SEP 13, 1993: As part of the Oslo Accords Peace Treaty (which began as secret negotiations with Norwegian diplomats), Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin shakes hands with Palestinian PLO Chairman Yasser Araft in a landmark pact that was brokered by US President Bill Clinton at the White House in Washington,DC. The Oslo pact was based on the Sept 1978 Camp David Accords overseen by President Jimmy Carter (with a ceremony at the White House concluding with a handshake between Egyptian Pesident Anwar Sadat and Israeli President Menachem Begin) which sought to build a framework of trying to find peace in the MidEast from a conflict dating back to the late 19th Century. The Oslo agreement had granted limited Palestinian autonomy (not a definitive state) with the leaders agreeing on Israeli troops withdrawing from Gaza & Jericho, a Palestinian government established in the West Bank, and a resolving of border issues to determine the status of Jerusalem (of sacred importance being a focal point whom both Jews & Palestinians each claim as their holy capital). The interim of Arab self-rule would still see Jewish military bases & settlements in place with an overall transitional period of the region projected to take 5yrs. In a letter to Rabin prior to the signings, Arafat had recognized Israel's right to exist -- which was the first time the Palestinians had ever made such an acknowledgment and Israel in turn recognized the PLO as the legitimate representative for its people. Both men shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize. With security controls a major concern, Oslo's key goals became economic development, liberalized markets, civil administration, the sustainment of democratic institutions, the distribution of foreign aid, and protection of human rights. Many on both sides did not meet the Oslo pact with enthusiasm as many Palestinians were staunchly against it and angered over Arafat's outward gesture of co-operation. Militants groups were especially infuriated such as Hamas and Islamic Jihadis who carried out terrorist attacks & suicide bombings. Far-right Jews were also deeply opposed and in Feb 1994, American-Israeli Baruch Goldstein (an ultr-Zionist in the extremist Kach Party) killed 29 Palestinians & wounded 125 more in a mass shooting at a mosque in Hebron. All had been kneeling in prayer observing Ramadan in what came to be called the Cave of the Patriarchs (or Purim) Massacre. Goldstein was rushed by spectators who beat him to death. In Nov 1995, Rabin was assassinated in Tel Aviv by an extremist law student opposed to Oslo. New Prime Minister Shimon Peres (an architect of Oslo and also co-recipient of the 1994 Nobel Prize) continued to be a proponent of the peace treaty while Benjamin Netanyahu of the right-wing Likud Party (and Prime Minister in 1996) routinely denounced it. Arafat died in Nov 2011.
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