1999 Settlement Timeline

December 29, 1999

The IDF tears down a shrine in the settlement of Kiryat Arba memorializing Baruch Goldstein, who killed 29 Muslim worshipers in Hebron in 1994.

December 28, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that Prime Minister Barak has tightened control over the organization that approves the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, banning the Supreme Council from meeting unless he or an aide approves the meeting's agenda in advance. The decision came after the council had approved during Barak's tenure the construction of 2,757 new homes in the settlements (with an additional 2,139 in the pipeline) and the placement of 85 mobile homes on the hilltop outposts of Mitzpeh Hagit, Neveh Erez, Mitzpeh Danny, and Givat Hahish. Many of the plans approved for construction were not made public, although it is required by law.

December 26, 1999

Israel Wire reports that, following an agreement reached between Etzion bloc activists and senior IDF commanders on December 24, residents were permitted to spend the Sabbath at the new "farm" of Lev HaGush.

According to Israel Wire, senior Israel Defense Force (IDF) commanders have announced plans to fortify the buildings occupied by Hebron's Jewish community. The military plans to install bulletproof glass in homes where windows face the PA autonomous areas and other such security measures. The leaders of the local Jewish community object to the planned measures.

December 22, 1999

Golan Regional Council chairman Yehuda Volman notes that construction in the Golan continued unabated during the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's negotiations with Syria, but that Prime Minister Barak seems intent on a policy of "drying out" Golan settlements.

December 20, 1999

The Archaeological Council calls upon the Israeli government to prohibit the building of a Jewish community in Tel Romeida, Hebron. The council claims that construction might harm the artifacts from biblical and later periods that were found during recent excavations.

December 13, 1999

The first mass demonstration against a withdrawal from the Golan Heights is held in Jerusalem, attracting some 30,000 protesters.

Ha'aretz reports that the YESHA council in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has reached an agreement with the Committee of Golan settlements to cooperate against a withdrawal from the Golan. YESHA will provide funds and organizational means to the Golan leaders.

December 12, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that the Tel Aviv District Court has convicted Gur Hamel, 29, for beating an Arab farmer to death near the settlement of Itamar on October 26, 1998. Hamel argued that the court was not authorized to discuss his case because the crime was committed in Area B. The judges rejected the claim, saying that, according to emergency regulations, the Israeli courts are authorized to try an Israeli citizen who has committed a crime in that area.

Arutz-7 reports that a new neighborhood of 320 housing units was dedicated in the Golan settlement of Katzrin. Permits for a 52-unit complex in a new neighborhood in the southern Golan settlement of Bnei Yehuda, however, are reported frozen.

December 9, 1999

Housing Minister Levy tells Barak that "the NRP [National Religious Party] will have a problem remaining in this coalition" if the government halts settlement construction.

December 8, 1999

According to Amnesty International's report Israel and the Occupied Territories: The Demolition and Dispossession of Palestinian Homes, the Oslo accords have created 227 separate areas under Palestinian control. One hundred ninety of these measure less than two square kilometers. Only 40,000 Palestinians live on Area C lands; however, all Palestinians live within six kilometers of an Area C. The report states that, since Oslo, all of the 200 Palestinian applications for building permits in Area C submitted to Israel have been rejected.

Nabil Abu Rdainah, a senior advisor to PA leader Yasser Arafat, announces that Prime Minister Barak's declaration the preceding day falls short of PA settlement-related demands that must be met in order to return to the negotiating table.

December 7, 1999

According to Arutz-7, Housing Minister Yitzhak Levy says that he knows of no changes in Barak's construction policy. He suggests that Barak's comments "were likely misunderstood, since the reports of what he said are inconsistent with government policy, according to which, . . . new settlements will not be built, but existing ones entitled to develop."

U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright welcomes the move, saying that success will depend upon each side's ability to avoid steps "that embarrass the other and make negotiations more difficult."

Israeli prime minister Barak announces his intention to halt additional tenders for settlement construction for three months. Barak says, "There will be an agreement on final-status principles within three months in any event, such that it makes no difference if there is no construction during this period. It takes two years from the time a tender is issued until an apartment is built. It makes no logical sense to continue with something that hurts us from an international point of view, while it brings no tangible benefits at all."

December 6, 1999

Palestinians halt final-status talks, demanding that Israel immediately stop all settlement construction.

December 5, 1999

Ha'aretz cites a senior Israeli political source as saying that the government of Ehud Barak is not obligated by the prior decisions of the administration of Benjamin Netanyahu, which fixed the area of the third redeployment at only 1 percent of the West Bank.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) begin discussions about the third and final stage of Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank.

Ha'aretz reports that four Israeli families are living in Ma'ale HaZeitim (Ras al-Amud) in East Jerusalem and that more families are expected to move in within a few months. The compound will have 119 apartments. According to Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Chaim Ramon, the construction at the site is legal and, therefore, not possible to stop.

December 1, 1999

Israel casts the lone vote against a UN General Assembly resolution stating that Israel's decision to "impose its laws, jurisdiction, and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem is illegal and therefore null and void and has no validity whatsoever."

November 30, 1999

Members of the "next generation" settlement movement are forcibly removed by the IDF from a site near the settlement of Nokdim.

November 29, 1999

At a regular session of final-status talks, Palestinians threaten to boycott the talks unless settlement activity is frozen.

November 28, 1999

As a consequence of military orders published in September, the IDF demolishes three homes in the village of Al-Khader near Bethlehem. The Palestinian organization LAW reports that 14 homes in the West Bank and Gaza have been demolished since October 26.

November 24, 1999

PA leader Arafat, bowing to popular concerns about economic hardship, cancels the order prohibiting Palestinians from working in settlements.

November 22, 1999

Six Palestinian homes are demolished by the IDF in Gaza's Khan Yunis refugee camp, the first demolitions in Gaza since the signing of the Oslo accords in September 1993.

"Our goal," explained Jerusalem's mayor Ehud Olmert, "is to create an infrastructure that eventually enables these places to become an inseparable part of metropolitan Jerusalem."

Work begins on tunnels through Jerusalem's Mt. Scopus, part of a road system meant to connect Ma'ale Adumim with the coastal plain. The project will take two years and cost $60 million.

Settlers establish an unauthorized outpost near the Nokdim settlement on lands east of Bethlehem that are scheduled to be transferred to Palestinians as part of the delayed November 15 redeployment. YESHA leaders want the government to demolish all Palestinian homes built without permits in the Etzion bloc area.

November 21, 1999

The Palestinian National Defense Land Committee calls for a boycott of work at the settlements; and the PA blocks all transit points between the Gaza Strip's Katif bloc of settlements and the rest of Gaza. Five thousand Palestinians normally work in the Katfi bloc.

November 16, 1999

It is reported that the master plan boundaries of the settlement of Itamar have been expanded from 700 to 7,000 dunams, thereby including 4 of the 42 outposts evaluated by the Barak government on October 12. The plan was authorized, according to Minister of Trade and Industry Cohen, one day after agreement was reached between the government and YESHA on the outpost issue and was an integral part of the agreement.

Israeli Minister of Labor tells residents of the Bet El settlement, "In principle we are against the uprooting of settlements, and in favor of enhancing their security. For the sake of the process, however, we are going to have to take painful actions."

November 11, 1999

Peace Now reports that the Barak government has issued tenders for the construction of 2,703 units in settlements since coming to power.

Al-Quds reports that the West Bank settlement of Rechalim will be expanded to include 2,306 dunams belonging to villagers from Jalud and Qaryut.

It notes that 35 percent of East Jerusalem's 70,000 dunams has been expropriated for Israeli settlement, and an additional 54 percent is off limits to Palestinian residential construction.

