*Jan. 21, 1996 — Palestinians vote for the first time to elect an 88-member legislative body. Arafat is overwhelmingly elected Palestinian Council chief.
*Feb. 25 — Twin Hamas suicide attacks rock Israel. A bus bombing in Jerusalem kills 26 innocent people. In Ashkelon, a soldiers’ hitchhiking post is blown up, killing one more. Israel seals the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A day after, a car driven by an Arab-American tourist plows into people at a Jerusalem bus stop, killing one and injuring 22. Two bystanders shoot the driver.
*March 3 — A nearly identical Hamas bus bombing in Jerusalem kills 19 innocent people. The Israeli Cabinet votes to separate the Israeli and Palestinian populations.
*March 4 — A suicide bomber kills 13 innocent people at Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv on Purim eve. Israel breaks off peace talks with Syria after Damascus refuses to condemn the attacks.
*March 13 — Leaders of 29 nations, including the United States, Israel and 14 from the Muslim world, meet at an anti-terrorism summit in the Sinai.
*April 11 — Israel launches “Operation Grapes of Wrath,” against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, in retaliation for the fundamentalist group’s Katyusha rocket attacks on northern Israel. After Israel shells the Kana U.N. camp in southern Lebanon, killing at least 91 refugees, a cease-fire goes into effect April 27.
*April 24 — The Palestine National Council votes to amend those portions of its charter that call for the destruction of Israel, but does not replace it with new language.
*May 29 — Israelis narrowly elect Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu prime minister.
*June 22-23 — Egypt hosts the first Arab League summit in six years to unite against Netanyahu’s approach to the peace process.
*July 23 — Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy meets with Arafat in the Palestinian leader’s first meeting with a top Netanyahu government official.
*Sept. 4 — Netanyahu meets with Arafat. Both sides agree to discussions on redeployment from most of Hebron, the last West Bank town to be turned over to the Palestinians.
*Sept. 25 — Palestinian rioting erupts after the opening of a new entrance to a tunnel alongside the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In three days of violence, 15 Israelis and 57 Palestinians are killed, most by gunfire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian police. Hundreds are wounded.
*Oct. 1 — President Clinton convenes an emergency Middle East summit meeting in Washington to salvage the peace process.