{"id":201670,"date":"1997-09-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T18:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?p=201670"},"modified":"2019-03-12T18:13:04","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T18:13:04","slug":"auto-insert-201670","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/auto-insert-201670\/","title":{"rendered":"Chronological Review of Events\/September 1997 – DPR review"},"content":{"rendered":"
D i v i s i o n f o r P a l e s t i n i a n R i g h t s<\/p><\/div>\n
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Chronological Review of Events Relating to the<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n Question of Palestine<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n Monthly media monitoring review<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n September 1997<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n 2<\/strong><\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n \t<\/span>Israeli authorities let a limited number of Palestinians return to their jobs in Israel for the first time since sealing off the West Bank and the Gaza Strip more than a month ago. PA Information Minister Yasser Abed-Rabbo condemned called this decision by Israel “cosmetic and meaningless”. (Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span>Jewish settlers threw stones at Palestinian labourers and laid down in the street to disrupt work on a United States-funded road project in the heart of the divided West Bank town of Hebron, witnesses said. An American engineer overseeing the work on Al-Shuhada Street said a settler fired an air gun at a mechanical digger, shattering its window. The US State Department deplored the attack by the settlers on USAID workers. “These attacks on USAID workers are simply unacceptable and we call on the Israeli authorities to ensure the security of those working on the road, so that it may be completed as called for in the Hebron agreement,” State Department spokesman James Foley said. (AFP, Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span>The European Union said it was looking at ways to provide temporary financial aid to the Palestinian Authority after Israel last month froze the transfer of tax revenues in response to a West Jerusalem bombing. “We are facing a real call for aid by the Palestinian Authority,” said Foreign Minister Jacques Poos of Luxembourg, which holds the EU Presidency. (Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n 3<\/strong><\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n The Israeli army demolished a Palestinian home near a by-pass road used by Jewish settlers on the outskirts of Hebron. A bulldozer guarded by Israeli soldiers tore down the home of the Burkan family, consisting of three one-room structures in which 12 people lived, on the by-pass road connecting Jewish settlements south of Hebron. Further down the same by-pass road, the bulldozer tore down a storehouse built by Palestinians. (AFP)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Prime Minister Netanyahu confirmed that Israel would proceed with further redeployment in the West Bank if his proposal for the immediate start of final-status talks, instead of negotiating further interim agreements, was accepted by the Palestinian Authority. In an interview with The Jerusalem Post<\/i>, he said that the idea of dealing with the core issues – such as Jerusalem, refugees, and borders – was not an evasionary tactic designed to enable the IDF to stay in the territories indefinitely. (AFP, The Jerusalem Post)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n 4<\/strong><\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Four persons were killed and some 150 wounded in a triple suicide bombing in West Jerusalem. HAMAS took responsibility for the attack in a statement faxed to news agencies. (AFP, AP, Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n PA President Arafat condemned the triple suicide bombing in West Jerusalem. He said: “I condemn completely these terrorist activities, which are not only against the people who lost their lives, but against the Israelis, the Palestinians and the whole peace process.” (MSNBC)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n 5<\/strong><\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n \t<\/span>In response to the 4 September suicide bombing in West Jerusalem, Israel said it would freeze the transfer of parts of the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority. The announcement was made after an emergency cabinet meeting. A statement read by cabinet secretary Danny Naveh said: “Israel cannot continue on a path, which would grant the Palestinians additional territory while the Palestinian Authority fails to fulfill all its obligations, primarily a commitment to fight terrorism in the territories already under its control. … The (Israeli) security forces will operate and do everything they have to do independently, without any connection to the Palestinian Authority concerning everything to do with terror organizations.” (AFP, AP, MSNBC, Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n In an interview with Reuters<\/i>, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, PA President’s spokesman said that the Palestinian Authority strongly condemned the decision by the Israeli Government. “We consider it an official declaration of destroying the peace process and an attempt to obstruct (US Secretary of State Madeleine) Albright’s visit and present her with a de facto situation,” he said. (Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n 