04.01.2001 - Armed with qualified acceptance by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, President Clinton worked to reconcile differences on his outline for a negotiated settlement between Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The new momentum stemmed from two White House meetings Tuesday in which Arafat "accepted with his interpretations and principles" the president's framework for an accord, said Hassan Abdel Rahman. "What we have to do now is work with both sides to see if we can reconcile those reservations," White House spokesman Jake Siewert said after Clinton talked by telephone to Barak and Arafat. The call to Barak evidently was not conclusive. An Israeli diplomat said the prime minister intended to consult with senior members of his Cabinet and then speak again to Clinton. The diplomat said it was essential for Israel that Arafat implement his commitment to the president to curb violence in the region.

12.01.2001 - After a round of high-level peace talks, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators lowered expectations Friday, saying gaps remain so wide that it will take a miracle to strike a deal before President Clinton leaves office. However, both sides said they are willing to keep trying, and agreed to meet again Saturday evening, possibly with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres leading the teams.

29.01.2001 - Prime Minister Ehud Barak ruled out any contacts with Yasser Arafat before Israel's Feb. 6 election and accused the Palestinian leader of an unleashing an "attack of lies" against Israel. In the Gaza Strip, Israel soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man who was working on his home. The Israel attacks follows the round of peace talks in Taba, Egypt, which ended Saturday without any agreement. A total of 330 Palestinian have been killed since September 2000.

07.02.2001 - Ariel Sharon will have precious little time to savor his lopsided election victory as prime minister. He must quickly forge a government from the unruly factions in parliament, and he faces hostile Palestinians deeply suspicious of his intentions. Sharon routed incumbent Ehud Barak in one of the most one-sided elections in Israel's history, winning 62.5% to 37.4%. The day after the balloting, attention was already focused on whether Sharon would be able to stitch together a stable coalition government.

13.02.2001 - Israeli helicopter gunships unleashed a fatal pinpoint strike on a car carrying a Palestinian security agent as the man drove on the outskirts of a refugee camp. The slain Palestinian officer was identified as Massoud Ayyad, 54, a major in Force 17, an elite Palestinian security service. The missile attack on the outskirts of the Jebaliya refugee camp killed Ayyad instantly and turned his car into a smoldering, twisted pile of metal. Four bystanders were lightly injured.

21.02.2001 - Israel's targeted killings of Palestinians suspected of attacks on Israelis are part of a "policy of state assassinations," the human rights groups Amnesty International said in a report released Wednesday. The group demanded that Israel stop the practice and asked the United States to review its weapons sales to Israel as a result of it. The report said Amnesty field workers investigated several cases in which Israeli forces targeted and killed Palestinian leaders, and concluded that the killings were illegal and unnecessary. The report called the killings a "policy of state assassination." Amnesty International, the London-based group that won the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize for its human rights advocacy, called on the United States to examine "all arms transfers to Israel" and provide guarantees that the weapons "are not used to violate human rights."

16.03.2001 - For the second time in three months, Palestinians are pressing the U.N. Security Council to send a security force into Palestinian occupied territories, despite staunch objection from Israel and the United States. A similar proposal was voted down in December, but Palestinian U.N. envoy Nasser Al-Kidwa insisted that things are different now because the situation in the territories has deteriorated, the U.S. and Israeli governments have changed and the Security Council has five new members. He wants a new vote next week. The December resolution was defeated after intensive lobbying by the United States, Israel's strongest ally. The Palestinians and their supporters couldn't muster the necessary nine votes in the 15-member council. Al-Kidwa predicted success in a new vote, but any move toward creating such a force still could face possible defeat because the United States - which has veto power - remains opposed to any proposal Israel objects to.

23.03.2001 - A 21-year-old Palestinian security officer was killed when Israeli forces fired tank shells at a position of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's presidential guard unit. Four others were injured. Since the unrest began six months ago, 355 Palestinians have been killed.