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions reports that destruction of Palestinian homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem declined from 249 in 1997 to 175 in 1998 to 74 in 1999.

Ha'aretz reports that the Barak government will enforce a prohibition on settlement expansion more than 200 meters from existing housing.

The Israeli cabinet approves (17-1) the next IDF redeployment scheduled for November 15 . PA leader Arafat refuses to approve the map outlining the transfer of West Bank territories scheduled for November 15.

November 10, 1999

The IDF evacuates the last of 11 outposts--Havat Ma'on near Hebron--as ordered by the Barak government on October 12.

November 9, 1999

The IDF map outlining the next redeployment is presented to YESHA officials. Settlers complain that "if the government doesn't do something about the illegal construction in Area C, settlers will take matters into their own hands."

November 8, 1999

Construction of a new neighborhood at the settlement of Itamar begins at Hilltop 851.

At the first substantive session on final-status issues, Israeli negotiator Oded Eran notes, "The establishment of secure borders should leave most of the Israelis residing today in the West Bank and Gaza Strip under Israeli sovereignty."

November 7, 1999

Settlers at Mitzpe K'ramim, one of the outposts scheduled for evacuation, move 1 km to a new location. Four settlements remain to be evacuated.

Ha'aretz reports that 6 of 11 outposts have not complied with Prime Minister Barak's October 12 order to evacuate.

Israel's High Court rejects a petition by Palestinians opposing the expansion of Ma'ale Adumim. One judge suggests that "some good for the residents of the neighboring [Palestinian] villages might spring from the economic and cultural development of Ma'ale Adumim."

November 4, 1999

The IDF presents to the Israeli cabinet the map outlining the next phase of West Bank redeployment.

November 3, 1999

The two families living at the outpost of Mitzpe Hagit leave the settlement in accord with the government decision of October 12. The families will be permitted to return in several weeks.

Prime Minister Barak rejects PA leader Arafat's demand to freeze settlements, explaining that if a final-status agreement can be reached in the next year, "the number of homes that can be built by then is insignificant."

November 2, 1999

Israelwire reports that PA leader Arafat has called upon U.S. president Bill Clinton to take action to stop settlement expansion.

October 31, 1999

The last remaining section of Hebron's Shuhada Street is opened to traffic for the first time since the killing of Palestinians by Baruch Goldstein in the city's Ibrahimi mosque in March 1994.

October 29, 1999

Kol Ha'Ir reports that, during the preceding month, the industrial park in the Etzion bloc sold 70 of the park's 350 dunams for an average price of $34,000 per dunam.

October 28, 1999

Settlers in the Etzion bloc announce, "If we allow thousands of dunams to be handed over to the PA, we are agreeing to the breaking up of the bloc into isolated settlements, the end to future growth, and surrendering control of the road to Jerusalem."

October 27, 1999

More than 200 rabbis reaffirm the prohibition on transferring parts of the Land of Israel to non-Jewish sovereignty. In response, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas movement, reiterates his ruling that such actions are permissible in order to save lives.

According to a report by Arutz 7, the Palestinian effort to boycott work in Gaza settlements has resulted in a considerable reduction in laborers working in settlements. In the settlement of Netzer Hazani, the labor force has been reduced by 50 percent and in Morag by 90 percent. "If the workers continue to leave because they fear for their lives," explained the security coordinator for Netzer Hazani, "we will be on the verge of collapse."

October 26, 1999

Residents of the other outposts will not leave until the master plan for "Greater Itamar"--which will increase the territory of the settlement to 6,000 dunams--is approved.

Ha'aretz reports that two settlements west of Jerusalem will be evacuated after an agreement with settlers providing that all infrastructure remain at the sites. The government will also begin the process of approving the permanent return of settlers to the sites.

October 25, 1999

A tender for the construction of 10 units in the Gaza settlement of Rafiah Yam is published.

Israeli authorities demolish a home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, the fourth since the Barak government took power.

The first "safe passage" route for Palestinians linking the Gaza Strip to the West Bank is opened.

October 24, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that the IDF will request an additional budget of $35 million to enhance the defenses of 40 settlements and to bulletproof 200 buses. The IDF has already spent $10 million on 19 settlements affected by the transfer of land to the PA. The relocation of six IDF bases resulting from implementation of the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement will cost $70 million.

October 22, 1999

Kol Hazeman reports that officials in the Etzion bloc are planning tours for Israeli parents opposed to sending their children on field trips to the West Bank in order to show them that there is no danger in touring the area.

Ha'aretz reports that the Israeli Foreign Ministry has refused to receive a European Union report on construction in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

October 21, 1999

Five uninhabited settlement outposts are evacuated: Hill 804 and Hill 8827 (Shvut Rachel B and D), Points 51 and 52 (near Kiryat Arba), and Khirbet as-Sana (near Eli).

October 19, 1999

Yediot Aharanot reports two rulings by rabbis declaring the transfer of lands to Palestinians to be a violation of Jewish law.

October 17, 1999

In succeeding days however, at least one resident has his residency rights revoked under the old criteria, and Interior Ministry officials deny receiving new instructions.

Interior Minister Natan Sharansky ends the practice of withdrawing the residency rights of Palestinians with East Jerusalem identity documents as long as they can prove a continuing connection with the city, expressed through occasional visits or the presence of extended family. Sharansky notes that as a practical matter, anyone who today has the status of a permanent resident of Jerusalem will remain so.

October 12, 1999

Prime Minister Barak announces that of 42 settlement outposts whose status was unclear, 16 will be frozen and not expanded, 3 will be permitted to continue the authorization process, and 8 are entirely legal. Seven have no legal authorization and 8 were authorized by officials who lacked the necessary legal authority. Of these latter 15 settlements, 11 will be evacuated; 4 of the 15 are uninhabited, and another 4 will become new neighborhoods of existing settlements after moving a short distance. A YESHA official calls the decision "a great deal" for settlers.

October 11, 1999

Minister of Trade and Industry Ran Cohen rescinds his decision to freeze consideration of requests for state benefits for Israeli commercial and indus-trial concerns locating in the occupied territories.

October 9, 1999

Yediot Aharanot reports that the Israel Lands Administration has stopped publishing tenders for new construction in the Golan settlements, awaiting "clarifications" from the prime minister. No tenders have been issued during Barak's government.

Kol Ha'Ir reports that Israeli contractors have bid successfully on the construction of 727 new dwelling units in the East Jerusalem settlement area of Pisgat Ze'ev.

October 7, 1999

Prime Minister Barak confirms that Golan settlements will be eligible for the highest level of state subsidy as "priority area A."

Deputy Minister of Defense Sneh imposes limitations on the ability of the PA to establish farms in lands located in Area C near the Etzion bloc.

October 6, 1999

Hatzofe reports that the civil administration has permitted the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture to establish 40 farms on 15,000 dunams in parts of Area C throughout the West Bank.

October 5, 1999

PA leader Yasser Arafat declares that the Barak government has approved the construction of 3,084 settlement dwellings in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since coming to power. "Settlement activity destroys the peace process," he announced. "I had an agreement with the late Yitzhak Rabin not to build even one new house in the settlements nor to expand them, including the settlements at Har Homa and Ras al-Amud."

October 2, 1999

The General Committee for the Defense of the Territories, meeting in Ramallah, resolves to ban all Palestinian work or contracting in settlements and to boycott settlement products.

October 1, 1999

Construction of 500 new units has begun at Ma'ale Adumim. According to the city's mayor, YESHA chairman Benjamin Kashriel, "Barak promised that he will help to build the city. It is clear to everyone that we are part of the consensus around Jerusalem."

