The Oslo Accords, 1993

Negotiations for the Oslo Accords, known officially as the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, were held in secret in Oslo, and signed in Washington in the presence of President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. The Accords were intended to be temporary, lasting for an interim period of five years during which final status agreements would be reached on borders, Palestinian refugees, Jerusalem, Israeli settlements and security. The agreement provided for interim Palestinian self-government in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, under a Palestinian Authority, but fell short of promising full Palestinian statehood.

Its significance at the time lay in the fact that the PLO recognised the right of the Israeli state to exist, and the Israeli government recognised the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people. This marked an acceptance on both sides of a "two-state solution". Yasser Arafat and other PLO leaders were permitted to return to Gaza and the West Bank.

Ultimately the Oslo process failed for three reasons -

• Imbalance of power prevented fair negotiations.
• US failed to mediate impartially.
• Hard-liners (Israeli settlers and Palestinian Hamas) gained strength. The Israelis continued to extend settlements and "bypass roads" in the occupied territories.

Rabin, Peres and Arafat shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East".
Note the administrative partition of the West Bank, and reactions from Palestinians and from Israelis.
See also the Geneva Initiative, the Arab Peace Initiative and the Road Map.