1998 Settlement Timeline
December 31, 1998
A tender is published for the construction of 400 dwelling units in the settlement of Ofarim.
December 29, 1998
Yediot Aharanot details Operation Mango--a review of the value of all Israeli civilian settlements on the Golan Heights which was initiated by the government of Yitzhak Rabin. The value of the 31 Golan settlements, excluding the largest, Katzrin, was estimated at $2.5 billion.
December 28, 1998
The civil administration demolishes two homes in the village of Kafal Charti near Ariel.
December 24, 1998
A tender for the construction of 136 units in the settlement of Alfe Menache is published.
December 21, 1998
It is announced that a series of unmanned "smart roadblocks" will be set up along the "seam border" dividing Israel and some settlements from the West Bank. Advanced electro-optics will be used to monitor the passages.
December 18, 1998
Kol Ha'ir reports that a third family has moved into the complex at Ras al Amud, further eroding commitments made to the Clinton administration in late 1997.
A 147-unit housing development is announced for the settlement of Mitzpe Jericho, 20km northeast of Jerusalem, overlooking Jericho. Completion of the project will almost double the population of the settlement, currently home to 180 families. The project's developer anticipates heavy demand for the units, which are priced from $75,000 to $110,000.
The beginning of work on a $180 million tunnel under Jerusalem's Mt. Scopus to link Israel's national road network with the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim is announced.
Kol Ha'ir reports that from January 1996 to March, 1998
two thousand Palestinians carrying East Jerusalem identity documents were denied the right to live in East Jerusalem by Israel, compared with 327 people between 1987 and 1995.
December 16, 1998
The Knesset Finance Committee approves $6.5 million for settlement housing and infrastructure construction.
Peace Now reports that housing starts in West Bank settlements increased by 136 percent during the first half of 1998, compared with a similar period in 1997. Using figures compiled by the Central Bureau of Statistics, Peace Now reports that there were 1,420 starts in the first half of 1998, compared with 600 in the same period one year earlier. Government construction increased by 245 percent--from 290 to 970 units--while private-sector construction in settlements increased by 45 percent--from 310 to 450 units. At the end of June 1998, there were 3,390 units in various phases of construction, an increase of 16 percent over June 1997. The public sector contribution to this figure increased by 41 percent--from 1,660 units in June 1997 to 2,340 in June 1998.
December 15, 1998
The head of the Gaza regional settlement council, Aaron Tzur, announces that the settler population in Gaza increased by 14 percent during 1998, "most of them young families."
December 14, 1998
U.S. President Bill Clinton, in Gaza on a state visit, notes his "understanding [of] the Palestinian concern about settlement activities."
December 13, 1998
The Benjamin Regional Council begins marketing a 650 dunam, high-tech park outside Jerusalem. The land sells for $40,000 per dunam, including development costs, and the 50 companies envisioned for the site are to enjoy all Priority Area A benefits and subsidies.
December 11, 1998
Kol Ha'ir reports that U.S. ambassador Ned Walker intervened to prevent the expulsion of an extended Palestinian family of 20 from a home in Silwan after receiving an order from an Israeli court to vacate in favor of the settlement organization Elad.
More than 90 percent of residents of Ganim, and 40 percent of the residents of Homesh--both settlements near Jenin--are reported to have signed a petition stating their willingness to leave the settlements in return for compensation. Organized efforts along similar lines have appeared in the nearby settlements of Mevo Dotan, Sa-Nur, and Kadim. Residents are considering demanding compensation of between $500,000 and $700,000 per family.
December 10, 1998
A tender in the Gaza settlement of Nisanit is published in Yediot Aharanot for the construction of four homes. A tender for the construction of 320 dwelling units in the West Bank settlement of Ariel is published in Ha'aretz.
December 9, 1998
Stone-throwing attacks and roadblocks against Israelis are reported on the Bet-Haggai-Otniel Road near al-Fuar in the southern Hebron area. The road is closed by about 150 Palestinian demonstrators.
December 8, 1998
Prime Minister Netanyahu promises security and road improvements costing millions of shekels to residents from Ganim and Kadim protesting outside his Jerusalem home after a settler was wounded by gunfire.
December 7, 1998
For the sixth time in a two- week period, trucks are prevented from bringing supplies into Netzarim by PA forces. The PA insists that construction in the community is a violation of agreements signed with Israel.
December 6, 1998
Palestinians protest near the settlements of Ariel, Ateret, Neve Tzuf and Eli.
December 5, 1998
The settlement's security chief noted that, "We have to act like the days of the tower and stockade. We have to operate in [the Palestinian] areas, so that they, and not we, will fear leaving their villages. After these events it is necessary to punish them by cutting off their electricity or telephones for a day or two."
About 150 Palestinians break through the security fence of the settlement of Ariel.
December 4, 1998
The IDF is reportedly preparing an order expropriating privately owned Palestinian land north of the settlement of Bet El for use in the construction of the settlement's security fence.
An ad in the Orthodox Jewish press touts the benefits of the new housing development of Tel Zion "in north Jerusalem." The Ministry of Housing, however, "forgot" to explain that the "new neighborhood" is part of the West Bank settlement of Kochav Ya'acov.
December 3, 1998
IDF regulars deploy in the Bethlehem area, replacing reserve units who usually serve there. Commanders admit that the deployment is in preparation for tensions in the aftermath of the Wye memorandum.
Palestinian villagers from Kariot attempt to infiltrate the Giva Tet neighborhood of the settlement of Eli, south of Nablus.
Israeli settlers block Palestinian motorists at the Karni Crossing to Gaza in retaliation for the PA's frequently stopping trucks en route to construction projects in the Gaza settlement of Netzarim. The last such incident delayed several cement trucks for more than 14 hours. In a retaliatory move following that episode, the IDF ordered an immediate closing of the VIP lane at the Erez crossing.
December 2, 1998
Ma'ariv reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu has given the "green light" to resume the demolition of houses built illegally by Palestinians in the Jerusalem area.
Ma'ariv reports the Ministry of Housing's approval of the construction of 480 homes in the settlement of Kochav Ya'acov, which triples the settlement's size. Almost one half of the homes are already under construction.
December 1, 1998
Palestinian Council head Abu Ala notes on Voice of Palestine, "No negotiations whatsoever can be conducted as long as settlement expansion continues."
Israelwire reports the planned establishment of a new command college aimed at preparing soldiers and officers for warfare in the West Bank. It is to emphasize combat in an urban environment, and to prepare troops for warfare or attacks inside settlement communities.
November 26, 1998
The IDF declares the area of Brukin, near Kalkilya, a "closed military zone" following Palestinian protests aimed at stopping road work in the area.
November 25, 1998
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai approve, in principle, the permanent presence of settlers at the old railway station at Sebastia, near Nablus. A religious seminary and a museum of the settlement history in Samaria are to be established at the site.
November 23, 1998
The Israeli Defense Force submits a defense plan costing $40 million for the defense of 18 settlements defined as "settlements in great danger" as a consequence of their proximity to areas under Palestinian control. The plan includes construction of circuitous patrol roads and moats, creation of firing emplacements and guard towers known as "hedgehogs," and placement of lighting, closed-circuit cameras, and electronic gates (and in some cases complete fences) around settlements.
November 23, 1998
Residents of northern West Bank settlements set up a temporary encampment on what is known as Hill 792 near Elon Moreh.
November 22, 1998
Israeli finance minister Ya'acov Ne'eman departs for Washington to discuss Israel's $1.2 billion request to fortify settlements, construct bypass roads, and assist in the IDF redeployment called for in the Wye accord.
It is reported that in 1999 the Industry and Trade Ministry will invest $1.2 million in tourism, industry and high-tech projects in the settlement of Kiryat Arba near Hebron. Another $500,000 will be allocated for area improvements and a gas station at the northern entrance to Kiryat Arba.
A new order is issued allowing the army and police to remove Israeli "squatters" from an illegal residence in the West Bank up to 30 days from the serving of the order to evacuate.
IDF troops remove residents of the settlement of Shavei Shomron (near Nablus) from the old train station in Sebastia.
