| 1500 - 1599 | The Ottoman Empire extended its domain to include all of what is now Jordan. |
| 1800 - 1899 | Zionists first begin to settle in Palestine. |
| 1867 | Laws were passed enabling foreigners to purchase land in Palestine. Zionists begin to purchase large tracks of land. |
| 1917 | In the Balfour Declaration the British asserted that they "view with favor" the idea of establishing a Jewish national homeland in Palestine. |
| 1920 | Great Britain was chosen by the League of Nations to administer Palestine which at this point included all of what is now Jordan. |
| 1921 | Abdullah ibn Hussein became emir of Jordan. He developed a special relationship with the Bedouins of Jordan who were to become the power base for the ruling family. |
| 1936 | In protest over British policies regarding Jewish immigration and land purchases, the Arabs of Palestine began a violent revolt which took the British authorities 18 months to quell. |
| 1946 | Jordan became an independent state. |
| 1947 - 1948 | The UN called for a partition of Palestine in which 54% of the land would become a Palestinian state and 46% would become a Jewish state. The Israeli Defense Force launched "Plan D" in which various Palestinian populations who resided in areas of strategic value would be subject to small scale massacres in an effort to encourage them to leave their places of residence. Approximately 300,000 Palestinians became refugees as a result. During the war of 1948, the new Israeli state acquired vast new territories designated to be Arab lands. In the process approximately 725,000 more Palestinians fled to Jordan and Lebanon where they constituted 50% and 10% of the respective populations. |
| 1950 | Following the 1948 war Jordan annexed the West Bank. |
| 1964 | The Arab League formed the Palestinian Liberation Organization. |
| 1967 | In the War of 1967 Israel conquered the West Bank and Gaza Strip sending 355,000 refugees to Jordan. |
| 1971 | King Hussein, fearing the growing influence of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, cracked down on Palestinian nationalists (Black September). Over 3,000 Palestinians were killed and some 20,000 fled Jordan. |
| 1985 | PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Jordan's King Hussein agreed to form an alliance and to approach the Middle East peace process as a single political entity. |
| 1986 | The PLO-Jordanian political union fell apart when Jordan's King Hussein insisted that should a Palestinian state be formed it should be in a confederation with Jordan. |
| 1987 | The Palestinian Intifada (uprising) against Israeli occupation erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. |
| 1988 | King Hussein dissolved parliament in an effort to reduce the influence of West Bank Palestinians in Parliament. |
| Jul 31, 1989 | Radio Monte Carlo reported the formation of an unlicensed party, the Democratic Peoples Party. The party was said to be affiliated with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). |
| Aug 15, 1989 | Yasser Arafat instructed Palestinians living in Israel to use the Jordanian Dinar instead of the Israeli Shekel in the Arab markets. |
| Aug 21, 1989 | Yasser Arafat attended the reopening of the Palestine National Fund in Amman. |
| Sep 3, 1989 | Sixty detainees from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) were released from prison; they had previously been charged with anti-state acts. |
| Oct 4, 1989 | In Amman, 12 members of the PFLP were arrested for planning an attack against Israel. |
| Nov 11, 1989 | Abu Nidal's Fatah Revolutionary Council was split by an internal power struggle in which 150 members were killed including at least 20 leaders. The split had occurred because of different ideas on the part of Abu Nidal and Atif Abu Bakr concerning possible political doors opened up by the Palestinian Intifada. |
| Nov 27, 1989 | King Hussein pledged to legalize political parties. |
| Dec 3, 1989 | Forty eight members of the PFLP were released from prison. Palestinians blocked the Amman-Damascus highway for the second consecutive day to commemorate the second anniversary of the Intifada. |
| Dec 28, 1989 | Police forcibly broke up a Palestinian demonstration in Amman. No injuries, arrests, or deaths were reported. |
| Mar 8, 1990 | George Habash, leader of the PFLP, called on Palestinians to mobilize against the peace accords. Meanwhile it was reported that the DFLP had split as a result of disagreement over proper PLO tactics regarding the peace conference. |
| May 14, 1990 | Police dispersed several thousand Palestinians who were marching toward the border with Israel in support of the Intifada. |
| May 22, 1990 | Police killed two Palestinians during demonstrations at the Baqaa camp outside Amman. |