Kol Ha'Ir reports that preparations are being made to market another 600 units at Har Homa, where more than 1,500 have already been tendered.

Yerushalim reports that a British firm and the Greek Orthodox Church have reached preliminary agreement on constructing a $150 million residential-commercial development on 150 dunams owned by the church between the Jerusalem settlements of Gilo and Har Homa. The British firm's Israeli representative notes that, the project will create a ring of Israeli construction along the southern border of the city.

September 30, 1999

An Israeli police report concludes that construction of a settlement at Ma'ale HaZeitim [Ras al-Amud] would not present a security risk.

Deputy Minister of Defense Efraim Sneh has promised that "the works [will] be stopped for two weeks in order to carefully check who owns the lands." According to Arutz-7 radio, "a certain amount of territory is in the early stages of being declared state land, but even the farms on private Arab-owned lands are only allowed to be run privately and not by the PA, as is the case. The PA has signs on the properties, attesting to the fact that it is behind the works."

Settlers in the Etzion bloc learn that the civil administration has approved fourteen Palestinian farms in the region. Thirteen of these, comprising 2,998 dunams, are in territory under total Israeli control Area C.

September 27, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that the IDF has declared at least 80,000 dunams west of Hebron and along the Green Line to be a closed military area. Although the 14 orders for the closure were signed in May and July, affected Palestinian landowners only became aware of their existence in September. Two hundred families live in the affected areas, which the IDF intends to use in place of territories transferred to the PA according to the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement.

Tenders are published for two new roads in the West Bank--one connecting the settlements of Shaked and Katzir, another connecting Kiryat Arba and Ramat Mimra.

September 26, 1999

Minister Levy and Likud leader Ariel Sharon are guests at a ceremony at the Hebron area settlement of Otniel. Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel also attends.

Prime Minister Barak announces that he will examine tenders issued by the Ministry of Housing and Construction to determine whether they conform to coalition guidelines regarding settlement expansion. Housing and Construction Minister Levy says that "the tenders for the construction of 2,600 apartments issued by his ministry in [the West Bank] do not stand in opposition to the government guidelines." He explains that "the housing units in question are necessary for natural growth" and "are mainly in areas not far from Jerusalem, such as Ma'ale Adumim and Beitar."

Peace Now reports that the Housing and Construction Ministry has issued tenders for the building of 2,594 new residential units in the West Bank since the installation of the government of Ehud Barak in July 1999. According to Peace Now, the tenders are primarily for new homes in urban settlements: 1,089 apartments in Beitar; 594 in Givat Ze'ev; 461 in Ma'ale Adumim, as well as Har Adar, Karnei Shomron, Kiryat Arba, and Otniel.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reports a September 16 action in which settlers, accompanied by Israeli bulldozers, leveled 20 dunams alongside the Malalha community, east of Rafah Mawasi in the Gaza Strip. The organization also reports that Israel has seized land in Gaza to build a road linking the settlements of Gan Or, Gadid, and Bedolah.

September 22, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that the appointment of Joseph Vardi to be the settlement czar at the Israeli Defense Ministry is meant to "put order" in settlement construction. "Those around Barak," reports the newspaper, "say that they were amazed to discover the extraordinary means employed by the Defense Ministry during the last year, in coordination with the settlers, to expand settlements and to legalize settlements established without legal authority."

The Israeli State Attorney's Office files an appeal with the High Court to overturn the acquittal of the security coordinator of the Hadar Beitar settlement, who was charged with killing an 11 year old Palestinian boy three years ago in the village of Hussan, near Bethlehem.

September 21, 1999

Ma'ariv reports that 300 Israelis who have privately purchased land in the West Bank from Palestinians since 1967 plan to ask the Israeli High Court to assure that the government cannot enter into a political agreement with the Palestinians that voids their ownership rights. One settler estimates that 25,000 dunams in the West Bank has been purchased privately by Israelis.

September 20, 1999

Bnei Yehuda, a settlement of 240 families in the southern Golan, lays the cornerstone of a new 52-home housing project, the first phase of a 1,500 unit program. Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Levy officially dedicates the new neighborhood. Levy also dedicates 24 housing units at the Golan settlement of Kanaf. Golan residents end the day by joining several government ministers and MKs at a nighttime gathering, themed "Together We Will Preserve the Golan."

September 19, 1999

Al-Quds reports that, at a conference of Palestinian experts organized by the Miftah Institute, Saeb Erekat referred to "a study that had disclosed that all the Israeli military camps and the settlements put together make up 125 square kilometers of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip."

Yediot Aharanot reports that sportswear concern Kappa, in which the Italian multinational Benetton is a minority shareholder, will establish a production system for its sportswear at the West Bank settlement of Barkan.

It is reported that the Settlement Department of the Jewish Agency has expanded the new Golan settlement of Nimrod, 1.5 km from Majdal Shams. Fewer than 10 families live at the outpost.

September 18, 1999

PA lead negotiator Yasser Abd Rabbo declares that negotiations on the final status will not begin if Israel continues to expand settlements.

Palestinians claim that only 6.5 percent, rather than the agreed upon 7 percent, of the West Bank came into their possession as a consequence of the last IDF redeployment. Israel denies the charge.

September 17, 1999

A private contractor announces plans to double the number of houses in the settlement of Kedar, near Ma'ale Adumim, by building 88 new units priced between $175,000 and $209,000.

Ha'aretz reports that Israel has temporarily maintained an area near the settlements of Ofra and Mikmash as Area C in order to facilitate the creation of a controversial quarry by well-connected Palestinians. The Palestinian local governor opposes the project, as do nearby residents and settlers. After the quarry begins operating, the area will be transferred to Area B in conjunction with a future Israeli redeployment.

It is reported that settlers from Ofra and Bet El have purchased 250 dunams

along the projected route of a road that will connect the two West Bank settlements.

Kol Ha'Ir reports that the ministry of housing approved the creation of a "little Switzerland," including an artificial lake in the Etzion bloc of settlements. Proponents claim that the project will assure that the area remains within the "national consensus" and therefore will not be turned over to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The Higher Planning Committee has yet to endorse the project.

Ha'aretz reports that the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture approved the expansion of the Golan Heights settlement of Ortal from the current 80 units to 195.

September 16, 1999

Yediot Aharanot reports that, according to a study conducted by the Israeli security establishment, at least 10 of the more than 40 hilltop settlements established over the course of 1998-1999 in the West Bank "are overtly illegal." A security official who took part in the study affirmed that most of the settlements were being "laundered" by means of obtaining permits after the settlements were already established. The study concluded that 10 of the settlements are not included in any master plan, and one was built inside an Israel Defense Force (IDF) firing range.

September 13, 1999

Yediot Aharanot reports that Burger King has refused to permit its Israeli franchisee to open a restaurant in the Latrun area, claiming that it would be located across the Green Line.

September 14, 1999

At the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, Barak states that the settlement will remain "part of the State of Israel and part of Greater Jerusalem forever. We, the new government, will continue to strengthen the State of Israel and its hold on the Land of Israel, and we will continue to strengthen Ma'ale Adumim. Every tree you plant, every house you build is part of the State of Israel forever. Period. We are not going to move settlements of 25,000 people whom the Rabin government and all governments nurtured. You are part of Greater Jerusalem! You will be part of the State of Israel in every permanent arrangement."

At a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Barak sets out Israel's positions at the final status talks: no return to the 1967 borders; all of Jerusalem as Israel's capital; no foreign army west of the Jordan River; most Israeli settlement blocs to remain under Israeli sovereignty.

September 13, 1999

A tender for 12 units is issued in Kiryat Arba," bringing to 2,604 the total number of tenders issued for units in the settlements since the Barak government assumed power.

