Following the Palestinian declaration of independence in Algiers and implicit recognition of a two-state solution, Yasser Arafat tried hard to cultivate the Americans, but earned the opposition of groups both within the PLO and outside it. The Bush administration was pulled in different directions by the right-wing government of Yitzhak Shamir and the PLO’s Yasser Arafat, who was adept at using ambiguous language to keep both the Americans and his opponents happy.
Here Shamir is pulling at the coattails of a sweating Uncle Sam and pointing at the accoutrements that a worried Arafat is carrying in addition to an olive branch. They are labelled with the names of Palestinian rejectionist groups – Ahmed Jibril (PFLP-GC), Nawef Hawatmeh (DFLP) and the Abu Nidal Group.
- 8 Jan
Arens and Shevardnadze agree to upgrade consular relations
- 29 Jan
Faisal Husseini released from Kfar Yona prison
- 31 Jan
Peres presents $30 billion austerity budget to Knesset
- 31 Jan
Shamir reveals his own peace plan in a Le Monde interview
- 12 Feb
Jewish Cultural Centre opened in Moscow amidst Soviet goodwill
- 16 Feb
Avi Sasportas abducted and killed by Hamas operatives disguised as haredim
- 21 Feb
Ultra-orthodox Jews oppose publication of The Satanic Verses in Hebrew
- 11 Mar
Yuli Kosharovsky arrives in Israel after 18 years a refusenik
- 5 Apr
Release of 434 Palestinians, many from administrative detention
- 17 Apr
Shamir opposes participation by East Jerusalem Arabs in territories’ vote
- 28 Apr
Hollinger Inc. buys Jerusalem Post from Koor for $17.8 million
- 2 May
Arafat declares the PLO Charter ‘caduque’ (obsolete) on Paris visit
- 14 May
Cabinet votes 20–6 to support Shamir plan for Palestinian self-rule
- 16 May
Large-scale disturbances in Hebron by Kiriat Arba residents
- 21 May
Ahmed Yassin and 150 Hamas activists arrested in Gaza
- 22 May
James Baker warns Israel about ‘unrealistic vision’ of a Greater Israel
- 25 May
Supreme Court interim order protecting Women of the Wall’s right to pray
- 19 June
Arafat rejects Israeli plan for Palestinian elections
- 22 June
Shekel devalued by Bank of Israel for third time in as many weeks
- 22 June
Israel Prize professor, Menahem Stern, killed in Intifada attack
- 5 July
Likud central committee imposes restraints on Shamir plan
- 6 July
Bus attack by Islamic Jihad kills 14, injures 27
- 10 July
Labour’s executive votes 41–2 to end coalition with Likud
- 24 July
Supreme Court rules Interior Ministry must register non-orthodox converts
- 28 July
Islamist leader Abdel Karim Obeid kidnapped from Lebanese village
- 28 Aug
Moshe Levinger goes on trial in Jerusalem for the killing of a Palestinian in Hebron
- 18 Sept
Hungary resumes diplomatic relations with Israel
- 18 Sept
Austria reduces its diplomatic representation as a result of Waldheim criticism
- 24 Sept
China agrees to open tourism bureau in Tel Aviv
- 3 Oct
Abie Nathan receives six-month sentence for meeting Arafat
- 11 Oct
IDF raids Beit Sahour near Bethlehem to break Palestinian tax revolt
- 20 Oct
Dahn Ben-Amotz, writer and playwright, dies in Jaffa aged 65
- 30 Oct
Hunger strike staged by 1,600 prisoners seeking better conditions
- 5 Nov
Inner cabinet votes 9–3 to accept Baker’s five-point proposal
- 9 Nov
Berlin Wall falls, heralding the collapse of the Eastern bloc
- 14 Dec
Andrei Sakharov dies in Moscow of a heart attack aged 68
- 26 Dec
Erwin Frenkel, Jerusalem Post editor, resigns over editorial independence
In Israel, the Likud rejected any contact with the PLO while Labour wished to explore the possibility. Shamir stated that he opposed a Palestinian state regardless of the method pursued to achieve it, either through negotiation or through violence. Thirty-two right wing MKs appealed to the police to prevent MKs Ora Namir, Yair Tsaban, Arieh Eliav and Shulamit Aloni from attending a conference in Paris where PLO members would also participate. The MKs responded that they would not be negotiating, but only attending an international conference. In Amsterdam, Abba Eban shared a platform with Bassam Abu Sharif, and a dinner for him which was to be hosted by the Israeli ambassador was suddenly cancelled on orders from the Foreign Ministry. There were also attempts to bar Chava Alberstein, one of Israel’s best-known singers, from participating in the official celebrations for Israel’s Independence Day because of her dovish views. The far Right Sicarii carried out attacks on the homes and vehicles of Mina Tsemah, Dan Almagor, Dan Margalit and Amos Schoken, dovish professionals often featured in the media.
Diaspora leaders and organisations were divided in their response to these new developments. The American Jewish Congress was critical of Shamir’s approach while the Anti-Defamation League was supportive. Intellectuals, academics and writers such as Arthur Miller, Philip Roth and Sir Isaiah Berlin issued critical statements or signed collective letters. In March, a ‘Conference on Jewish Solidarity with Israel’ was called by Shamir, designed to bolster the coalition government. Large numbers of Diaspora leaders did not attend.
