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January 1: The last stage of the evacuation from Sinai begins.
January 19: An agreement is signed between Israel and Egypt to complete the evacuation from Sinai and normalize relations.
January, 28: A squad of Palestinians tries to infiltrate into Israel across the border with Jordan. Defense Minister Ariel Sharon and chief of staff Raphael Eitan propose to retaliate with an air attack on PLO targets in Lebanon. The decision-making committee, including Prime Minister Menachem Begin, votes no.
January: Defense Minister Ariel Sharon makes his first secret visit by helicopter to the Lebanese Christian enclave where he is met by Gemayel. A flimsy guideline is created for unwritten cooperation between Israel and the Phalangists.
February 5: The UN General Assembly calls for an international boycott of Israel. The vote is 86 in favor, 21 against, and 34 abstentions.
February 9: All government-controlled products and services are adjusted upward in price as a result of inflation.
February 16: Moshe Arens is Israel's new ambassador to the US.
February: Chief of staff Raphael Eitan visits Lebanon and assures Bashir Gemayel of an upcoming invasion.
March 2: Phillip Habib meets with Syrian President, Hafez Assad and assures him that the US will prevent an Israeli Invasion of Lebanon.
March 3: French President François Mitterand visits Israel.
March: The settlements at the Pithat Rafiah region of Sinai are disbanded during the first week of the month. Opponents of the evacuation attempt to block it.
March 14: The government decides to appoint a commission of inquiry on the controversial unsolved case of the murder of Chaim Arlozoroff in 1933.
March 23: A Knesset vote of confidence in the government results in a tie, 58 to 58.
March 23: Violent incidents occur in the West Bank. A contributing factor is the closure of the Bir Zeit University near Ramallah. The military government dismisses the mayors of Ramallah, al-Bira, and Nablus for noncooperation.
March 28: Another Palestinian infiltration attempt is triggered by a grenade attack on an IDF vehicle in the Gaza Strip. The prime minister supports Sharon's retaliations, but the cabinet is opposed.
March: Drew Middleton, veteran military analyst, reports on the "New York Times" of the PLO military buildup in Lebanon. The PLO is "now able to attack most of the cities and towns in northern Israel at long range." He notes that well-trained volunteers from Iraq, Libya, and South Yemen are reinforcing the Soviet-supplied PLO forces.
March: Matityahu Drobles, co-chairman of the World Zionist Organization, announces that in the coming twelve months there will be an increase in settlement building on the West Bank and Golan Heights, and in the Gaza Strip.
April 1: The Yamit region in Sinai is declared a closed military area.
April 3: Yaacov Bar-Simantov, second secretary of Israel's embassy in France an a Mossad officer is shot dead in Paris. The "Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions" claim responsibility. Israel blames the PLO and labels the murder a violation of the terms of the July 1981 cease-fire.
April 11 : Allan Harry Goodman, a recent American immigrant to Israel, kills 2 Arabs and wounds 12 on the Temple Mount. The act is denounced by the government. He will be sentenced to life plus two 20-years terms for murder. The UN Security Council circulates a resolution, which is vetoed by the US, implicitly condemning Israel for the incident.
April 19: A week of troubling confrontation begins at Yamit between the IDF and the last settlers, along with supporters from the Movement to Halt the Withdrawal, who barricade themselves in the settlement.
April 21: The anti-evacuation protesters in Yamit bombard the IDF soldiers with stones, bottles, and other objects.
April 21: In an unclear incident an IDF officer is killed and another soldier is wounded by a land mine in the Security Zone. The same afternoon the air force hits PLO targets south of Beirut, killing 23 people. Two Syrian MiGs are shot down.
April 25 : Three years after the signing of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, the Sinai is completely turned over to Egypt. The inhabitants of Yamit who refuse to leave, together with their supporters, are evacuated by force. Bulldozers raze the town. "The town looked as if an atomic bomb hit it." Egypt had offered 50 million dollar for the lot, but Israel had refused. The decision to destroy the settlements is made by Begin, on Defense Minister Sharon's prompting. One issue remains unsolved - the status of the Taba area, just south of Eilat.
April: Israel charges the PLO for two minings on the border, a bombing in Ashkelon, and a bus-bombing in Jerusalem.
May 2: Implementing one aspect of the coalition agreement with the religious parties, the government announces that El Al will cease flying on Shabbat.
May 9: The Israeli air force strikes targets in southern Lebanon and near Beirut. Responding to the attacks the PLO bombards the Galilee with Katyusha missiles. But no Israeli settlement is hit.
May 10: Cabinet meeting to get approval for an invasion date on the 17th of May. The plan is "Little Pines". Seven ministers refuse to support it.