November 20, 1998
Redeployment of Israeli troops from the Jenin area of the West Bank begins, including deployment from approximately 500 square kilometers, or 9.1 percent of the West Bank in the Jenin area. Two percent of Area C, under total Israeli control, will become Area B, under joint Israeli-Palestinian control, and 7.1 percent of Area B will become Area A, under total PA control.
November 19, 1998
At a meeting of Fatah, Faisal Husseini says, "To fight the cancer of settlement activity is a sacred duty, because the continuation of this activity will torpedo the peace process."
Arab residents of Yutma, south of Nablus, obstruct construction of the new bypass road from Eli to Tapuach.
Israel Radio reports security cabinet approval of the construction of 12 access roads to settlements in the West Bank that will bypass Palestinian areas.
Ahmed Tibi, an adviser to Palestinian leader Arafat, states that if Israel proceeds with the new policy "it would be the biggest robbery of the century," and that Palestinians will not remain idle.
Agence France Presse reports that Israel is considering seizing another 10 percent of the West Bank by changing the legal status of some 500,000 dunams of land. "Accelerated" procedures formulated by Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein may allow the conversion to take place within four years. This change in status will begin in the area of Rachelim, south of Tapuach junction, entitling the Shomron (Samaria) Regional Council to consider the outpost a regular community. The settlement will soon admit ten new families. The civil administration has asked for a budget of $250,000 per year to complete transferring survey land to government land within four years.
November 18, 1998
Settlers from Kedumim (near Nablus), declaring that "the government is with us," attempt for the third time to establish temporary structures in order to lay claim to 1,500 dunams west of the settlement and beyond its master plan boundary.
MK Yossi Katz introduces a bill requiring government compensation for settlers forced to give up their homes if their settlements become isolated outposts in Palestinian territories.
Ha'aretz reports that IDF troops evict settlers attempting a land grab on a hilltop west of their settlement near Nahal Tena south of Hebron.
The Knesset ratifies the Wye accord by a 75 to 19 margin with 19 abstentions.
November 16, 1998
A group of rabbis circulates a decision noting, "Every agreement reached by representatives of the People of Israel that contradicts the Law of Israel [The Old Testament] has no value and there is no requirement to enforce it. Discussion on the transfer of parts of the Land of Israel to non-Jews endangers the Life of Israel, and every effort to assist this transfer contributes to the spilling of blood in Israel."
A settler from Hermesh is shot while traveling to the settlement near Jenin. The settlement's council leader complained, "We feel abandoned. The intifada was better than this. At least then we knew what to expect. Today, we do not know what to expect from day to day."
An Israeli judge sentences a teenager to a two-year prison term for manslaughter for using a pole stuck out of a moving car to kill a 49-year-old Palestinian on June 16. The driver, who fled the scene, was exculpated.
Three days before the scheduled Israeli redeployment, Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon tells Israeli settlers, "It is not true that settlements will be completely surrounded [after the upcoming withdrawal]. But everyone there should move, and take over more and more hills. The time is coming when whatever we take, will be ours, and whatever they take, will be theirs. Whoever can help in this, should help. 'With cunning you should fight wars.'" Sharon later says that he was referring to land only within settlement planning boundaries.
November 13, 1998
Israelwire reports that the cabinet accepts Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai's view that the likelihood of Arab unrest in response to the expropriation of land for the planned Arroub bypass road justifies putting the project on hold.
November 12, 1998
The first tender for construction of 1,025 dwelling units at the new Har Homa Jerusalem suburb is published by the Ministry of Housing.
November 11, 1998
The Netanyahu cabinet approves the Wye accord by a vote of 8 to 4, with 5 abstentions. The cabinet also approves the construction of 11 new bypass roads.
November 9, 1998
Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala), speaker of the Palestinian Council, declares, "We cannot sit around doing nothing, and we won't be able to prevent the explosion caused by the provocation of the settlements."
Ha'aretz reports that the Ministry of Housing is supporting additional incentives for settlement in 12 towns, including Jerusalem, and the settlements of Alfe Menache and Ariel. In both settlements new construction has been limited by lack of demand.
Ha'aretz reports new settlement activity at a hill near the West Bank settlement of Dolev and the Talmonim settlements on a hilltop northwest of Ramallah, more near Alon Shvut in the Etzion Bloc, as well as some both east and west of Shilo. Peace Now claims that at least three other new settlement sites--near Alfe Menashe, Avnei Hefetz and Bracha--have been established since Wye.
November 5, 1998
The civil administration issues an order to stop work on an unauthorized settlement site west of the settlement of Eli (near Nablus), where three caravans and two hothouses had been erected.
Ha'aretz reports that illegal road construction continues on Har Mona near the settlement of Ofra. It also reports that, according to Peace Now, 5,883 legal settlement units were under construction in August.
November 4, 1998
An Israeli delegation leaves for Brussels to negotiate a package to end a dispute over Israel's export of goods produced in settlements to the European Union (EU) under the Israel-EU free trade agreement. According to Ha'aretz, Israel is proposing that in return for its agreement to permit direct economic relations between the EU and the PA, the export of settlement goods under the free trade agreement will be permitted.
Former IDF chief of staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak is reported by Ha'aretz to have said that the Netanyahu government is prepared to evacuate settlements as part of a final-status agreement.
Seventeen new caravans are brought to the settlement of Avnei Hefetz, east of Tulkarem. The civil administration had approved the transfer.
A master plan for the settlement of Reichan, near Jenin, is approved by the civil administration. The plan includes hundreds of dunams taken from the village of Ya'abad.
The YESHA Council issues written instructions to rabbis serving in West Bank and Gaza settlements to encourage community protest of the Wye accord.
November 3, 1998
Russia issues a statement condemning settlement construction on Ras al-Amud. The Foreign Ministry spokesman warns that the new settlement may provoke violence and undermine recent diplomatic progress.
November 2, 1998
Government agents confiscate a tractor at work on the new area of Mitzpe Danny in the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Michmas.
The Wye memorandum goes into effect.
Expansion of Kiryat Arba begins with the construction of 200 housing units.
November 1, 1998
PA negotiator Saeb Erekat, in a letter to Israel and all foreign diplomats serving in Israel, calls for an end to settlement expansion in Ras al-Amud and other sites. He also asks the U.S. to intervene to stop Israel's settlement efforts.
Residents of the Etzion Bloc near Bethlehem place seven caravans 2 km east of the settlement of Alon Shvut at Khirbet Sawir. The site is outside the master plan boundary of the settlement but efforts are underway to include it.
Bulldozing and fencing begin on Ras al-Amud. Included among those Israelis living at the site is the daughter of Uri Elitzur, head of the Prime Minister's Office.
October 30, 1998
Government officials approve the construction of a perimeter fence surrounding the Ateret Cohanim Yeshiva properties located on the Mount of Olives (Ras al-Amud) section of Jerusalem.
As a consequence of the Wye agreement, YESHA leaders agree to begin a program of "creating facts" on numerous hilltop sites in the central West Bank. YESHA chairman Wallerstein notes, "We fear that after approval of the Washington agreement the Americans will take ariel photographs (of the West Bank) and we will not be able to create any more facts on the ground."
The Israeli cabinet allocates funds for the protection of West Bank settlements. Construction was to begin November 1, with an immediate allocation of $60 million for bypass roads.
October 29, 1998
A Palestinian driving an explosive-laden vehicle is prevented by an IDF escort jeep from crashing into a school bus from the Gaza Strip settlement of Kfar Darom to the nearby settlement of Atzmona. One soldier and the Palestinian driver are killed when the vehicle is detonated. A caller claiming responsibility for the attack states, "The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, declares that it has carried out a wonderful operation to suppress the settlers everywhere on our occupied land in the Gaza Strip and West Bank."
October 28, 1998
Netanyahu stresses to settlers that bypass roads to all settlements will continue to be under Israeli control after the redeployments outlined in the Wye memorandum.
In the wake of the Wye memorandum, security around Prime Minister Netanyahu is increased. Netanyahu will no longer be driven into the West Bank, but will travel there only by helicopter.