28.03.2001 - Israeli helicopters rocketed Palestinian police buildings in Gaza and the West Bank town of Ramallah on Wednesday. Flares lit up the night sky over Ramallah during the assault. Helicopter gunships hit the Ramallah headquarters of Force 17, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's elite guard. Five gunships fired on Force 17 headquarters in Deir al-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli ships off the coast of Gaza City opened fire on the area of Arafat's office. The buildings under attack - all in areas governed by Arafat's Palestinian Authority - had been evacuated after the Israeli military warned the Palestinians to leave.

02.04.2001 - In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Palestinian gunmen and Israeli soldiers exchanged heavy fire, and there were unconfirmed reports of casualties. The loud booms could be heard in downtown Jerusalem, a few miles away. In Rafah, the Israeli rocket attack killed 29-year-old Mohammed Abdallah, a member of Jihad group, and turned his truck into a smoldering pile of metal. In a quick burial, more than 2,000 mourners shouted "revenge, revenge," as they marched behind the body, draped in a red blanket.

10.04.2001 - Israel rocketed Palestinian security targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing a Palestinian police doctor and injuring 20 people. It was the first daytime attack by Israel in months. Israel's air strikes usually come at night, when Palestinian buildings being targeted are empty. Palestinian Brig. Gen. Abdel Razek Majaida said the Israeli rocketing was a "declaration of war." Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he was implementing a detailed plan aimed at restoring a sense of security to the Israeli people.

19.04.2001 - Israeli tanks and bulldozers re-entered the Gaza strip and leveled a Palestinian police station , a day after the United States rebuked the Israelis for seizing another area of the Gaza strip. Israel withdrew from the other Palestinian-controlled area on Tuesday, after a stinging criticism by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. Palestinian security officials said Israeli tanks and army bulldozers on Wednesday entered an area of the Gaza Strip near the Egyptian border, stayed for about 45 minutes and destroyed a police station. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Since the violence erupted on Sept. 28, 392 Palestinian have been killed.

07.05.2001 - Israeli troops shelled a Palestinian refugee camp Monday, killing a 4-month-old baby girl and wounding 24 people. Palestinian doctors said 10 children were among the injured. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he was sorry, and that Israeli troops did not intend to harm children. In the West Bank, Israeli troops briefly entered two Palestinian towns - part of a new policy that gives field commanders the authority to decide on such forays on the spot, without waiting for government approval. Israeli shelling during one of the raids killed a Palestinian teacher. The United States has sharply criticized such incursions.

14.05.2001 - Five Palestinian policemen manning a roadside checkpoint in the West Bank were killed by Israeli fire, and Israeli helicopters rocketed Palestinian security targets in Gaza, destroying 10 armored vehicles. In Gaza, two Palestinians were killed in a clash with Israeli forces. Thousands of Palestinians chanting "revenge" gathered outside a West Bank hospital for a memorial procession for the slain policemen. The officers were killed at a small Palestinian police outpost near the West Bank town of Beituniya, Palestinian officials said. Several bullets tore through the barrack walls. Also, the Israeli army demolished a Palestinian police station and several other buildings in the West Bank village of Shuwakeh in an area under Israeli security control. More than seven months of violence has killed 447 Palestinian.

31.05.2001 - Faisal Husseini, a top PLO official who had a leading role in the launching of the peace process with Israel and was a longtime campaigner for Palestinian claims in Jerusalem, died of a heart attack. He was 60. Husseini, the main PLO official in Jerusalem, died in his hotel room before dawn, said an organizer of a conference where Husseini was scheduled to speak later. "He has been my colleague since we were very young. He's also my relative. It is really a great loss," Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said in Brussels, Belgium, where he decided to cut short a visit to fly back to the region to attend to Husseini's body.

