1999 in the Palestinian territories

Events in the year 1999 in the Palestinian territories.

Incumbents

Palestinian National Authority (non-state administrative authority)

• Yasser Arafat (Fatah), President, 5 July 1994 – 11 November 2004

Events

• The Palestinian Central Council decided on 29 April to put off declaring independence until after the Israeli elections, triggering riots in the territories^[1]
• 3,000 Palestinians participated in a "Day of Rage" on 3 June, protesting the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank^[2]
• The Palestinian Authority joined the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States upon its inception on 17 June in Iran
• PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak signed the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum, an interim peace agreement, on 4 September^[3]
• The Israeli government pre-emptively handed civilian control of 7% of the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority on 10 September, the first transfer of legal authority in 1999, in preparation for peace talks later that week^[4]
• Bilateral negotiations over Palestine's final status are conducted from 13 September-3 October, but no deal was signed due to disputes over Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, and travel rights between Gaza and the West Bank^[5]
• Unemployment in the West Bank was estimated at 9.6%^[6]
• Unemployment in Gaza was estimated at 17%^[6]

Deaths

• Mohammed Shreiteh, father of eight who allegedly sustained terminal injuries stemming from police beating him a day earlier while he was in custody, died on 10 September in Hebron^[7]
• Mahmoud Mohammed al-Bajjali, father of three who died in prison after serving five years in prison without trial, died on 3 December in Ramallah^[7]

See also

• 1999 in Israel

References