Attempts at Peace in the Middle East
An international conference being held in Paris on Sunday is the latest of many bids to forge peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Here is a recap of previous attempts to end the decades-old conflict since the Oslo Accords in 1993:
- Oslo Accords -
Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) sign on September 13, 1993 in Washington a Declaration of Principles on autonomy after six months of secret talks in Oslo. U.S. president Bill Clinton hosts the ceremony.
The Oslo Accords mark the start of a process aimed at granting Palestinians the right to self-determination at the end of a five-year transition period.
Their signatories win the Nobel Peace Prize, but the agreement does not achieve a final settlement. Some durable advances are made, however, notably the mutual recognition of Israel and the PLO.
Two subsequent agreements, including the Oslo II deal, result in limited Palestinian autonomy in Gaza and the West Bank, and an initial pullback by Israeli troops.
In July 1994, PLO leader Yasser Arafat returns to Gaza from 27 years in exile and establishes the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated a year later by a Jewish extremist opposed to the peace process.
- Wye Plantation -
On October 23, 1998 a deal is signed at Wye Plantation in the United States that calls for a gradual Israeli withdrawal from 13 percent of the land it occupies in the West Bank. Two months later, however, Israel freezes the deal after turning over two percent of the occupied territory.
Arafat and Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak sign a renegotiated version in September 1999 but it is forgotten as well.
- Camp David -
In July 2000, Clinton hosts Arafat and Barak at Camp David outside Washington but the new talks stumble over the final status of Jerusalem and compensation for Palestinian refugees who lost their homes in 1948.
A second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, erupts two months later following a provocative visit by Israeli hardliner Ariel Sharon to a holy site known as Haram al-Sharif to Muslims and Temple Mount to Jews.
The shrine located in the Old City of mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem is at the heart of the conflict.
- Saudi initiative -
Arab states led by Saudi Arabia meet in Beirut in March 2002 and propose to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in exchange for the withdrawal of its troops from territories occupied since 1967.
Against a backdrop of repeated Palestinian suicide attacks, new Israeli premier Sharon launches a fresh military offensive the next day, March 29.
- 'The road map' -
In April 2003, the so-called Quartet of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and United States publishes a document dubbed a "road map" towards a Palestinian state in 2005, once Palestinian attacks and Jewish settler activity cease.
Israel and the Palestinians commit to its application on June 4, 2003 but it is eventually crumpled up amid continued settlement activity.
- Annapolis process -
In November 2007, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which has been pushed out of Gaza by Hamas, pledge to seek peace by the end of 2008 at the Annapolis conference in the United States.
The initiative is thwarted in part by Jewish settlements in the West Bank and collapses after a war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza erupts in late 2008.
- Kerry's nine months -
On July 29, 2013, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announces the launch of nine months of direct talks, the first in three years.
They are suspended by Israel on April 23, 2014, a week before their scheduled expiry, after Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas announce a reconciliation accord.
- U.N. vote/Kerry's warning -
On December 23, 2016, the U.N. Security Council demands Israel halt settlement activities in Palestinian territory in a resolution adopted after the United States refrains from vetoing the measure, in a rare move.
Kerry later warns Israel that building settlements on Palestinian land threatens the country's future as a democracy.
