A Look at the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process Since the Oslo Accords

Posted September 21st, 2011 at 12:46 pm (UTC-5)
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A look at some major events in Israeli-Palestinian peace moves since 1993.

September 1993: Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization sign a declaration of principles known as the Oslo Accords. The agreements include mutual recognition and a plan to establish Palestinian self-government in parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

December 1994: PLO leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for efforts to create peace in the Middle East.

July 2000: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat hold inconclusive peace talks at the Camp David U.S. presidential retreat.

September 2000: A second Palestinian Intifada (uprising) against Israeli occupation erupts, resulting in a large number of casualties on both sides.

April 2003: The Quartet, comprising the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia, proposes a roadmap to peace. The plan outlines a series of reciprocal steps and benchmarks leading to a permanent two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

November 2007: U.S. President George W. Bush convenes the Annapolis Conference, the beginning of the process of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Both sides agree to make every effort to conclude a final agreement by the end of 2008.

December 2008: Israel begins a three-week incursion into the Gaza Strip to end cross-border rocket fire from Palestinian militants. About 13-hundred Palestinians and 13 Israelis are killed before Israeli forces withdraw.

September 2, 2010: U.S. President Barack Obama hosts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in a Washington meeting designed to re-launch direct peace talks. Negotiators announce plans to try to work out a peace deal within a year.

September 26, 2010: Peace talks collapse after Israel's partial freeze on West Bank settlement construction expires. Palestinians refuse to negotiate while Israel builds on land they want as part of a future state.

May 2011: The rival Palestinian movements Hamas and Fatah announce an initial agreement on reuniting. Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, has never been a party to peace talks with Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says Palestinian leaders must choose “peace with Israel or peace with Hamas” because there is “no possibility for peace with both.”

June 2011: Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat urges the international community to support Palestinian statehood and admission to the United Nations. In late 2010, Palestinian leaders begin voicing possible plans to seek statehood recognition at the U.N.

August 2011: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says an application for Palestinian statehood will be submitted to the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in September.