| Jul 21, 1990 | A Jordanian government report was released which concluded that 70,000 Palestinians from the West Bank who were supposed to be visiting Jordan failed to return to the West Bank despite the government's efforts to encourage them to do so. The figure represented 10% of the population of the West Bank. |
| Oct 9, 1990 | Thousands of Palestinians demonstrated in Amman to protest the Israeli closure of the Temple Mount. |
| Oct 12, 1990 | In Amman, 60,000 Palestinians attended a rally to show support for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. |
| Mar 12, 1991 | King Hussein asserted that the only way Jordan and a Palestinian delegation would be represented at a peace conference together would be if the Palestinian group had the more prominent role. |
| Jun 27, 1991 | Tayyid Abd al-Rahim announced that the PLO would be willing to participate in a peace conference as part of a Jordanian-PLO delegation. |
| Jul 7, 1991 | King Hussein announced the cancellation of all martial law provisions imposed during the 1967 war with Israel. Restrictions on public demonstrations continued despite this declaration. |
| Nov 4, 1991 | Adil Irshid, the head of Jordanian Foreign Affairs, announced that in order for Jordan to approve of a peace with Israel, Israel would have to make provisions for the 500,000 Palestinians who arrived in Jordan from Israel during the 1967 war. |
| Oct 17, 1992 | At the end of a two-day PLO leadership conference the central committee endorsed the seventh round of the peace talks. The DFLP, the PFLP, and most other PLO factions expressed disapproval over the continuation of the peace talks. In Jall al-Bahr refugee camp, Muhammad Huwayya, a Fatah official, was assassinated by unknown gunmen. |
| Nov 12, 1992 | King Hussein proclaimed amnesty for 140 members of the PFLP. |
| Nov 29, 1992 | Jordanian police closed the main office of the PFLP in Amman and arrested several members on suspicion of anti-governmental activity. |
| Jan 24, 1993 | Jordan's People's Democratic Party, a party associated with the DFLP, was licensed. |
| May 18, 1993 | Nayif Hawatimah of the DFLP and George Habash of the PFLP met to discuss a possible merger of their two organizations. |
| Sep 1993 | Jordan toughened its entry and residence requirements for Arabs from the West Bank and Gaza to curb an influx sparked by the Israeli measures which are easing travel for Arab residents of those areas. The tougher rules sparked protests from Palestinians and the PLO. |
| Sep 6, 1993 | The government began to prohibit Gaza residents from entering Jordan in an effort to reduce the Palestinian population in Jordan. |
| Sep 10, 1993 | Hundreds of Palestinian youths marched through the Wihdat refugee camp on the outskirts of Amman denouncing the PLO's "surrender and treachery" in recognizing Israel. Muslim preachers in other refugee camps urged Palestinians to continue the fight against Israel. |
| Sep 13, 1993 | Israel and the PLO signed a "Declaration of Principles" on Palestinian self-rule in Gaza and Jericho. |
| Sep 14, 1993 | Israeli and Jordanian officials initialed an accord laying out the elements of a peace accord which was to be negotiated in detail. |
| Dec 27, 1993 | The U.S. Department of State's Human Rights Report estimated that 300,000 Palestinian refugees have returned to Jordan from Gulf states, especially Kuwait. |
| Jan 24, 1994 | A Jordanian diplomat was assassinated in Lebanon. Palestinian terrorists were suspected of perpetrating the act. |
| Feb 22, 1994 | Jordan arrested 25 members of Abu Nidal's Fatah Revolutionary Council (FRC), a banned radical Palestinian organization which was suspected of January's assassination of a Jordanian diplomat in Lebanon. |
| Feb 25, 1994 | Thousands of Palestinians violently demonstrated in Amman after a Jewish settler killed dozens of Palestinians in what becomes known as the Hebron massacre. Similar demonstrations took place in Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan. Dozens of shops and some schools were closed. |
| Feb 27, 1994 | More than 2,000 Palestinians shouting slogans against PLO leader Yasser Arafat, Israel and the United States marched in Amman to denounce the Hebron massacre. Supporters and opponents of Arafat clashed at the demonstration. |
| Mar 30, 1994 | Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic militant organization, held a rally in Amman attended by more than 1,000 people to mark Land Day which commemorates the 1976 killing of 6 Palestinians by Israeli forces. Members of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction of the PLO were accused of trying to violently break up the demonstration. |
| Apr 29, 1994 | Jordan said it will relax entry and residence rules for Arabs from the West Bank and Gaza. |
