafai resigned following a week of riots over food price increases. Officials said that an interim government would prepare for Jordan's first general elections in 22 years. King Hussein, having just returned from meetings with President Bush, accepted the resignation in what many saw as the king's bid to defuse his domestic crisis.

April 25: Salah Khalaf, a deputy to PLO Chairman Arafat, said that the PLO had decided to accept the Israeli proposal for elections in the occupied territories if the elections were part of an overall settlement granting self-determination to the Palestinian people.

April 26: Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and Gaza declared that the Israeli proposal for elections was unacceptable unless it was part of a well defined process leading to Palestinian independence and self-determination. The statement, the first formal and coordinated response by Palestinian leaders in the occupied territories to Shamir's proposal, said that any elections would have to be preceded by an Israeli withdrawal and UN supervision. Deputy to PLO Chairman Arafat Salah Khalaf clarified his statement of the previous day, saying that the PLO required Israeli withdrawal before any elections.

* The Egyptian government arrested 1,500 persons after violent dashes between Muslim fundamentalists and police in the town of Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, following Friday prayers on April 7.

April 27: The foreign ministers of the Arab League called for an immediate cease-fire in Beirut and the reopening of blockaded Lebanese ports in an attempt to end the artillery war which had caused more than 250 deaths over the preceding six weeks. Both Gen. Michel Aoun, leader of the Christian cabinet, and Selim Al-Hoss, head of the rival Muslim cabinet, pledged to cooperate with the Arab League observers to be sent to oversee the cease-fire.

* Afghan guerillas attacked the capital, Kabul, during a celebration of the 11th anniversary of the coup that installed a Marxist government. At least 23 people were reported killed, and more than 60 wounded.

* A government newspaper in Teheran endorsed Parliamentary Speaker Rafsanjani to take the country's senior leadership post, putting him in effective control of the government when Ayatollah Khomeini dies.

April 28: Israeli military sources revealed that an army investigation found that "excessive fire" was used in an Israeli raid on the West Bank village of Nahalin on April 13, in which five Arabs were killed; the report blamed the leaders of the raid, two border police and an intelligence officer.

April 29: Hassan Al-Tawil, the Israeli-appointed mayor of El Bireh, in the West Bank, announced he would resign, after a fire apparently set by Palestinian militants destroyed his home.

April 30: The Los Angeles Times reported that killings of accused collaborators with Israel in the occupied territories take place only after "courts" hear testimony and send conclusions to Tunisia, where the PLO must approve before punishment is carried out.