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Persian Gulf War
In 1990, the PLO under Yasser Arafat openly supported Saddam Hussein in his
regime's invasion of Kuwait, leading to a later rupture in Palestinian-Kuwaiti
ties and the expulsion of many Palestinians from Kuwait.
Oslo Accords
In 1993, the PLO secretly negotiated the Oslo Accords with Israel. The accords
were signed on 20 August 1993. There was a subsequent public ceremony in
Washington D.C. on September 13, 1993 with Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin. The
Accords granted the Palestinians right to self-government on the Gaza Strip and
the city of Jericho in the West Bank through the creation of the Palestinian
Authority. Yasser Arafat was appointed head of the PA and a timetable for
elections was laid out which saw Arafat elected president in January 1996, 18
months behind schedule. Although the PLO and the Palestinian Authority are not
formally linked the PLO dominates the administration. The headquarters of the
PLO were moved to Ramallah on the West Bank.
On 9 September 1993, Arafat issued a press release stating that "the PLO
recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security".
Numerous leaders within the PLO and the PA, including Yasser Arafat himself,
have declared that the State of Israel has a permanent right to exist, and that
the peace treaty with Israel is genuine, though members of the PLO have claimed
responsibility for a number of attacks against Israelis since the Oslo Accords.
Some Palestinian officials have stated that the peace treaty must be viewed as
permanent. According to some opinion polls majority of Israelis believe
Palestinians should have a state of their own—a major shift in attitude from the
pre-Oslo years—even though both Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres were both against
the creation of a Palestinian state both before and after the signing of Oslo.
At the same time, a significant portion of the Israeli public and some political
leaders (including the former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) express doubt
over whether a peaceful, coherent state can be founded by the PLO and call for
significant re-organization, including the elimination of all terrorism, before
any talk about independence.
Al-Aqsa Intifadah
Al-Aqsa Intifada
The Second or Al-Aqsa Intifada started concurrent with the breakdown of talks at
Camp David with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The Intifada never ended
officially, but violence has hit relatively low levels since 2005. The death
toll both military and civilians of the entire conflict in 2000-2004 is
estimated to be 3,223 Palestinians and 950 Israelis, although this number is
criticized for not differentiating between combatants and civilians.
Development and reactivation
In the Cairo Declaration and the Prisoners' Document, Palestinian factions
agreed to rebuild the PLO. A meeting will be held in Damascus to discuss its
future.[citation needed]
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