October 27, 1998
Al-Ayyam reports the beginning of construction of a reservoir for the Almon settlement and a military camp on lands of Anata village near Jerusalem.
October 26, 1998
The Council of Rabbis of the Land of Israel condemns the Wye agreement, stating "It is forbidden to lend a hand to this terrible agreement." The council calls for new elections.
The leadership of YESHA votes to support early national elections and to search for an alternative candidate to Netanyahu. YESHA chairman Pinchas Wallerstein, an opponent of the plan, leaves the meeting in protest.
A settler from Kiryat Arba near Hebron is shot and killed by a Palestinian. A Palestinian from Beit Furik, near Nablus, is killed by a settler. At the funeral of the settler in Kiryat Arba, demonstrators call Prime Minister Netanyahu a traitor.
October 25, 1998
Key transport corridors in the West Bank are disrupted by settlers protesting the Wye memorandum.
Police prevent construction work at the 15 dunam plot in Ras al-Amud that is owned by a Jewish seminary.
October 20, 1998
A draft national master plan suggests the construction of a main north-south road (Road Number 8) parallel to Road Number 6 east of the Green Line by 2020.
The Knesset Finance Committee approves $2.5 million for construction at Tel Rumeida.
Israel's chief of military intelligence warns that constructing bulletproof prefabricated homes in Hebron's Tel Rumeida settlement will cause more unrest and instability in the city.
October 19, 1998
IDF sources estimate that the costs incurred for protecting settlements as a consequence of redeployment will reach $75 million. Other military-related relocation costs are estimated at $250 million.
October 16, 1998
A military order is issued enabling Israel's Ministry of the Environment to undertake enforcement actions and to apply Israeli environmental legislation in West Bank settlements.
Development work is reported to have begun at a site of a new neighborhood of 1,300 units in the settlement of Kochav Ya'acov near Ramallah, where 400 families now reside.
October 15, 1998
Construction begins at a site 1 km from the settlement of Alei Zahav, west of Nablus.
Negotiations between Israel and the PA begin at the Wye Plantation in Maryland.
October 10, 1998
Israelis at the settlement of Yitzhar fire on a group of Palestinian farmers and Israelis.
October 9, 1998
Yerushalim reports the establishment of an agricultural farm by settlers from Shilo (near Nablus) on land between their settlement and the nearby settlement of Ma'ale Levona. The area, known as "Hill 7," was transferred to the settlement years ago as a result of an IDF confiscation order issued to Palestinian landowners. Settlers are currently trying to purchase the remainder of the hill from its Palestinian owners.
Shots are fired at the Hebron settlement of Bet Hadassah as clashes continue in Hebron.
October 8, 1998
A Palestinian is killed by Israeli troops during clashes in Hebron.
Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert presides over a ceremony celebrating the settlement of three more Jewish families in the Old City's Muslim Quarter.
October 7, 1998
Prime Minister Netanyahu attends a celebration marking the declaration of the West Bank settlement of Ariel as a city. It has a population of 15,000.
October 6, 1998
Prime Minister Netanyahu announces approval of the construction at Tel Rumeida in Hebron but postpones groundbreaking until archaeological work can be completed.
Unrest in Hebron, including stone-throwing clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers, continues for the fifth day.
Israeli ministers meet to discuss how to implement a government decision to construct permanent buildings to replace trailers at the Tel Rumeida settlement in Hebron. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright responds, "We would hope very much that there would not be any unilateral actions that complicate the issues we're trying to deal with here."
October 2, 1998
Yerushalim reports that "settlers from Yitzhar have begun to establish an agricultural farm hundreds of meters from the community in order to transfer more land in the area to their control."
October 1, 1998
Ha'aretz reports the conviction of two settlers from the Hebron area settlement of Bet HaGai--one for manslaughter and the other for negligent homicide--in the death of a Palestinian on June 16.
An Israeli border policeman is injured during the third day of confrontations near the settlement of Har Adar and the Palestinian village of Biddu, northwest of Jerusalem.
Israeli troops block the main road connecting the Palestinian sector of Hebron (H1) with the Israeli-controlled sector (H2).
September 30, 1998
Thirteen Israeli soldiers and eleven Palestinians are injured in Hebron in a grenade attack on an Israeli patrol.
September 18, 1998
On Israeli television's Channel One, the military government's officer in charge of planning and construction explains that in "2020 there will be a million Jewish settlers in Judea and Samaria, and we have to keep the land free for them."
Yediot Aharanot reports that plans have been filed by the civil administration for the construction of 600 houses in Yitzhar, a settlement of 60 families near Nablus where two residents were killed in an August 5 ambush. "There are no restrictions on construction at Yitzhar," Prime Minister Netanyahu explains. "I urge the settlers to start building, because that is another of my answers to the perpetrators of terrorism."
September 17, 1998
Israelwire reports that IDF forces and reserve units are preparing to defend settlements in anticipation of the end of the Olso interim period in May 1999. In one exercise, shooting and tactical field operations, including simulated attacks, are practiced. A recent order by the head of the IDF Central Command, General Moshe Ya'alon, is aimed at increasing cooperation between senior IDF officers and settlers.
A resident from the West Bank settlement of Dolev, north of Jerusalem, opens fire on Palestinian stone throwers, killing a 17-year-old student from Bitunia and injuring another. In subsequent days, settlers demand the suspect's release from jail. He is released and placed under house arrest at a Jerusalem youth hostel.
September 16, 1998
The YESHA council meets to discuss "the damage that radical Jewish sources in the territories are causing settlers." For the first time a representative of the Hebron settlers is awarded membership on the council.
Five Palestinian houses are demolished by the Israeli army. The policy of the government concerning demolitions, according to an aide to Prime Minister Netanyahu, is that approximately 700 houses that were built in the past three years without permits but within contour plans of villages will not be demolished. Several hundred houses built outside of the contour plans are slated for demolition, as they were built on "state-owned lands" or in areas that constitute a security risk.
September 15, 1998
The Oasis Casino opens outside of Jericho. International staff are housed at a nearby settlement.
In response to protests, the American ice cream company Ben and Jerry's announces that their Israeli licensee will no longer purchase water from an Israeli company based in the Golan Heights.
September 13, 1998
Three hundred people from al-Bireh (near Ramallah) march from the home of two brothers affiliated with Hamas who were killed by Israeli forces to the settlement of Passaged, shouting "Revenge! Revenge!"
September 10, 1998
Israelwire reports the expansion of the settlement of Shilo, between Ramallah and Nablus, to a site several kilometers from the existing settlement. A water tower and rough accommodations have been built on the site.
A report by the Israeli organization Betselem charges that Israeli settlements are supplied with unlimited water resources while denying nearby Palestinian communities adequate amounts, "preventing Palestinians from utilizing water resources in a manner that meets their basic needs and population's birth rate." One result has been an increase in infectious diseases due to the use of unclean water.
Ha'aretz reports that "officers complain regularly of difficult situations when settlers send their children to confront them and the Palestinians, throwing eggs and stones. Hebron police admitted that investigating violence by settlers is not worth the trouble."
IDF troops prevent Palestinians from advancing to the settlement of Pesagot, near Ramallah. Settlers there refuse to permit the installation of bulletproof glass in windows facing Palestinian homes.
September 9, 1998
Ground is broken on the first of 180 new dwellings in the West Bank settlement of Bet El, near Ramallah, which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary.
September 7, 1998
Israelwire reports that Israel has given permission for the PA to dig 17 new wells.
September 4, 1998
It is reported that the head of the IDF Central Command has ordered soldiers to do whatever is necessary to enable Palestinians to enter their lands if they are obstructed by settlers.
The municipality approves the construction of 54 units for settlers and 500 units for Palestinians in Ras al-Amud, one year after the issue was the subject of international attention. The Netanyahu government supports construction only after the beginning of the second IDF redeployment.
It is reported that Israeli police in Hebron have opened 143 files against the 450 settlers living in the city from January to July 1998. Eighty-two remain under investigation, twenty-four are awaiting action by the state attorney, and thirty-seven were closed after suspects could not be located.
