3.4.94: A Palestine Company, with a
capital of 200 million dollars, is established in Amman in order to
participate in projects and investments in the Territories.
According to an agreement in Hebron, Mustafa Abed al-Nabi Natshe is
re-appointed by the PLO as mayor of Hebron (West Bank) in place of
the mayor appointed by Israel.
4.4.94: The first branch in the West
Bank of the Bank of Jordan is opened in Ramallah.
5.4.94: 50 deportees, including the
founders of the Black Panther movement and the Fatah Hawks, return
to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
6.4.94: 40 days after the Hebron
massacre, many acts of violence are perpetrated against Israel
within its borders. Seven Israelis are killed and 43 wounded when a
car bomb explodes in Afuleh. Hamas accepts responsibility for the
attack. In its wake, the IOF resumes full activity in the Gaza
Strip. The Cairo talks on the application of self-government are
temporarily stopped, to be resumed on 10.4.94.
The economic talks in Paris are resumed.
In the Hague, the fifth round of multilateral talks on the
environment opens.
7.4.94: Jesse Jackson arrives in
Israel. His Palestinian hosts are not permitted to greet him at the
airport. Jackson cancels his visits to Gaza and Jericho and
replaces them by visits to people wounded in the Afuleh
attack.
11.4.94: The arrest of Yassin Bader
AI-Saem, whom the IOF claims was the head of the Ezzedin AI-Kassam
unit, the military wing of Hamas in the Jebalya area.
12.4.94: After a siege of 17 hours,
the IDF destroys the house in Ramallah of a doctor who was among
the Fatah leaders in the West Bank. The wanted men who were in the
house according to the army's claim, were not found.
14.4.94: Five Israelis are killed
when Palestinian terrorists blow up a bus in Hadera (Israel).
16.4.94: King Hussein declares that
Hamas is not a legal organization in Jordan. Along with this, the
Hamas offices in Amman are not closed down.
17.4.94: The PLO and Hamas agree on
mutual cooperation in everyday affairs of the self-rule.
The opening in Oman of the multilateral talks on water.
18.4.94: A delegation of the heads
of Israeli Arab Councils participates in celebrations in Jordan
marking the completion of the repairs on the Dome of the Rock
Mosque in Jerusalem.
19.4.94: The IDF arrests 372 Hamas
people. Six wanted men from the Fatah who fled from the Territories
during the Intifada are permitted to return to their homes in the
wake of the Cairo Agreement.
In coming weeks tens of wanted men and deportees return to the
Territories according to that Agreement.
22.4.94: The Fatah Hawks and the
Ezzedin Al Kassam Unit announce their joint decision to stop for
one month the killing of Palestinian collaborators with Israel, so
as to give the autonomy authority a chance "to deal with the
phenomenon".
26.4.94: Jordan announces its
decision to renew talks, in the wake of a US agreement to replace
the siege of Aqaba with land searches.
29.4.94: In Paris, the Israeli
Finance Minister Avraham Shohat and Abu-Ala who is responsible for
PLO economic affairs, sign an economic agreement between Israel and
the PLO. This is intended to apply for an interim period but brings
into account the widening of the autonomy. Areas of agreement
include imports and customs, agriculture, direct and indirect
taxes, tourism, energy, industry, labor and manpower, banking and
insurance. The subject of a Palestinian currency has not yet been
agreed upon.
1.5.94: An Israeli delegation
arrives for the first time in Qatar for discussions on arms control
in the Middle East.
3.5.94: In Cairo, the PLO announces
the establishment of a Palestinian national airline.
The World Bank decides to transfer 1.2 billion dollars to the
Territories during the next three years.
4.5.94: The Gaza-Jericho Agreement
is signed in Cairo. At the PLO's request, the Israeli withdrawal
and the transfer of civilian authority to the Palestinians is
slightly delayed. The following points are agreed upon: the
Palestinians will receive a passport from "the temporary
Palestinian authority"; the Palestinians will print their own
stamps; they will receive an international telephone code; at the
first meeting of the Palestine National Council the abrogation of
the Palestinian Charter will be discussed; transit regulations at
the Rafiah crossing will be as those determined for the Jordan
bridge in the Cairo Agreement. Negotiations will still be conducted
over the subjects of the seashore and territorial waters; airspace;
judicial authority in the autonomous territories; Palestinian
prisoners; the size of the Jericho area under self-rule.
4.5.94: 400 Palestinian prisoners
are released.
Five commanding officers of the Palestinian police force arrive in
the Gaza Strip.
An agreement on transport affairs is signed in Paris.
5.5.94: 1,000 Palestinian prisoners
are released.
8.5.94: The team of international
observers (TIPH) from Norway, Denmark and Italy enters
Hebron.
11.5.94: 275 Palestinian policemen
arrive in the Gaza Strip from Egypt. 400 more arrive the next day
and a forward unit of Palestinian police in the Jericho area
crosses Allenby Bridge from Jordan. 37 IOF officers trained for
joint patrols of the Border Police and the Palestine Police also
arrived in the Gaza Strip. On 14.5.94 the deployment of 462
Palestinian policemen in Jericho is completed.
