كرونولوجيا القدس:1 آب/ أغسطس - 31 تشرين الأول/ أكتوبر 2000

 1 August 2000 - 31 October 20001 August Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak says that the U.S. will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by 20 January 2001, which is the date the new U.S. president will take office. (HJ)2 August The West Jerusalem Municipality starts working on a zoning plan to establish a new detention center on lands in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood that were confiscated after the 1967 war. (AQ) 7 August The Chief Rabbinate of Israel postpones a discussion on the establishment of a synagogue on al-Haram al-Sharif. Instead, they set up a committee "to examine all the ways to realize our rights and sovereignty over the Temple Mount." (JP) According to figures released by the Israeli Tourism Ministry, the first three months of the year saw a 40 percent increase in the number of tourists visiting Jerusalem compared to the same period in 1999.(JP) 8 August At the order of Israeli Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, Israeli police bar Palestinian businessmen who live abroad from taking part in a conference at the Palestinian chamber of commerce in East Jerusalem. According to an Israeli police spokesman, the meeting violates a law governing implementation of the Oslo Accords, which bans Palestinian Authority activity in East Jerusalem. (HA) 9 August Mayor of the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem Ehud Olmert expresses support for granting Israeli citizenship automatically to Palestinian residents of the occupied city who apply for it. (HA) An Israeli public opinion poll shows that the majority of Israelis reject the "concessions" over Jerusalem made by Barak at Camp David. Fifty-eight percent of those interviewed said they reject Palestinian sovereignty over Arab quarters in East Jerusalem while 38 percent say they support it. (AQ) 13 August The Israeli Jerusalem Municipality demolishes two houses in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras al-Amud. The two families were in the process of trying to arrange building permits when the demolition occurred. The Israeli settlement being built by Irving Moskovitch, the American-Jewish bingo-parlor millionaire, is only some twenty meters above the demolished houses. (HA) 14 August The Islamic Waqf Council reiterates its position that al-Aqsa Mosque is an Islamic mosque for Muslims only and part of the Muslim faith and that any prayers by non-Muslims there is banned by Islamic teachings. According to the council, any attempt to introduce non-Islamic prayer at the site would constitute an aggression against Muslims all over the world. (AQ) Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, Mufti of Jerusalem, reiterates the religious prohibition against Palestinian Jerusalemites accepting Israeli citizenship. He says carrying the Israeli passport means approving and recognizing Israeli law and giving loyalty to the Jewish state. Sheikh Sabri was responding to a statement by the Israeli Interior Ministry saying that in the first half of the year 2000 there were 183 applications to receive the Israeli passport compared with 98 applications for the same period last year. (AYM) 17 August The Israeli Jerusalem Municipality releases a report showing that most of the budgets set aside for the development of infrastructure in East Jerusalem have been frozen since Prime Minister Ehud Barak came into power. While some NIS 60 million was allocated to the infrastructure of East Jerusalem in 1999, the government only transferred NIS 18 million. The report reveals a huge gap between Jewish and Arab areas in terms of services and infrastructure. For instance, as the report shows, in West Jerusalem, some 743 residents share one kilometer of sewage piping; whereas in the east of the city, the same length of piping is shared by around 2,809 people. West Jerusalem contains around 680 kilometers of paved roads - 710 residents per kilometer - while East Jerusalem has only 87 kilometers - 2,448 residents per kilometer. There are around 700 kilometers of sidewalk in the western art of the city, while East Jerusalem residents are forced to make do with only 73. The Jewish areas of the city contain around 1,080 public parks - 447 residents per park. East Jerusalem has only 30 parks, meaning that 7,362 residents have to share each one. (HA) The Palestinian National Authority establishes a committee to protect Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. Serving on the panel are the Mufti of Jerusalem, Ikrima Sabri; the two imams of al-Aqsa Mosque, Taysir Tamimi and Mohammed Hussein; Archimandrite Atallah Hanno of the Greek