September 2, 1998
New rules governing the treatment of settlers give primary responsibility to the Israeli police, rather than the IDF or Shabak, for enforcing the law. The regulations note that special vigilance should be exercised at settlements located next to Palestinian communities, isolated villages where settlers have executed "retaliatory" or "warning" raids, holy sites, public lands claimed by settlers, and IDF bases.
September 1, 1998
A report by the observers of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, created after the killings at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in March 1994, notes a sharp increase in the number of cases of harassment of Palestinians by settlers. IDF officers confirm the assessment, noting that it represents "the ongoing reality of hurting Arabs in Hebron."
Settlers decry a Defense Ministry plan to erect security fences around 21 settlements, including Ma'ale Adumim and Givat Ze'ev, in response to the murder of three settlers in August. "If they just fence in existing houses it turns settlements into ghettos," complained one settler representative. "What about their expansion?" Israelwire notes, "YESHA leaders feel that if security is indeed an issue of paramount importance, the fences would more fittingly be constructed around the [Palestinian] autonomous areas."
Israel's National Planning and Construction Council, discussing implementation of stage two of the national master plan for 2020, is surprised when a representative from the Defense Ministry notes that the plan must call for one million settlers in the West Bank by 2020, instead of the current plan for 310,000, a number reached as a consequence of the settlers' natural growth. Council members did not believe that one million settlers was a realistic objective.
August 30, 1998
Israelwire notes that Agence France Press has reported a plan by the PA to distribute lands located next to Israeli settlements in the Hebron region. The land would be given to farmers as part of an effort to block the "expansion of Israeli settlements."
Members of Israel's security establishment issue official warnings that "extreme actions such as those of Baruch Goldstein are not entirely impossible again in the near future."
August 28, 1998
Al Quds (Internet version) reports the expansion of the settlement of Migdalim near Nablus, including the siting of new mobile homes, construction of a leather factory, roads, and expansion onto Palestinian-owned lands.
August 26, 1998
Reuters reports that, according to the Israeli Ministry of Housing, 25 percent of the 3,905 dwellings built directly by the government in settlements in the years 1989-1992 remain unoccupied as part of a government policy to increase supply and depress housing prices.
August 24, 1998
A Palestinian Authority (PA) official announces measures aimed at relieving the water shortage in PA-controlled areas of the West Bank. Israel will provide several large water tanks for areas without running water, there will be joint supervision of the quantity of water supplied by Israel to the Palestinians, and joint measures will be taken against the unauthorized diversion of water. According to Fadel Quawash, deputy director of the Palestinian Water Authority, Israel had approved six of forty requests for new well drilling. Quawash charged that the amount of water supplied by Israel to the Bethlehem-Hebron region had decreased from 33,000 cubic meters (m3) a day to 20,000 m3 a day in order to meet settler needs. Israel's coordinator of government activities in the occupied territories replied that Israel is supplying the Hebron region with 23,000 m3 a day, more than the 17,500 m3 stipulated in the Oslo II agreement. Shortages were also attributed to PA administrative shortcomings.
August 23, 1998
General Moshe Ya'alon, head of the IDF Central Command, tells settlers that "the army and the settlers see eye to eye. Soldiers have clear orders: protect the settlers." He also tries to win settler approval for a "protection package" for settlements that includes erecting perimeter fences around 20 settlements, extending patrols, and reinforcing reservist patrols with enlisted troops.
Settlers from Yitzhar near Nablus threaten to shoot IDF officers, police, and three Palestinian landowners attempting to approach an olive grove belonging to one of the Palestinians. Armed settlers have prevented access to the site for months.
The Netanyahu cabinet decides to replace with permanent structures, "as soon as possible," the seven mobile homes housing settlers at the Tel Rumeida site in Hebron, the scene of the killing of a settler on August 20. The permanent housing will cost approximately $3 million.
August 22, 1998
At a secret meeting with settler leaders, Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu approves construction of new housing next to Bet Hadassah in Hebron.
August 23, 1998
The Netanyahu cabinet decides to replace with permanent structures, "as soon as possible," the seven mobile homes housing settlers at the Tel Rumeida site in Hebron, the scene of the killing of a settler on August 20. The permanent housing will cost approximately $3 million.
August 20, 1998
Under an agreement reached between Israeli and Palestinian security forces, settlers can remain overnight at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus until the beginning of September, after which overnight stays will be allowed only in coordination with the PA.
Ha'aretz reports that Palestinians are supplied with 50 to 85 liters of water per person a day; settlers consume 280 to 300 liters a day.
August 19, 1998
The Netanyahu government unveils a plan to almost double the settler population on the Golan Heights by constructing 4,500 new dwellings, including 2,500 vacation homes.
August 13, 1998
Peace Now reports 5,892 new units under construction and 2,888 empty dwelling units in West Bank and Gaza settlements, a vacancy rate of almost 7 percent of 42,000 existing units.
August 11, 1998
New regulations are issued regarding the treatment of settlers by Israeli police, military, and intelligence services. "Settlers," according to Ha'aretz, "will not enjoy special treatment because they live amid an Arab population." Israeli police will have ultimate authority over cases involving settlers and a special effort is to be made "to prevent deterioration in relations between Israelis and Palestinians over land ownership questions." Until now, the IDF has exercised ultimate authority over the enforcement of law in the occupied territories.
August 10, 1998
Ma'ariv reports the construction of two dwellings at a site outside the master plan boundary of the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. The wooden buildings were constructed less than 48 hours after the August 4 ambush of two Yitzhar settlers.
August 7, 1998
Yerushala'im reports the $1.1 million purchase of two apartments by Amana in Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter.
August 4, 1998
Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics reports that 1,300 immigrants from the CIS moved to settlements during 1996, compared to 1,200 in 1995.
Two Israelis from the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar are killed while patrolling on a road recently opened by settlers outside the settlement's boundaries. Israeli security sources believe that a local dispute between settlers and Palestinians over land rights precipitated the planned attack.
August 1, 1998
During the night, the fence is re-erected by the IDF, which prevents the Palestinian police from destroying it once again.
At the Gaza Strip settlement of Ele Sinai, Palestinian police destroy a fence constructed illegally by settlers after a stand-off in which armed settlers faced armed Palestinian police. "Who cares if [Palestinians] have deeds [to the land in question]. They also have deeds to Ashkelon, Jaffa, and Sheikh Munis [the Knesset]," commented one settlement leader.
July 31, 1998
Kol Ha'Ir reports that the civil administration approved the construction of a new neighborhood of 200 units in the settlement of Kiryat Arba (population 6,000), with prices starting at $90,000. Potential purchasers are eligible for loans and mortgages of $70,000 and grants of $40,000.
July 28, 1998
Ha'aretz reports that housing sales during the first five months of, 1998
in East and West Jerusalem and in the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim have declined by 49.6 percent and 58.3 percent, respectively, compared to a similar period in 1997.
July 27, 1998
Ha'aretz reports that more than half a million Palestinians in the West Bank-- one-third of the population--are without reliable regular sources of water. Palestinians blame the distribution policies of Israel's water carrier, Mekorot, a charge denied by Israel.
July 24, 1998
Shots are fired at settlers from Itamar, near Nablus. "In recent months," reports Ha'aretz, "settlers from Itamar established a farm on hills far from the settlement, for the purpose of expanding the settlement or establishing a new one. This farm, named 'Gideon's neighborhood,' sits on hill 866."
July 19, 1998
Peace Now reports that 11 percent of the apartments built and marketed by the Ministry of Housing and Construction in, 1998
are located in settlements (excluding East Jerusalem). Figures from the ministry and the Israel Land Authority reveal that 5,242 of the 48,862 units that are planned for marketing in, 1998
are located in settlements (excluding East Jerusalem).
July 17, 1998
Yerushala'im reports that Amana has received permission to build and market 1,000 new dwellings, including 72 units at Adam, 43 at Rimonim, 44 at Elon Moreh, and 196 at Bet El--all in the West Bank--at prices starting at $40,000.
