June 29:Abdallah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, is convicted of trea-
son and sentenced to death. After legal appeals and international intervention, his
sentence will be reduced in 2002 to life in prison.
July 8:Iranian police attack student protesters at Tehran University, sparking a series
of riots that spread to other cities and continue into September. The police attack
and subsequent suppression of student demonstrations indicate that President
Khatami does not have effective control of the security services.
July 23:Morocco’s King Hassan II dies and is succeeded by his son, Muhammad VII.
September 4:Israeli prime minister Barak and PLO chairman Yasir Arafat sign
an agreement in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, calling for further Israeli withdrawals
from the West Bank, the release of 350 prisoners held by Israel, and the con-
struction of a “safe passage” route between Gaza and the West Bank. The agree-
ment also calls for conclusion of a final peace agreement between Israel and the
Palestinians by September 2000. The so-called final status talks will begin on Sep-
tember 13.
December 15:Israel and Syria resume formal peace negotiations that had been sus-
pended in 1996. The talks will end on January 11, 2000, without an agreement.
December 17: The UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1284, establishing
a new agency, the UN Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commis-
sion (UNMOVIC), to investigate Iraq’s illegal weapons. The resolution offers
a suspension of sanctions after Iraq has cooperated with the inspections for
four months. Iraq already had announced that it would not allow weapons inspec-
tions to resume until after economic sanctions are eliminated or substantially
reduced.
2000
February 18:Reform parties backing Iranian president Mohammad Khatami win a
strong majority of seats in parliamentary elections.
March 5:the Israeli cabinet approves a plan by Prime Minister Ehud Barak to with-
draw Israeli military forces from southern Lebanon by July.
March 17:Secretary of State Madeleine Albright acknowledges that the United States
played a “significant role” in the August 1953 coup that ousted Iranian prime min-
ister Mohammad Mosaddeq. Albright also announces the lifting of a U.S. ban on
importation of some consumer goods from Iran, including carpets, nuts, dried fruit,
and caviar. Eight days later, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei will reject
the U.S. initiative toward improved relations.
March 26:During a meeting in Geneva, Syrian president Hafiz al-Assad tells Presi-
dent Bill Clinton that he will not accept a peace agreement with Israel in exchange
for Israel’s surrendering of the Golan Heights after Israel refuses to cede a strip of
land bordering the Sea of Galilee.
May 23:Israel completes its withdrawal from southern Lebanon six weeks earlier than
planned. The Shiite militia Hizballah had launched an attack on the Israeli-backed
South Lebanon Army, which collapsed.
May 24:Hizballah gains full control of southern Lebanon.
June 10:Syrian president Assad dies of a heart attack. He had been the country’s
leader since November 1970. He will be succeeded on July 11 by his son, Bashar,
a Western-educated eye doctor.
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