7<\/strong><\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n \t<\/span>The President of Egypt Mubarak, King Hussein of Jordan and the PA President Arafat concluded a meeting in Cairo aimed at finding ways to restart the peace process. The focus of the meeting was Prime Minister Netanyahu’s announcement on 5 September that no more West Bank land would be transferred to the PA unless it cracked down on terrorism. In a joint statement issued at the close of the summit the three leaders called on Israel to refrain from policies alien to the “spirit of peace” and to implement its peace pledges, including ending the building of settlements, confiscation of Palestinian land, collective punishment and actions relating to the status of Jerusalem.. They stressed that “Israel must implement redeployment, of which the second stage has fallen due on September 7” and called on Israel to refrain from operations that could change any part of Syrian land.” The three leaders “condemned acts of terrorism and violence regardless of their motives or source.” They see them as “an attempt by a few from the Arab and Israeli sides to obstruct the peace process.” They also urged more intense international efforts to save the peace process and expressed hope for the success of the Madeleine Albright visit. (AFP, CNN, Haaretz, Reuters, The Los Angeles Times – Washington Post News Service)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n According to a transcript released by his office, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that he would not resume permanent-status negotiations with the Palestinians until PA President Arafat launches a real fight against terrorism. “Only if we see that the Palestinian Authority intends to truly combat terror will we continue the talks on the final status,” Mr. Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting. (AFP, CNN)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n 8<\/strong><\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n \t<\/span>Following a triple suicide bombing in West Jerusalem on 4 September, PA security forces arrested 35 activists of HAMAS and the Islamic Jihad in the West Bank. (AFP, AP, Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n Israeli soldiers bound and severely beat a Palestinian at the West Bank town of Hebron and then fired tear-gas when passers-by attempted to intervene. The IDF said it was checking the report. (Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Representatives of donor countries met in Gaza City under the auspices of the World Bank and the United Nations and in the presence of the Palestinian Authority. In a statement issued at the meeting, the donor countries stated, inter alia<\/i>: “Donors cannot be expected to be responsible indefinitely for recurrent budget support or more generally the welfare of Palestinians. … The responsibility for Palestinian welfare does not rest with donors alone.” The donors criticized the new Israeli closure, which had been imposed following the latest suicide bombing in West Jerusalem. Israel refused to send a representative to the meeting. (AFP)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Palestinian Authority Minister of Finance Mohammed Nashashibi said that the PA was seeking emergency aid because of the Israeli closure of the territories and fiscal sanctions. “The deficit has reached US$120 million because of the withholding of our funds, the bar on workers from reaching their jobs and the disruption of the commercial life of the Palestinians. It is impossible to provide security for Israelis when there is no economic or personal security for the Palestinians,” Nashashibi said. (AFP)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n 9<\/strong><\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n \t<\/span>Around 2,000 Palestinian men, women and children demonstrated in front of UNRWA's headquarters in Gaza demanding the Agency rescind its announced cutbacks in relief assistance. In Jenin, around 600 women and school girls demonstrated in the streets. Hundreds more held protests in Nablus and seven refugee camps in the area. There was a general strike in Jericho, where more than 500 students held a protest march. Shops also closed in several refugee camps. UNRWA is now facing a US$20 million budget shortfall. The Agency’s crisis threatens its health and educational programmes in the region. UNRWA said it faced an impossible task trying to maintain services to a population of refugees growing at 3.8 per cent a year while donations have not grown since 1993. (Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n The Israeli Government listed the security measures it demanded the Palestinian Authority carry out “to fight terror” under the interim peace agreements. The following are excerpts from demands contained in the Israeli Government Press Office document: 1) Full bilateral security cooperation must be conducted on a continued and uninterrupted basis. 2) Adoption of “an unrelenting effort to detect and deter potential terrorist acts. It means arresting and prosecuting those involved in planning, financing, supplying or abetting terrorism.” 3) Detention, arrest and imprisonment of “all terrorists previously released by the PA in accordance with lists submitted by Israel (and others).” 4) Strict action “against all PA personnel involved in terror or violence against Israelis, including dismissal from the PA security forces, arrest and imprisonment for crimes committed.” 5) Dismissal and banishment of the PA Police Chief Ghazi al-Jabali. 