A UN conference approves the creation of the International Criminal Court. Israel votes against the ICC because of the conference's designation of settlement construction as a war crime. The legal adviser to Israel's Foreign Ministry states, "This new treaty does not give anyone immunity. Anybody who is involved in the decision-making connected to settling citizens in occupied territory could be arrested under the ICC-- from the prime minister to the last citizen."
July 13, 1998
"The Council therefore calls upon the government of Israel not to proceed with that decision and also not to take any other steps which would prejudice the outcome of the permanent-status negotiations."
The U.N. Security Council issues a statement on Israel's decision to consider the creation of an umbrella municipality in the metropolitan Jerusalem area. The statement declares that the Security Council "considers the decision by the government of Israel on June 21, 1998, to take steps to broaden the jurisdiction and planning boundaries of Jerusalem a serious and damaging development.
Kol Ha'Ir reports that due to increased demand for construction material, the first cement factory is being constructed in the Etzion Bloc of settlements, south of Bethlehem, despite complaints of nearby Palestinian villagers. Construction of a new high-tech industrial area in the Etzion Bloc was to begin within three months on 400 dunams.
July 10, 1998
Ha'aretz reports that "for the first time in the history of the state, it is said this year in the annual estimate of the security services that radical groups in Israeli society may react violently--including the use of weapons--as a consequence of developments in the peace process that require a territorial withdrawal and perhaps the removal of settlements."
July 8, 1998
Ma'ariv reports that Israeli police are investigating "suspicions that soldiers living on the Golan Heights have begun to store weapons and ammunition in order to prevent a removal of Golan settlements."
July 6, 1998
The Knesset Law Committee endorses a draft law submitted by the Moledet faction that would extend Israeli law, justice, and jurisdiction to the local and regional councils of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Netanyahu government opposes the legislation.
Ma'ariv reports that settlers are planning to block large numbers of transport junctions throughout the West Bank if Palestinians attempt to repeat the blockades imposed on Gaza routes on July 2.
July 5, 1998
Two Israelis remain in jail after their arrest on suspicion of damaging Palestinian vehicles with chains on July 3 as they rode, dressed as Arabs, through refugee neighborhoods adjacent to Hebron on horseback.
A communique issued after a meeting in Cairo of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, King Hussein of Jordan, and PA chairman Yasser Arafat states that "the leaders assert their absolute rejection of Judaizing Jerusalem."
July 3, 1998
Yerushala'im reports that there are 2,000 illegal buildings, half of which are built on public land, in the Palestinian-inhabited sections of Jerusalem.
Kol Ha'Ir reports that new residential construction is expected to begin shortly in Ma'ale Ephraim. Pressure from the Third Way Party expedites planning approval for the 34-unit project by the Village Construction Administration and the transfer of IS2.5 million ($700,000) for mortgage subsidies and grants.
Kol Ha'Ir reports that the settlement of Kaddumim has established a mobile home site for Ethiopian immigrants, notwithstanding the fact that the Ministry of Absorption denies any plan to send people there.
During the incident, IDF reinforcements were sent to Gaza. Settlers were unable to enter or leave many settlements due to the Palestinian blockades. At one point, the IDF offered residents of Netzarim an airlift by helicopter to their settlement, but the 50 men, women, and children stranded at the Karni crossing declined the offer.
At 4 a.m. a compromise is reached on the standoff in Gaza that began when passage was refused to Palestinians on July 2. The blocked Palestinian convoy was allowed to proceed (without the Palestinian minister), Israel lifted the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip during the standoff, and Palestinians cleared road junctions at Morag, Netzarim, and Gush Katif. Prime Minister Netanyahu describes the incident as a "planned Palestinian provocation." Further discussions were to take place about opening roads currently closed to Palestinian vehicles. Settlers criticize the IDF "surrender" to the Palestinians.
July 2, 1998
A standoff develops along the road from the Gaza town of Deir al-Balah to the al-Mouassi district after IDF forces prevent passage to a group of Palestinians, including a PA minister. The road had been closed to Palestinian traffic for three years. Palestinians, in turn, block major road junctions near settlements.
June 28, 1998
At a UN Security Council debate on Israel's plan for the Jerusalem umbrella municipality, U.S. ambassador Bill Richardson, who attempted to postpone the debate, characterizes the Israeli decision as "not helpful at this delicate stage of negotiations."
The IDF "Security Interests" map presented to a Knesset committee excludes 59 of 150 West Bank settlements.
June 30, 1998
Prime Minister Netanyahu fails to convince settlement leaders to support a 13 percent IDF redeployment and to "get the settlers off my back."
June 28, 1998
The civil administration demolishes six dwellings in the West Bank village of Qatana and destroys two rooms that were added to a seventh home without a permit. Qatana is under full Israeli control (Area C) near the settlement of Har Adar.
The Netanyahu cabinet approves Minister of National Infrastructure Ariel Sharon's plan to extend the construction of new Israeli cities along the Green Line to the region opposite Hebron, where six cities are to be built.
June 26, 1998
Yerushala'im reports that Shimon Shitreet, the Labor Party candidate for mayor, has announced his support for construction at Har Homa.
Yerushala'im reports that 150 mobile homes were transferred to the settlements of Dolev, Neve Tzuf, and Shavut Rachel as part of the settler campaign against redeployment. The Ministry of Defense approved the transfer.
Kol Ha'Ir reports that because of the lack of affordable housing in Jerusalem, one orthodox sect rescinds the prohibition on living in the West Bank, setting the stage for "massive purchases" in the settlement of Kiryat Sefer.
June 25, 1998
The Knesset Finance Committee approves IS88 million ($24 million) for the construction of 400 new units in village settlements.
For the first time in five years, new construction is approved for the settlement of Kiryat Arba, bordering Hebron. Approval for the construction of 150 new units was facilitated by reclassifying the neighborhood of Harsina Hill in the settlement as a "village." Similarly, the settlements of Ma'ale Ephraim and Avnei Hefetz are also transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Housing's Village Construction Administration.
June 24, 1998
An Israeli Television Channel 1 investigation into the transfer of hundreds of trailers into the territories by the Ministry of Construction and Housing reveals that there are 3,600 mobile homes--1,400 of which stand empty--stationed in West Bank settlements. One thousand seven hundred state-owned apartments are also state property, are also reported empty. Amana, the settlement construction subsidiary of Gush Emmunim, was responsible for receiving the trailers. In the past two years, Amana has become the almost exclusive controller of state assets in the West Bank.
June 23, 1998
Five Palestinian houses are destroyed in the Hebron region and 30 families are evicted, bringing to 81 the total number of homes demolished this year in the West Bank.
The PA claims that 40 Palestinian buildings have been destroyed since the beginning of the year in East Jerusalem.
June 22, 1998
Peace Now reports that from January to mid-June, the Netanyahu government demolished 68 Palestinian dwellings in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, compared with 14 during a similar period in 1997. Ha'aretz reports that 249 Palestinian dwellings were demolished in 1997 in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
June 21, 1998
Before implementation, the plan must be placed before the cabinet once again, where it appears to enjoy almost unanimous appeal. No settlements were specified for inclusion in the proposal, but it is likely that Ma'ale Adumim, Givat Ze'ev, and Betar Ilit, with combined populations of almost 40,000, are high on the list of potential participants.
Israeli officials, however, insist that the proposal, important details of which remain to be approved, "is entirely an internal Israeli matter on the municipal administrative level rather than on the international level."
The Netanyahu cabinet gives preliminary approval to a plan to establish an "umbrella municipality" encompassing metropolitan Jerusalem. The new plan would invest Israeli civilian agencies with more extensive powers over the development and expansion of settlements to be included in the scheme. U.S. officials call the plan "unhelpful at this delicate stage of negotiations." The PLO's UN representative calls the Israeli action a "concrete step toward the illegal annexation of more occupied Palestinian lands to the already illegally expanded Jerusalem municipality."
