5 times peace talks between Israel and Palestinians broke down

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, June 13, 2024

A photo of Jerusalem, Israel. | Samantha Kamman/The Christian Post

Oslo Accords (1993 and 1995)

The Oslo Accords were a set of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a nationalist coalition established in 1964 recognized as the representative for Palestinians. The Oslo I Accord was ratified in 1993, followed by Oslo II in 1995.

According to an archived U.S. Department of State webpage, the agreement included Letters of Mutual Recognition, with the PLO recognizing Israel and Israel recognizing the PLO as a legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

Israel also agreed to withdraw troops from parts of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and allow Palestinians to live under their own government in certain territories through the Palestinian Authority.

Any semblance of peace resulting from the Oslo Accords was short-lived, however.

In 1995, an Israeli extremist who opposed the accords, Yigal Amir, assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. A series of terrorist attacks by Hamas also undermined support for the peace camp in Israel, according to the U.S. State Department.

“Worried that the peace process might collapse, the Clinton administration involved itself more actively in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. In January 1997, following intensive U.S. mediation, Israel and the PA signed the Hebron Protocol, which provided for the transfer of most of Hebron to Palestinian control,” the department reported.

“In October 1998, Clinton hosted [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and [PLO Chairman Yasser] Arafat at the Wye River Plantation, where they negotiated an agreement calling for further Israeli withdrawals from the West Bank. Infighting over the implementation of the Wye Memorandum, however, brought down Netanyahu’s government in January 1999.”

Negotiations broke down further after Israeli leader Ariel Sharon visited The Temple Mount, a holy site for Jews and Muslims, resulting in a violent uprising from Palestinians dubbed “Al-Aqṣā intifada.”

“Although attempts were made years later to revive the Oslo process, Israeli and Palestinian leaders were never able to put it back on track,” Britannica stated.