6) Fulfillment of Hebron security commitments. 7) Confiscation of illegal weapons. 8) Public denunciations “of terror and violence (by senior PA leaders in Arabic) before Palestinian and Arab audiences.” 9) End to “incitement to violence against Israel in all PA media outlets.” 10) Dismissal of mosque preachers and others who call for Israel's destruction. 11) Prosecution and punishment of perpetrators of incitement. 12) Formulating and effecting “a comprehensive public education campaign regarding normalisation with Israel and the rejection of violence and terror.” 13) Reducing the size of the Palestinian police “from current 35,500 men to the level permitted under the interim agreement, 24,000 men.” 14) Compliance with all 33 requests submitted by Israel for the transfer of suspects and defendants (including transfer either to Israel or the United States of four suspects involved in attacks in which Israeli-American citizens were killed). 15) Passage and implementation of “legislation outlawing militias, terrorist organisations and groups which advocate or practise violence, such as HAMAS, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and armed Fatah units.” 16) Administrative, legal and police action against “military, political, civilian, religious and economic infrastructure, which support terror.” (AFP, Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n 10<\/strong><\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n \t<\/span>US Secretary of State Albright arrived in Israel on her first visit to the Middle East aimed at restarting the peace process. Speaking at a meeting with Israeli President Ezer Weizman, Albright backed Israeli demands that the PA President Arafat take tougher action against militants. “We are with you in the battle against terror and the struggle for security. … We are with you in your insistence that the Palestinian Authority fulfill the responsibilities and obligations it has undertaken.,” she stated in her arrival statement at residence of President Weizman. Hanan Ashrawi, PA Minister of Higher Education and member of the Palestinian Council, commented on the start of Ms. Albright’s visit to the region, saying the Secretary of State had displayed “a wholeheartedly one-sided approach.” (AFP, AP, CNN, Haaretz, MSNBC, Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span>Israel's Channel 2 TV<\/i> report said the US Secretary of State would propose a 45-day freeze on the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. According to Maariv<\/i>, Albright would propose “a new code of conduct” to end recriminations and a “political safety net” to guarantee Israeli withdrawals by mid-1998 if a permanent settlement is not reached. (AP)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span>Sales of apartments in settlements in the West Bank rose 56 per cent in the first seven months of 1997, compared with the same period last year. According to a report published by Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing, 1,560 units have been sold since the beginning of the year. Since January, many of the settlements in the West Bank have been designated as national priority areas, entitling buyers to substantial financial incentives, including loans of NIS 60,000 or more, half of which becomes a grant. Other incentives include development subsidies and educational assistance. (AFP, Haaretz)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen said the Agency was cancelling plans to introduce school fees for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugee students in Jordan and Lebanon after international donors pledged to cover the Agency's US$20 million financial shortfall. Six donor nations promised on 9 September at a meeting in Amman to provide special funding to UNRWA of more than US$21 million. “Luckily, we will be able not to break a very important principle that UNRWA has been able to maintain for 48 years, namely providing refugees with free primary and preparatory education,” Hansen told a news conference. (AFP, Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Speaking at a parliamentary debate in Bonn, German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel proposed a moratorium on Jewish settlements on the West Bank, to ease the path to peace talks between Israel and the PLO. (AFP)<\/i> <\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n 11<\/strong><\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n \t<\/span>The US Secretary of State Albright met with the PA President Arafat in Ramallah. The PA President, speaking at a joint news conference at the Palestinian Council building, blamed Israel for the impasse threatening the peace process but pledged that the Palestinians would remain committed to the peace agreements. Ms. Albright said there was a “great deal more work to do.” (AFP, AP, CNN, Haaretz, MSNBC, Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span>According to Haaretz<\/i>, the PA has issued a list of demands, to be presented to Secretary of State Albright. The list is a response to the Israeli demands of the PA published on the eve of Ms. Albright's arrival to the region. The PA list includes the following demands: 1) Israel must immediately transfer US$100 million in tax revenues collected for the PA, which it has been withholding since the 30 July suicide bombing in Jerusalem. 2) The “internal closure” in the West Bank, which prevents Palestinians from travelling between towns and villages, must be lifted. 3) All building activity in and around Israeli settlements in the territories must be stopped. 