October 1991, Page 50

Facts for Your Files: A Chronology of US.–Mideast Relations

Compiled by Janet McMahon

July 1: President Bush indicated he was losing patience with Israel's rejection of and Syria's lack of response to his latest peace proposal and that he might give "the American people my view of the details. "

The Algerian army occupied the headquarters of the Islamic Salvation Front in Algiers, detaining hundreds of people.

July 2: In the occupied territories, Israel dedicated a new Jewish settlement in Mevo Dotan and a new clinic in Ariel.

At least 19 people were killed and 60 wounded as Lebanese army troops took control of PLO outposts in southern Lebanon.

A UN inspection team prepared to leave Iraq, charging it was being denied access to nuclear equipment.

July 3: An Israeli soldier was killed by guerrillas firing light assault missiles and small arms at an army post near the Syrian border. It was the first such killing since 1975.

July 4: PLO guerrillas in southern Lebanon agreed to abandon their bases and surrender their weapons to authorities, ending four days of fighting with Lebanese government troops. In Beirut, the government lifted working restrictions on the 400,000 Palestinians living in Lebanon.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa announced a Mideast arms control proposal, calling for an expanded UN role and the adherence of all countries in the area, including Israel, to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens, speaking to a Zionist Organization of America conference in Tel Aviv, said Israel needs a 40 percent increase in US military aid to maintain its superiority over Arab countries.

A transition conference of representatives of 25 Ethiopian ethnic and political factions, which earlier had set a two-year timetable for a new constitution and democratic elections, formally granted the province of Eritrea the right to hold a referendum on independence in two years' time. It was also agreed that Ethiopia would have "free access" to the Eritrean Red Sea port of Assab.

July 5: Iraqi President Saddam Hussain promised to provide the UN with a complete inventory of Iraq's nuclear equipment and to give UN inspectors "prompt and unimpeded access" to Iraqi nuclear facilities.

July 7: King Hussein of Jordan canceled most of the martial law provisions in effect since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Former Attorney General Edwin Meese, chief of staff for the 1980 Reagan presidential campaign, answering "October Surprise " allegations of clandestine contact with the Khomeini regime in Iran, said on CBS TV's "Face the Nation" that "At no time did anyone ... connected with the campaign ... meet or negotiate or agree or conspire with anyone to delay the release of the hostages. "

July 8: Iraq provided the UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency details of a secret uranium-enrichment program using industrial equipment developed in Iraq.

July 9: The former head of the CIA's Central American task force, Alan Fiers, testified that he and other senior CIA officials knew of the diversion of Iran-Contra funds months before the illegal transfer was announced in the fall of 1986.

The five UN Security Council permanent members agreed to support the exclusion of weapons of mass destruction, a freeze on missiles, and the sharing of information on weapons transfers to the Middle East.

July 11: President Bush approved a list of about 20 Iraqi command-and-control targets for attack in the event that Iraq failed to destroy its nuclear technology.

July 14: Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad called President Bush's Mideast peace proposal a "firm basis" for peace in the region.

July 15: Israel, refusing to make any compromises in response to those made by Syria, rejected the US proposal for a Mideast peace conference.

Allied forces completed their withdrawal from the Kurdish security zone in northern Iraq, crossing the border into Turkey.

July 18: Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad, meeting with US Secretary of State Baker in Damascus, formally accepted the US proposal for a Mideast peace conference under joint US-Soviet sponsorship.

Contradicting the findings of a government-appointed commission, an Israeli judge concluded that the October 1990 violence at Jerusalem's Haram. AlSharif was caused by police carelessness rather than Palestinian provocation.

The International Atomic Energy Agency formally condemned Iraq for violating its agreement to declare and submit for inspection all its nuclear materials and facilities. Iraq made a formal pledge to the UN that it had no remaining nuclear secrets.

July 20: Saudi Arabia announced its support for Egyptian President Mubarak's proposal for the ending of the Arab boycott of Israel in exchange for a freeze on settlement activities in Israeli-occupied territories.

July 21: After meeting with King Hussein in Amman and securing Jordan's agreement to participate in a Mideast peace conference, US Secretary of State Baker met with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir in Jerusalem to urge Israel's cooperation.

July 22: After a second meeting with Secretary of State Baker, Israeli Prime Minister Shamir said his government would reconsider its opposition to the US peace proposal, but insisted that Israel approve the members of any Palestinian delegation.

July 23: The Bush administration indicated it was not contemplating an attack against Iraq if it failed to give a complete accounting of its nuclear capabilities to the UN by a July 25 deadline.

July 24: While neither accepting nor rejecting the US Mideast peace plan, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said Israel would make no territorial concessions. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urged Israel to be more positive and flexible.

With the US and Great Britain insisting on strict controls, the UN sanctions committee failed to reach the required unanimous agreement on Iraq's request to sell $2.4 million in oil to buy food.

July 28: Israeli Housing Minister Ariel Sharon approved 380 new residences for Jewish settlers in the Golan Heights.

July 29: The Bush administration announced a proposed $365 million arms sale of high tech bombs and missiles to Saudi Arabia.

Israel's High Court of Justice ruled that an environmental impact study must be completed before construction can begin on a long-delayed Voice of America relay station in the Negev.

July 30: The head of the special UN commission overseeing Iraq's disposal of its chemical and nuclear arsenals said Iraq had disclosed only one-quarter of its chemical weapons.

July 31: Israel remained noncommittal as to whether it would participate in a Mideast peace conference, as US Secretary of State Baker prepared to return to Jerusalem. Meanwhile, President Bush announced that he would issue invitations to an October conference, and Soviet Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh said the USSR would recognize Israel if it agreed to attend.