In a speech in a Mosque in Johannesburg Arafat calls for a Jihad to
liberate Jerusalem and compares the Gaza-Jericho Agreement to a
temporary agreement made by the Prophet Mohammad with the tribe of
Kuraish. Following an Israeli protest, Arafat claims that he
referred to a religious Jihad which has religious but no military
significance.
13.5.94: The IOF withdraws from
Jericho. Civilian authority is handed over to the independent
Palestinian authority.
14.5.94: The IOF withdraws from its
strongpoint at the Jebalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, the
place where the Intifada broke out.
17.5.94: Civilian authority in the
Gaza Strip is handed over to the Palestinians. The last Israeli
soldier leaves Gaza. Israel leaves 30 facilities belonging to the
Security Forces in the Strip, including the Police building, the
IDF Headquarters and Gaza prison.
23.5.94: Palestinian police open
fire on an Israeli car which did not stop at a checkpoint. The IOF:
they acted correctly.
24.5.94: Arafat announces in an
official order that in the autonomous areas, the law which
prevailed in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is annulled. Israeli
military law is annulled.
27.5.94: The Hussein-Rabin meeting
in London leads to agreements at the beginning of June according to
which the peace talks between the two states will continue in July
and will be transferred to Aqaba Gordan) and Eilat (Israel).
Subjects will include delineating the border between them. Steps
toward normalization were also agreed upon before the signing of an
agreement.
Arafat confirms the draft of a Palestinian constitution which will
be the basic document of the Palestinian entity in the interim
period and the basis for the constitution of the Palestinian state.
The constitution declares that "Jerusalem is the capital of the
Palestinian entity". In subsequent weeks a controversy breaks out
between Israel and the PLO over the status of the Palestinian
institutions, including the most important of them '- Orient House
- in East Jerusalem.
28.5.94: In discussions conducted by
the Palestinian Authority in Tunis, it is agreed that the PLO
Council is the source of authority for the autonomy
authority.
2.6.94: Israeli Foreign Minister
Shimon Peres meets King Hassan in Morocco. It is agreed on the
opening of low-level representative offices in the two
countries.
3.6.94: Dr. Saeb Ereqat announces
that the date for elections to the Palestinian General Council has
been fixed for October 15.
8.6.94: An announcement is made on
the establishment of a Palestinian Committee for Human Rights,
headed by Hanan Ashrawi.
9.6.94: At a meeting in Paris of the
states contributing to the Palestinians, a proposed budget for the
self-rule is presented. It is agreed that 42 million dollars be
transferred to cover current expenses of the autonomy in the
June-August period. The total emergency aid agreed upon at the
meeting is 133 million dollars. Following these decisions, Arafat
announces that he will shortly visit Jericho and Gaza.
15.6.94: The fifth round of the
multilateral economic talks starts in Rabat (Morocco). Emphasis is
placed on the needs of the autonomy and on regional tourist and
cultural projects.
17.6.94: Dr. Mubarak Awad, head of
the Palestinian Center for Non-Violence, starts an operation to
open houses sealed during the Intifada years by the Israelis. Some
days later the IDF re-seals many of the houses which have been
opened.
21.6.94: The Bureaux of the Prime
Minister and of the Foreign Minister announce they are ceasing to
work with Dr. Ahmad Tibi "because of the clash between his loyalty
obligations as an Israeli citizen and his simultaneously being an
advisor to Arafat".
26.6.94: The Shamgar Report on the
investigation into the massacre at the Cave of the Patriarchs in
Hebron is published. It determines that Baruch Goldstein, who
murdered 29 Palestinians, acted alone. It attacks the
"non-implementation for settlers of the law in the territories".
However, no recommendation is made on drawing conclusions regarding
individuals involved in the affair. A parallel report by the PLO
determines that other settlers cooperated with Goldstein.
29.6.94: 500 Palestinian prisoners
are released. The figure for released prisoners thus reaches about
4,200 out of the 5,000 whom Israel committed itself to release. A
controversy broke out on this subject in June, following an Israeli
demand that the prisoners sign a declaration supporting the
Israel-PLO agreement. Finally, the prisoners signed a commitment to
refrain from violent activities. Israel also demanded that the
prisoners remain only within the area of the autonomy until the end
of their sentence. In practice, many returned to their homes in the
West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
During these three months, the following number of people were
killed inside the Occupied Territories: 14 Palestinians were killed
by Security Forces, 4 Palestinians were killed by settlers, 2
Israeli civilians and 2 Security Force members were killed by
Palestinians. Inside Israel 2 Palestinians were killed by Security
Forces, 14 Israeli civilians and 2 soldiers were killed by
Palestinians (all figures from BTselem). The Associated Press
reported 3 suspected colIaborators were killed in the month of
April and 2 in May. The IDF reported 12 colIaborators killed in
April, 3 in May and 1 in June.