4) The Palestinians must be permitted to resume exports, especially of agricultural produce. (Haaretz)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span>French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine said the Middle East peace process was “broken” and accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of humiliating Palestinians to unprecedented levels. “There is no longer a peace process, no longer any dynamic, no longer any prospects,” he told Socialist deputies in Montpellier. “The Government of Mr. Netanyahu has, through harassment and humiliations, brought the Palestinians' situation to an unprecedented level of exasperation,” he added. “The process has been broken," he said. (AFP, Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span>In a televised speech in Jerusalem, the US Secretary of State Albright blamed both, the Israelis and the Palestinians for a crisis in the peace process she referred to as “neither inevitable nor accidental”. She added that Israel and the Palestinian Authority had both failed to live up to “their full obligations as partners in peace” under the Oslo peace accords. She also said: “There can be no backing off from Oslo commitments or from the principle of reciprocity that is inherent in them. This means that Israel should refrain from unilateral acts, including what Palestinians perceive as the provocative expansion of settlements, land confiscation, home demolitions, and confiscation of IDs. We believe that a time-out from these kinds of unilateral actions will create a climate, in which … an accelerated approach can succeed in achieving a final Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement”. (AFP, Financial Times, Reuters, The Los Angeles Times – Washington Post News Service)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n 12<\/strong><\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n \t<\/span>The US Secretary of State said she was unable to make significant progress in her peace mission, and would return to the region only if the Israeli and Palestinian leaders have made hard decisions.” “I will not come back to tread water,” Albright said after meeting with PA President Arafat for a second time in the West Bank. She added: “I wished this trip had produced larger steps, because they are needed.” Ms. Albright also announced that the Israeli and Palestinian delegations would meet in Washington under US supervision, and then Israeli Foreign Minister Levy and Mahmud Abbas, chief Palestinian negotiator, would hold talks in New York during the session of the UN General Assembly. (AFP, AP, Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n According to Maariv<\/i>, the newspaper has conducted a poll, in which it asked 500 Israeli Jewish voters if they believed Netanyahu “has a solution to the problem of terrorism”. Seventy-two per cent said “no”, 22 per cent “yes” and the rest were undecided. (AFP)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n 13<\/strong><\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n The PA issued a statement, in which it reaffirmed willingness to participate in trilateral meetings with Israeli and US security officials, as were held after the July bombing. But it added: “The security coordination is not separable from the political agreement. It is a fruit of the real peace and not an alternative for a real peace.” (Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n 14<\/strong><\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n \t<\/span>The Israeli Government announced that it would return half of the remaining Palestinian tax revenues estimated at NIS240 million it was withholding. Prime Minister Netanuahu said the move was a recognition that the PA was taking some first steps towards implementing the security measures. The army also announced it would lift the “internal closure” that confines Palestinians to their individual communities, although a general closure keeping Palestinians out of Israel would remain in effect. (AFP, AP, CNN, Financial Times, Haaretz, Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span>Prime Minister Netanyahu vetoed a plan for the construction of a new Jewish settlement in Ras al-Amoud in East Jerusalem. (AFP, CNN)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n About 50 Jewish settlers occupied a building in Ras al-Amoud where Prime Minister Netanyahu had vetoed the construction of a new Jewish settlement. (AFP, CNN, Haaretz, Reuters, The Jerusalem Post)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n 15<\/strong><\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n \t<\/span>The 3,400 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails staged a 24-hour hunger strike to protest against prison conditions and detention without trial. Issa Karaka, head of the Bethlehem-based Prisoners’ Association, said the hunger strike was called to protest against prison conditions, administrative detention and the incarceration of Israeli common law criminals in the same cells as Palestinians. According to the Association, some 3,000 Palestinians are imprisoned in Israel and 432 are in administrative detention. (AFP)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span>Jewish settlers blocked Al-Shuhada Street, linking their enclave with the rest of Hebron, to protest plans to re-open the street, which connects 20 per cent of Hebron occupied by Israel with the remainder of the city governed by the PA. The municipality is enlarging the street and improving the sewerage system and lighting with US aid, in order to re-open it to Palestinian