Faisal Husseini, the PA official in charge of Jerusalem affairs, says there is no future for Ma'ale Adumim residents but evacuation. "Creating a mixture of Israeli settlements with Palestinian cities is nothing but a ticking time bomb that will only lead to situations like those in Kosovo."

Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), PA chairman Arafat's top deputy, says that "the resumption of the permanent status negotiations requires a full cessation of all Israeli settlement activities," including "expanding existing ones."

September 10, 1999

IsraelWire reports that Yasser Arafat's delay in signing the official maps appended to the Sharm al-Sheikh agreement has postponed the scheduled 7 percent Israeli withdrawal from West Bank lands from September 9 to September 10.

September 7, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that the Israeli government intends to cut the budget of the World Zionist Organization's settlement department to $25 million in 2000. The, 1999

budget is $47 million. Avraham Duvdevani, chair of the WZO settlement department, claims that "the drastic budget cut will virtually wipe out the settlement section" and lead to the demise of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, particularly those affected by implementation of the Wye accords.

September 2, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that the Israeli supreme court has ruled in favor of the al-Abasi family in its dispute with the Ir David (City of David) settler association regarding the family's residence in the East Jerusalem village of Silwan. The court upheld an earlier ruling that "the property belongs jointly to family members and to the Custodian of Absentee Properties and any rights the association may have been given should be annulled." Ir David has been ordered to pay the family $5,000 and the State must pay a similar sum.

IsraelWire reports that Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein has informed Minister of Industry and Trade Ran Cohen of the Meretz Party that he does not have the authority to change the government's classification of settlement areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Cohen had wanted to reduce state subsidies and benefits available to many settlements.

August 26, 1999

Burger King announces that it has canceled the right of Israeli franchisee Rikamor Ltd. to operate a Burger King food in Ma'ale Adumim, northeast of Jerusalem. The company's press release cites "a breach of its franchise contract and misrepresentation. Rikamor falsely informed Burger King that the [restaurant] would be located in Israel." The restaurant, however, continues to operate under the Burger King logo.

August 25, 1999

Palestine Report notes that the Palestinian District Planning Office in Bethlehem is in possession of an Israeli map detailing the construction of an expanded checkpoint at the entrance to Bethlehem -- that is, one similar to Gaza's Erez crossing.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reports that settlers from Netzarim in the Gaza Strip have installed a 450-meter water pipe extending from their settlement to a piece of land (estimated at 500 dunams) located to the south of the settlement, thereby paving the way for the expansion of Netzarim's border. The move is the latest in a series of expansions to Netzarim since the signing of the Oslo accords, including the annexation of 300 dunams of land to the west of the settlement, 150 dunams to the north, and 250 dunams to the south. The military post situated on the western side of Netzarim has also been expanded, and construction activities were recently witnessed in the settlement, including the erection of a synagogue and 35 additional houses, all of which remain empty. The future port of Gaza will be built on the beachfront south of Gaza City, only 3km away from the Netzarim.

August 23, 1999

Settlers demonstrated in theWest Bank settlement of Rehan to protest the Israeli army's plan to construct an army base in woods near Jenin. The proposed base will cover 60 dunams, and 750 trees have already been felled in preparation for construction. The settlers claim that the army's actions are "a violation of their `natural environment'"and have taken the case to the Israeli supreme court. Work on the site has been suspended since the demonstration.

August 11, 1999

The Israeli Ministry of Interior demolishes two houses in the village of Wallaja, south of Jerusalem near Beit Jalla.

August 10, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that since Israeli housing minister Yitzhak Levy took office, the Housing Ministry "has published tenders for the construction of 1,339 housing units in the settlements."

August 9, 1999

Palestinian Muslims attempt to break open an entrance to the Haram al-Sharif at the Hulda Steps on the plateau's southern wall. Israeli police respond by sealing the entrance during the night.

Israeli deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh criticizes the situation in Hebron, stating, "There are more soldiers in Hebron than in southern Lebanon, and therefore the settlers have nothing to complain about."

August 4, 1999

American Muslims for Jerusalem announces that it will call for a worldwide boycott of Burger King restaurants in response to the company's decision to ignore Muslim concerns about the opening of a Burger King in the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim.

July 23, 1999

Peace Now reports building activity at Hill 777, located 5.5 km from the Itamar settlement, and at the settlement of Shalhevet, near Yitzhar.

July 19, 1999

Minister of Education Yossi Sarid instructs his ministry to declare West Bank settlements no longer eligible for free education for three-year-old children.

July 18, 1999

The PLO Executive Committee declares that all settlement activities must be halted and that Israel must implement the Wye accords.

July 15, 1999

Settlers from the Gaza settlements of Dugit and Eli Sinai are reported in Ha'aretz to have constructed "summer homes" without permits on a nearby beach. The newspaper reports that "while much attention has been paid to settlement activities in the West Bank, settlers from [Nisanit and Dugit] do their part in trying to settle as much territory as possible, before the onset of permanent-status negotiations."

July 14, 1999

The convention of signatories to the Fourth Geneva Convention opens symbolically in Geneva and adjourns indefinitely.

July 12, 1999

In separate meetings, Prime Minister Barak briefs settlement leaders of the West Bank and Golan areas. Golan leaders call upon the prime minister not to make a deal with Syria at the expense of the communities and residents of the area.

The YESHA council chooses Benny Kashriel, mayor of Ma'ale Adumim, to succeed Pinchas Wallerstein as YESHA council chairman. The position of secretary-general will continue to be filled by Aharon Domb.

Ariel mayor Ron Nahman said the decision to freeze the investments would be a blow to factories in the industrial area of Ariel. "The decision will deprive income from many workers who are residents of YESHA, citizens of Israel just like the citizens on the other side of what's known as the Green Line. This is a boycott--even discrimination," Nahman said.

Investment requests made after January 1998 have been frozen. Subsides for these investments total $90 million, of which more than $5 million comes from the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Finance Minister Avraham Shochat noted, however, that such decisions are not in Minister Cohen's purview, but must be made only by the prime minister and the finance minister. The YESHA council announced, "It's ridiculous that the first step of the new ?vernment for all' is to freeze investments in YESHA."

Cohen called upon Israelis not to invest in factories located in West Bank settlement areas as "they don't supply work for the unemployed of the development towns."

Minister of Trade and Industry Ran Cohen (Meretz) is reported to have instructed the Investment Center not to approve government funding for any additional new factories in West Bank settlement areas "until the government determines its new order of priorities."

July 11, 1999

At his first public meeting with Prime Minister Barak, PA chairman Yasser Arafat stresses that settlement activity is "contrary to the spirit of peace" and calls for a freeze on new construction. Barak replies that no new settlements will be built and none will be dismantled.

July 8, 1999

Interior Minister Natan Sharansky assures settlers that Prime Minister Barak has promised not to evacuate hilltop settlements.

July 6, 1999

An Israeli family of 13 moves into a house in Jerusalem's Old City Uqbat al-Tikkiyah. area. The property was purchased by the settlement group Ateret Cohanim.

June 27, 1999

Other construction in the area includes 450 units in Tel Zion (out of 1,000 approved) and 300 in Adam. Construction of the 1,800 units is expected to begin within weeks.

Ma'ariv reports that Defense Minister Arens and the head of Israel's Central Command, Moshe Ya'alon, approved a Ministry of Housing plan for the construction of 1,800 dwelling units in the West Bank adjacent to the East Jerusalem settlement suburb of Neve Ya'acov. The new construction will form a territorial link between the settlements of East Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Adam. The newspaper reports that the area will be annexed to Jerusalem upon the completion of construction.

