The first agreement signed between Israel and the PLO was the Declaration of Principles (DOP), known also as the Oslo 1 Accord. Its goal was to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by eventually signing a comprehensive peace agreement. During a five-year interim period, negotiations would be held on the main issues of a permanent peace agreement: Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, security arrangements, borders, relations and cooperation, and other issues such as water. It also provided for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from parts of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and the Gaza Strip, and for the creation of a Palestinian interim government, the Palestinian Authority (PA) - the first instance of Arab self-government in history within the borders of the Land of Israel (“Palestine”).

The Oslo 1 Accord was concluded following secret talks held in Oslo, Norway between Israeli and Palestinian delegations and signed officially in Washington D.C. on 13 September 1993. It served as the basis for a series of subsequent agreements. The most significant of these was the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, also known as Oslo 2, signed in September 1995.

The 1995 Interim Agreement expanded Palestinian self-government to the rest of the Palestinian towns and to many of the villages in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It divided the West Bank and the Gaza Strip into three zones - A, B and C - which served as the basis for the redeployment of Israeli forces. As a result of all the Oslo accords, almost all of the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are under Palestinian authority.