Orthodox Church;and Bishop Munif Yunan of the Roman Catholic Church. (AYM,HA) 22 August Palestinian and Israeli negotiators resume intensive negotiations aimed at resolving the question of Jerusalem and other final status issues. (JP) Jordan's king Abdullah II reaffirms his support for Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem at a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah. (JP) The Israeli Jerusalem Municipality agrees to permit 117 Palestinian children who are city residents to study in free public schools, as guaranteed under Israel's Compulsory Education Law. (JP) 26 August The United States asks Arab countries not to issue declarations about Jerusalem that might hamper diplomatic efforts underway to jump-start negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority. A senior U.S. official timed this request to coincide with the upcoming meeting in Morocco of the Islamic Conference Organization's Jerusalem Committee. (HA) 28 August Palestinian National Authority President Yasser Arafat tells the Jerusalem Commit- tee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, meeting in Agadir, Morocco, that no concessions can be made on the future status of Jerusalem. The Committee calls on all the world's countries to recognize the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital as soon as it is declared and requests that no countries move their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. (AQ) 29 August Bulldozers of the Israeli Jerusalem Municipality demolish three Arab houses in Ras Khmeis near Shu'fat Camp amid extensive Israeli security. (HA) 3 September Speaking at the opening of a two-day gathering of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat states that he would not accept a peace deal with Israel that did not give the Palestinians control of Jerusalem. (AQ) 4 September In their concluding statement members of the Arab League Council state that Jerusalem is the key to a final peace settlement and that the Arab nation wants peace through the implementation of UN resolution 242; it also affirms UN Security Council Resolution 478, which calls on the nations of the world not to move their embassies to Jerusalem. (HJ)A report released by the Palestinian Human Rights Monitor finds that as many as 15,000 Palestinian children are prevented every year from attending school in East Jerusalem. They are turned away by schools facing a severe shortage of classrooms. Moreover, as the report shows, Palestinian parents are often unaware that their children have a right to free education guaranteed under both international and Israeli law. The report also details the substandard conditions of existing schools. (JMCC). 6 September Palestinian President Yasser Arafat tells the U.N. Millennium Summit that he is committed to establishing a Palestinian state with Arab East Jerusalem as its capital. He tells over 150 world leaders gathered at the summit that "we remain committed to our national rights over East Jerusalem, capital of our state and shelter of our sacred sites, as well as our rights on the Christian and Islamic holy sites." Also speaking at the summit, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak reiterates the importance of Jerusalem to the Jewish people, but also acknowledges that the city is "cherished by our Palestinian neighbors." (AQ, JP) In a meeting with President Bill Clinton in New York after the Millenium Summit, Yasser Arafat rejects U.S. compromise proposals on Jerusalem. He also rejects the idea of concluding a partial peace agreement that delays a resolution to the Jerusalem issue. Meanwhile, Clinton urges Arafat to postpone the declaration of an independent state scheduled for 13 Septem- ber.(Reuters) 14 September Palestinian Culture and Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo warns Israel that any attempt to violate the sanctity of al-Aqsa Mosque will touch off a protracted religious war. He says that the Palestinian leadership is seriously considering a proposal to place al-Aqsa Mosque under the sovereignty of the Jerusalem Committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference provided that Palestinians have the right of sovereign jurisdiction and the right to raise their flag over it. (HJ)Newsweek magazine releases to the public a secret draft of the so-called Beilin- Abu Mazen deal concerning Jerusalem formulated in 1995.The timing suggests that U.S. mediators released the document to the media in an effort to put pressure on Palestinian negotiators to reach a compromise. (HA) 17 September An Israeli newspaper reports that the U.S. has recently proposed to Israeli negotiators the idea of handing sovereignty over al-Aqsa