MIDDLE EAST HOURGLASS:

• 19 May 1998: PM Binyamin Netanyahu says threatened EU boycott of products from Judea/Samaria, Gaza will hurt Arab workers.
• 19/5: PLO's Yasser Arafat and former PM Shimon Peres launch new venture capital fund to aid projects in PA areas.
• 20/5: Netanyahu tells Cabinet that remain-ing major disagreement with PA is over third and final redeployment.
• 20/5: New "anti-missionary" bill passes first reading in Knesset with coalition support.
• 21/5: PM's Office says Netanyahu seeks summit with Arafat to renew talks.
• 21/5: PA negotiator Saeb Erekat blasts US House Speaker Newt Gingrich for remarks supporting Israel's clams to Jerusalem.
• 22/5: Netanyahu tells diplomatic corps that "peace collapsed two years ago".
• 22/5: Gingrich, on eve of visit, calls off visit to new US Embassy site in Jerusalem.
• 22/5: US Senate gives overwhelming support to tough sanctions bill aimed at ending missile aid to Iran.
• 23/5: 31st Jerusalem Day celebrated.
• 23/5: Two South Lebanese Army soldiers killed by Hizb'Allah bomb in security zone.
• 23/5: Irish voters give peace deal a wide margin of victory in historic referendum.
• 24/5: Israeli security cabinet considers revised US proposal for 15% withdrawal in staged pullbacks.
• 24/5: Coalition's Third Way Party divides over call for national unity govern-ment.
• 24/5: Senior Israeli military source: PA smuggling weapons through Gaza tunnels.
• 24/5: Christian opposition shows surprising strength as Lebanese go to polls for first local elections in 35 years.
• 25/5: Security cabinet members Yitzhak Mordechai, Ariel Sharon, Natan Sharansky air differing views on withdrawal issues.
• 25/5: Visiting US defence experts say Arrow missile needs an urgent upgrade.
• 25/5: Hamas says Jordan has refused Sheikh Ahmed Yassin entry while on controversial tour of region.
• 25/5: Deputy mayor of Israeli Arab town in custody for aiding Hamas.
• 26/5: Yassin in Damascus predicts that Israel will be eliminated within 25 years.
• 26/5: Gingrich tells Knesset plenum only Israel should decide its security needs.
• 26/5: Clashes at Jewish site in Jerusalem's Old City lead to confrontation between Israeli police and 15 PA council members.
• 27/5: With Netanyahu on state visit to China, security cabinet members grumble about being kept in the dark on talks with PA.
• 27/5: Hizb'Allah continues mortar attacks into northern Israel as tensions mount.
• 27/5: Gingrich pays cordial visit to Arafat in Ram'Allah following barbs from White House, State Department spokesmen.
• 28/5: After weeks of tension, Pakistan sets off five nuclear bombs in answer to India's.
• 28/5: Massive search on in Lebanon security zone for collaborators in roadside bombings that killed two IDF soldiers.
• 29/5: Palestinian legislative council consi-ders vote of "no confidence" in Arafat in wrangle over budget process.
• 30/5: More Pakistani nuclear tests held.
• 31/5: Jewish Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) marked.
• 31/5: In Beirut, France's Jacques Chirac rejects Israel's UN Resolution 425 initiative.
• June 1: Israeli military strongly denies Pakistani charges of planning pre-emptive strike at nuclear facilities.
• 2/6: Mordechai holds friendly meeting with Mubarak in Cairo, then publicly urges no more delay on redeployment decision.
• 2/6: Arab ministers gather in Beirut to plan anti-Israel stance at upcoming Euro-Med meeting in Palermo.
• 3/6: Arafat arrives in Oman to continue push for pan-Arab summit to condemn Israel.
• 3/6: Report quotes PA security chief Jibril Rajoub as saying PA approves of Hamas attacks as long as they do not implicate PA.
• 4/6: Israeli Arab leaders call for boycott of products from Jewish "settlements".
• 5/6: In Israeli TV interview, Pakistani minister denies Islamabad is co-operating with Iran on nuclear technology.
• 7/6: Netanyahu dismisses press reports saying Israel and PA are close to agreement over troop with-drawal.
• 8/6: Senior IDF officer: calls for unilateral Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon endangers lives of soldiers serving there.
• 8/6: Clashes erupt between Arabs and Israelis moving into Jewish-owned property in Silwan, eastern Jerusalem.
• 8/6: Israeli officials debate whether or not to allow Yassin to return to Gaza after tour.
• 9/6: Netanyahu said to be considering possibility of national referendum on troop withdrawal issue.
• 9/6: Reports: Iranian Jew, 60, hanged in Iran, apparently for helping Jews leave country.
• 11/6: Amir Peretz trounces Maxim Levy in elections for Histadrut trade union chairman.
• 11/6: Netanyahu meets Labour leader Ehud Barak amid calls for early elections.
• 11/6: Israel-Lebanon deal imminent on exchanging 60 Lebanese prisoners and bodies of 40 Hizb'Allah militiamen for body of Israeli naval commando Itamar Ilya.
• 11/6: Report: Jerusalem's Arab population is growing four times faster than its Jewish population.
• 12/6: Netanyahu denies reports he plans to form national unity government with Barak.

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