May 10: Six senior reserve officers decide to speak out against Defense Minister Ariel Sharon's policies on the West Bank. The officers speak against the "atrocities" committed by Israeli soldiers as a consequence of the "repressive measures" instituted by Sharon. They blame the Defense Ministry for corrupting Israeli soldiers by ordering them to clash with unarmed Palestinian civilians. The officers stress that while public attention is aroused from time to time by specific sensational events, "the daily reality in the territories is one of violence and brutality."
May 13: The IDF General Staff meets to discuss the "Big Pines" plan of the Invasion.
May 16: Begin and Sharon brief the Labor leaders - Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin and Chaim Bar-Lev - that the planned thrust northward will include the Sidon area, the implication being that it will not reach Beirut.
May 19: The government wins a vote of confidence in the Knesset by a slim majority of 57 to 57 with three abstentions.
May 25 : Israeli warplanes down two Syrian MiGs while on reconnaissance petrol near Beirut.
May 25: A special commission appointed by Attorney General Yehudit Karp publishes its report on violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians living under the occupation. To the outrage of many Israeli government officials, the report adds that Israeli occupation troops and Jewish settlers are engaged in a massive miscarriage of justice against Palestinians. The report finds that Jewish settlers are regularly protected by the army and seldom arrested for offenses ranging from shootings to massive destruction of property against Palestinian residents in the occupied territories. In essence, the report finds that settlers consider themselves above the law and refuse to cooperate with Israeli police investigating Palestinian complaints. The report is considered so critical of Israel's occupation policies that the government keep it secret.
June 3 : Shlomo Argov, Israel's ambassador to Great Britain, is seriously wounded by Arab terrorists in London. Israel takes this incident as the provocation for the long-sought war against the PLO in southern Lebanon despite the fact that the shooting was not a PLO operation but carried out by anti-PLO gunmen of the Abu Nidal group. This information is withheld from the Cabinet.
June 4 - 5 : Israeli armed forces bomb and shell Arab terrorist positions from southern Lebanon all the way to Beirut. The PLO retaliates with rocket and artillery shelling of 23 Israeli settlements in western and northern Galilee and of Major Saad Haddad's enclave in Lebanon.
June 6 : Israel launches "Operation Peace for Galilee".
June 15: Israel's value added tax is raised from 12% to 15%. Prime Minister Begin leaves for the US.
June 18: The prices of basic commodities are raised by 19%.
July 8: Bir Zeit University near Ramallah is closed once again, for three months.
July 25: Menachem Begin widens the coalition, coopting the rightwing Tehiya party.
August 5: The prices of basic commodities rise once again, by 15% to 40%.
September 1: US President Ronald Reagan announces a new peace plan for the Middle East.
October 1: The Kahan Commission is formed to examine the Sabra and Shatilla incident.
October 19: El Al personnel continue strikes and work stoppages. The airline's board of directors decides to close the company, a step approved by the government on 24 October. The employees shut down Ben-Gurion Airport for a full day (27 October).
November 4: A suicide operation carried out by Shi'ite Muslims destroys the Israeli military headquarters in the southern Lebanese port of Sidon, killing 36 Israelis.
November 11: A tragedy in Tyre, southern Lebanon, occurs when a gas leak in the Israeli military government building causes an explosion that takes the lives of 75 Israeli soldiers and security personnel and 15 local workers, and wounds dozens of others.
November 14: Aliza Begin, wife of prime minister Menachem Begin, dies. Begin leaves the US, where he is on a state visit, to return home.
November 24: The Kahan Commission notifies a series of high-ranking figures, including the prime minister, the defense minister, and the chief of staff, that they are liable to incriminate themselves under questioning.
December 1: A new currency note of 500 shekels is issued, evidence of the galloping inflation in the economy.
December 23: Rioting erupts in the depressed Tel Aviv neighborhood of Kfar Shalem when an illegally constructed building is razed. A young resident pulls out and shoots a revolver and is killed by a policeman.
December 28: Talks begin between Israel and Lebanon at Khaldeh in Lebanon and at Kiryat Shmonah.
Many strikes are held in the public sector throughout the month.
Inflation in 1982: 120,3%.
The Israel Museum in Jerusalem exhibits "Jewish Treasures from Paris: From the Collections of the Cluny Museum and the Consistoire", and "Towers of Spice: The Tower Shape Tradition in Havdalah Spice Boxes".
The Museum of the Diaspora in Tel Aviv mounts six exhibits: "Synagogues in 19th Century Germany"; "A Worthwhile Philanthropic Empire: The Life and Work of Baron Maurice de Hirsch"; "The Jews in Romania in Modern Times"; "The Jewish Community of Basel"; "The Jews of San'a"; and "The Golden Age of Amsterdam Jewry".
Joshua Sobol, Israeli playwright, writes "Soul of a Jew", based on the life, ideas, and identity crisis of Otto Weininger, an Austrian Jewish philosopher who left the faith and was known for his antisemitic ideas. Weininger committed suicide in 1903, when he was 23 years of age.
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