Jerusalem Chronology 1999

Jan. 1: PM Netanyahu backs the right of US millionaire Irving Moskovitz to build 132 apartments for Jews in the Ras Al-Amud neighborhood.

Jan. 2: For a second day vandals attack Palestinian cars in East Jerusalem overnight, slashing the tires of over a dozen Palestinian vehicles in the Wadi Joz district. Police suspects settlers from an extremist far-right group.

- The Al-Ghazlan family receives eviction orders from the Israeli authorities to evacuate their home in Silwan.

Jan. 5: Yediot Aharanot reports that seven companies have won rights to construct 679 dwelling units at Har Homa.

Jan. 5-6: The Israeli tax authority confiscates four cars belonging to Palestinian employees of the British Consulate, claiming that the owners had not paid their income taxes.

Jan. 7: A tender for the construction of 346 dwelling units on land at Har Homa to be leased from the Israeli Govt. for 99 years is published.

Jan. 13: Jewish millionaire Irving Moskowitz receives the Israeli Govt.'s approval to construct a new settlement in Ras Al-Amud.

Jan. 15: Kol Ha'ir reports the approval for a 410-unit housing development in Sur Baher, the first government-supported residential construction for Palestinians in Jerusalem.

Jan. 19: Ha’aretz reports that the Israeli Govt. has for the first time leased land it holds in annexed East Jerusalem to a Palestinian resident of the city. Elias Khouri, a Palestinian lawyer who has acquired Israeli nationality, outbid Jewish rivals to lease nine acres of land in Sheikh Jarrah for 49 years.

Jan. 21: The first contract is signed for the sale of apartments at Har Homa.

Jan. 21: Ha’aretz reports that the city of Jerusalem intends to expand its jurisdiction westward, to construct some 75,000 new housing units (‘National Master Plan No. 35’) in order to create a stretch of ‘unbroken city’ from the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway in the north to Tzur Hadassah in the south, and to secure a Jewish majority in the city. The plan calls for the Jewish population to be raised to 758,000 by 2020 (today: 426,000).

Jan. 22: The WJM decides to annex Bir 'Ona neighborhood near Beit Jala and Gilo settlement to its borders.

Jan. 24: Yom Rishon reports the approval of a 30,000-sq. meter commercial/residential development in the East Jerusalem settlement community of Ramot.

Jan. 26: Israeli forces demolish the Abu Awais family house in Issawiyeh. During ensuing clashes, Israeli soldiers fire at and injure several Palestinian protestors, one of them - Zaki Obeid, 22 – dies a day later.

- Israeli forces demolish two properties belonging to Mahmoud Hamdan in Suq Qattanin in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Jan. 28: Israeli authorities demolish the home of Ziad Fheidat in Anata, located close to bypass road no. 70, for being built without a permit.

Jan. 29: Al-Quds reveals an Israeli plan to dig a tunnel under the Jerusalem Wall.

- Orthodox Jewish extremists set up a new settler enclave near Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Jan. 30: Nidal Abu-Srur, 18, dies during interrogation in the Al-Muskobiyyeh interrogation center in Jerusalem.

Jan. 31: Shopkeepers in East Jerusalem observe a strike to protest the death of Zaki Obeid shot by Israeli forces in Issawwiyeh.

- The Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, criticizes Israeli policy towards Jerusalem, saying the Holy City should belong to all three religions associated with it.

Jan. 1999: Israeli police detain members of the American sect ‘Concerned Christians’ when it learns about the group’s intentions on the eve of the year 2000 to commit suicide after having destroyed Al-Aqsa mosque and built a temple in its place.

Feb. 2: The WJM hands a demolition order to a Palestinian house in Shu'fat refugee camp.

- Ha’aretz reports that 788 Palestinian lost their ID cards in 1998.

Feb. 5: A fourth Jewish family has occupied a Palestinian house in Ras Al-Amud claiming that it is owned by Jewish millionaire Irving Moskowitz.

Feb. 6: Kol Ha'ir reports that WJM Mayor Ehud Olmert ordered the speeding up of demolitions of ‘illegally built’ structures; eight municipal inspectors have been transferred from West Jerusalem to Arab neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city.

Feb. 8: The Al-Fakhir family, part of the Jahalin Bedouin tribe, receives a demolition order from the Israeli Civil Administration informing them that their eight modest homes and tents in Anata as well as seven small sheep and chicken pens will be destroyed.

- Israeli authorities dispatch notices to confiscate hundreds of dunums from Hizma and Jaba', and notifies 25 families of the Jahalin Al-Hathaqlin and As-Saray'a Bedouins to evacuate their land - located between Mukhmas and Jaba' - in order to enlarge and facilitate new by-pass roads leading to Adam settlement.

Feb. 9: Israeli forces demolish the house of Taleb Kiswani in Beit Hanina - home to ten people – and a surrounding wall under the pretext that it was built without a permit.

Feb. 10: The UN General Assembly votes by an overwhelming majority of 115-2 (the US and Israel against) for a resolution calling upon Israel to halt immediately all settlement construction in East Jerusalem and to implement the Geneva Convention.

- The ‘Settlers of Zion’ association led by MK Rabbi Benny Elon, has illegally acquired six new homes in Sheikh Jarrah.

Feb. 12: A new Israeli tender is issued for 3,346 housing units on Jabal Abu Ghneim (Har Homa settlement).

