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Bilateral Talks
Israel
and the Palestinians: Following months of intensive behind-the-scenes
contacts in Oslo between negotiators for Israel and the Palestinian Liberation
Organization (PLO), a Declaration
of Principles (DOP) was formulated outlining self-government arrangements of
the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Its signing, on 13
September 1993, was preceded by an exchange
of letters between PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin, in which the PLO renounced the use of terrorism, pledged to invalidate
those articles in its covenant
which deny Israel's right to exist, and committed itself to a peaceful
resolution of the decades-long conflict. In response, Israel recognized the PLO
as the representative of the Palestinian people.
The DOP contained a set of mutually agreed general principles regarding a
five-year interim period of Palestinian self-rule and a framework for the
various stages of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The arrangements for Palestinian
self-rule in the Gaza Strip and the Jericho area were implemented in May
1994; transfer
of powers and responsibilities in the West Bank in the spheres of education
and culture, health, social welfare, direct taxation, and tourism was
implemented three months later. The DOP and other agreements signed by Israel
and the Palestinians culminated in the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian
Interim Agreement of September 1995.
This agreement included a broadening of Palestinian self-government by the
means of an elected self-governing authority, the Palestinian Council (elected
in January 1996), and continued redeployment of the IDF in the West Bank. The
agreement also set out the mechanism governing Israeli-Palestinian relations
that would lead to a Final Status Agreement. Under the Interim Agreement, the
West Bank was divided into three types of areas:
Area A - comprising the main cities of the West Bank: full Palestinian
Council responsibility for internal security and public order, as well as full
responsibility for civil affairs. (The city of Hebron was subject to special
arrangements set out in the Interim Agreement; the protocol
concerning the redeployment in Hebron was signed in January 1997.)
Area B - comprising small towns and villages in the West Bank: Palestinian
Council responsibility for civil affairs (as in Area A) and maintenance of
public order, while Israel retained overriding security responsibility to
safeguard its citizens and to combat terrorism.
Area C - comprising all Jewish settlements, areas of strategic importance to
Israel, and largely unpopulated areas of the West Bank: full Israeli
responsibility for security and public order, as well as civil responsibilities
related to territory (planning and zoning, archeology, etc.). The Palestinian
Council assumes responsibility with regard to all other civil spheres of the
Palestinian population.
The timetable for the implementation of further redeployment phases, as
specified in the Interim Agreement, was revised on a number of occasions by the
two sides, most notably in the Wye
River Memorandum of October 1998. Following these agreed revisions, Israel
completed the first and second phases of the Further Redeployment (FRD) process
in March 2000. As a result of the redeployments, over 18% of the West Bank was
designated Area A and over 21% was designated Area B, with 98% of the
Palestinian population of the West Bank under Palestinian authority.
Final Status negotiations between the parties, to determine the nature of the
permanent settlement between Israel and the Palestinian entity, began as
scheduled in May
1996. Suicide bomb attacks, perpetrated by Hamas terrorists in Jerusalem and
Tel Aviv during 1996, darkened Israel's view of the peace process. A hiatus of
three years followed and Final Status talks were resumed only after the Sharm
el-Sheikh Memorandum (September 1999). Issues to be dealt with included:
refugees, settlements, security matters, borders, Jerusalem, and more.
At the invitation of US President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat attended a summit
at Camp David in July 2000 to resume negotiations. The summit ended without
an agreement being reached due to PA Chairman Arafat's refusal to accept the
generous proposal. However, a trilateral
statement was issued, defining the agreed principles to guide further
negotiations.
In September 2000, the Palestinians initiated an Intifada, a campaign
of indiscriminate terror and violence, causing heavy loss of life and
suffering to both sides. Numerous efforts to end the violent confrontation and
renew the peace process failed due to the ongoing Palestinian terrorism.
Israel accepted the vision presented in the speech by U.S. President George W. Bush on June 24, 2002 for
ending Palestinian terrorism, to be followed by the final settlement of all
issues and peace.
On May 25, 2003, Israel
accepted the Roadmap, accompanied by comments that Israel considers integral
to its implementation and a U.S. commitment to address these comments. However,
the Palestinians have yet to live up to their obligations under the first phase
of the Roadmap, primarily the unconditional cessation of terrorism and end to
incitement. Among the measures taken by Israel against terrorism has been the
construction of an anti-terrorist
fence.
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