June 18, 1998
A European Union executive commission statement on EU-Israeli trade relations states that the EU plans to investigate goods imported from Israel to determine if they originate in East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip. The document claims that products from these areas are receiving illegal customs concessions due to inappropriate use of the "made in Israel" label which permits them to enter the EU duty free.
June 16, 1998
Kol Ha'Ir reports that the strategic master plan for Jerusalem recommends that the metropolitan region, including the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, be divided into eight to ten regions of between 60,000 and 100,000 residents each.
YESHA decides to launch a public campaign against Prime Minister Netanyahu and the second IDF redeployment. The campaign's first stage will include setting up a protest tent opposite the prime minister's office.
Settlers from Bet HaGai, near Hebron, kill a Palestinian in a random attack.
June 15, 1998
Plans to establish a new industrial park on 1,200 dunams next to the settlement of Kaddumim are announced. Land is priced at $32,000 a dunam, including development costs. Businesses locating to the site will enjoy benefits available to "Priority A" areas.
June 12, 1998
Kol Ha'Ir reports that construction on a new neighborhood of 170 dwellings in the settlement of Bet El will begin within two months.
June 11, 1998
The West Bank settlement of Ariel is classified as a city.
For the first time since 1967, a civilian guard is established for settlements in West Bank. The guard is to operate independently of the Israeli police or military.
June 10, 1998
Al-Quds reports that a Palestinian is killed by Israeli soldiers near the Gaza settlement of Morag. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights calls upon the international community to intervene against the escalating use of force by the occupation forces, also noting the wounding of another Palestinian citizen on June 3 by a settler near the Gaza settlement of Atzmona.
June 9, 1998
Al Ayyam, the official Palestinian newspaper, reports that a new settlement called Hadar Betar is being built adjacent to the Green Line near the villages of Wadi Fukin and Husan, southwest of Bethlehem. Hadar Betar will be an extension of the existing settlement Betar Ilit. The paper also reports that settlers attacked citizens of the Arab villages near the settlement of Ma'ale Amos, pelting them with stones and threatening to kill them. Settlers also attacked the villagers of Husan, deploying foot and mounted patrols along the roads leading to farms and fields to deny them access to their land and trees. PA Legislative Council members warn that the lands of the Bethlehem governorate are seriously threatened by the Israeli settlement campaign.
June 8, 1998
In the Silwan area of East Jerusalem, members of the settler organization, El Ad, move into four buildings that the group purchases for IS700,000 ($200,000). It is rumored that the seller received a house somewhere in Scandinavia where he has relocated.
Ma'ariv reports that the Ministry of Defense will invest IS2 million($500,000) to restore the Jewish seminary building at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, the site of the most violent Israeli-Palestinian armed confrontation during the September 1996 "tunnel affair."
June 5, 1998
The PA calls for a "general mobilization" to confront Israel's settlement policies after Israel's Ministry of Interior approves the construction of 58 new dwelling units at a Jewish seminary on the Mount of Olives. The land in question was once zoned for a school for Palestinian girls from the neighboring village of at-Tur.
The Follow-Up Committee for Israeli Arab Affairs calls on Arab citizens of Israel to "boycott" the products of Israeli settlements. The committee also plans to compile a list of goods produced in the settlements to distribute to Arab villages, the Arab press, and institutions in Europe.
Palestinians try to prevent the expansion of the settlement of Betar Ilit, west of Bethlehem, to a 5,000 dunam area of "state land" northwest of the existing settlement (also see June 9 entry).
June 3, 1998
Three houses in and around Jerusalem owned by Palestinians are destroyed by Israel because they were constructed without permits. Ha'aretz reports that during his four-and-one-half year tenure, Jerusalem mayor Olmert has overseen the demolition of 49 Palestinian homes constructed without permits. In contrast, during the last four years of Mayor Teddy Kollek's administration, 91 homes were destroyed. Ha'aretz reports that five structures have been demolished in 1998.
Five Ethiopian families living in the West Bank settlement of Ofra ask to leave, after living there for two months.
June 2, 1998
YESHA distributes to Israeli households 1 million booklets arguing against any Israeli redeployment in the West Bank.
June 1, 1998
A new restaurant/banquet hall is dedicated on HaGai Street in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. Mayor Olmert, praising the Ateret Cohanim association, says, "House after house, we will build Jerusalem."
May 29, 1998
The Knesset Finance Committee approves IS130 million ($36 million) for religious schools and West Bank settlements. Ten million dollars is allocated for new bypass roads: including a road from the settlement of Tekoa to Jerusalem; a road by passing El Aroub (in the Etzion Bloc), and one to by pass Bitunia (near Ramallah). An additional $5 million was to be provided for settler regional councils.
May 28, 1998
The city of Jerusalem agrees to consider constructing temporary buildings for Ateret Cohanim members taking part in an "archaeological dig" planned for the site where the organization attempted to erect residential dwellings. The settlements of Ofra and Shilo in the West Bank had similar origins. Settlers vow to establish an educational center at the site with hundreds of students.
May 26, 1998
Opposition parties in the Knesset temporarily block approval of IS120 million ($33 million) for additional bypass roads. Settlement leader Moshe Yegev complains, "Not one new bypass road in Judea [the southern West Bank] has been paved by this government, and the paving of Route 60 in Samaria [the northern West Bank] has been halted."
Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert later issues a demolition order instructing Ateret Cohanim to dismantle and evacuate the structures. His order followed a court order to halt construction, issued at the request of the Israeli Antiquities Authority, which claims that the construction is damaging an archeological site.
"This is the first time the PA has confronted the settlers and the police in an attempt to prevent the establishment of a new Jewish residential neighborhood in the Old City," wrote one Israeli journalist. "It is an example for the future of the lengths Palestinians are willing to go in the struggle for Jerusalem and against the settlements. Settlements like these can ruffianize Jerusalem, leading, as in Hebron, to incessant friction between Arabs and Jews."
Protesters, including Palestinian Legislative Council members, clash with police at the building site.
Members of Ateret Cohanim begin laying foundations for nine new buildings in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. The construction, performed by Palestinian laborers, was proceeding without permission from the city.
May 25, 1998
Arutz 7 radio reports that PA official Ahmed Abdel Rahman told a Saudi Arabian newspaper that PA Chairman Yasser Arafat has vowed to declare a Palestinian state next year, "leading to war with Israel, with the first target being the destruction of the settlements." He said the declaration of the state would cover "all the territories conquered since 1967, including eastern Jerusalem."
Settlers from Ateret Cohanim, accompanied by Israeli police, evict Na'ila Jawdat al Zarou from her rented home of 60 years in the Old City's Muslim Quarter. The settlers claimed that they owned the house. Settlers first attempted to take possession of the house in 1986, but until recently Zarou had successfully challenged the legal basis of her eviction based on the grounds that a tenant cannot be evicted, even if ownership changes hands.
Al-Quds newspaper reports that barrels containing dangerous chemical waste were returned by the PA to Israel. The waste was first seized in July 1997 when Palestinian naval police caught a Palestinian on his way to dump it at the Gaza coastal area of al-Mouassi. The man had taken the barrels from the car of a settler. A representative of the Israeli Environmental Authority in the Gaza Strip said that the barrels contained dangerous chemical waste. Legal measures were to be taken against the settler who tried to dump the chemicals. Palestinian officials warned that other barrels may have been smuggled by settlers from the West Bank into the Gaza Strip.
In the Golan Heights, 380 garden homes in 14 settlements are put up for sale. Monetary assistance of up to 95 percent of the value of the property was being offered. The population of the Golan settlements, according to the Golan settler council, is 16,500, including 6,500 in the settlement community of Katzrin.
May 24, 1998
Arutz 7 radio reports that a Palestinian employee of the Jerusalem municipality is being held on suspicion of providing information to the PA on Arab landowners wanting to sell their land to Jews. An intelligence officer for the Minorities Department of the Jerusalem Police notes that authorities suspect other employees have given information to the PA.
May 22, 1998
U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich cancels a visit to the proposed site of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem at the request of the White House.