Feb. 15: The Israeli High Court confirms the ownership by Munira Siam from Silwan of her house in Wadi Hilwa, thus revoking the appeal of the Elad settlement group to take over the house.

Feb. 17: Israeli police prevent a group of Jewish militants from occupying a home in Sheikh Jarrah, which they claim had been purchased from a Palestinian family.

Feb. 18: During a UN conference on Bethlehem 2000, PA Pres. Arafat declares that Jerusalem could house the capitals of two states, without barriers or walls, just like Rome is a shared capital by Italy and the Vatican.

- Israeli police arrest several employees at the National Insurance Institute and the Israeli Interior Min. Office for allegedly taking bribes from Palestinians in return for Israeli ID cards and passports.

Feb. 19: Kol Ha'ir reports on the continuing purchase by Israelis of Palestinian-owned homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

Feb. 25: Ateret Cohanim appeals to the WJM to construct a 20-meter long and 5-meter high bridge in order to link two colonization outposts.

Feb. 26: Israeli Internal Security Min. Avigdor Kahalani reveals that PM Netanyahu does not intend to permit new construction in the existing settlement enclave in Ras Al-Amud.

Feb.: Dr. Na'ela Qara'in, 48, a public health specialist in UNRWA from Ras Al-Amud dies after being stabbed in the chest near the Musrara quarter by 23-year-old Mohammed Sha'lan, from Hizma village, who thought Qara'in was an Israeli. After realizing she was Palestinian, Sha'lan turned himself into Israeli police.

March 1: Theodor Wallau, Germany's ambassador to Israel, sends a letter to Israeli FM Ariel Sharon reaffirming the EU's longstanding formal support for Jerusalem's internationalization as outlined in UNGA Res. 181. Germany is currently president of the EU, and it is in that capacity that Wallau sent his letter, which notes, "We reaffirm our stated position regarding the specific status of Jerusalem as a corpus separatum. This position is in accordance with international law. We have no intention of changing our custom regarding meetings in Jerusalem."

March 2: Ha'aretz reports that of 201 demolition orders issued by the Interior Min. in 1998 for Palestinian properties in East Jerusalem, only nine were implemented. The municipality destroyed 13 additional homes. Palestinians requested 320 building permits, of which 254 were granted.

- According to Israeli figures, the number of ID cards confiscated in 1998 - 788 - marks a record high.

March 3: Two masked Israeli settlers attack and lightly injure a young Palestinian girl in the Old City of Jerusalem.

March 6: Ha’aretz reports about an Israeli plan to construct an electric-powered train system in Jerusalem due to be inaugurated i2005 and completed in 2020, comprising eight lines. Notices have already been sent to the Palestinian owners of land affected by the plans land appropriation in Shu’fat.

March 7: Extremist Jews stab a Palestinian Jerusalemite.

March 9: Israeli forces demolish without warning the house of Issa Assaf, built in 1997, in Al-Jib village, near the settlement of Givat Ze'ev.

- Israeli forces demolish a retaining wall owned by Kamal Abu Jaber of Beit Hanina for being built unlicensed.

March 11: The EU formally insists it will meet with Palestinian officials in the city over Israeli objections. In a ‘verbal note’ transmitted to Israel on 1 March by the ambassador of Germany, the body rejected an official Israeli demand that its ambassadors stop visiting Orient House. PM Netanyahu angrily rejects the EU note.

March 12: Yerushalayim reports that a group of Israelis has purchased 24 dunums of land in the Jabal Mukabber neighborhood at $42,000 per dunum and intends to rezone the land to allow for construction for Israeli Jews.

- Kol Ha'ir reports that during Jan. and Feb., 32 demolition orders were executed in Palestinian areas of East Jerusalem. During 1998, 38 similar orders were executed.

March 13: An Orient House statement says that over 2,000 houses have been demolished since Israel occupied Jerusalem and that 175 ID cards have been confiscated from Palestinian residents in the past three months.

March 14: Israeli PM Netanyahu protests to the German ambassador against an EU statement refusing to recognize Israeli sovereignty over any part of Jerusalem. A communiqué from the Arab League, meanwhile, voices gratitude to the EU "which stressed again that all of Jerusalem is an occupied area."

- A one-day strike is observed by Palestinians in East Jerusalem to protest the convening of the 5^th International Cities Cultural Conference in (West) Jerusalem.

- The WJM endorses a settlement project in Silwan and Jabal Mukabber comprising over 200 housing units, a hotel, and tourist facilities on 115 dunums of land confiscated from Palestinians in the early 1970.

March 15: Despite Israeli protests the EU is sticking to its stance that under international law the status of Jerusalem is undecided.

March 16: Israeli FM Ariel Sharon, speaking to foreign ambassadors, pronounces UN Res. 181 of 1947, calling for the city's internationalization, as null and void.

March 17: An Israeli Housing Committee recommends the construction of 77,000-120,000 housing units over the next 20 years for settlements in Jerusalem.

- The Israeli Govt. announces its intention to construct 120 housing units in Gilo.

- The Israeli Cabinet approves a $68 million development plan for Jerusalem.

March 18: Israel imposes travel limits on three PA officials after they hosted a meeting with foreign diplomats at Orient House, revoking Min. of State Ziad Abu Zayyad's VIP card, and rescinding VIP privileges granted to Hanan Ashrawi and Faisal Husseini.