A campaign against the dialogue was launched by the foreign minister, Moshe Arens, and his deputy, Benjamin Netanyahu. Both wanted to win over, in particular, the leadership of American Jewry. There were also official rebukes for the Canadians, the French and the Belgians who engaged with PLO representatives.
While Fatah ceased cross-border attacks, the PFLP, DFLP and other Palestinian groups continued. Netanyahu blurred the differences between these groups and initially attributed the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in December to the PLO. He campaigned strongly to persuade US Jewish leaders to support the Likud’s approach towards the PLO. Dealing with the PLO was often invoked in apocalyptic terms and the Munich Agreement of 1938 was often cited.
The Intifada continued apace, with periodic deportations of Palestinian activists to Lebanon. In January, sixty Palestinian defence lawyers went on strike, accusing the military authorities of employing tactics that made it impossible to stage a fair trial.
The Muslim Brotherhood, operating as Hamas, kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, Avi Sasportas in February and Ilan Saadon in May, and subsequently killed them.
Peres, now minister of finance, devalued the shekel twice within a few days at the beginning of the year – first by 5 per cent and then by another 8 per cent.
Peres further introduced austerity measures to make up a 1.14 billion shekel shortfall. These included reduced subsidies on a wide range of goods and on public transport. Subsidised goods increased by 20 per cent while inflation was expected to erode wages by 7 per cent. Education was hit through registration costs for high school students, increased university tuition fees and a reduction in funding for yeshiva students. Maternity grants were halved and free education for toddlers was abolished in several development towns. There was a cut of 120 million shekels in the defence budget. A visitor’s fee of 4 shekels was introduced at doctors’ surgeries. Some four thousand civil servants – 10 per cent of the government’s workforce – would be laid off.
Police found themselves overloaded in terms of work because of the Intifada. There was a 28 per cent increase in serious crime. Car theft and drugs offences also increased. There was a 42 per cent decline in exports during the previous year and trade with the West Bank and Gaza was down by 40 per cent. Arson destroyed tens of thousands of trees.
Yitzhak Rabin, the minister of defence, attempted to quell the violence while simultaneously putting forward a plan for local elections in the West Bank and Gaza. He authorised Shmuel Goren, the coordinator of activities in the territories, to sound out local Palestinian leaders sympathetic to the PLO about the prospect of elections. Goren’s visit to Faisal Husseini’s prison cell resulted in his release after some discussion. This dialogue was followed by meetings between members of the Israeli Left and figures such as Husseini. Labour and Mapam MKs met Palestinian activists at venues such as the Notre Dame Hotel, situated on the ‘seam’ between Jewish and Arab Jerusalem. More than four hundred Palestinian prisoners were released although six thousand remained in prison.
Shamir put forward his own plan on the basis of the Camp David Agreement of 1979, which stipulated extensive autonomy which would be followed by detailed negotiations on the final status of the territories. He opposed the idea of a Palestinian state and advocated no contact with the PLO. He rejected any notion of land for peace and initially opposed local elections for the Palestinians.
Shamir then merged his ideas with those of Rabin and began to support the idea of local elections, but he also rejected the possibility of East Jerusalemites voting. This move brought him into confrontation with his opponents within the Likud, Sharon, Levy and Modai’i. While the cabinet voted 20–6 to support the Shamir–Rabin plan, the Likud central committee voted overwhelmingly to place constraints on it. Sharon demanded an end to the uprising before discussions, a rejection of any cessation of settlement expansion and no consideration of a Palestinian state.
Mubarak put forward his own ten-point proposal which was followed by a five-point plan from US secretary of state, James Baker. This was rejected by Shamir. The relationship between the new Bush administration and Shamir’s government declined rapidly owing to US irritation at lack of progress. The USA refused to block a UN Security Council Resolution which condemned deportation. At the end of May, Baker addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference and attacked ‘the vision of a Greater Israel’ and settlement activity.
Glasnost, perestroika and détente with the USA improved relations with the USSR. An Israeli consular mission had operated out of the Dutch Embassy in Moscow since the summer of 1988. Israeli athletes were allowed to compete in a basketball match in Moscow and a Soviet ship docked at Ashdod to pick up relief supplies for victims of the Armenian earthquake, organised by Abie Nathan. This was the first time since 1967 that Israel had had contacts with Soviet citizens. The Solomon Mikhoels Cultural Centre was opened in Moscow and attacks on anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism appeared in the Soviet press. Members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee executed under Stalin were rehabilitated and Hebrew was taught openly. Soviet Jews working in both the religious and cultural spheres were allowed to study in both the USA and Israel. A Zionist group was allowed to be established in Moscow. Yitzhak Shamir predicted that a million Soviet Jews would now emigrate to Israel.
Hungary agreed to resume diplomatic relations and allowed Hebrew to be taught in schools. The East German minister of religious affairs visited Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
The forthcoming publication of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses by Keter was criticised by both Muslim and Jewish clerics. Degel HaTorah’s Avraham Ravitz condemned the work’s publication. Eliezer Schach, the spiritual leader of Degel HaTorah, disparaged the Jewish status of the Habad hasidim and accused the Lubavitcher Rebbe of being a false messiah.
