Washington Report, November 1, 1982, Page 6

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

October 16:

U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz said in a statement that if Israel were voted out of the United Nations General Assembly or any U.N. organization the U.S. would withdraw its participation and financial support from that body "until Israel's right to participate is restored." In line with this policy he said the Administration was holding up an $85 million payment to the International Atomic Energy Agency because it voted last September to withdraw Israel's credentials.

October 16:

In response to reports from Morocco that a PLO official would be coming to Washington as part of an Arab League delegation to meet with President Reagan, the White House and State Department issued a statement saying that the U.S. position on dealing with the PLO "is unchanged." It said the U.S. "would not receive any member of the PLO as part of a delegation nor do we expect any member of the PLO to participate in the delegation."

October I8:

Senior Reagan Administration officials said at a press briefing that their "target date" for the withdrawal of Israeli, Syrian and PLO forces from Lebanon is "the end of the year."

October I8:

The United States and 12 other member nations of the U.N. Security Council voted in favor of extending for three months until Jan. 19, 1983—the peacekeeping mandate of some 7,000 U.N. troops in southern Lebanon. The Soviet Union and Poland abstained.

October 19:

President Reagan met at the White House with visiting Lebanese President Amin Gemayel. The President agreed, according to an Administration official, to give "serious consideration" to Mr. Gemayel's request to expand the size and scope of the multinational peacekeeping force in Beirut. Secretary of State George Shultz and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger also held separate talks with Mr. Gemayel.

October 21:

U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz conferred in Washington with Israel's Foreign Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, on the talks which President Reagan had with Lebanese President Gemayel on Oct. 19.

October 21:

Members of the six-nation Arab League delegation arrived in Washington for a meeting with President Reagan. They were expected to explain their proposals for peace put forth in Fez, Morocco, last Sept. and to discuss Mr. Reagan's Sept. 1 proposals. The delegates included the secretary general of the Arab League, Chedli Klibi, and the foreign ministers of Algeria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Tunisia as well as Morocco's King Hassan 11, who is heading the delegation.

October 21:

The Reagan Administration issued a statement, saying in part: "We believe the time has come to stop talking about talking about peace and start sitting down at the table, negotiating directly between Israelis, and Arabs, and the United States, and start achieving Palestinian rights ......”

October 21:

U.S. Defense Department spokesman Henry Catto said there might be "changes in the disposition of the (1,200 U.S.) marines" serving in the multinational peacekeeping force in Beirut. He added that as a result "some delay in their rotation (home) can be expected."

October 22:

President Reagan held a three hour meeting with King Hassan II of Morocco and the other members of the Arab League delegation and described it afterwards as "an important milestone" toward "a common objective, a just and lasting peace in the Middle East." King Hassan said after the meeting that lie was confident "peace and coexistence" could be achieved in the region based on President Reagan's peace initiative, the Arab plan announced in Fez, Morocco, and longstanding U.N. Security Council resolutions.

October 23:

At a press conference in Washington King Hassan II of Morocco said on behalf of the Arab League that the Arab countries "want to live in peace with Israel" but added that "there will be no recognition of Israel by Arab states" until Israel withdraws from the territory it captured in the 1967 war.

October 25:

A senior Reagan Administration official said that Lebanon and Israel had agreed to negotiate directly, with U.S. participation, on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon and the creation of security arrangements for south Lebanon.

October 25:

Commenting on the meaning of King Hassan II's statement of Oct. 23, U. S. Secretary of State George Shultz said: "I don't know what other implication you could draw than that the Arabs accept the fact that Israel is there and is a permanent part of the region ... As they (the Arabs) see it, they've made a lot of movement, and they have."