March 21: In Washington, Vatican Foreign Secr. Archbishop Jean Louis Touran strongly condemns Israel’s policy of revoking ID cards of Palestinian Jerusalemites.

March 24: Ha'aretz cites Israeli intelligence reports that ‘illegal’ residential construction by Palestinians in Jerusalem is encouraged with mortgages arranged via the PA and Orient House.

- The Israeli Cabinet approves the annexation of 8,750 acres for westward expansion, mainly to construct 120,000 housing units until 2020 to attract new Jewish immigrants. Measures to improve services in East Jerusalem are also included.

- The Arab League warns Israel against any attempt to strengthen its hold on disputed Jerusalem, describing the holy city as a sacred ‘red line’.

March 26: The WJM estimates that it will cost $180 million to bring infrastructure in Palestinian East Jerusalem to West Jerusalem standards. The 1999 municipal budget allocates $100,000 - a 25%-increase over 1998 - for the planning of settlements in East Jerusalem and at least $20 million to improve new roads, facilitating movement between the city, the coastal region, and Greater Jerusalem settlements.

March 29: US Senator Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) writes to National Security advisor Sandy Berger calling for the establishment of a structure for diplomatic functions in anticipation of the construction of a US embassy in Jerusalem.

March 30: The Israeli Ministerial Committee on Jerusalem decides to close three Palestinian offices in Jerusalem (WAFA, the Prisoners Society and the office of Ibrahim Qandalaft, in charge of Christian affairs for the PA) because they are allegedly arms of the PA.

- The Israeli Magistrate Court orders Mohammed Al-Kurd and his sons to evacuate their home in Mt. Scopus within 24 hours, claiming that the land on which their house is built belonged to Jews 299 years ago.

- Damyan Pakovitch, a Jewish immigrant from the former USSR, is found guilty of planning to desecrate Al-Aqsa Mosque by throwing a pig's head onto the premises during Ramadan. He is also found guilty of having placed a pig's head on the tomb of the Palestinian resistance fighter Ezz Edin Al-Qassam in Haifa.

March 1999: Israeli settlers in the Old City have asked the WJM to allow them to renovate and settle in a building in an area close to Al-Aqsa mosque known as Ribat Al-Kurd.

April 3: A Gush Shalom delegation (Peace Bloc) hands Faisal Husseini a petition signed by 520 Israeli peace activists - academics, artists and politicians - who support the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the shared capital of Israel and Palestine.

- Jewish extremists groups request permission from the Israeli Govt. to renovate Ribat Al-Kurd, part of the Western Wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

April 4: The Israeli police allow over 20 extremists Jews to enter the Al-Aqsa compound to celebrate Pessach (Passover).

April 7: An appeal to Israel's High Court stops Israeli authorities from closing two Palestinian offices – that of the PA’s advisor for Christian affairs, Ibrahim Kandalaft, and a prisoner support center.

- A group of settlers smash the cars of Palestinian residents in the Jabal Mukabber area and try to seize property in the Ash-Shihabi neighborhood.

April 8: Ha'aretz reports that PA Min. for Jerusalem affairs, Faisal Husseini, believes that 6,000 new housing units have been built by Palestinians in East Jerusalem during the last three years.

April 11: Ehud Barak states in a TV interview that, if elected, he sees four ‘red lines’ for any agreement with the PA which are: Jerusalem undivided as Israel's capital; no withdrawal to the June 1967 borders; no foreign army west of the Jordan River; most settlers to remain in large territorial blocs under Israeli sovereignty.

- Ha'aretz reports that the Israel Land Authority estimates that there is a potential for the construction of 8,000-12,000 dwelling units in Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem, less than the expected demand.

April 13: Israeli authorities seal off the office of the Christian Council in Jerusalem after a High Court order allowing it to perform its duties was suddenly withdrawn.

April 14: Faisal Husseini receives Egyptian, Moroccan, Omani and Qatari envoys at Orient House to inform them of Israeli measures against Palestinians and to ask them to organize a campaign in their countries to support East Jerusalem and Palestinian institutions in the city.

- Violent clashes with the Israeli army erupt after a closure is imposed on the Shu'fat area.

April 15: Jewish extremist Damyan Pakovitch is sentenced to three and a half years in prison for plotting to throw a pig's head into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during Ramadan in hopes of sparking an Arab-Israeli conflagration. He is also charged with the arson of the Jerusalem office of a leftist pro-peace movement.

April 17: PA Min. Ziad Abu Zayyad is expelled from Jerusalem after Israeli police stop him in the Wadi Al-Joz neighborhood, and he is escorted by the police to his home in Abu Dis.

April 18: Kol Ha’ir reports that the WJM planning committee approved two construction projects of Ateret Cohanim in the Old City, (Muslim Quarter). It was to enlarge the home of the group’s head, Matti Dan, in the Galicia courtyard and to add two stories to ‘Beit Gavriel’, next to Damascus Gate.

- Kol Ha’ir reports that less than 10% of the WJM’s development budget is designated for investments in East Jerusalem - about NIS 40 million out of a total of NIS 423 million. Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem constitute at least 30% of the city’s population.

April 19: An Israeli Ministerial Committee recommends the annexation of designated areas to the WJM and the building of 61,000 housing units in West Jerusalem within the framework of a larger scheme to build 116,000 units by the year 2020 in order to maintain a 70-30% Jewish majority.