13.06.2001 - CIA chief George Tenet brought together senior Israeli and Palestinian security officials to begin implementing a U.S.-brokered truce the two sides have accepted. Israel said it considered the truce to have taken effect with the end of the three-way meeting, at 3 p.m., and Israeli media said the two sides would begin carrying out some of the cease-fire provisions in the next 48 hours. However, Palestinian officials described the meeting as a failure, saying the Israelis did not commit to specific steps, such as easing a security closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

22.06.2001 - Two Israeli soldiers were killed in an explosion in the Gaza Strip on Friday, lured toward a booby-trapped jeep by Palestinians calling for help, the army said. Elsewhere in Gaza, two Palestinian teen-agers were critically wounded by Israeli fire. The attacks came as a senior U.S. envoy, William Burns, met with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to try to cement a fragile cease-fire.

26.06.2001 - Inviting himself to the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was hoping for talk of unity at the expense of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Instead, Sharon wound up his Washington visit Wednesday after a cold shower of public disagreement with President Bush. Sharon and Bush clashed in public over how much reduction in Mideast violence would be enough to trigger further political moves. And in a closed meeting they disagreed over the explosive issue of freezing construction in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "There must be a total cessation of violence" before any negotiations, Sharon said at every opportunity, even correcting a reporter who asked about "cessation." Bush made it clear from the outset that his administration does not share the all-or-nothing Israeli view.

09.07.2001 - Bulldozers leveled 14 Palestinian homes under construction in one of Israel's biggest demolition operations in years, provoking tears and stone-throwing at a refugee camp on the northern edge of Jerusalem. The Palestinians said the demolitions were part of an Israeli effort to restrict their numbers in and around Jerusalem.

11.07.2001 - A Palestinian woman in labor was barred from passing an Israeli military checkpoint for 2 1/2 hours, giving birth in her car to a baby boy who died before reaching a medical clinic, her doctor said. In another checkpoint confrontation, an Israeli soldier shot and killed a Palestinian woman after her taxi evaded a roadblock trying to take workers to jobs inside Israel.

17.07.2001 - Two Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a Palestinian farm , killing four people, including two senior Hamas activists. The helicopter attack obliterated a farm building near the West Bank town of Bethlehem. Palestinian security sources identified two of the dead as Omar Saadeh and Taha Aruj, another of the dead was a cousin of Saadeh.

25.07.2001 - Israel's army fired missiles from a hillside position, killing a activist from Hamas as he drove his car in a West Bank town. The activist, Saleh Darwazeh, 38, was alone in his red Volkswagen when it was hit by five rounds in Nablus. The car was destroyed in the attack, which sent black plumes of smoke rising over the town. Palestinian ambulances rushed to the scene and recovered the body, which was torn to pieces by the force of the blast.

30.07.2001 - An explosion ripped through a car parts store in the West Bank, killing six Palestinian activists in one of the deadliest single episodes in 10 months of Intifada. Hours later, Israeli helicopters rocketed the Palestinian police headquarters in Gaza City, injuring two policemen. The helicopter strike sent white smoke rising from the police compound as people ran frantically from the buildings into the street. The first clashes in the current Intifada broke out at the site Sept. 29 - the day after a controversial visit by Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, who was opposition leader at the time. Since then, 539 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army.

15.08.2001 - About 70 tanks and hundreds of troops took over Palestinian government buildings, including the governor's office and police buildings. The tanks withdrew after three hours. There were at least three deaths and several injuries. Eyewitnesses say Israeli bulldozers demolished several police checkpoints and Israeli snipers are engaged in a firefight with Palestinian police.

16.08.2001 - Israeli undercover troops killed a Palestinian leader in the town of Hebron. Imad Abu Sneineh was shot in the head, chest, stomach and legs by 10 bullets fired from a truck with Palestinian number plates outside his home in the divided West Bank city of Hebron. Israeli security sources said the killing was carried out by undercover soldiers.

