April 1
Peace Now holds its first demonstration in Tel Aviv, calling for Israeli concessions in negotiations with Egypt. The movement, established by a group of reserve-duty officers and soldiers, quickly becomes the principal extra parliamentary force in Israel calling for withdrawal from the Occupied Territories and evacuation of the settlements.July 27
Israel begins to build the Trans-Samaria Highway, which connects Ariel and settlements in Samaria to the center of the country. The highway plays a major role in expanding the settlement enterprise deep into the West Bank.September 17
The Camp David Accords are signed. They comprise two framework agreements, one for peace between Israel and Egypt and the other an overall peace agreement for the Middle East. Israel relinquishes the Sinai Peninsula, and the Palestinians in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip are granted autonomy.November 14
According to press reports, the military government severely controls political gatherings in the Occupied Territories, doing so by enforcing a Jordanian law whereby the organizers of gatherings must provide in advance a list of the speakers and their speeches to the military government.———
In response to the Camp David Accords, which provide the Palestinians only with autonomy, the National Guidance Committee is founded. Its purpose is to create united and effective resistance to the occupation. This body, which would become the leading supporter of the PLO in the Occupied Territories following the banning of the Popular Front, will itself be banned at the end of 1982.
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Order No. 752 is issued. The order arranges the establishment of “Village Associations,” which are intended to serve as a counterweight to the national movements active in Palestinian cities. The associations are intended to serve as an alternate leadership supporting Israel and are funded, and subsequently also armed, by Israel. In 1984, Israel gives up hope that the Village Associations will have a significant political effect in the territories and withdraws its support.
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Matityahu Drobless, head of the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization, presents a plan to establish sixty town and village settlements in the West Bank. Five years later, he will submit a revised plan calling for the settlement of an additional one hundred thousand settlers.
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The Islamic University in Gaza is founded.