- Israeli forces destroy two homes – belonging to Bassam Taraweh and Khawla Omar Sheikh - and the foundations of an extension of a third house in Issawiya, for being built without Israeli permission. Over 30 persons from the Taraweh and Sheikh families are left homeless.

- Ha'aretz reports that Israel's attorney general has temporarily frozen the publication of criteria (the exclusion of Arabs) governing the purchase of property in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.

April 20: Israeli bulldozers destroy the houses of Maher Izzat Hassan and Abdul Razaq Sheikh in Issawiya.

April 20: Israeli authorities expel the family of Mohammed Kamel Al-Kurd from their home in Sheikh Jarrah after a court ruled in favor of a claim to the house by Jewish settlers. On instructions from the Israeli High Court, however, police prevent the settlers, members of a right-wing religious movement, from taking over the house until a tribunal re-examines the documents they submitted to prove ownership.

April 21: After another meeting between diplomats and Faisal Husseini at Orient House, Israeli PM Netanyahu moves to close its doors. The next day, procedures begin to shut three offices on the grounds that they are PA outposts.

April 22: The Israeli High Court of Justice has ordered the Interior Min. to prepare a report on Palestinian Jerusalemites who have had their ID confiscated between 1989 and 1991 and explain its policies. The move came after a petition from 11 East Jerusalem families and civil rights organizations against the Interior Min. over its policy of ID card confiscation.

April 23: Britain expresses its deep concern at the Israeli decision to close offices in the Orient House, with FM Derek Fetchett saying that "any pre-emptive actions before the final status talks are most unwelcome, since they will inevitably both increase tension and make the eventual negotiation process more difficult."

- Israeli Pres. Ezer Weizman condemns the closing of Orient House offices ordered by PM Netanyahu, saying, “Regarding Orient House, I don't think we should blow up such a sensitive issue as Jerusalem".

April 24: A Peace Now delegation meets with Faisal Husseini in Orient House, to show support after it was ordered closed by Israeli PM Netanyahu.

April 25: Israeli police order three Palestinian offices in East Jerusalem to close down because the PA allegedly uses them.

April 25: The Arab League urges Britain and France to press Israel to reverse the decision to shut Orient House, describing the measure as ‘provocative’ and a ‘dangerous’ electoral ploy threatening to destabilize the region.

April 26: As part of a PR campaign hosting Arab MKs, Israeli peace activists, and Palestinian supporters, Peace Now members march to Orient House to show their solidarity.

April 27: A Gush Shalom delegation visits Orient House to demonstrate their solidarity.

- Three Jewish couples led by MK Rabbi Benny Elon (from the right-wing Moledet party) move into houses in Sheikh Jarrah in a bid to create a new Jewish neighborhood.

May 3: Al-Ayyam reports that an Israeli court has ratified the annexation of vast areas of Palestinian land from Walajeh village to the Greater Jerusalem borders of the WJM.

May 5: Israeli Public Security Min. Avigdor Kahalani summons Orient House attorney Jawad Boulos to review documents meant to prove that the offices are not under the PA.

- The WJM demolishes houses owned by the Surri family and Musa Za’Tara in Jabal Mukabber on the pretext that they were built on a 'green area'.

May 6: Orient House rejects Kahalani’s proposal to move the mapping and survey department and the international affairs office to Abu Dis.

- The Israeli Housing Min. issued a tender for the construction of 800 more homes at the Har Homa site on Jabal Abu Ghneim.

- Ha'aretz reports that the WJM and representatives from the Jabal Mukabber and Arab As-Sawahreh neighborhoods have reached an agreement under which house demolitions and illegal construction will be halted until planning teams from both sides examine existing zoning plans.

May 7: The Israeli Govt. approves Circular Road project no. 4585 around East Jerusalem.

May 9: The Israeli cabinet decides to offer NIS 20,000 to any Jew who buys a housing unit in the planned Har Homa settlement on Jabal Abu Ghneim and to allocate NIS 400 million. to develop the infrastructure of East Jerusalem.

May 10: Public Security Min. Avigdor Kahalani issues an order closing the office of Faisal Husseini, as well as the maps and international relations departments at Orient House, on the grounds that they represent the PA. The order is handed the next day to Orient House and appealed by a group of Israelis, who succeed in getting an injunction from the High Court postponing the case until after the Israeli elections.

May 11: The 5 km, $60 million Ma'ale Adumim-Jerusalem road, incl. a 500-m tunnel under Mt. Scopus, is dedicated by Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert.

May 13: Israeli extremists from the Temple Mount Faithful group are blocked from entering the Orient House to protest the Israeli failure to close the building.

May 14: Yerushalayim reports that the Local Council for Planning and Building has approved construction of 900 units in the Palestinian village of Anata, part of which lies within Jerusalem's municipal border. There are currently 200 dwelling units in the village.

May 16: Israeli bulldozers begin uprooting trees in Jabal Abu Ghneim while two of the seven contractors begin construction on the first 150 housing units.

- US Ambassador to Israel, Ned Walker, has set up a ‘secondary residence’ in Jerusalem, angering the Palestinians.

- Jewish settlers confiscate 500 dunums from Kufr 'Aqab village to expand Kochav Yacov settlement.

May 18: Settlement construction begins on a plot in Ras Al-Amud, where US Jewish millionaire Moskovitz intends to build 132 apartments for Israeli settlers.

May 19: The Israeli High Court postpones the case to close three Orient House offices for one week.