| Jun 25, 1994 | In Washington, Jordan's King Hussein and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed the Washington Proclamation ending the state of belligerency between Israel and Jordan. Radical Palestinian groups protested the declaration. |
| Oct 26, 1994 | Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty at the Arara crossing in Jordan. Many Palestinian groups opposed the treaty. A ban on all demonstrations in Jordan was put into effect before the signing of the treaty. |
| Dec 18, 1994 | Iran denied a charge in a U.S. Congressional report that the Iranian embassy in Jordan was funneling funds to Hammas. |
| Dec 21, 1994 | A Jordanian security court sentenced 11 Moslem fundamentalists, most of whom are Palestinians , to death for attempting to destabilize Jordan through a series of bombings and planned assassinations. A higher court later overturned the death sentences. |
| Dec 31, 1994 | Currently, 6 of 31 of the government's ministers and 11 of 80 parliamentarians are Palestinians . This is the result of an electoral system that gives greater representation to the southern region of Jordan that has few inhabitants of Palestinian origin. Armed Islamic militants attacked a Jordanian intelligence office in the Baqaa Palestinian refugee camp. |
| Jan 26, 1995 | Jordan and the Palestinian Authority signed a series of accords for bilateral cooperation, including in administration, education, banking, trade, transportation, communications, culture and information. These agreements, however, were not put into operation immediately because of Israeli influence over the Palestinian Authority's trade policy. (AFP, January 26, September 10, 1996) |
| Apr 13, 1995 | Jordan denied Palestinian Authority accusations that it harbors the "practical leadership" of Hammas. Jordan also warned the Hammas spokesman in Amman against making any statements to the media in the name of Hammas. |
| Jun 21, 1995 | Jordan expelled 3 Islamic militants of Palestinian origin. |
| Jun 24, 1995 | Israeli troops killed a Palestinian infiltrator from Jordan and captured another. A third infiltrator was captured two days later. |
| Jun 25, 1995 | Nearly 100 Jordanians joined PLO officials in a symbolic hunger strike in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. |
| Sep 12, 1995 | Jordan condemned Libya but accepted 188 of 200 Palestinians expelled by Libya. The twelve Palestinians that Jordan did not accept had no Jordanian passports and had to return to "no-man's-land" between Libya and Egypt. (AFP) |
| Sep 23, 1995 | After 18 months of negotiations, Israel and the PLO initialed a landmark agreement providing Palestinians autonomy on the West Bank. Israel will maintain control over the security of the region, but Palestinians will gain control over civil affairs and will hold autonomous elections. After additional modifications, Israeli leader Yitzak Rabin and PLO leader Arafat signed the agreement, known as the Oslo Accords, on the White House lawn. King Hussein, among other luminaries, attneded the singing ceremony on September 28. The Jordanian leader hailed the agreement as a positive development that would reinforce regional peace. (AFP, September 23, September 24, September 28) |
| Nov 4, 1995 | A 27 year-old student assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in Tel Aviv. He was replaced by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. King Hussein remembered Rabin as a "soldier of peace and a martyr for peace." (AFP) |
| Nov 27, 1995 | The eight members of the Arab delegation (comprised of Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) to a Euro-Mediterranean conference to establish relations between the two regions argued that any final agreement had to recognize the right of Palestinians to fight for self-determination. (AFP) |
| Jan 20, 1996 | Yassar Arafat became the first democratically elected leader of the Palestinian people, winning 88.1% of the vote in elections mandated by the Israeli-PLO agreement. Arafat's Fatah party also won a majority of seats in the newly established legislative council. A high percentage of the eligible 1 million voters participated in the elections. However, Palestinian refugees living in Jordan, as well as those in Syria and Lebanon, were not eligible to vote, a fact which sparked fears of entrenched division between Palestinian refugees and Palestinian settlers. King Hussein welcomed the election results "with joy." (Reuters; AFP, January 19, January 22) |
| Jan 27, 1996 | PLO President Arafat met with Jordan's King Hussein to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The two leaders discussed increased cooperation on business ventures and investments. (AFP) |
| Feb 12, 1996 | Arafat was sworn in as president of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza City. (AFP) |
| Feb 25, 1996 | Two Palestinian suicide bombers, affiliated with Hamas, killed 25 people in Israel in the worst attack of its kind in the country's history. King Hussein of Jordan condemned the attack. (AFP) |
