Deadly clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops spread to Al Haram Al Sharif and an unbending stand by Israel’s right-wing government left little hope for a quick end to the worst crisis to hit the peace process. Both sides were coming under intense international pressure to defuse the crisis after three days of the bloodiest Israeli-Palestinian fighting in 30 years, which have left 76 people dead. The US told Israel and the Palestinians “the violence must stop” as Secretary of State Warren Christopher discussed the crisis with Israeli and Arab foreign ministers at the UN. Palestinians accused the Israeli leader of triggering the unprecedented fighting by opening a tunnel near the compound. Palestinians asked the UN Security Council to demand the permanent closing of the tunnel and send a fact-finding mission to the region. Hundreds of Israeli riot police stormed the Al Haram Al Sharif compound and opened fire with live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas after coming under a hail of stones, witnesses said.
Other important events:
1923 Martial law is declared in Germany.
1928 US agree to recognise the Nationalist Chinese government.
1938 Cunard launches its largest passenger liner, the ‘Queen Elizabeth’ at Clydebank, Scotland.
1939 Warsaw surrenders to Germans after 19 days of resistance in Second World Wars
1940 Germany, Italy and Japan sign 10-year military and economic pacts, setting up Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis.
1941 The US launches the first Liberty ship, the SS Patrick Henry, in Baltimore, Maryland.
1945 Congress Party and the Muslim League win most seats in elections for India’s Central Legislative Assembly.
1959 Typhoon batters Japanese island of Honshu, killing almost 5,000 people.
1962 Army stages a coup in Yemen and Colonel Abdullah Saleh becomes premier.
1968 France bars Britain’s entry into the European Common Market.
1970 Jordan’s King Hussain and PLO leader Yasser Arafat meet in Cairo with 10 Arab heads of state and sign an agreement ending civil war in Jordan.
1985 Soviet Prime Minister Nikolai Tikhonov resigns for health reasons and replaced by Nikolai Ryzhkov.
1990 Britain and Iran restore diplomatic relations.
1992 A Nigerian military-transport plane crashes shortly after taking off from Lagos, killing all 163 people on board.
1996 Taliban seizes control of Kabul, Afghanistan, and quickly hangs former president Najibullah.
1998 Gerhard Schroeder wins the German chancellorship, ending Helmut Kohl’s 16 years in power.
2000 At least 77 people are died after a packed Greek passenger ferry strike a rocky islet off the Aegean holiday island of Paros and sink within minutes.
2001 A lone Swiss gunman kills at least 14 people in a regional parliament building before killing himself.
2003 The US space shuttle Atlantis is docked successfully with Mir, bringing a replacement American astronaut to Russia’s troubled orbiting craft.
2008 Chinese astronaut Zhai Zhigang completes China’s first spacewalk.
2009 Angela Merkel wins a second term as German Chancellor.
2013 A bomb explodes in a bus carrying government employees in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing 19 people.
2014 An Indian court sentences Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha Jayaram to four years in jail in a corruption case.
2015 England fast bowling legend Frank Tyson dies at the age of 85.