- Pressure is growing in the US Congress to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz) is proposing new legislation demanding that Clinton agree to move the embassy and taking away the President's existing national security waiver authority to suspend such a move. Senator Daniel Moynihan (D-NY) has further proposed that the US designate a Jerusalem hotel for ambassadorial functions while not physically moving the offices.

May 20: Palestinian special envoy to the UN, Nasser Al-Qidwa, calls on the UNSC to halt all Israeli construction in Ras Al-Amud and on Jabal Abu Ghneim.

May 27: Israeli forces violently attack journalists, PLC members and other protestors demonstrating in Ras Al-Amud against Israel's illegal settlement activities in Jerusalem.

- Israeli authorities issue the Ghuzlan family from Silwan a warning order to evacuate their house immediately, along with an offer of $75,000 in compensation for the house.

- The Israeli army seals off four Palestinian schools in the Dahiet Al-Barid area, claiming that students have thrown stones at soldiers. As a result of the closure, final exams have to be postponed.

- MK Tawfik Khatib of the United Arab List calls for the revival of all mosques located in Jerusalem, many of which have been standing idle since the establishment of Israel, in order to strengthen the Muslim presence throughout the city.

May 28: Palestinian protests of the confiscation of four acres of land at Ras Al-Amud turn violent with Israeli policbeating foreign journalists and Palestinian demonstrators.

May 31: Netanyahu's Govt. has approved a plan to expand the borders of Ma'ale Adumim settlement at a cost of approx. 13,443 dunums of Palestinian land in order to create a single settlement bloc from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. The decision forms part of the Greater Jerusalem plan and will divide the West Bank into northern and southern zones.

- Israeli authorities prohibit a march led by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch from entering the tomb of Prophet David on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem on the occasion of the Ansara feast.

June 2: Ha’aretz reports about the Master Plan, prepared by the Israeli Housing Min., for a ‘garden city’ in the Etzion Bloc to expand the area by 30,000 dunums on ‘state land’ and add artificial lakes and 7,500 housing units between the settlements of Gva'ot and Betar Illit.

- Ha’aretz reports about growing pressure from the WJM to appoint Jews to the positions of head of the Arab Education Dept. and of Community Centers and Clubs in East Jerusalem in order to lessen the influence of the Palestinian Authority in East Jerusalem.

June 3: Ha’aretz reports that the apartment sales at Har Homa are a success with some 700 of the 840 units approved for construction having been sold.

June 4: Kol Ha’ir reports that the Civil Administration declared the area between the settlements of Neve Ya'akov and Adam as ‘state land’, in order for the Housing Min. to prepare a master plan for a new settlement on the site.

- Yerushalayim reports that the WJM is planning an operation of house demolitions in East Jerusalem as a policy of deterrence to come down on ‘building offenders’, using aerial photography to locate illegal buildings.

June 7: Israeli forces demolish the two-story house of Mohammed Abu Khader from Shu'fat, home to 16 people, without prior warning.

June 9: Jewish extremists seize a Palestinian house in Wadi Al-Hilweh/Silwan.

June 9: The Islamic Waqf indefinitely closes Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to tourists to protest attempts by Jewish extremists to pray at the site.

June 10: UNESCO adopts a unanimous decision calling for the appointment of an international figure to prepare a report on conditions in Jerusalem, in terms of violations of the Hague and Geneva conventions pertaining to lands under occupation.

June 11: WJM officials claim that the PA has ‘conquered’ whole neighborhoods in East Jerusalem due to a lack of municipal services there, which they consider a serious blow to Israeli sovereignty.

June 11: In Amman, the Qatari-Palestinian Committee for Saving Jerusalem convenes and Qatar approves $500,000 million in aid for Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem, to be funneled through the Palestinian Chairman of the Committee, Faisal Husseini, the head of Orient House.

June 13: According to the WJM, there are more Jews leaving Jerusalem than moving in. In 1997, some 15,000 Jews left while only some 7,700 moved in (net loss of some 7,300 Jewish residents).

June 15: Ha’aretz reveals information obtained by the Israeli Interior Min. that Israel confiscated 117 ID cards from Palestinian Jerusalemites in the first five months of 1999.

June 17: In Abu Dis, the Israeli authorities demolish two buildings under construction, owned by the As-Sinawi and Abu Sneneh families.

- In Jabal Mukabber, Israeli bulldozers, guarded by the army, uproot olive trees from land owned by Khalil Aqil.

June 18: A new Israeli plan to construct a Jewish neighborhood of 350 housing units on 115 dunums of confiscated land in Jabal Mukabber is disclosed.

June 18: Pres. Clinton overrules Congress and keeps the US Embassy in Israel from relocating to Jerusalem. Under law, the shift was supposed to begin 31 May 1999 (Senate ruling, 1995) unless Clinton decided it would jeopardize US national security.

June 18: Kol Ha’ir reports that settlers of the Elad group have bought another house in Silwan last month from Saida Azbur.

- Kol Ha'ir reports that due to budgetary considerations, the WJM has frozen the planning of a new settlement area in Abu Dis, reversing a decision made on May 5.

June 20: Mufti Sheikh Ekrima Sabri briefs consuls on Israeli practices against Al-Aqsa Mosque and calls for their support.

June 21: The Israeli press reports that 40 contractors have bid on the third tender issued for construction at Har Homa (compared to 14 in the previous two rounds). Over 1,700 units have already been sold.