| Apr 25, 1996 | A day after the PLO dropped from its charter demands for Israel's destruction, the Labor Party of Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres dropped from its election platform long-standing objections to the creation of a Palestinian state. (AFP) |
| May 12, 1996 | During a meeting with Palestinian leader Arafat and Egyptian president Mubarak, King Hussein vowed that he would not allow Jordan to be used as a base for Hamas attacks against Arafat and the PLO. Jordan's leader described the relationship between his country and the Palestinians as sacred. (AFP) |
| May 30, 1996 | Right-wing leader Benjamin Netanyahu was victorious in his bid to become Isreali prime minister. His election signals a significant slow down in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians . (AFP) |
| Jul 16, 1996 | The Jordanian parliament issued a strong statement warning both Jordanian nationalists and extremist Palestinians in Jordan to end a propaganda war against one another. Nationalists have called for the expulsion of Palestinians from Jordan because they are plundering the kingdoms riches, and Palestinians claim that they face systematic discrimination in the country. (AFP) |
| Jul 18, 1996 | Leaders of Hamas accused Jordanian security services of torturing Hamas members and warned that the campaign against Hamas could permanently damage relations between Jordan and the Palestinian people. (AFP) |
| Jul 22, 1996 | Officials in Amman arrested a Jordanian man for participation in the Islamic Liberation Party, an extremist, anti-monarchy party. Jordan officially authorized most parties in 1993 after a 35-year ban but withheld licenses from the most extreme parties, this one included. (AFP) |
| Jul 23, 1996 | Jordan charged two ultra-nationalists with trying to "undermine national unity
and fuel bigotry" for encouraging a violent campaign against Palestinians in Jordan. Jordanian nationalists warn that Palestinians will try to convert Jordan into a substitute homeland. (AFP) |
| Aug 5, 1996 | Palestinian leaders expressed concern over a statement by King Hussein that some Palestinians were overreacting to an announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu of the expansion of Jewish settlements in Palestinian occupied territories. (AFP, August 7) |
| Aug 7, 1996 | During a meeting between the two leaders, King Hussein assured Arafat that Israel was still committed to the Middle East peace process, but the king expressed his fears about the delays in the process which have followed the election of Netanyahu. (AFP) |
| Sep 20, 1996 | An international press freedom group requested King Hussein's attention and assistance in the cases of three journalists jailed without charges in Amman. One of those arrested has recently published a story about alleged abuses by Jordanian security forces against a member of Hamas. This publisher was released on bail after 11 days but no announcement of the charges against him were made. (AFP, September 20, September 30) |
| Oct 15, 1996 | In what was seen as a dramatic show of support for Palestinians embroiled in negotiations with Israel, King Hussein arrived in Palestinian-occupied West Bank for the first time since Israel captured the territory in 1967. (AFP) |
| Oct 26, 1996 | The Moslem Brotherhood of Jordan reported that six members of Hamas had been detained for more than five weeks without trial by Jordanian officials. The Jordanian branch of the Arab Human Rights Organization reported that such summary arrests were on the rise in Jordan. (AFP) |
| Jan 1, 1997 | The Jordanian government condemned an attack on Palestinians by a right-wing Israeli soldier in a Hebron market and called for the speedy conclusion of an agreement on a hand-over of the West Bank city to Palestinian rule. (AFP, January 2) |
| Jan 12, 1997 | King Hussein traveled to the Gaza Strip for the first time to meet with Arafat in the hopes of reviving the deadlocked Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Hussein later met with the Israeli Prime Minister to discuss the hand-over of control of the city of Hebron, but no progress was made. (AFP) |
| Feb 25, 1997 | Jordanian officials negotiated the release of a Jordanian arrested by Israeli intelligence agencies as he visited relatives in the Palestinian occupied territories. (AFP) |
| Mar 1997 | Following Israel's decision to build a new housing settlement in east Jerusalem and the massacre of Israeli schoolgirls by a rogue Jordanian soldier, King Hussein and Jordan's Crown Prince Hassan met and spoke extensively with both Arafat and Netanyahu in an effort to revive the peace process. Hussein accused Netanyahu of sabotaging the peace process, and committing an "accumulation of tragic actions," but then traveled to Israel to pay condolences to the families of the slain children--a move greatly criticized by some Arabs. The negotiations remained essentially stalled through the spring and into the summer. (AFP, March 12, March 17, July 19) |
