This Day in History: 13 September 2020
13 September 1993
27 years ago, today, the Oslo Accords were officially signed at a public ceremony in Washington, D.C., between the PLO chairman, Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and American President Bill Clinton. The accord provided for the creation of a Palestinian interim self-government and decided that this would have responsibility for the administration of territory under its control. With the signing, the Israel Defence Forces were forced to withdraw from parts of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The PLO also acknowledged the State of Israel and pledged to reject violence, while Israel likewise recognised the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people.
This agreement was historic as the Jews and the Arabs in Palestine had been constantly fighting for many decades before the accords. However, matters began to improve once Yasser Arafat had recognised the State of Israel's right to exist in 1988, thus authorising the beginning of 'land-for-peace' negotiations with Israel. Although Israel initially refused to open direct talks with the PLO, newly elected Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin vowed to move quickly on the peace process. He froze new Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and later authorised secret negotiations between Israel and the PLO. Even though the second Oslo Accord was signed in 1995, neither accord promised Palestinian statehood, and the peace process was stalled once right-wing Benjamin Netanyahu was elected prime minister.
Want to find out more about the Oslo Accords? Click here for more information, or here for a video with more about the Arab-Israeli conflict.
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