June 21, 1999

The Palestinian organization LAW reports that 33 Palestinian dwellings have been demolished in Jerusalem and the West Bank since the beginning of 1999.

Forty contractors are reported to have bid on the third tender issued for residential construction at Har Homa in East Jerusalem, compared to 14 in the previous two rounds. More than 1,700 units have already been sold at the site.

June 18, 1999

Construction of an industrial park in Gaza's Katif bloc settlement of Neve Dekalim, comprising 5,000 square meters of space, is reported to be almost complete.

Barak explains in Ha'aretz that "the Golan has a wonderful and important settlement enterprise, but it will not be possible to make peace there without a compromise. Judea and Samaria [however] is the birthplace of our history--it is more emotional, it is something else." Barak adds, "I am moved to tears when I stand on the northern slope of Mt. Eval [near Nablus], in the place where Joshua erected his altar."

Outgoing YESHA council head Pinchas Wallerstein warns against Prime Minister-elect Barak's intentions in the West Bank. He adds that Barak plans to remove some 60 settlements. Wallerstein said, however, that YESHA residents should not independently "capture hilltops" without coordination with the YESHA council, because "if the struggle for the settlement enterprise is conducted in a non-uniform manner, it will fail."

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

President Clinton signs a waiver of legislation requiring the United States to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

June 13, 1999

Five mobile homes are placed in the "120" section of Elon Moreh, outside the settlement's master plan area, on land owned by Palestinians from the nearby village of Dayr al-Khatib.

June 11, 1999

Kol Ha'ir also reports the discovery of a large cache of weapons in a cave near the Hebron area settlement of Maon that were stolen from the IDF. Police believe that the cache was assembled by settlers.

Kol Ha'ir reports that a special $6.2 million allocation will be made to affected settlements as compensation for the Wye accord. The funds were agreed to in late 1998. An additional $12 million allocation was made shortly after Netanyahu's May electoral defeat.

June 8, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that 15,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union live in West Bank and Gaza Strip settlements.

June 7, 1999

In an interview with Israel Radio, Prime Minister-elect Barak notes, "I don't think anyone thinks that a government headed by me will continue the settlement drive on hills around Nablus."

June 3, 1999

Outgoing deputy minister of housing Porush, in an Arutz 7 interview, advises potential home buyers in settlements to take advantage of benefits offered by the Netanyahu government. "There won't be a [settlement] freeze [by the Barak government]," he estimates, "not only because Barak does not want one, but principally because today, unlike 1992, most of the construction in YESHA is private and not part of the state budget, and is therefore very hard to freeze."

A second tender of 800 apartments at Har Homa is reported to be fully subscribed. Seven hundred of the original 800 units tendered have been sold.

An IDF statement reports that, during the course of the day, there was total cooperation between Israeli and PA security forces.

"The Palestinian Authority does not really intend to struggle against settlements," explained one veteran member of the land defense committees established to organize popular opposition to settlement expansion. "It only wants to move Barak to renew the negotiations."

Ha'aretz reports 18 Palestinian injuries and 6 Israeli military injuries in nine separate protests throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip in which 5,000 Palestinian demonstrators participated.

The "Day of Rage" against settlements called for by the PA passes, according to Ma'ariv, "in relative quiet and without severe protest."

June 2, 1999

The Ministry of Housing's five-year plan calls for the construction of 12,000 new dwelling units in West Bank settlements, including 3,000 in Ma'ale Adumim, 2,000 in Kiryat Sefer, and 1,500 in Ariel.

"We can't build new apartments, or continue existing construction, without knowing exactly that the subsidy that potential purchasers receive will not be harmed." The subsidy for land development alone runs from $10,000 to $17,000 per unit.

Ma'ariv reports that Israeli contractors fear the effects of a reduction or cancellation of settlement construction subsidies. "Cancellation of the subsidy for purchasers of apartments beyond the Green Line will harm our investments. We will not shrink from making claims against the state for compensation," explained the head of the contractors' association.

May 30, 1999

The Palestinian National Committee Against Settlements calls upon Palestinians "to take active part in the demonstrations at Ras al-Amud against the attempts to establish a settlement in the heart of the holy city." "Public clashes" are planned in places that "face the burning threat of land expropriations and the construction of settlements." The committee calls these activities the "active beginning of the popular fury that can be called the ?rising of the land.'"

May 28, 1999

The newly elected head of the Etzion bloc council states his opposition to "the new exhibitionist settlements. It's better to build in more appropriate locations." He promises to "double the bloc during my term, and not to talk too much."

Ha'aretz reports that the civil administration's High Planning Council expedited approval of 15 to 20 building plans for settlements in the months preceding the elections. Sources in the council are reported to believe that if a freeze in construction is ordered by the new government of Ehud Barak, it will not affect plans already approved.

May 27, 1999

The joint Israeli-Palestinian civilian affairs committee meets to hear complaints of Palestinians from the Jordan Valley village of Nu'ema, who charge that settlers from nearby Na'ami placed mobile homes and a water tower on their agricultural land. Israel maintains that the disputed land is "state land."

May 25, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that the civil administration has begun expanding the municipal boundary of the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, "including lands claimed by Palestinian owners that were previously declared to be beyond the settlement's municipal limits."

May 24, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that Palestinian villagers from Dir Qadis were protesting settlement development work on land 50 meters from village homes. Palestinians claim ownership of the disputed territory, which is being developed as a new neighborhood of the Kiryat Sefer settlement.

May 23, 1999

The Knesset Finance Committee approves the transfer from the state budget of $5 million for the settlement of Ariel.

May 19, 1999

Israel's civil administration uproots saplings planted by Palestinians near the West Bank village of Beit Dajan, claiming that they are on "state land."

Labor MK Shimon Peres states that it is likely that some settlements will eventually come under the authority of the PA, explaining that this would be no different than some of the Arab villages in the occupied territories that are under Israeli control today.

May 18, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that settlement construction in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras al-Amud has commenced on a 3.5-acre site. A settlement of 130 units is to be constructed.

May 16, 1999

An authorized outpost with 10 mobile homes is established by settlers on a hilltop near the settlement of Halamish, northwest of Ramallah.

May 15, 1999

Palestinian demonstrators clash with Israeli troops in scattered West Bank protests. Several hundred Palestinians gather at the settlement of Brukin, pressing for the removal of caravans set up by settlers.

May 14, 1999

Yerushalim 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. Authorities authorized far less dense construction than in nearby Israeli settlement communities in East Jerusalem.

State Department spokesman James Rubin states, "Ambassadors to Israel have routinely leased hotel apartments or suites for their use in visits to Jerusalem and for security, convenience and meetings; that continues to be the case. Maintaining these arrangements does not represent a change in our position on the issue of moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem."

May 12, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that U.S. ambassador to Israel Ned Walker has quietly established a secondary residence in Jerusalem, where he has privately entertained U.S. Jewish groups. Walker's new secondary residence, leased by the U.S. embassy earlier this year, is an apartment in the condominium wing of Jerusalem's Hilton Hotel.

Ha'aretz reports that private investors plan to invest $125 million in the Golan Heights settlement of Katzrin. Planned projects include a 150-room hotel and a shopping mall.

Scores of Arab demonstrators block the entrance to the Gaza settlement of Netzarim, preventing trucks with building materials from entering the community.

The IDF removes settlers from an unauthorized outpost near the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. The outpost, which had been established only a few days earlier, is the second outpost evacuated by the IDF in recent days.

Ha'aretz reports that Minister of Defense Arens told Secretary of State Albright that the rate of increase in the settler population since the call for new Israeli elections had been no more than 1 percent, or 2,000 people.