| May 6, 1997 | King Hussein agreed to grant asylum to a Hamas official (Abu Marzuk) who had been imprisoned in the US for 22 months and whom Israel wanted to extradite and try for terrorism. (AFP) |
| May 8, 1997 | Jordanian officials encouraged the Palestinian Authority to define the identity of Palestinians in Jordan. Some saw this as a move to guard against the permanent settling of Palestinians in Jordan. At the same time, King Hussein condemned those Jordanians who criticized his plans to improve the living conditions of Palestinians in Jordan. (DPA) |
| Jun 13, 1997 | King Hussein joined top Palestinian leaders in condemning a decision made by the US Congress to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Hussein said that he hoped for a Jerusalem that would not be subject to the sovereignty of just one country. (AFP) |
| Jul 19, 1997 | Jordanian Prime Minister Abdel Salim Majali (who became PM in February) made his first trip to the Palestinian territories to discuss trade and the future of the peace process with Palestinian leaders. (AFP) |
| Sep 5 - 8, 1997 | Jordanian officials arrested a Hamas spokesman following a triple suicide bombing in Jerusalem. Eleven opposition parties in Jordan, as well as the fundamentalist Moslem Brotherhood of Jordan, demanded his immediate release and accused Jordan of curtailing the detainee's right to carry out political activities. (AFP, September 8) |
| Sep 9, 1997 | Over 150 Palestinians staged a protest in Amman following the announcement by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that it would be cutting programs to Palestinian refugees and would begin charging individual refugees for basic health and education services. This step was seen by some Palestinians to be indicate that the group was being considered permanently in exile. (AP Worldstream) |
| Sep 21, 1997 | After detaining him for two weeks, Jordanian officials released the spokesman for Hamas. Officials questioned him about the nature of his activities in Jordan but pressed no charges. (AFP) |
| Sep 25, 1997 | Israeli Mossad agents attempted--and failed--to assassinate a Palestinian leader in Jordan. The plot infuriated King Hussein to the point that he threatened to break off diplomatic relations with Israel. Following the incident, Netanyahu conceded to requests from Hussein for the release from prison of the ailing spiritual leader of Hamas. (AFP, October 2) |
| Oct 2, 1997 | A day after Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmad Yassin was released from an Isreali prison, King Hussein and Yassar Arafat met with the leader. The meeting between Arafat and Yassin signaled the end of a Palestinian Authority campaign against Hamas fighters. Some Palestinians were concerned that Hussein's active role in securing the release of Yassin was a sign that he was trying to re-assert authority over the Palestinian territories. (AFP, October 1, October 2) |
| Oct 6, 1997 | Israel freed 22 Palestinians of Jordanian descent in the hopes that Jordan would release the two Israeli agents arrested in a botched assassination attempt in Jordan. (AFP) |
| Nov 4, 1997 | Less than 55 percent of eligible voters participated in Jordan's parliamentary elections, a significant drop from previous elections in the country. Participation rates were even lower in Palestinian sections of the country. The Moslem Brotherhood and Islamic Action Front boycotted the election, accusing the government of being anti-democratic. Amid allegations of vote-rigging and electoral fraud, pro-government centrist independent candidates won 62 of 80 available seats in the election. (AFP, November 4, November 5) |
| Dec 1997 | Two Jordanian deputies visited Israel's Knesset, leading to mass demonstrations at Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan. (AFP, March 15, 1998) |
| Dec 5, 1997 | In correspondence with his own prime minister, King Hussein accused the Israeli Prime Minister of sabotaging the Middle East peace process and re-stated Jordan's commitment and "total support for our brothers the Palestinians ." (AFP) |
| Jan 1998 | A poll conducted by the Center for Palestine Research and Studies indicated that 84 percent of Jordanians and 70 percent of Palestinians (in refugee camps, as well as in the occupied territories) support some form of union between Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. The survey results also indicated lingering suspicion among Palestinians that Hussein is seeking a role in the leadership of the West Bank and east Jerusalem. (AFP, January 6) |