Mosque to the UN Security Council. Palestinians would retain administrative responsibility over the holy sites in al-Aqsa while Israel would retain control over the Western Wall and the surrounding area. (AQ) Ehud Barak rules out the idea of Islamic sovereignty over al-Aqsa Mosque through the Jerusalem Committee. (AP)The Israeli Housing Ministry demands that the Barak government expedite the planned implementation of the Greater Jerusalem Project. The ministry has submitted an urgent plan to build a total of 139,000 new settlement units, including 20,000 units in the area of occupied Jerusalem; this plan comes within the context of an Israeli scheme to annex major settle- ment blocs as part of the final settlement. (HJ)18 September The Israeli Interior Ministry office in East Jerusalem remains shut for a second day to address the fears of Arab employees. A leaflet distributed in East Jerusalem had issued threats against anyone helping Arab residents acquire Israeli passports. The threats were a response to Israeli Mayor Ehud Olmert's call for Jerusalem's Arabs to seek Israeli citizenship. Only thirteen East Jerusalem Arabs have received Israeli citizenship in nearly two years. Of Jerusalem's 200,000 Palestinian residents, only about 3,500 hold Israeli citizenship; the rest are "permanent residents" of Israel. (HJ) 20 September Even as both sides resumed low-level contacts, the Israeli Jerusalem Municipality sends eviction notices to dozens of Arab landowners, confiscating their land for the so-called Eastern "ring road." According to Palestinian officials, Israel's real reason for building the highway is not to relieve congested traffic in downtown areas, as they claim, but to isolate the Arab city from the West Bank, block natural expansion of Arab neighborhoods, and link illegal Jewish settlements in the East to the Western part of the city. Faisal Husseini calls on Jerusalemite Palestinians to refrain from receiving any compensation for the confiscated lands.(AQ,AYM,AP) 24 September Palestinian officials reject the U.S. proposal to conclude a partial agreement that would delay negotiations concerning 55 final status arrangements in Jerusalem. Earlier in the week, Ehud Barak had said that while he was against any further "interim agreements," he was still open to the idea of postponing the final solution of the Jerusalem issue to a later date. But in his view a partial agreement would have to include a mechanism for settling the Jerusalem issue within a specific time frame and a clause declaring the "end of the conflict." (AQ,HA) 25 September The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee endorses Basic Law: Jerusalem, the Capital of Israel for second and third readings. The purpose of the law is to "secure" Jerusalem's current border by requiring a majority of 61 Knesset members before any authority in Jerusalem can be handed over to the Palestinian National Authority. (HA) 26 September Described by Palestinians as the "last chance" for peace, a new round of talks under U.S. sponsorship begins in Washing- ton.Each side holds talks separately with the U.S.administration. (AQ) Members of the right-wing settler organization Ateret Cohanim move into three houses between the Arab neighborhood of Ras al-Amud and the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives. The move is seen by Palestinians as a further attempt to infiltrate the Arab neighborhood, link up with the Ras al-Amud settlement sponsored by Irving Moscovitz just a few hundred meters away, and thus prevent the area from being returned to Palestinians in any final status agreement. (AYM, HA) Releasing its annual statistical yearbook, the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies estimates that though today 69 percent of Jerusalem residents are Jewish, by 2020 the Jewish sector will fall to 62 percent of the total population, while Arab numbers will increase to 38 percent. In 1998,the Arab growth rate in the city was nearly three times greater than that of Jews-3.5 percent compared to 1.2 percent. (HA) 27 September Palestinian Preventive Security Service chief Col. Jabril Rajoub warns that Likud chairman Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount scheduled for the next day may trigger confrontations worse than the riots that erupted in September 1996,after Israel opened an exit to the tunnel alongside the Haram al-Sharif. Rajoub tells the Jerusalem Post that the confrontations would not be limited to Jerusalem, but would erupt everywhere in the territories and trigger a sharp response from Arab states as well. He says that the Palestinians would not try to calm the clashes since they would be the result of blatant provocation. Marwan