The Oslo Accords were signed in the White House, on Monday, 13 September 1993 but named after Norway’s capital city, where the secret negotiations took place.
The Oslo Accords marked the first time Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) formally recognised one another. But what followed over the next 20 years of negotiations reveals that Israel merely used the agreements to justify the further expansion of illegal settlements in the territories it occupied in 1967.
The accord in fact has two parts, both of which were the product of secret diplomacy in the Norwegian capital. The first part was mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO. It took the form of two letters, on plain paper and without letterheads, dated 9 September but signed by Chairman Arafat and Prime Minister Rabin respectively on 9 and 10 September. The second part, the Declaration of Principles, set an agenda for negotiations on Palestinian self-government in the occupied territories, beginning with Gaza and Jericho. Nearly all the publicity focused on the signing of the DOP, but without the prior agreement on mutual recognition there could have been no meaningful agreement on Palestinian self-government. The DOP, the first in a series of what are known as the Oslo Accords, consisted of a carefully constructed two-phased timetable. The first phase, or the “interim period,” was to last five years, during which time Israel would incrementally withdraw from Palestinian population centers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while transferring administrative power to a soon-to-be-elected Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority would be responsible for combating terrorism and coordinating security with Israel. The second phase was the “permanent status” or “final status” negotiations, to resolve “remaining issues, including: Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, security arrangements, borders, relations and cooperation with other neighbors, and other issues of common interest.”