Following the Israeli elections of June 1992, the
new prime minister and Labour leader Yitzak
Rabin froze the construction of new settlement colonies in the Gaza strip and the
West Bank. The resuming of negotiation with Palestenians was, however, because
the efforts regarding this matter were interrupted by the expulsion of 415
Palestinians from the Islamic Resistence Movement (Hamas) group to Marj Az-zuhur
in Lebanon.
Secret negotiations between the Palestinian Liberation Organization ( PLO ) and
Israel resulted in mutual recognition in September 1993; Norwegian diplomats
played a key role in the process of negotiation that ended in Oslo. The Palestinians
were granted limited autonomy in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip according the
“Declaration of Principles” on the autonomy of the Israeli-occupied territories.
In 1993, after decades of violence, conflict and disagreement, PLO
leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin met in the United
States on 13 September to sign a peace accord between the two parties.
According to the agreements singed by the tow side, this autonomy is to be extended to the rest of the West Bank and, five years later, a definite status was to be negotiated for the occupied territories and the part of Jerusalem occupied by Israel since 1967, but the overall peace process has suffered many setbacks during the last few years.