Map – Oslo II (1995 – 1999)

TIME PERIOD: 1995 – 1999

“On 28 Sept 1995 the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip was signed in Washington by Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat in the presence of Bill Clinton, Honi Mubarak, and King Hussein of Jordan. It became known populary as Oslo II…

Under the terms of this agreement, Israel yielded to the Palestinians civilian control over nearly a third of the West Bank. Four percent of the West Bank (including the towns of Jenin, Nablus, Kalkilya, Tulkarem, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Hebron) was turned over to exclusive Palestinian control and another 25 percent to administrative-civilian control. In the Gaza Strip Israel retained control over 35 percent of the land, containing the Jewish settlements and the roads leading to them, and the rest was turned over to the Palestinian Authority.”

Avi Shlaim, The Iron Wall, p. 528, W.W. Norton & Co. 2001

“In September and October 1998, U.S. officials made a concerted effort to complete implementation of the Interim Accord [Oslo II], culminating in the Wye River Memorandum of October 23. The Israeli cabinet approved the Memorandum but said that redeployments depended on the abrogation of Palestinian Charter articles; that a third redeployment should not be from more than 1% of territory before a final agreement; and that if the Palestinians unilaterally declare a state, then Israel reserves the right to apply Israeli law to the rest of the West Bank. On November 20, Israel completed the first stage of the second redeployment and released 250 Palestinian prisoners. On December 14, the PNC and others voted to annul the Charter articles. On December 20, Israel froze Wye implementation until the Palestinians abandoned their call for a state with Jerusalem as its capital, curbed violence and incitement, accepted Israeli prisoner releases, collected and destroyed illegal weapons, and resumed security cooperation.”

Congressional Research Service (CRS), “The Middle East Peace Talks,” Issue Brief for Congress, 2002

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