September 28, 1995
The Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, commonly known as Oslo II, is signed by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat in a ceremony at the White House. The agreement establishes the Palestinian Authority as an elected, self-governing body to oversee Palestinian interests in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over what is meant to be a five-year period, during which Israelis and Palestinians are to negotiate final-status issues from natural resources and borders to Jerusalem.
The agreement establishes Area A, B and C in the West Bank as part of a series of Israeli military withdrawals and increased Palestinian political control. The fundamental principle of the deal is that neither side should take a unilateral action that would change the status of the Gaza Strip or the West Bank.
But Rabin is assassinated a little more than a month after signing the agreement, and Palestinian terrorism and unilateral actions by both sides in 1996 and beyond delay the implementation of aspects of the deal and undermine the peace process under the 1993 Oslo Accords.