vehicles. (AFP)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n The Foreign Ministry of France said Israeli measures announced on 14 September amounted to “little steps”, which in themselves were not enough. “We urge the Israeli Government to go further, to present further concrete measures and then to give some substance back to the peace process. … The status quo<\/i> is not tenable. We have to get out of the current vicious circle which gives terrorism a right of veto over the peace process. … These little steps must be followed by the re-launching of a genuine process that presupposes a dynamic, a vision of the future, re-established confidence”, said the Foreign Ministry spokesman Jacques Rummelhardt. (AFP)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Israel’s Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein said that the Government had the right to remove Jewish settlers from a building site in the Ras al-Amud neighbourhood of East Jerusalem if their presence endangered public safety. Speaking in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Netanyahu said on the issue: “We believe what is happening right now in Ras al-Amud is no good for Jerusalem. It is not good for the State of Israel. We understand there is such a thing as property rights, and we respect it. But, nevertheless, we think on sensitive issues we should be the ones who are making the decisions, and not manoeuvred into them. And we will do what we think is right. We will act within the law, in whatever the law allows us, to steer events according to our view on how Jerusalem should be developed.” He added that he was awaiting Rubinstein's opinion on whether the settlers could be removed. (AFP, AP, Haaretz, Reuters, The Jerusalem Post)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n 16<\/strong><\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n \t<\/span>The PA called on the United States to force Israel to reverse the take-over of a home in East Jerusalem by Jewish settlers. Chief Palestinian negotiator, in coordination with the PA President, sent letters to the US peace envoy Dennis Ross, as well as to his European counterpart Miguel Moratinos warning of danger if the settlement project was not stopped. “The settlement of this home in Ras al-Amud will have very dangerous and serious consequences” unless stopped, Erakat said in the letter. “We ask for immediate intervention to stop these activities in Jerusalem. … “Those who conduct unilateral acts and those who encourage settlement activity want only one thing, and that is to wreck the efforts being made to rescue the peace process,” Erakat added. (AFP, Reuters)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span>According to Maariv<\/i> and The Jerusalem Post<\/i>, Prime Minister Netanyahu was told of the Ras al-Amud settlement plan 10 days before three settler families moved into the house on the night of 14 September. Maariv<\/i> said Prime Minister Netanyahu had asked the US millionaire Irving Moskowitz who bought the house, to hold off on occupying the premises until the US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited the region. The Jerusalem Post<\/i> said the Minister of National Infrastructure Ariel Sharon and the Minister of Public Security Avigdor Kahalani both had told their cabinet colleagues of Moskowitz's plan for the settlement in Ras al-Amud at a meeting on 5 September. Haaretz<\/i> reported that Jerusalem police knew of the settlers’ plan last week “and apparently coordinated with them on the timing of their occupation of the house.” (AFP)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n The European Union has granted the Palestinian Authority US$4 million without conditions to help the PA counter a budget deficit worsened by an Israeli decision to withhold tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues it collected for the Palestinians. The announcement was made in Gaza City by the EU special Middle East envoy Miguel Moratinos. (AFP)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n 17<\/strong><\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n \t<\/span>The Israeli police said it would forbid Jewish settlers from taking over more houses in Ras al-Amud in East Jerusalem. “The police will not allow new groups of settlers to settle in houses acquired in the Ras al-Amud neighbourhood,” a police spokesman said. (AFP)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span>The Israeli army permitted 3,000 Palestinian merchants and 1,000 agricultural workers into Israel in an easing of travel restrictions imposed following a triple suicide bombing in West Jerusalem. An army spokesman said 200 Palestinians working in tourism and 300 religious officials had also been authorized to enter Israel. (AFP)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n The European Union expressed concern over difficulties in continuing its aid programme to the PA and warned Israel against extending its settlements in the occupied territories. Speaking in Strasbourg, Manuel Marin, European commissioner in charge of relations with Mediterranean countries, told the European Parliament that the EU had reached the limits of its aid possibilities. “The special aid programme ends this year and Oslo is already a thing of the past. We have made a considerable financial effort. We have invested two billion ECUs (US$2.16 billion).” Marin described the Palestinian people as “the poorest in the world”. He said: “Private investment collapsed last year. Soon, the moderates will be squeezed out.” (AFP)<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n