May 21, 1998
Israel Television Channel 1 reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu plans to ask the U.S. for $1 billion in aid to finance the construction of bridges, elevated and bypass roads, and additional infrastructure in the occupied territories in the event that an agreement on redeployment is reached. The U.S. would also be asked to provide the Palestinian Authority with approximately $100 million.
May 20, 1998
A petition is filed by Palestinians with Israel's High Court to nullify the E-1 plan for the expansion of Ma'ale Adumim, in the West Bank.
May 19, 1998
Peace Now reports that 29,000 housing units, equaling 70 percent of planned housing for Israel's orthodox Jewish sector, are to be located in these West Bank settlements: 14,000 in the settlements of Modi'in Elite and Kiryat Sefer, 5,700 in Betar, 1,200 in Emmanuel, 1,100 in Hashmona'im, and 6,624 in Matityahu. There were, however no firm commitments to build most of them.
May 15, 1998
Israel Television Channel 1 reports that Ateret Cohanim officials plan to turn Zedekiah's cave in Jerusalem into "a religious Disneyland exhibiting biblical themes." The plan includes a tunnel to be built beneath the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. The settler association Ateret Cohanim plans to build the underground park on 13,000 sq. meters and has already begun fundraising.
May 14-15, 1998
Palestinians protest throughout the occupied territories to commemorate the 50th anniversary of "al-Naqba" (the catastrophe). The protests escalate into clashes between IDF soldiers and Palestinians. The fiercest clashes occur near the Katif Bloc of settlements in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reports that 4 Palestinians were killed by IDF soldiers during the protests; 71 Palestinians were injured--46 by live ammunition, 25 with rubber bullets.
May 13, 1998
Barak's May 12 declaration sparks calls in the Meretz Party and Peace Now for a different Labor member to head the party. Abraham Burg, chairman of the Jewish Agency, notes that Barak's statement was a "legitimate" expression of the party's platform.
May 12, 1998
During a visit to the West Bank settlement of Bet El, Labor Party leader Ehud Barak declares, "Bet El will remain in our hands forever! And the Palestinians will remain in Ramallah forever."
May 11, 1998
Ma'ariv reports that a sale offering 1,000 houses in 27 settlements was being held in Paris. A similar sale is reported scheduled for New York. According to the settlement organization YESHA, 500 French families currently live in settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with 200 additional families scheduled to settle in 1998.
May 7, 1998
At a seminar in Switzerland, U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton tells Israeli and Arab students, "I think it will be in the long-term interests of the Middle East for Palestine to be a state."
May 6, 1998
Palestinians erect a tent outside the settlement of Metzad, northeast of Hebron, to protest groundwork undertaken by settlers outside the settlement's perimeter fence. Settlers plan to establish an agricultural farm at the disputed site.
A knife-wielding Palestinian is shot dead in the settlement of Eli.
A 28 year-old Israeli is stabbed to death in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. He had attended the Ateret Cohanim seminary in Jerusalem's Old City.
May 5, 1998
Ha'aretz reports that 1,000 Jews live in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City.
May 4, 1998
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promises representatives of the National Religious Party that construction at Har Homa will begin. He does not give them a specific date or construction schedule.
April 28, 1998
Ha'aretz reports the approval of 807 new housing units at Givat HaZayit, (Olive Hill) in the settlement of Efrat near Bethlehem, a number four times that approved by the Rabin government. Planning continues for new housing at Givat Tamar, where then prime minister Yitzhak Rabin canceled construction in January 1995 after Palestinian protests (see Settlement Report, March 1995).
April 27, 1998
A Labor Party Knesset member of Ethiopian origin visits the settlement of Ofra to convince new Ethiopian arrivals to leave the settlement.
April 12, 1998
A ceremony is held marking 30 years of Jewish settlement in Hebron. Peace Now demonstrators making their way to Hebron are intercepted by security forces. Arrests and injuries are reported.
April 6, 1998
Ha'aretz reports that in the settlement of Ariel, 281 of 356 housing units (80 percent) sold to eligible purchasers under a Ministry of Housing program in 1997 were bought by new immigrants, the highest percentage of any locale in Israel and the occupied territories. In Kiryat Sefer, 59 of 492 purchasers were new immigrants. In East and West Jerusalem, 578 of 2,411 eligible buyers were new immigrants.
April 4, 1998
Peace Now reports new construction areas at the settlements of Abir Ya'acov and Talmon near Ramallah.
April 1, 1998
Kol Ha'Ir reports that 350 Ethiopian immigrants will be housed in trailers in the settlement of Efrat at a site between Givat HaDekel and Givat HaGefen. Preparation of the site will cost $200,000. Settlement officials are planning to use the site within two years for the construction of new housing for young couples from the settlement. Ofra and Kaddumim were also slated to house new immigrants from Ethiopia. Plans for the housing of 4,000 new immigrants in settlements had to be scaled back after only three settlements expressed interest in participating.
Ma'ariv reports that one of the formulations under discussion concerning a "time out" on settlement expansion notes, "Israel will refrain from unilateral actions in settlements." Israel prefers a more ambiguous formulation relating only to the establishment of new settlements.
A Palestinian school is closed by the civil administration in the Gush Etzion region. The students there had repeatedly attacked Israeli cars with stones. April 3 In the wake of the death of Hamas leader Mohieddin Sharif, the Jerusalem Post reports that the IDF has instructed Israeli settlers "to act with more caution and tighten their guard in the settlements."
March 31, 1998
During a planned tour of the E-1 area outside Jerusalem, Prime Minister Netanyahu tells an audience at the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim that "the greater Jerusalem area is of equal value to the city of Jerusalem. Therefore the building here will continue as it does in Jerusalem." The population of the settlement has increased from 18,000 to 23,000 since mid-1996. Netanyahu also notes that he will try to find the resources to begin work on a new road/tunnel linking the settlement with Jerusalem.
Hundreds of Palestinians protest outside the settlement of Ariel, burning tires and throwing stones in an area over which they claim ownership.
March 30, 1998
Science Minister Michael Eitan visits the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim where he expresses support for the E-1 plan to create a territorial link between Jerusalem and the settlement. The plan calls for the construction of 5,000 hotel rooms and 1,500 single-family residential units.
March 29, 1998
Ha'aretz reports that the Palestinian Authority is planning to construct a village settlement in Area C (controlled by Israel) in the northern area of the Jordan Valley--Tel al-Bira--where the IDF razed homes in 1967. Israeli settlement leaders in the area are opposed to the plan.
One hundred twenty-two rabbis issue a letter declaring, "The Land of Israel in its entirety belongs to the People of Israel. It is forbidden to give to Gentiles camping in the Land. We cannot lend a hand to the continuation of the wretched [Oslo] process, which must be stopped immediately."
March 28, 1998
Six Palestinians, among 300 demonstrators, are injured by IDF gunfire while protesting expansion of the settlement of Yitzhar, southwest of Nablus.
March 27, 1998
Kol Ha'Ir reports that Hebron settlers are planning construction of new housing next to Bet Hadasah, where eleven families currently live. Six new units are reported almost complete in the nearby Abraham Avenu complex. Settlement leaders acknowledge that restrictions on their expansion requires them to plan new construction in close proximity to existing dwellings.
March 26, 1998
Yediot Aharanot publishes a sensationalist article on Palestinian efforts to monitor settlement expansion. "I am sure that if an archive half this size with information on Tel Aviv was located somewhere in Europe, the Mossad would long ago have taken action against it," noted the deputy director of YESHA, the settler council.
March 25, 1998
Seven members of the Land of Israel Front in the Knesset write to Prime Minister Netanyahu warning, "If the government agrees to undertake a further redeployment from parts of the Land of Israel, we will no longer be partners in the coalition in support of it, and we will work to topple the government."
March 23, 1998
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declares, "By the end of my term, I promise there will be buildings on Har Homa."
March 17, 1998
The UN General Assembly votes 120 to 3 (Israel, Micronesia, United States) in favor of convening a conference on measures to enforce the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 in the occupied territories.
British foreign secretary Robin Cook visits the site of the Israeli settlement at Jebal Abu Ghneim (Har Homa) in annexed East Jerusalem.