May 11, 1999

The Knesset Finance Committee approves the transfer of $3 million to settlements in order to "enable the creation of 32 new neighborhoods in settlements."

The five kilometer, $60 million Ma'ale Adumim-Jerusalem road, which includes a 500-meter tunnel under Mt. Scopus, is dedicated by Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert.

The first settlers arrive at Dagan Hill, near the West Bank settlement of Efrat.

Settlers residing in the northern Gaza outpost of Dugit tear down the settlement's perimeter fence to protest the IDF's refusal to permit the expansion of the settlement's boundaries. The IDF had earlier stopped an attempt to move the perimeter fence 200 meters beyond its agreed-upon location.

May 10, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that military sources have criticized the establishment of the new industrial zone near Kiryat Arba, calling it "an unnecessary development the sole purpose of which is to make the planned withdrawal from the area extremely problematic."

May 9, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu intervened on four occasions to prevent the evacuation of unauthorized hilltop settlements throughout the West Bank, including Tene-Omarim near Hebron, at Har Bracha near Nablus, and twice at Hill 777 (Gidonim) near Itamar.

The Netanyahu cabinet approves a $5,000 grant to purchasers of new apartments in new Jerusalem neighborhoods. The program will run until the end of 2000.

The IDF issues an order to evacuate "Givat Erez," 1 km from the settlement of Ma'ale Mikmash. The site had been occupied for less than one week.

Infrastructure work commences at a 900-dunam site of an industrial park north of the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba.

The IDF dismantles a hilltop settlement, Hill 824, near the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel. At the new Brukin settlement, near Eli Zahav, 15 mobile homes are installed with IDF approval.

Arutz 7 reports that Israeli police and civil administration officials evacuated Hill 10, east of the West Bank settlement of Shilo. One settler notes that the site "is on state-owned land, and the outpost was established there several days ago. The Arabs around us are engaged in the planting of a million trees on state-owned lands, in order to grab these lands for themselves, and the civil administration is not doing anything about it. A few students went out to the outpost and made their home in an old bus. The authorities moved in and evacuated the students."

May 7, 1999

Hadashot reports that from August 1998 thru April, 1999

the IDF installed 800 mobile homes in more than 50 West Bank settlements. Peace Now reports 3,712 empty units in West Bank settlements.

May 6, 1999

A tender for the construction of 802 dwelling units at Har Homa is published.

Ha'aretz reports that the Jerusalem municipality and representatives of the residents of the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Jabal al-Mukabir and Arab al-Suwarha have reached a "gentleman's agreement" aimed at halting house demolitions and illegal construction. The parties agreed that no homes will be destroyed and no structures will be erected without permits until planning teams from both sides examine existing zoning plans.

May 4, 1999

Emunah Elon, a resident of the settlement of Beit El, tells Arutz 7, "We must face the reality, that most of the [Israeli] population does not care about the future of settlements. It's not that they hate us or anything, they are simply not particularly concerned what a Palestinian state will mean for the settlements. We must clarify to them that a Palestinian state does not only endanger us, but even more so the rest of Israel."

The Israeli organization Betselem reports that since 1993 Israel has established 33 new settlements in the occupied territories, 17 of which were established in the period just prior to and after the signing of the Wye memorandum in October 1998.

Prime Minister Netanyahu admits that settlers are occupying West Bank hilltops outside existing settlements, but denies the actions violate promises made to the United States.

May 3, 1999

One Israel's Shlomo ben Ami, in a visit to the Etzion bloc, states, "Not only is a return to the 1967 border unacceptable to us, the mass evacuation of settlements is also unacceptable."

Harei Zahav, a new settlement west of Eli Zahav, is established. Initial plans for what settlement leaders describe as a "new neighborhood" of Eli Zahav calls for the construction of 200 dwelling units undertaken by the private sector. The area has a capacity for 1,000 units.

An on-site survey of settlement expansion carried out by Peace Now reveals that 6,500 housing units are under construction in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a 14 percent increase over a year ago.

The municipality of Jerusalem demolishes two Palestinian houses in Jabal al-Mukabir. Ten houses in Jerusalem and ten in the West Bank have been demolished since the beginning of the year.

The Israeli government's approval of the construction of a joint Palestinian Authority-Israeli industrial park on a 1,200-dunam (300-acre) plot of land south of Nablus is reported. The new commercial site is located in Area B.

May 2, 1999

The Knesset Finance Committee approves the transfer of $20 million to settlements in fulfillment of the coalition agreement reached on the eve of the passage of the, 1999

budget.

April 29, 1999

The civil administration dismantles an unauthorized hilltop dwelling located outside the planning boundary of Ma'ale Levona days after evacuating a site nearby.

Ma'ariv reports that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and National Security Council advisor Sandy Berger complained to Israeli minister of defense Moshe Arens that at a time when the United States is attempting to preempt the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state, Israel is undertaking unilateral actions in settlements by condoning the creation of new hilltop outposts. They demanded that the settlements be removed.

Netanyahu's spokesman, David Bar Ilan, explained that "it is true that the construction in settlements is not contiguous. We thought that it [the commitment] was part of the whole, which was not implemented. Therefore we didn't feel obligated. There are no new settlements, and the expansion of existing settlements is only in areas that are part of their master plans."

The most complete statement of the U.S. view came from the U.S. embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv, who explained, "The prime minister told us, at every level and on many occasions, that as a matter of policy there will not be new settlements, and that there would be no expansion of existing settlements beyond their contiguous periphery. But, in contrast to what was said to us, we see an acceleration of actions that include Israeli construction and new settlements, and also expansion of existing settlements beyond their contiguous periphery."

Ha'aretz reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu violated a secret commitment not to expand settlements. The promise--believed to restrict expansion to areas adjacent to existing construction--was first made to President Bill Clinton in the summer of 1997 and repeated at the Wye plantation in October 1998.

April 28, 1999

Work is reported to have begun on a new settlement area next to the settlement of Ofarim, near the Green Line. The new settlement, approved in 1991, will be populated by ultra-Orthodox Jews (Haredim) in 2,000 units, along with 6,000 units for secular Israelis. The urban settlement, with a projected population of 34,000, is aimed at "strengthening construction along the Green Line," explained a housing official. Some settlers in Ofarim oppose the creation of a religious town in their midst.

April 26, 1999

The government gives final approval for the building of six new settlements: two in the Negev, three in the Galilee, and one in the Jordan Valley.

Residents of the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Levona establish a hilltop encampment.

April 23, 1999

Yerushalim reports that the Ministry of Housing has added 20 West Bank settlements to the list of "A" development areas. Home buyers in these settlements are eligible for a $10,000 "local loan."

Yerushalim reports the completion of an interministerial multiyear plan calling for allocations of more than $125 million in "civilian assistance" for settlements. The budget calls for the expansion of industrial parks in settlements.

Ma'ariv reports that rabbis have approved the construction of settlement infrastructure and roads by non-Jews on the Sabbath [Saturday]. Continuation of work on the Sabbath would enable settlers to "create facts on the ground" and to bypass the civil administration, which does not work on the Sabbath and does not operate a helicopter used to discover illegal construction in settlements.

April 19, 1999

The CBS reports that construction starts in West Bank and Gaza Strip settlements increased by 105 percent during the last year, from 1,900 in 1997 to 3,900 in 1998, comprising 10 percent of residential construction in Israel.