June 22: The WJM demolishes the 160 sq. meter home of Khalid Ali As-Sahuri home in the As-Sal’a quarter near Jabal Mukabber.

June 26: Israeli army bulldozers unearth Palestinian plots at Anata and Jaba’ villages near Jerusalem to build a new Jewish industrial zone.

June 27: Ma'ariv reports about the approval of a Housing Min. plan for the construction of 1,800 units in the WB adjacent to Neve Ya’acov settlement aimed at linking it with the WB settlement of Adam. The area will reportedly be annexed to the WJM upon the completion of construction.

June 29: An Israeli military order is issued to demolish a nearly completed mosque in Ras Al-Amud for allegedly being built without a permit.

June 1999: The Jerusalem district court sentences Shmuel Kornblit to 18 months in prison for leading a pogrom at an apartment owned by Christians in Jerusalem's Ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood. The presiding judge did not accept the defendant's claim that the attack was carried out because the residents were conducting missionary work, and ruled that the residents were attacked because of their faith.

July 4: Under heavy police guard an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish couple belonging to Ateret Cohanim moves with their 11 children into the Muslim Quarter of the Old City (house belonging to Jamal Khoury).

- The Committee for Land Defense states that the Israeli Interior Min. and the WJM plan to demolish 2,100 houses, mainly in the Beit Hanina and Jabal Mukabber neighborhoods.

July 5: Israeli bulldozers clear land for a planned Jewish 132 unit settlement in Ras Al-Amud, financed by US millionaire Irving Moskowitz.

- MK Haim Ramon (One Israel) is appointed new Min. for Jerusalem Affairs in the PM’s Office.

July 12: After years of legal and political struggle, the Israeli Defense Min. and Civil Administration approves plans for a settlement of the Jahalin Bedouin on 240 dunums of ‘state land’ next to Ma’ale Adumim.

July 14: Turkish Pres. Suleiman Demirel visits Al-Aqsa Mosque during his official visit to Israel.

July 14-25: Israeli soldiers assault the property of Ibrahim Halaseh in As-Sawahreh Ash-Sharqiyyeh three times and uproot 200 trees and grape vines.

July 19: The Israeli Govt. extends emergency regulations that allow them to detain Palestinian prisoners in the OPT for long periods without trial (administrative detention).

July 20: Ha’aretz reports that Israeli militants are raising funds to rebuild the Jewish temple on the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The campaign is led by Yehuda Etzion, who was jailed in the 1980s for organizing attacks on Palestinians, and involves several right-wing religious groups.

- Interior Min. Natan Sharansky, visiting the Ministry’s East Jerusalem branch, promises changes in the policy of revoking the residency rights of East Jerusalem Palestinians and in the conditions of the ministry.

July 21: Members of the extremist Temple Mount Faithful attempt to enter Haram Ash-Sharif compound and call for the destruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque, provoking confrontations with Muslim worshippers.

- Israeli Min. of Public Security, Shlomo Ben Ami, and PLO Executive Committee member Faisal Husseini agree that no unlicensed political activities would take place in the Orient House.

July 22: Three Jewish extremists of the outlawed Kach group are arrested in the night after scuffling with Palestinians and throwing pamphlets on the grounds of Al-Aqsa Mosque that call on Jews to “expel the strangers from the Temple Mount.'' The day after the assault, the Waqf decides to close the Haram Ash-Sharif compound in protest.

July 23: According to Israeli press reports, the Israeli Interior Min. and the WJM plan to move the Interior Min. to a building now hosting Al-Mamouniah Girls’ School in Wadi Al-Joz.

July 23: The newspaper Forward reports that Texas Governor George Bush has promised to implement the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act of 1995 if he is elected president next year. The Act requires the move of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

July 26: PLC speaker Ahmed Qrei’a makes an unprecedented visit to the Knesset at the invitation of Knesset speaker Avraham Burg.

July 27: The Arab population of Jerusalem is growing over three times faster than the Holy City's population of Jews according to a study by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies.

July 29: Addressing the largest Jewish women's organization in the US (‘Hadassah’), First Lady Hillary Clinton expresses her support for the establishment of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Mrs. Clinton seeks a seat as a member of the Senate for the state of New York, which contains the largest Jewish population in the US.

July 29: Jewish settlers occupy an old storehouse owned by Palestinian Ayed Castero in the Old City.

- An invitation to tender is published for the building of 45 housing units over 11 dunums of land in the Talet Shu'fat settlement.

July 30: The Israeli Housing Min. invites new tender to build 45 housing units for Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Shu’fat.

Aug. 2: A Gallup poll of adult Israeli Jews shows that 63.6% believe that moving the US embassy to Jerusalem will not harm Israel’s chances of peace with the Palestinians.

Aug. 3: According to 1998 statistics published by the WJM, 30% of Jerusalem's Jewish residents are Haredim, with Haredi students making up 49.9% of all the city's Jewish student population and Haredi children accounting for 58% of the children in pre-schools.

Aug. 4: Palestinians hold protest "sit-ins" in various areas around Jerusalem demanding a halt to Israeli construction in Ras Al-Amud.

Aug. 5: The Israeli Interior Min. and the WJM have agreed to suspend demolition orders for illegally built houses in East Jerusalem if the Palestinian residents in turn commit themselves not to build any more unauthorized structures. Both sides will work to update the existing master plan to meet the needs of residents.