| Feb 19, 1998 | Jordanian and Palestinian ministers met in the hopes of overcoming obstacles to increased trade between the two entities. Israel controls the bridges between the two territories and has been able to frustrate efforts at increasing economic cooperation. (AFP) |
| May 17, 1998 | Jordanian Prime Minister Abdel Salam Majali restated his country's objections to Israeli claims that Jordan could serve as an alternative homeland for Palestinians but expressed confidence that an independent Palestinian state would be created eventually. (AFP) |
| May 24, 1998 | The Jordanian parliament condemned Israel for its celebration of the anniversary of the 1967 capture of the Arab section of Jerusalem. This was the first time such celebrations had taken place in the contested city in 25 years. (AFP) |
| May 28, 1998 | Crown Prince Hassan, the brother of King Hussein, warned that a reduction in UNRWA funds for Palestinian refugees would lead to economic, social, and political disaster. (AFP) |
| Aug 30, 1998 | Crown Prince Hassan met with leaders of all Jordanian political parties in an unprecedented move aimed at consolidating dialogue with all sectors of society. (AFP) |
| Sep 23, 1998 | A grant from the US allowed the UNRWA to open a health center in northeast Jordan to serve the 147,000 Palestinian refugees in the region. (AP Worldstream) |
| Oct 23, 1998 | Netanyahu and Arafat agreed to steps to restart the peace process in a land-for-peace settlement at the Wye River Plantation in the US. An ailing King Hussein arrived at the difficult negotiations and served as a catalyst towards agreement. The Moslem Brotherhood and the Islamic Action Front in Jordan condemned the agreement--in which Arafat agreed to a crackdown on militant opponents of the peace process--as a surrender of fundamental Palestinian rights. (AFP, October 23, October 25) |
| Nov 28, 1998 | Israel agreed to remove some of the barriers which Jordan and the Palestinian Authority claim inhibit trade between the two following negotiations between Israeli and Jordanian officials on this matter. (AFP) |
| Dec 11, 1998 | Palestinian opposition leaders accused Jordan of preventing 30 Palestinians from leaving the country to travel to Palestinian territories during a visit there by President Clinton. The opposition rejects the peace process that Arafat has pursued and that the US has strongly supported; rather, it encourages the continued pursuit of an armed struggle against Israel. (AFP) |
| Jan 20, 1999 | King Hussein returned to Jordan after a six-month absence during which he received treatment for cancer. Upon his return, suspicion grew that Hussein had changed his succession plans and that his son, Prince Abdallah, would become the monarch rather than his brother, Crown Prince Hassan. Prince Abdallah is married to a Jordanian of Palestinian origin. (AFP) |
| Jan 25, 1999 | King Hussein names his son, 37-year-old Prince Abdallah, the new Crown Prince of Jordan and successor to the throne. (AFP) |
| Feb 5, 1999 | King Hussein, Jordan's leader for 46 years, died at the age of 63. His son, Crown Prince Abdallah, assumed the throne. People of all backgrounds in Jordan mourned Hussein's death, although mourning was more restrained in Palestinian refugee camps. (AFP, February 5, February 8) |
| Feb 9, 1999 | The UNRWA announced that it would have to cut services currently provided to Palestinian refugees if donor countries did not contribute enough to make up for the agency's $74 million budget deficit. The UNRWA has already cut services to the refugees by 30 percent since 1993. (UPI) |
| Apr 29, 1999 | Donor countries pledged an increased amount of funds to the UNRWA. While the agency would still carry a sizable budget deficit, it will not have to cut health and education services to Palestinians , as feared. (AFP) |
| May 15, 1999 | A Jordanian opposition leader from the Ansar Party was arrested in Amman as he prepared a protest demonstration to mark the anniversary of the creation of the Israeli state--a date Palestinians mark as the "nakba" (catastrophe). The government had refused the Ansar Party's application for a permit to stage the anti-Israel demonstration. (AFP) |
| May 18, 1999 | Ehud Barak won a landslide victory against Netanyahu in the campaign for Israeli prime minister. During the campaign, Barak vowed to resume the Middle East peace process that had stalled during Netanyahu's three-year tenure. Jordanian and Palestinian Authority officials cheered the election results, while Palestinian opposition leaders dismissed the results as offering no improvement for the Palestinian people. (AFP) |
| Jun 19, 1999 | Jordan's King Abdallah II paid an unexpected visit to the Jordanian crossing point to the West Bank and encouraged Jordanian-Palestinian unity while urging the equal treatment of Jordanians of Palestinian origin. (AFP, June 20) |