Barghouti, a senior West Bank Fatah leader, also warns the Jerusalem Post that should clashes erupt and Palestinians get injured, the protests would spread to the West Bank and Gaza and turn violent. He is quoted as saying, "We know that Sharon wants to provoke a confrontation, but we cannot ignore the visit …at such a sensitive time in the peace process …after all, it's Fatah that is fighting in the negotiations for Palestinian sovereignty over the Haram al- Sharif." (JP) September 28 Israel's right-wing opposition leader Ariel Sharon (whom Palestinians consider a war criminal for his role in the Sabra and Shatila massacres) goes ahead with his provocative attempt to visit al-Aqsa Mosque. With the approval of the Barak government, approximately 2000 Israeli police are deployed to ensure the visit can go forward. Clashes break out on the Haram between stone-throwing Palestinians and Israeli police. Several Palestinians are injured by rubber-coated steel bullets. (AYM,AQ,HJ) 29 September The Palestinian negotiators leave Washington, having failed to make any further progress in the peace talks sponsored by the U.S. administration. (AQ) In further clashes provoked by a massive Israeli police presence in the al-Aqsa compound during Friday prayers, seven Palestinian protesters are shot dead and one Israeli soldier is killed. The Barak government's decision to try to quash political protest by shooting to kill enflames Palestinian popular opinion throughout the Occupied Territories. (AQ, AYM) 30 September Fourteen Palestinians are killed in clashes throughout the West Bank and Gaza strip, including twelve-year-old Muhammed al-Durah, whose death in his father's arms amidst a hail of Israeli bullets is captured by a French television crew and broadcast around the world. In all, 523 Palestinians are wounded. (HJ,AP) 1 October A cease-fire is agreed on but collapses. Thirteen Palestinians are killed including two Arab citizens of Israel. One Palestinian victim is an eighteen-month-old girl shot in the head while riding in her father's car. The shots come from a group of settlers firing at motorists on the road between Nablus and Talfeet. Meanwhile, two Israelis die, including an Israeli border policeman who bleeds to death inside Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus as clashes rage outside in protest against the presence of this heavily protected Jewish enclave situated provocatively amidst the Palestinian city. (HJ) 2 October Nineteen Palestinians are killed in a day of widespread protests in which Palestinian citizens of Israel join in solidarity with the uprising. At least six Arab citizens of Israel are killed, as Israeli police use live ammunition on their own citizens. One Israeli settler and a soldier are also killed in the West Bank. Israelis are barred from travel in Palestinian territories. Meanwhile, Israeli helicopter gunships fire rockets at positions of the Palestinian security forces at the Netzarim junction in the Gaza Strip. Israel justifies its unprecedented military response on the grounds that Palestinian security forces had joined the stone throwers and were firing at their soldiers and civilians. The Palestinians retort that the Israelis are using excessive force against unarmed protesters. (HA,AQ, AYM,HJ) 3 October There are reports of a cease-fire agreement, but clashes resume. Eight Palestinians from the Occupied Territories and one from within the Green Line are killed. 300 Palestinians are injured. Helicopter gunship attacks continue in Gaza. (AQ, AYM, HJ) 4 October Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat fly to France to meet U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and French President Jacques Chirac. President Arafat demands an international commission of inquiry into the causes of the recent events and an international force to protect the Palestinian population. Both sides order military forces away from flashpoints. Nevertheless, eight West Bank Palestinians and one Palestinian from within the Green Line are shot dead, and more than 150 are wounded as Israel continues to respond to largely political protest with an iron-fist military policy. Popular demonstrations increase throughout the Arab world. Israeli tanks and artillery continue moving into positions around all major Palestinian cities. (AP, AQ, AYM, HJ) 5 October Israeli tanks roll back from positions in the West Bank. Arafat meets Albright and President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. Malaysia presents a draft U.N. resolution condemning the excessive force used by Israeli security forces against Palestinian protesters. Three Palestinians are killed. (AP, AQ, AYM, HJ) 6 October