Aug. 6: The PA is establishing an ‘Office for Jerusalem Affairs’ in Abu Dis to be headed by Ziad Abu Zayyad, member of the PA Cabinet.

- Kol Ha’ir reports that the public cost of providing 300 private security guards for the 1,500 Israeli settlers in the Old City and East Jerusalem (Silwan, Shimon Hatzadik, Ras Al-Amud) amounts to almost NIS 20 million.

Aug. 8: The Arab League threatens a boycott of US fast-food chain Burger King if it does not close a new restaurant it opened on occupied land in the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim.

Aug. 9: Israeli press reports say that some 500 closed circuit cameras are to be installed in the Old City to monitor events within its walls.

Aug. 10: Israeli police prevent the expansion of a window opened up by the Waqf to provide light and air for basement rooms under the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The police interference sparks Muslim protests. (The extremist Temple Mount Faithful group has petitioned the High Court of Justice to immediately halt the ‘unlicensed’ construction work).

- Ha’aretz reports that 30% of elementary school students in East Jerusalem are illiterate, and 40% of its high school students drop out of school due to substandard, outdated teaching methods and poor facilities. These are the findings of a secret Israeli report compiled in 1998 by a committee, headed by then-Dir.-Gen. of the Education Min., Ben Zion Dell. Despite requests by various bodies, the report was not released until yesterday. It states that some $14 million are needed to improve the situation.

Aug. 11: The Arab League condemns Israel for closing a new window opened by the Waqf to provide light and air for basement rooms under the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Iran calls the Israeli move a “Zionist attack on Islam's holy sites”.

- Some 300 Palestinians scuffle with Israeli soldiers in Wallaje village after Israeli forces destroy two houses belonging to the Khalifa family for being built illegally. They are destroyed, even though the village is not included in the Jerusalem Master Plan. Because its residents do not have Jerusalem ID cards and half of them do no pay municipal taxes, they are not considered to be within the city limits. The city does not supply any basic services.

Aug. 12: Palestinians protest against Israel’s attempt to close off Bethlehem from Jerusalem by building an checkpoint resembling the Eretz border crossing.

Aug. 13: Under Israeli pressure, Theodoris (the Greek Orthodox Patriarch) orders his bishops not to attend the meetings of the Council. The group (established last year in the wake of controversial land sales by the Greek Orthodox Church in Nazareth and Jaffa) was composed of four Jordanians, four Palestinians (appointed by Arafat) and eight Greek Orthodox bishops. Its intention was to ensure Palestinian control over the Church’s assets in East and West Jerusalem.

Aug. 15: Five Jerusalemites from Hai Al-Wad in the Old City are injured in an assault by a large number of border forces, police and settlers.

Aug. 17: The Islamic Waqf decides to establish an investment department in order to encourage Palestinian residents to invest in Waqf property in the Jerusalem area.

Aug. 19: The Temple Mount Faithful group petitions the Israeli High Court to oblige the state’s institutions to put an immediate stop to construction work by the Muslim Waqf next to the Hulda Gate, claiming that the aim is building mosques in the underground spaces there.

- The Construction and Housing Min. publishes building tenders for 1,055 housing units in the territories: 594 units in Givat Ze’ev and 461 units in Ma’ale Adumim.

Aug. 22: The PLC protests the bill of the US Congress to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Aug. 23: Israeli PM Barak has explicitly asked members of Congress to stop trying to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in order not “to give the Palestinians any pretext for delaying the peace talks or postponing them".

Aug. 24: As part of a WJM tax collection campaign, the Israeli tax authorities seize three shops on Salah Ad-Din Street, owned by Ikram Karameh, Hasan Abu Al-Hawa and Wafa Istanbuli.

Aug. 26: Burger King closes down its franchise operation in Ma’ale Adumim settlement after weeks of protest and a warning by Arab states that they will vote to boycott Burger King at the Arab League meeting in Sept.

- US Muslim organizations have approached the Walt Disney Company to protest a planned exhibit called ‘Jerusalem, Capital of Israel’ at DisneyWorld in Florida.

Aug. 29: Construction of apartments begins on Jabal Abu Ghneim (Har Homa).

Aug. 30: Israeli forces destroy the house of Bassam Adama from At-Tur.

Sept. 4: The Israeli High Court rules in favor of the Abbasi family from Silwan in their dispute with the Ir David settler group that claims ownership to the family residence.

Sept. 5: Palestinians in East Jerusalem observe a general strike to protest against the new Sharm Esh-Sheikh Accord signed with Israel, which rules out the release of Arab prisoners from Jerusalem. Dozens of protestors hold a sit-in at Orient House.

Sept. 6: The Arab League has urged Saudi Arabia and Morocco to take firm action against a Disney exhibition that includes an Israeli pavilion, displaying Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Sept. 7: The UAE vows to ban all Walt Disney products if the controversial exhibit depicting Jerusalem as Israel's capital goes ahead.

Sept. 12: Israeli military authorities close off the WBGS for four days on the occasion of the Jewish New Year.

Sept. 14: WJM Mayor Ehud Olmert, on Israel Radio, calls for an increase in the number of Jews in Jerusalem, saying the future of the city is in danger with the current trend of a rapidly dwindling Jewish majority.

- PM Barak vows that the Israeli Govt. will work to strengthen its sovereignty in Jerusalem just a few hours after the opening ceremony of the final status talks.

