FDC Palestine 1994 "Signature ISRAEL-PLO PEACE AGREEMENT, RABIN, ARAFAT, CLINTON" (PE292)

September 13, 1993

Signing of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement in Washington

Since August 1993, representatives of Israel and the PLO have been meeting secretly in Oslo, Norway.

In September, agreements are signed publicly in Washington in the presence of Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat and US President Bill Clinton. On the 9th, the contents of a mutual recognition agreement between Israel and the PLO are revealed. Then, on the 13th, an official ceremony highlights the signing of a declaration of principles on the autonomy of the territories occupied since the Six-Day War in 1967.

It provides for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Jericho within a few months, as well as their takeover by the Palestinian authorities. Delays in the implementation of the agreement will give ammunition to its detractors. The overtures made in September nevertheless received the support of the international community. The release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel also contributed to giving new impetus to the relations that were sought to be established in the Middle East.

Rabin and Arafat's efforts were rewarded with the Nobel Peace Prize. (source www.perspective.usherbrooke.ca)