An interministerial committee on Jerusalem recommends that, in order to maintain a 70/30 percent Jewish majority in Jerusalem, Israel needs to build 116,000 new dwelling units in the city for Jews by 2200, an annual rate of 5,500, far higher than is currently the case.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the settler population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip grew by 7 percent in 1998 to 172,000, an increase of 11,000, compared with 9 percent in 1997 (13,000) and 9.4 percent in 1996. In contrast, the population of Israel as a whole increased by 2.3 percent in 1998.

Ha'aretz reports that Israel's attorney general has temporarily frozen the publication of criteria, which exclude Arabs, governing the purchase of property in Jerusalem's Old City Jewish Quarter.

April 16, 1999

Kol Ha'ir reports that Deputy Minister of Housing Meir Porush, visiting Hebron, declared, "The Ministry of Housing has plans to enlarge the Hebron [settler] community. The way to strengthen the city of our fathers is to build more houses and more neighborhoods."

April 14, 1999

A new settlement is reported 750 meters west of the Etzion bloc settlement of Ma'ale Amos. Although within the latter settlement's boundaries, the outpost--Avei Hanahal--has won "independence in infrastructural matters" from Israeli officialdom.

Ha'aretz reports that U.S. satellite photo reconnaissance revealed the establishment of 12 hilltop settlements and access roads in the West Bank since the Wye accords were reached in October 1998. Six additional outposts were established immediately before the talks began.

April 13, 1999

A hilltop outpost in the Hebron area near the Tene and Omarim settlements is reestablished, with Israel Defense Force permission, one day after being evacuated.

A hilltop outpost is established 1.5 km southeast of the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron. Settlement officials note that the new site is within the planning boundaries of Karnei Shomron.

April 11, 1999

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. During 1999, land for new construction is expected to be offered principally in the East Jerusalem settlement communities of Har Homa and Pisgat Ze'ev.

April 4, 1999

The planning council of the civil administration approves a $4 million project to improve the 4.5 km road between Israel and the industrial park near the northwest West Bank settlement of Shaked.

March 29, 1999

The Knesset Finance Committee allocates a $14 million subsidy for the construction of 600 dwelling units in the West Bank settlements. An additional $75 million is allocated for settlement infrastructure and new construction.

April 14, 1999

Ze'evi notes that the NATO intervention sets a "dangerous precedent." "Couldn't it happen here, too, in a different variation today or tomorrow?

Ze'evi retorts, "I learned that from you [in the Labor movement]. You perpetrated a forced transfer. You should be ashamed to raise the subject."

MK Shimon Peres, in a Knesset debate on Kosovo, states that "what is going on in the settlements is ethnic confusion." Turning to Rechavam Ze'evi, a former Labor party member and founder of the Moledet party, which favors the "transfer of Palestinians," Peres continues, "Don't generate ethnic confusion so that we don't have to implement ethnic cleansing."

Ha'aretz reports that U.S. satellites reveal the establishment of twelve new settlement encampments on West Bank hilltops since the Wye summit.

April 12, 1999

Peace Now reports a new settlement one kilometer south of the settlement of Bracha, on the outskirts of Nablus, the seventeenth founded since the Wye summit.

Pinhas Wallerstein, chairman of YESHA, states that the settler population of the West Bank has increased by 30 percent, to 200,000, during Netanyahu's tenure.

Netanyahu travels to the Sha'ar Binyamin industrial area outside Jerusalem for a fifteen-minute visit. "We have done a lot and we will do a lot more. Do we shrink, or do we preserve and expand," he declares.

April 11, 1999

Barak promises in a television interview that, if elected, he will conduct a national referendum on any final status agreement reached with the PA. He also notes four "red lines" for any agreement: 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.

U.S. assistant secretary of state Martin Indyk tells Prime Minister Netanyahu of U.S. "concerns" about "some settlement activity that has been going on in the central West Bank." Netanayhu says that "we have never had an agreement to limit our activities in the settlements . . . nor is this part of Oslo." Indyk replies that "this is not the point."

A small group of Israelis attempts to establish a temporary settlement on the Givat Harsina hilltop near Hebron and Kiryat Arba before being evacuated by Israeli soldiers.

April 9, 1999

Ma'ariv reports that U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright refused to shake the hand of Foreign Minister Sharon at a joint public appearance after a meeting punctuated by U.S. criticism of Israel's creation of new settlements and expansion of existing ones. Albright was reported to have noted that these actions were a violation of commitments made by Netanyahu to President Bill Clinton. It was also reported that Sharon was shown U.S. satellite intelligence supporting the U.S. claims.

April 8, 1999

The Israeli organization Peace Bloc calls for a boycott of a recently introduced postage stamp featuring the settlement in Hebron.

Ha'aretz reports that Faisal Husseini, PA minister for Jerusalem affairs, believes that 6,000 new housing units have been built by Palestinians in East Jerusalem during the last three years, as Palestinians reestablish residence in the city to preempt Israeli efforts to invalidate their residency documents.

April 8, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that Faisal Husseini, PA minister for Jerusalem affairs, believes that 6,000 new housing units have been built by Palestinians in East Jerusalem during the last three years, as Palestinians reestablish residence in the city to preempt Israeli efforts to invalidate their residency documents.

April 4, 1999

Ten new buses are displayed in the settlement of Ariel. They are equipped with reinforced glass windows and "panic buttons" to immediately notify security officers in case of attack.

Industry and Trade Minister Natan Sharansky declares that his Israel B'aliyah party is establishing its own settlement movement to provide housing for Russian immigrants in West Bank and Gaza Strip settlements.

Tens of thousands of Israelis attend a cornerstone-laying ceremony in Hebron for a new building next to Hadassah House. Education Minister Levy, head of the National Religious Party, declares, "Six apartments in this 'House of the Six' and the doubling of Tel Rumeida is only the beginning of the road. There will be thousands more Jews who will live in Hebron."

April 2, 1999

Prime Minister Netanyahu states that he will not evacuate nor transfer to foreign rule any Israeli residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

March 29, 1999

U.S. 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 U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

March 26, 1999

The Jerusalem municipality estimates that it will cost $180 million to bring infrastructure in the Palestinian areas of east Jerusalem to the prevailing standard in West Jerusalem. The, 1999

municipal budget allocates $100,000 for the planning of settlement areas in East Jerusalem, a 25 percent increase over the 1998 development budget. At least $20 million will be spent on improving major new roads in East Jerusalem, facilitating movement between the city, the coastal region, and Greater Jerusalem settlements.

March 24, 1999

The Israeli cabinet, meeting in the Jerusalem City Hall, decides to transfer $75 million to the Jerusalem municipality to be invested in East Jerusalem's infrastructure.

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.

March 23, 1999

Prime Minister Netanyahu lays the cornerstone for Sha'ar Binyamin, an industrial park in the West Bank northeast of Jerusalem. The area will include communication networks, exercise and child-care facilities, wide roads and sidewalks, a shopping mall, and a water purification unit.

March 21, 1999

Prime Minister Netanyahu writes in a letter to Golan residents that he views the Golan Heights as a "strategic and security asset to the State of Israel." This formulation is viewed by some as a weakening of Netanyahu's intention not to withdraw from the plateau.

March 16, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that the U.S. government instructed a group of American military officers not to visit the occupied areas of the Old City of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon tells foreign diplomats that "settlements are not only not an obstacle to peace, they contribute to peace and to Israel's security."

The U.S. House of Representatives approves a resolution warning Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat not to declare a Palestinian state unilaterally. The resolution, approved by a 385to 25 vote, calls for a halt to U.S. financial support for the PA should Arafat make such a declaration.

March 15, 1999

Some 200 Palestinians with five tractors attempt to uproot an olive orchard of the Gush Katif settlement community of Morag. They are dispersed by the IDF.