Sept. 16: According to data provided by the Israeli Interior Min. to Ha’aretz, Israel has confiscated 127 ID cards oPalestinian Jerusalemites between Jan.-April 1999, putting the total number of confiscated ID cards since 1991 at 2,812.

Sept. 17: Facing pressure from Arab nations, Disney officials say that the controversial exhibit on Israel - as part of the DisneyWorld’s ‘Millennium Village’ due to open on Oct. 1 - will not designate Jerusalem as the political capital of Israel.

- Kol Ha’ir reports that the Jewish National Fund is attempting to purchase land in Shimon Hatzadik near Sheikh Jarrah for a settler group headed by MK Benny Elon (Moledet), which for the past year has been moving settlers into houses in the quarter and repairing the old synagogue.

- Kol Ha’ir reports that the Min. of Housing has approved a project, called “Little Switzerland,” involving the construction of a new settlement (Ir Ganim = City of Gardens) in the Etzion Bloc, the flooding of thousands of acres of land to create artificial lakes, and a tourist park.

Sept. 25: UNESCO launches their World Heritage 2000 project, emphasizing Jerusalem's historic sites and the need to rehabilitate the Old City of Jerusalem.

Sept. 26: The Israeli High Court rejects an appeal by the Temple Mount Faithful group for Jewish prayer services on the Haram Ash-Sharif compound after the head of the Jerusalem District police said such a permission would be met with violence.

Sept. 27: Peace Now reports that the Barak Govt. has awarded tenders for the construction of some 2,600 houses in the WB since it took office in July, mainly in settlements around Jerusalem, Hebron, and Nablus.

Sept. 30: The PA demands that the Israeli Tishbi Estate Winery remove a Jerusalem 2000 wine label that depicts the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. The winery complies after Palestinians and Arabs vehemently condemned the sticker worldwide.

Oct. 1: Ha’aretz reports that extremists from the Temple Mount Faithful intend to buy a three-dunum plot of land on the Haram Ash-Sharif compound, registered as family Waqf (Abu Saoud family) rather than as part of the general Waqf.

- Israeli police shoot and kill Khader Badwan, 26, from Biddu and seriously injured his friend, Ayman Sheikh, after chasing their car on the Jerusalem/Nabi Samuel road as the police suspected the car was stolen.

- The British construction company Town Planning and Urban Development and the Greek Orthodox Church have reached an agreement. It is for the building of a large Jewish neighborhood on the lands of the Mar Elias monastery, which will link Har Homa and Gilo and create a continuity of Jewish building south of Jerusalem.

Oct. 2: Dozens of children in Gaza set fire to US flags and Disney toys in protest of the controversial Israeli pavilion in Disney's millennium exhibition depicting Jerusalem as the “heart of the Israeli people", which opened Oct. 1.

Oct. 3: In a speech inaugurating an archaeological site – ‘Hulda Gates’ – adjacent to the Al-Aqsa compound PM Barak says that Jerusalem will be a symbol of coexistence, adding “under Israeli sovereignty”, which was not included in the original text handed out earlier to journalists. WJM Mayor Ehud Olmert states on the same occasion: "The more we dig, the more we confirm what we have always known: that this city was our capital and center of life. It shall remain this way, one whole and unified city."

- Ma’ariv reports that the boundaries of Ma’ale Adumim’s will be expanded to create contiguity between it and Jerusalem’s judicial boundaries.

Oct. 5: An Israeli court acquits Jewish extremist Avigdor Eskin of plotting to throw a pig's head onto Al-Aqsa compound during Ramadan prayers but convicts him of plotting to deface a Muslim grave with a pig's head and plotting to burn down an Israeli peace group's office.

Oct. 6: The Israeli High Court hears a petition by residents from Izzariya, Abu Dis, and the Jerusalem Legal Aid Center demanding the cancellation of the E1 Plan in Ma’ale Adumim as it would pre-empt the outcome of the final status talks on Jerusalem. (The plan uses lands expropriated from the villages of Abu Dis, Izzariya, Issawiya, At-Tur, and Anata to expand Ma'ale Adumim in a way that would hamper the territorial continuity of the West Bank.)

Oct. 8: The Temple Mount Faithful has urged wealthy Jews from around the world to help seize a number of Arab houses in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and circulates a model drawing of the envisioned Temple to be build at the site of Al-Aqsa.

Oct. 17: Israeli Interior Min. Natan Sharanksy announces an end to Israel’s ‘center of life policy’ applied to Palestinian Jerusalemites and forming the basis for the revocation of their ID cards.

Oct. 19: Shmuel Kornblit, the ultra-Orthodox extremist convicted of burning the apartment of Christian women in Mea Shearim and imprisoned a year ago, is released before time and welcomed as a national hero by 40,000 Haredim. The court sentenced him to one and a half years in jail.

Oct. 25: Israeli forces demolish a house in Beit Hanina, owned by Kamel Abu Dheileh, Odeh Khader, and Najwah Imteir, and home to 24 family members for over 8 years.

Oct. 26: Israeli forces demolish the family house of Ihab Nasser in Issawiya for being built illegally. The family was informed that the land on which the house was built had also been confiscated.

- Israeli forces arrest two of Faisal Husseini's bodyguards during a scuffle with a Shin Bet agent at the American Colony Hotel, who tried to enter the room where Husseini and British FM Robin Cook were to meet.

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