March 16, 1998
Members of the National Religious Party meet at Har Homa with approximately 100 people who have registered to purchase apartments in the prospective settlement.
Ma'ariv reports that the Jerusalem municipality has uncovered 2,500 cases of illegal construction in the Palestinian neighborhoods of the city.
March 15, 1998
The civil administration in the West Bank rejects a formal Palestinian objection to the E-1 development plan. (See March 30.)
West Bank chief of Preventative Security Jibril Rajoub warns that settlers "will not leave there alive" if they enter Palestinian-controlled territory and attack its residents.
The Israeli government announces that 200 families of just-arrived immigrants from Ethiopia will be settled in mobile homes at Airplane Hill, next to Har Homa in annexed East Jerusalem.
March 13, 1998
In response to shots fired at the Jewish enclave in Hebron, settlers enter the Abu Sanina neighborhood and damage property. The Committee for Safety of the Roads--thought to be an offshoot of the illegal Kach movement--takes responsibility for vandalizing a number of Palestinian-owned vehicles.
It is reported that Palestinians from the Balata refugee camp near Nablus want to construct a new camp near Israeli settlements in order to improve their living conditions and to limit the expansion of settlements.
Kol Ha'Ir reports that in 1996, 95 percent of new settlers at Givat Ze'ev came from Jerusalem.
It is reported that Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert has instructed city officials to plan on the assumption that Jerusalem's Arab population will increase to 45 percent in 2020, compared with 31 percent today.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) prohibits the entry of Jews into areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, including Jericho and the Jewish seminary at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.
Four Palestinians are hurt by an explosion near Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. It was unclear whether Israelis or Palestinians were responsible for the explosion.
March 12, 1998
A tender is published for the construction of 65 units in neighborhood B (east) in the settlement of Ariel. Developers will pay $520,016 for development costs and $95,000 for the land.
A settler shoots a 17-year-old Palestinian near the village of Dura after his car was stoned by Palestinians blockading a road to nearby settlements. Clashes continue throughout the West Bank. Hatzofeh reports "dozens" of Molotov cocktails thrown by Palestinians in Hebron. Israeli students are evacuated from the seminary at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.
March 11, 1998
Confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli troops erupt in various West Bank locations.
March 10, 1998
The Israeli cabinet approves the continuation of the "Stars" plan for constructing new Israeli towns along the Green Line border between Jerusalem and Beersheva.
Ma'ariv reports the head of Israel's domestic intelligence service--Shabak--as saying that in 1997 the number of violent incidents in the Hebron area rose by 200 percent compared with the number of incidents in 1996.
Three Palestinians are killed by Israeli troops at the Tarkumiya checkpoint close to the settlements of Telem and Adura, near the Hebron-area village of Dura. A settler is held for questioning after opening fire on Palestinians near Ramallah after his car was hit with stones.
March 9, 1998
Ha'aretz reports the placement of 12 mobile homes on a hill near Eli, a settlement of 1,000 homes. The Ministry of Defense has approved the construction of 2,500 additional units.
March 6, 1998
Yerushalim reports that an electrified fence has been constructed around the settlement of Psagot near al-Bireh. Other nearby settlements were planning to construct similar fences.
March 1, 1998
A religious settlement east of Jerusalem agrees to establish a compound for raising children belonging to the class of "priests" so that they will be able to sanctify the ground on the Temple Mount and thus enable the resumption of Jewish prayer at the holy site.
February 26, 1998
A tender is published for the construction of 72 units in the settlement of Alfe Menache.
February 24, 1998
Ha'aretz reports three Israeli settlers and one soldier injured by rocks thrown by Palestinians. Settlers report a "several fold" increase in the number of similar incidents on West Bank roads in recent weeks, connected with rising tensions in the Gulf.
February 22, 1998
An Israeli court halts the relocation of the Jahalin Bedouin from a contested site east of the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim.
February 17, 1998
Minister of Tourism Moshe Katzav, on a visit to the Golan Heights, promises to finance $3 million in tourism development for the area.
February 16, 1998
The daily newspaper, Hatsofeh, reports that Ami Ayalon, head of Shabak, the internal security service, told settlers, "I apologize for treatment of settlers." Ayalon began his meeting with rabbis and prominent settlement personalities by saying, "I guarantee: no more wiretapping of settlers, no more surveillance, no more agents. I expect you to restrain your people, to prevent violence. I fear that demonstrations will lead to violence that may end in murder."
Israeli military authorities, backed by riot police and bulldozers, destroy 50 tents and evict 137 Jahalin bedouin from their traditional encampment near the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim to make way for its expansion. Military authorities state that they are preparing to evict the remaining several hundred bedouin.
February 12, 1998
Israeli and Palestinian troops face off with weapons after Palestinian soldiers, responding to Palestinian complaints, try to destroy a fence erected by a settler from Neve Dekalim in the Gaza Strip on land Palestinians claim as theirs. Senior commanders arrive on the scene and diffuse the confrontation.
January 26, 1998
Porush noted that plans to market land for the construction of 5,200 settlement housing units in, 1998
May not be met. He notes that more than 60 percent of the program for, 1998
is centered on settlements in greater Jerusalem--Ma'ale Adumim, Givat Ze'ev, and Betar.
Meir Porush, Israel's deputy minister of housing, reports that there are 1,180 empty houses in West Bank settlements: 1,000 in smaller settlements and 180 in larger urban outposts.
January 22, 1998
Final approval is given for the construction of 132 units at Ras al Amud in Jerusalem. The landowner--in this case, American Irving Moskowitz--is now entitled to apply for a construction permit from the Jerusalem authorities. Five hundred units are also approved for Palestinians in the village.
Israel receives the last loan backed by the $10 billion U.S. loan guarantee made available in 1992. The $1.4 billion loan is the largest ever issued under the guarantee program. Altogether, $9.2 billion in guaranteed loans were raised. The U.S. exacted $780 million in "settlement penalties."
January 21, 1998
Initial infrastructure work begins at the settlement of Kochav Ya'acov near Ramallah for the construction of 800-1,000 units on 200 dunams. Currently, 160 families live in the settlement.
January 20, 1998
The fundamentalist Ateret Cohanim organization has begun rehabilitating 18 homes in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. It is also continuing its efforts to purchase additional properties "to Judaize the Old City." Sixty Jewish families now live in the Muslim Quarter.
YESHA, using aerial photography, complains to the IDF that the Palestinian Authority has constructed 35 roads in Area C as part of its efforts to expand control over lands in these areas of the West Bank under exclusive Israeli control.
January 18, 1998
The Peace Now organization claims that a new settlement has been established in the Talmon bloc of settlements west of Ramallah. Settlement leaders maintain that the construction is for a new neighborhood in the settlement of Talmon.
January 14, 1998
In Tel Aviv's Rabin square, 30,000 people, most of them settlers, demonstrate under the slogan--"Netanyahu: No one has the right to surrender the Land of Israel."
January 12, 1998
At a meeting of Labor Party members of the Knesset, Shimon Peres claims that the government is undertaking large-scale expansion of settlements. He notes that in 30 settlements the government intends to build homes far from existing construction to create facts on the ground. He warns that "in a little while there won't be any land to return [to the Palestinians] and even if we want to solve the problem we won't be able to."
January 9, 1998
Ma'ariv reports that the Ministry of Defense has given final approval for construction of 94 new units in the West Bank settlement of Elkana and 570 units in "Olive Hill" in the West Bank settlement of Efrat.
January 5, 1998
Ha'aretz reports that the Israel Defense Forces has decided to impose additional restrictions on Palestinian construction in the Hebron casbah. In addition, Shuhada Street, which, according to the Hebron agreement was to be opened to traffic in May 1997, remains closed by IDF order.
January 1, 1998
Settlers are planning to establish a religious seminary as part of an effort to found a new settlement at Jabal Ebal, just east of Nablus.
The Israel Land Authority intends to market lands for housing construction in the following East Jerusalem settlement communities: 200 units in Ramot, 163 units in Shuafat, and 100 units in Gilo. Land for 1,000 units is also planned for distribution at Har Homa.