Since its creation on May 14, 1948, the Jewish nation of Israel has fought in no less than four major wars with its Arab neighbors to retain its sovereignity. Yet, through a remarkable turn of events; the collapse of the USSR (former backer to many Arab nations), and the Palestinian Liberation Organization's (PLO) support of Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait leading to a near bankrupt state in 1992, the newly elected Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin found himself in a position where negotiations with hated enemies might actually begin to bear some fruit. Besides, Rabin had an election promise to uphold concerning an agreement with the Palestinians.
What conspired from this rather cryptic observation would proceed to startle the world. The Oslo Accords, also known as the Declaration of Principles signed August 20, 1993, was unknown to the world other than in what bits and pieces the media came across until publically presented in Washington DC on September 13 that same year. While negotiations with Israel between Palestinian, Jordanian, and Syrian representatives were being held in Washington, the real ground-breaking work was occuring through the grace of Labor Party member Yossi Beilin who opened a series of private negotiations with the PLO in Oslo upon the recommendation of Shimon Peres.
Besides the achievement of official Israeli and PLO recognition, what will ultimately allow the Oslo Accords to succeed or fail is the "interdependence" that was created between Israel and Palestine. "It's genius is that if one fails the other fails" as said by Terje Larsen, the moderator from Norway who oversaw the negotiations. This partner-to-partner "interdependence" is key to implimenting the agreements reached in the Accords. In return for postponing discussion on key Palestinian isues such as Palestinian sovereignity and the state of Jerusalem (one of the PLO's major concerns), the agreement would allow for continuous negotiations to resolve these and other issues within five years after the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the Jerico area. The idea being that Palestinians would eventually be allowed self rule over these areas after an appropriate transition period had passed. This opportunity Yasser Arafat, chairman of the PLO, could not pass up. Eventually further withdrawals as well as Palestinian elections would occur upon further negotiations covering the when are where. But, Israel must always recognize Palestine as a "partner" not as an "inferior" in order for these accords to succeed. The Oslo Accords require the joint cooperation and participation of both parties or it will simply cease to exist.
As agreed upon during in the first meeting of the delegates from Israel and the PLO, a discussion of history would not prove fruitful in negotiations between sides as the conflict shared between these peoples goes back to long before such arguments were ever written down had a written language to do so existed. Therefore, the history of the conflicts has not been discussed in this page as it is out of context for discussions concerning the Declaration of Principles.
To read into more specifics about the History of the Oslo Accords
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Comments and questions concerning this page may be sent to its writer, Elizabeth Wood.