March 14, 1999

Israeliwire reports a U.S. diplomat's alleged use of the highly sophisticated Magellan site-location system to survey disputed land in the West Bank.

March 12, 1999

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

Yerushalim reports that a group of Israelis has purchased 24 dunams of land in the Palestinian neighborhood of Jebel Mukabber at $42,000 per dunam--a price far higher than the average selling price for similar agricultural land. The new owners intend to rezone the land to allow for construction for Israeli Jews.

U.S. ambassador Dennis Ross criticizes Israeli settlement activity in an interview with Reuters, stating, "We see settlement activity as very destructive to the pursuit of peace precisely because it predetermines and prejudges what ought to be negotiated."

March 11, 1999

A tender is published in Yediot Aharanot for the construction of 57 single-family homes in the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron.

The U.S. Senate resolves 98 to 1 to oppose the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state. A tender is published in Ha'aretz for the construction of Road 60--the Dahariya bypass--in the West Bank.

March 10, 1999

Prime ministerial candidate Yitzhak Mordechai announces that "settlement is crucial for controlling the land and preserving the homeland. We will strengthen settlement in the land of Israel."

March 9, 1999

The scheduled evacuation of ten settler families residing on Hill 777 near Itamar is canceled due to the intervention of Education Minister Rabbi Yitzhak Levy. Despite the cancellation, Israel demolishes six West Bank Palestinian homes and a number of other structures originally intended to "offset" the evacuation of Hill 777.

March 2, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that of 201 demolition orders issued by the Ministry of Interior 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.

February 26, 1999

Minister of Internal Security Avigdor Kalhalani reveals that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu does not intend to permit new construction in the existing settlement enclave in Jerusalem's Ras al-Amud neighborhood.

February 23, 1999

In response to a charge by Meretz MK Yossi Sarid that "the settlers have never had better days since Arens came to the Defense Ministry," Arens notes that "settlements are a fact on the ground which no one can change. In the end, they will contribute to the permanent border of Israel."

In an appearance before the Knesset's Security and Foreign Affairs Committee, Minister of Defense Moshe Arens explains that, in an era when Israel's permanent borders are being defined, despite technological developments there is still great importance and meaning to control over territory.

February 22, 1999

Fifteen West Bank settlements are cited among a tabulation of the 200 richest Israeli communities. The Green Line settlement of Oranit tops the list at number 16, followed by the nearby settlements of Bet Areh [21], Alfe Menache [24], and Elkana [28]. The settlements are considered by Israelis to be bedroom suburbs of metropolitan Tel Aviv.

The second tender for construction at Har Homa results in the planned construction of 300 of 350 units tendered.

A tender is published in Yediot Aharanot for the construction of 80 dwelling units at Olive Hill in the West Bank settlement of Efrat.

February 19, 1999

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

Kol Ha'ir reports on a government plan to establish scores of government-subsidized agricultural farms on strategic hilltops located on state lands in Area C in the Judean Desert region of the West Bank during the next six months. The official administering the project "did not deny that the project's objective is to create facts on the ground before the opening of talks on the final status." Settlement leaders note that it is easier from a bureaucratic standpoint to establish a farm than a settlement.

February 17, 1999

Ha'aretz reports the construction by settlers of roads east of the settlement of Efrat to an area east of Herodion. Palestinians whose lands have been affected and who fear additional confiscations have attempted to prevent the bulldozers from operating.

February 16, 1999

Defense Minister Moshe Arens visits settler leaders in Hebron but does not commit himself to increased settlement construction in the city.

February 15, 1999

A tender is published in Yediot Aharanot for the construction of 20 dwelling units at Olive Hill in the West Bank settlement of Efrat.

February 12, 1999

The financial newspaper Bonus reports that initial steps have been taken to begin construction on 1,154 dunams near the West Bank settlement of Elkana purchased from Palestinian landowners over the last decade. The construction will proceed as the implementation of the government's decision of more than a decade ago approving the establishment of the Neria settlement.

Yerushalim reports that 25 of approximately 100 Likud members vying for places on the Likud election list have signed a declaration noting their opposition to any peace agreement that requires the withdrawal from any part of the Land of Israel. Almost all senior leaders of the party refuse to sign the declaration.

February 1, 1999

One Israel [Labor] prime ministerial candidate Ehud Barak declares at the West Bank settlement of Alfe Menache, "This place is at the center of one of the largest settlement blocs that will be under [Israeli] sovereignty in a final agreement. We will be here in Alfe Menache and [Palestinians] will be over there."

February 9, 1999

Ha'aretz reports the secret settlement of the paramilitary outpost of Nimrod, located between the Syrian Druze villages of Masada and Majd al-Shams. Up to eight families are expected to settle at the site in the near future. One settlement official noted that "the location [of Nimrod] in the heart of Druze villages has a strategic value and a settlement message."

February 5, 1999

It is reported that a fourth family will move into the settlement complex at Ras-al Amud.

Kol Ha'ir reports the demolition of two Palestinian homes in Jerusalem by the municipality during the previous week.

January 31, 1999

Ha'aretz reports that during the previous six weeks 20 residents of Tel Aviv purchased homes in the Golan settlement of Katzrin, worth $2.6 million, for investment purposes. Since the beginning of the decade, the average price of a home in the Golan settlements has more than doubled.

Ha'aretz reports the expansion of a number of Golan Heights settlements. Two hundred homes are to be built in the Golan settlements. The settlements of Bnei Yehuda, Gamla, Had Nes, and Kidmat Zvi will each grow by 50 units. If tenders for these projects prove successful, additional projects will be tabled. In August 1998, Israel's National Planning Council approved the tripling of the population in the Golan settlements. The quality of life, "like that of Switzerland--not ideology," according to the land developer, will be highlighted to potential settlers.

January 26, 1999

The Knesset, led by opponents of withdrawal from the Golan Heights, approves legislation requiring any withdrawal from "sovereign Israeli territory" win the approval of 61 members of the Knesset. If the next Knesset approves, the law will also require a public referendum to ratify any withdrawal.

January 24, 1999

Yom Rishon reports the approval of a 30,000 m2 commercial/residential development in the East Jerusalem settlement community of Ramot.

January 21, 1999

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

January 19, 1999

A coalition of Orthodox Jewish spiritual leaders publishes a peace plan that offers a Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem in return for the settlement of 600,000 Jews in the West Bank.

January 15, 1999

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

January 8, 1999

Yerushalim reports the creation of a militia by right-wing settlers that will assist small settlements in the Nablus and Hebron areas during conflicts with Palestinians.

Sites selected for sales in, 1999

include Ariel (500 units), Alfe Menache (500), Emmanuel (400), Beitar (636), Efrat (100), Ma'ale Adumim (600), Givat Ze'ev (811), and Adam (182).

Ministry sales do not give a complete picture of the housing market because they are geared toward young families and others eligible for government assistance.

Ha'aretz reports that more than 20 percent of all land to be marketed by the Ministry of Housing during, 1999

is located in the occupied territories. The ministry intends to market land for 3,729 dwelling units in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during 1999, as well as 1,320 units at Har Homa in East Jerusalem. Nationally, land for only 19,800 units is to be marketed.

January 7, 1999

The IDF opens the road from the Gaza town of Deir al-Balah to the al-Mouassi district to Palestinian traffic.

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

January 6, 1999

The IDF publishes an order requiring settlers to fortify their homes and property.

January 5, 1999

Yediot Aharanot reports that seven companies have won rights to construct 679 dwelling units at Har Homa in the coming months.

January 3, 1999

Tanzim, a key segment of the Fateh organization, is said to be planning popular protests against settlements based on the model of the "prisoners' intifada" that was waged in the aftermath of the Wye memorandum.