Washington Report, November 1988, Page 31

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

September 6: The Justice Department accused employees of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. of paying close to $1 million in bribes to Iraqi officials between 1979 and 1984.

September 7: After two days of talks with US Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci, Chinese leaders said they would not sell any more intermediate range missiles to Middle East countries. China has already sold Saudi Arabia such weapons, which are capable of striking Israel.

Leaders of Conservative Judaism, the largest branch of Judaism in the US, criticized the Israeli right during a meeting in New York. During the two-day gathering, Ismar Schorsch, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, criticized the "romantic, messianic mind-set of the national camp in Israel" for its refusal "to trade land for peace."

September 8: An Israeli army officer, two enlisted men, and a military doctor were charged in connection with the February death of a 19-year-old Palestinian which the army originally said had been caused by "heart failure." Military authorities admitted that Chad Fuad Tarazi had been subjected to a severe beating by soldiers after his arrest. This marked the first time the Israeli army has admitted involvement in a beating death since the Palestinian uprising began December 9.

Yasser Arafat's second-in-command, Salah Khalaf, said in an interview in Tunis that if the Palestine Liberation Organization were to declare an independent Palestinian state and establish a provisional government, it would no longer be bound by the PLO charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel. Khalaf said such a government would be free to accept UN resolution 242 and to negotiate boundaries with Israel at an international peace conference.

The State Department charged Iraq with "abhorrent and unjustifiable" use of poison gas against Kurdish guerrillas but refused to supply details as to the type of gas used by Iraq or the dates and places of its use, citing the need to protect "intelligence sources." Iraq denied the charges. Turkish officials said examination of some 60,000 Kurds who fled Iraq to Turkey within a two-week period because of a major Iraqi offensive against Kurdish rebels produced no evidence to support claims that Iraq used chemical weapons at any time after the Iran-Iraq cease-fire.

Syrian troops in Beirut arrested two Lebanese Shiite Muslims on suspicion of involvement in the kidnappings of foreigners. Sources said the Syrians were tipped off by their allies in Amal, the mainstream Shiite movement, and that the two suspects are members of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

September 9: Israeli security authorities arrested 200 residents of the Gaza Strip after a week of conducting house-to-house search and arrest operations. They claimed they had cracked a major underground network of those leading the 9-month-old Palestinian uprising.

The Senate gave unanimous approval to economic sanctions against Iraq for allegedly violating international law by using poison gas against its Kurdish minority. The sanctions, some of the strongest imposed by the US in decades, would halt US credit and the sale of sensitive materials to Iraq, bar the import of Iraqi oil, and require the US to vote against loans to Iraq by international financial institutions.

During a two-day meeting in Rome, the US, Britain, France, West Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan agreed to joint efforts to stop Argentina from developing a medium-range missile it is working on with the help of Iraq and Egypt. The decision was in line with a 1987 agreement by the seven industrial allies to work together to stop the spread of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Argentina has been working on its Condor II missile since at least 1984, receiving technical assistance from Egypt and financing from Iraq.

September 12: A pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim group released West German hostage Rudolf Cordes, 55, after 20 months in captivity. The group said its action was in response to "guarantees for a settlement" of the cases of two Lebanese held by West Germany as terrorists, including Mohammed Ali Hammadi, now on trial in Frankfurt for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jetliner. West German officials denied any such agreement.

September 13: Yasser Arafat told socialist members of the European Parliament that the PLO would be willing to recognize Israel and accept UN security guarantees if Israel recognizes a parallel Palestinian right to a state. The PLO chairman called for an international peace conference with the participation of Israel and the PLO, based on UN resolution 242, during which he would agree to international guarantees for all states of the Mideast—implicitly including Israel. His speech marked the first time Arafat has personally endorsed such steps. He added that he was working toward the creation of a multiparty Palestinian state, and the following day appealed to European governments to recognize a provisional PLO government for the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Secretary of State George Shultz reiterated to the Senate Judiciary Committee the Reagan administration's belief that Jews allowed to emigrate from the Soviet Union should be free to come to the US rather than be forced to resettle in Israel. He was commenting on Israeli attempts to ensure that all Soviet Jews emigrating with Israeli visas end up in Israel.

September 16: Secretary of State George Shultz announced the US would oppose any declaration of an independent Palestinian state or government in-exile established for the Israeli-occupied territories. Shultz also said that Israel must give up at least some of the occupied territories and help Palestinians there achieve "rapid control" over their own affairs, and that Palestinians must participate in any Mideast peace negotiations.