23.08.2001 - Israeli soldiers shot dead four Palestinians in the West Bank, hours after the two sides said they were ready to hold new talks on ending nearly 11 months of bloodshed. Palestinian official said, three civilians were shot dead as they came to the aid of a man who was wounded by the soldiers and later died. The official described it as a "massacre."

28.08.2001 - Israel assassinated the leader of a Palestinian faction in a missile strike on the group's offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Abu Ali Mustafa, the 64-year-old head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), died when two missiles fired by helicopter gunships slammed into the offices in an apartment block after he took a phone call. Mustafa had the highest profile of anyone killed under Israel's policy of tracking and killing militants since a Palestinian uprising erupted in September. He became PFLP chief after longtime leader George Habash stepped down in July 2000. The helicopter gunships had hovered overhead before firing the missiles through the window. The Israeli army confirmed it had launched an attack against Mustafa.

07.09.2001 - An Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at a Palestinian car in Tulkarm, killing two Fatah activists and injuring two others. Three more bystanders were slightly injured in the missile attack, in another targeted killing by Israel of Palestinian activists.

13.09.2001 - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat donated blood for the victims of the terror attacks in New York and Washington. "God bless them," Arafat said as medical staff prepared to draw his blood in Gaza Shifa hospital. Palestinian officials said his donation would be the start of a blood drive for the casualties of the 11'th of September attacks.

16.09.2001 - Israeli tanks rumbled into Palestinian towns in the West Bank for the second straight day. The Israeli incursion into Jericho and Jenin ignited gun battles that left three Palestinian militants dead and 21 wounded. A fourth Palestinian militant died from injuries sustained in a raid overnight Wednesday in Jenin and two nearby villages. Palestinian leaders accused Israel of stepping up incursions into their territory as the world turned its eyes toward the horrendous aftermath of the U.S. terror attacks.

27.09.2001 - Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat agreed on Wednesday to make a new bid to forge a lasting truce that could boost U.S. efforts to create a global anti-terror coalition. Meeting under U.S. pressure, the leaders reiterated their commitment to a truce-to-talks plan that allows for measures including the lifting of blockades imposed on Palestinian areas. Peres and Arafat also agreed at the talks at Gaza airport to hold a second meeting "within a week or so" to turn a shaky truce into a lasting cease-fire. Even as they met, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian teen-ager in the Gaza Strip.

08.10.2001 - Israeli tanks and troops drove into a Palestinian area of the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday, seizing strategic positions and killing five Palestinians in a gun battle. Sharon said U.S. efforts to win Arab support for a war on terrorism after the suicide attacks on New York and Washington would not stop Israel defending itself and he warned the United States not to "appease" the Arabs at the Jewish state's expense.

17.10.2001 - Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavim Ze'evi died after being gunned down at close range outside his Jerusalem hotel room, apparently by Palestinians seeking revenge for Israel's assassination of a Palestinian leader. Ariel Sharon promptly ordered a freeze on all diplomatic contacts with the Palestinians, and placed full responsibility for the murder on Palestinian President Yassir Arafat. The Israeli security cabinet also decided to step up its military operations against the Palestinian Authority and to cancel moves taken earlier this week to ease Israeli sanctions against the Palestinians in the West bank and Gaza Strip.

24.10.2001 - Israeli soldiers killed at least fifteen Palestinians in overnight and early morning fighting, in the bloodiest day since the Palestinian uprising erupted thirteen months ago. The Israeli actions come despite reports that Israeli troops will soon end their crippling siege of six Palestinian cities in the West Bank, following massive international pressure. Responding to U.S. demands for an immediate withdrawal, Ariel Sharon told the Israeli Knesset the army would stay until it achieved its mission, which he defined as "avoiding terrorism and arresting terrorists."

25.10.2001 - Israeli troops withdrew from the West Bank village of Beit Reema after a deadly raid which was a large scale massacre killing at least 13 Palestinian and injuring more then 20 others. Israeli forces pulled out of Beit Reema before sunrise after a massive air, armor and infantry operation.