Israel seals the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The restrictions on goods and workers - allegedly imposed for security reasons - begin to put a stranglehold on the Palestinian economy. Israeli troops kill ten Palestinians. (AP, AQ, AYM, HJ) 7 October Palestinian demonstrators storm Joseph's Tomb after the Israelis withdraw. Palestinian Authority police fail to prevent the protesters from ransacking and setting ablaze the site considered sacred by some Jews. Footage of the incident is shown on television throughout the world. Hezbollah abducts three Israeli soldiers in a disputed border area with Lebanon. Barak issues a 48-hour ultimatum to Arafat to stop the violence or peace talks will end and the Israeli army will cease to exercise "restraint." Four Palestinians are killed. The U.N. Security Council passes a resolution condemning Israel's use of "excessive force. "The U.S. abstains from voting. (AP, AQ, AYM, HJ) 8 October The Israeli army blows up two apartment buildings and one factory building in Gaza allegedly used for cover by Palestinian gunmen. A Jewish settler is found dead in a cave near a West Bank highway. (AP) Israeli settlers attack neighborhoods in the Eastern quarter of Nazareth inside the Green Line. In subsequent protests Israeli police kill one Palestinian citizen of Israel and wound forty-four. In clashes in the Occupied Territories three more Palestinians are killed. (AYM, AQ) 9 October Clashes continue in Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Hebron. Settler attacks on Palestinian villages and towns increase in the West Bank.Issam Joudeh, a Palestinian returning home to his West Bank village, is stopped and handed over by Israeli soldiers to a group of settlers, who torture him to death and mutilate his corpse. While the world media ignores the story, the local Palestinian TV shows graphic footage of the body. (AYM)Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov travel to the region for meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials. Barak's 48-hour deadline is extended to avoid a prolonged armed conflict. (AP) 10 October In talks with Ivanov and Annan President Arafat calls for a broad commission of inquiry under UN supervision. Settlers burn 90 trucks in Gaza. The Secretary of Fatah in the West Bank, Marwan Barghouthi, calls for forming night-watch committees and popular militia groups to confront settler attacks. A twelve-year-old boy is shot in the head in Gaza and clashes continue in the West Bank. (HJ, AP) 11 October A leaflet signed by all the Palestinian political factions calls on the Palestinian public to support the Intifada and to form popular defense committees to defend themselves from settler aggression. Saeb Erekat says that Israel's military re-occupation of area "B" and its blockage of area "A" with tanks and cement barriers nullifies the terms of the Oslo accord. Israelis and Palestinians exchange gunfire in cities, villages, and along West Bank highways. Three Palestinians are killed. (HJ, AP) 12 October Two Israeli reserve soldiers spotted in a car in Ramallah are taken by Palestinian security men to a police station. A crowd of passing funeral marchers hearing of their presence surrounds the headquarters. The two soldiers are killed and mutilated by the enraged crowd. The scene is captured by an Italian television crew and broadcast around the world. In retaliation, Israeli helicopter gunships fire rockets at Palestinian targets including the police station where the lynching occurred, a radio tower, and Yasser Arafat's compound in Gaza. The twelve-year-old boy shot October 10th dies of his wounds. (AYM, AP) 13 October Palestinians stage marches across the West Bank. Meanwhile, Israel prevents Muslims under the age of 45 from participating in Friday prayers at Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque. Efforts continue to get both sides to meet at an emergency summit at Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt. Two Palestinians are killed in clashes in Hebron. (AP) 14 October Israel and the Palestinian National Authority agree to attend Monday's summit in Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt, aimed at a ceasefire and the restoration of security cooperation. President Clinton will attend along with regional leaders. (AQ, AP) 15 October Hezbollah guerrillas announce that they have captured an Israeli army colonel. Israel confirms that a reserve colonel was kidnapped abroad. (AP) 16 October The two sides meet at the Sharm al-Sheikh summit. Palestinians demand that Israel halt its aggression, withdraw their troops to their previous positions and implement the recent UN security council resolution 1322 