The US notified Kuwait that US warships would no longer form convoys to protect US-flagged tankers transiting the Persian Gulf, but would "accompany" vessels at a distance. The move followed by one month the announcement of a cease-fire in the Iran-Iraq war.

Japanese officials announced they were investigating US reports that a Japanese company had aided Libya in building a metallurgical complex that could be used to assist in the making of chemical weapons.

Israeli troops confiscated the passports of five US citizens in the West Bank, accusing them of participating in a Palestinian protest that was eventually dispersed with rubber bullets. The Americans, on a private fact-finding tour in the occupied territories, denied the allegations, saying they had been walking in Ramallah and moved away from the protest.

September 18: Hard-line Christian leaders in Lebanon rejected US-Syrian proposals designed to break the deadlock over the election of a new president. US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Murphy had spent five days in Damascus, during which he and Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad agreed to support Mikhael Daher, a pro-Syrian Christian parliamentary deputy from northern Lebanon, as successor to President Amin Gemayel.

September 19: Israel launched its first satellite, the Horizon 1, which has the capability to gather intelligence data on weapons systems and troop movements of nearby states, and free Israel from dependence on the US.

Israel dosed 22 adult education programs in the West Bank in an attempt to stifle the growth of a grassroots Palestinian leadership in the occupied territories. The closures prompted widespread protests in Nablus.

September 21: Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad summoned Christian and Muslim Lebanese leaders in an attempt to find a compromise decision on a successor for Lebanese President Amin Gemayel. Gemayel returned to Beirut after four hours of talks, saying no agreement had been reached.

The Reagan administration dismissed recommendations by certain State Department officials to halt US sanctions and the US campaign to block arms sales by third countries to Iran. Although these officials argued that anti-Iran initiatives have lost their relevance, administration officials stated there would be no policy re-examination at this time.

September 22: Minutes before his term expired, Lebanese President Amin Gemayel appointed a six-man military government to steer the country out of the constitutional crisis caused by the failure of Parliament to agree on a successor. Three Muslim officers refused to join the military government, led by Lebanese army chief Maj. Gen. Michel Aoun, a Christian Maronite. The next day, Muslim Cabinet members claimed they were still holding power and rejected the legitimacy of Gemayel's appointments. The US Embassy evacuated 17 of its personnel from Lebanon.

September 23: Israeli planes bombed a Palestinian refugee camp described as a PLO guerrilla base outside of Sidon in southern Lebanon, wounding five in the 14th such raid on Lebanon this year.

September 26: Israeli troops killed three Palestinians and wounded 68 others during clashes in the West Bank and Gaza, which broke out during a general strike staged to protest the detention of thousands of Palestinians.

UN officials charged the Israeli army with resorting too often to gunfire to quell unrest in the Israeli-occupied territories. More than 250 Palestinians and three Israeli Jews have been killed since the uprising began.

President Reagan met with Foreign Ministers Shimon Peres of Israel and Esmat Abdel-Meguid of Egypt at the United Nations.

September 27: The House of Representatives voted to impose sanctions against Iraq for allegedly violating international norms by using chemical weapons against its Kurdish minority. The House sanctions were less sweeping than those approved by the Senate on September 9, as they would still allow the import of Iraqi oil as well as the extension of credit to Iraq. The State Department has opposed congressional efforts to impose sanctions.

September 28: The State Department denounced Israel's decision to use plastic bullets against Palestinian civilians, which Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin has described as a deliberate effort to increase casualties in the occupied territories.

September 29: A group of 51 senators, including both vice presidential nominees, urged the Reagan administration to deny any request for a visa by PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. The Palestinian leader is expected to seek entry to the US to address the UN later this year. American Jewish leaders, however, said they would not oppose any decision to give Arafat a visa.

An international arbitration panel awarded Egypt sovereignty over Taba, a disputed Red Sea resort area occupied by Israel since 1967.

September 30: The UK announced it will resume diplomatic relations with Iran, interrupted last year after a British diplomat was beaten in Tehran. The US said it had no plans to re-establish relations with Iran until "terrorism" and hostage-taking ends.

October 3: Mithileshwar Singh, 60, a US resident held hostage in Lebanon for 20 months was released by the Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine, a little-known group that kidnapped him along with three other US professors from Beirut University College.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz assured Secretary of State George Shultz that Iraq is obeying international laws against the use of chemical weapons in its campaign to suppress Kurdish rebels.