Oslo Agreement

The Oslo Agreement between the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was significant as the first direct agreement between the two parties. Brokered under Norwegian auspices, it includes the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-government Arrangements (DOP), concluded in Oslo on 20 August 1993 and signed in Washington, D.C., on 13 September 1993, and the exchange of letters of mutual recognition in which the PLO recognized Israel and renounced terrorism, while Israel recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people. The DOP called for Palestinian self-government within the Gaza Strip and a portion of the West Bank surrounding Jericho, which was expanded on 28 September 1995 to include other major towns and surrounding villages, notably excluding East Jerusalem and areas of Israeli settlement. The Palestinian Authority would control education, health, welfare, tourism, and the police. The parties were to initiate final status agreements on the significant issues of borders, the return of refugees, and the status of Jerusalem. Critics warned that because the agreement did not secure Israeli recognition of the right of Palestinians to a state, while leaving major issues unresolved, it would lead to a failure of the peace process and a truncated entity for Palestinians threatened by internecine conflict and economic collapse. The Israeli Right opposed the cession of territory as a threat to security and territorial integrity. The subsequent assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the rise of Hamas to challenge the PLO leadership, and the ensuing violence and poverty in the West Bank and Gaza appeared to vindicate the critics, though references to Oslo principles have continued in discussions of a possible settlement.

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