|
Middle East peacemaking
23/04/2008 19:54 - (SA)
April 21 - Hamas accepts the establishment of a Palestinian state on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, but would not recognise the Jewish state, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said on Monday.
Meshaal had held talks with former US president Jimmy Carter in Damascus on Friday in one of the highest profile meetings between the Islamist group and a Western statesman.
Here is a timeline of Middle East peacemaking efforts:
March 26, 1979 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign peace treaty to end 30 years of war.
December 1987 - First Palestinian uprising, or Intifada, starts.
September 13, 1993 - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin trade historic handshake at Bill Clinton's White House, sealing Oslo Accords outline for limited Palestinian self-rule in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
October 26, 1994 - Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan sign peace treaty ending 46 years of war.
November 4, 1995 - Rabin assassinated by ultra-nationalist Jew.
July 25, 2000 - Camp David peace summit, brokered by Clinton, breaks down after two weeks of talks between Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
September 28, 2000 - Second Palestinian Intifada erupts after Israeli opposition leader, Ariel Sharon, visits Jerusalem's Temple Mount, revered by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif.
January 21, 2001 - Barak launches talks at Egyptian Red Sea resort of Taba in last-ditch effort to reach peace with Palestinians before February Israeli election. Talks end without deal.
April 30, 2003 - "Road map" for peace drafted by the Middle East Quartet - the US, the EU, the UN and Russia.
November 11, 2004 - Arafat dies in Paris. Mahmoud Abbas becomes Palestinian president after landslide elections.
February 8, 2005 - Sharon and Abbas declare ceasefire at summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
September 12, 2005 - Israel pulls troops and settlers out of Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation.
January 25, 2006 - Islamist Hamas wins parliamentary election, prompting Western sanctions and factional fighting with Abbas's Fatah, even after March 2007 formation of unity government.
June 14, 2007 - Hamas overpowers Fatah in Gaza fighting. Abbas dismisses Hamas premier and names Fatah-backed administration.
December 12, 2007 - Israelis and Palestinians open talks in discord over settlement building and security.
February 19, 2008 - Olmert and Abbas agree to accelerate US-backed peace talks after critics warn Israel not enough was being done to get a deal this year.
April 13, 2008 - Abbas meets Olmert in Jerusalem, but there is little sign of movement in the peace negotiations bogged down by differences over Israeli West Bank settlement building and violence in Gaza.
April 18, 2008 - Former US president Carter sets out plans for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel at a four-hour meeting with Hamas leader Meshaal.
|
News