calling for an international commission of inquiry into the events. Israel calls on the PNA to reign in the 59 protests, curb all militia activity, and to re-arrest Hamas activist recently released from PNA prisons. They agree to an inquiry commission, but only one that is headed by the United States. (HJ, AQ)Marches are organized throughout the West Bank and Gaza as part of a "day of rage" to protest the planned visit of a Jewish fundamentalist group, the Temple Mount Faithful, to al-Aqsa Mosque. The Israeli government prevents the visit, but clashes result in two Palestinian dead and four Israeli soldiers wounded. Fateh announces the formation of armed militia and brigades to protect and defend Palestinian citizens from attack by settlers and the Israeli army. (HJ, AYM) 17 October The Palestinian political factions including Fateh condemn the outcome of the Sharm al-Sheikh agreement and demand that the Intifada be continued until the end of the occupation. (AYM, HJ) Three Palestinians are killed in continuing clashes. Palestinian militia and the Israeli army exchange fire near settlements in Hebron, Bethlehem, and al-Bireh, and some settlers are evacuated from the settlement of Gilo near Beit Jala. Israel fires rockets at a residential area in Rafa, in Gaza, after a gun battle. (AQ, HJ) 18 October PNA officials condemn the Israeli plan to institute a complete economic separation between Israeli and the Palestinian territories. Clashes continue with one Palestinian protester dead and dozens injured. (AYM, HJ) 19 October The UN Human Rights Commission condemns Israel for committing "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity." (AQ, HJ) 20 October On the eve of the Arab summit clashes intensify with Palestinians demanding the Arab countries take firm action against Israel. Nine demonstrators are shot dead and more than 200 injured. (AYM, HJ) 21 October The summit of the Arab League convenes in Cairo amid continuing demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza. Four Palestinians die in the clashes. (AYM, HJ) 22 October The Arab Summit ends. The Arab and Palestinian masses are critical of the weak measures that Arab leaders agreed to take against Israel. Israeli tanks and helicopters shell Beit Jala and Ayda refugee camp in alleged retaliation against sniper fire coming from Palestinian militia positions. Israel makes public a new military policy of deploying special units to assassinate and abduct Fateh militia leaders within Palestinian areas. They also intensify an economic siege of Palestinian areas by blocking passage of goods from neighboring Arab countries. Four Palestinians are killed in clashes. (AYM, HJ) 23 October Four more Palestinians die in another day of clashes, gun battles, and Israeli tank and helicopter attacks on alleged sniper positions in Ramallah, Hebron, and Beit Jalah. The Palestinian NGO network demands that Palestinian NGOs and the PNA stop completely any joint projects with Israeli organizations, projects funded by USAID, or any projects that promote normalization. (AYM, HJ) 24 October Three are dead and dozens wounded in more clashes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli tanks shell houses in al-Bireh and Tulkarem. Two hundred thousand Jordanians participate in a symbolic "march of return" in support of the rights of Palestinian refugees. When they attempt to cross the King Hussein Bridge into the West Bank, they are dispersed by Jordanian police with clubs and teargas. (AYM, HJ) 25 October The Israeli army continues its shelling of neighborhoods in Beit Jala, Beit Sahour, and Nablus in response to alleged sniper fire. The U.S. Congress passes a resolution expressing support for Israel and condemning the Palestinians for encouraging violence and not taking action to avoid the loss of lives. The resolution also expresses solidarity with the Jewish state. It passes by a vote of 365 in favor and 30 against. (AYM, HJ) 26 October A Palestinian suicide bomber rides his bicycle toward an Israeli Army outpost in the Gaza strip, but kills only himself when the explosives detonate early. Two Palestinians are killed in separate clashes. (AYM, HJ) 27 October Five Palestinian demonstrators are killed in clashes. (AYM, HJ) 28 October Shelling continues in Bethlehem and Beit Jala. One Palestinian is killed. Six Israelis are injured and one soldier killed. (AYM, HJ) 29 October Eight Palestinian protesters killed in clashes. (AYM, HJ)Chronology Source Abbreviations AQ (al-Quds, Jerusalem) AYM (al-Ayyam, Ramallah) HA (Ha'aretz, Tel Aviv) HJ (al-Hayat al-Jadida, Gaza) JMCC (Jerusalem Media and Communications Center, Jerusalem) VOP (Voice of Palestine Radio) WR (Wafa Report, Jerusalem)