On 4 May 1994, in Cairo, Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin sign the Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area — the Gaza–Jericho Agreement, also known as the Cairo Agreement.

The text details the Palestinian autonomy envisaged by Oslo I: partial Israeli withdrawal from Jericho and Gaza within three weeks, creation of the Palestinian Authority (Article III) and of the Palestinian Civil Police Force.

The annexed Protocol on Economic Relations (Paris Protocol) regulates the Israel–PA economic link, in effect integrating the Palestinian economy into Israel’s.

Arafat became the PA’s first president at the formal inauguration on 5 July 1994 in Jericho, after a symbolic return to Gaza on 1 July. Negotiations over Jericho’s area (24 vs 42 square miles) and the withdrawal timetable marked the signing.

The agreement was incorporated into and superseded by Oslo II (Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, 24/28 September 1995).

The official text is on the Israeli MFA site. For Palestinians, Cairo 1994 remains the institutional birth of the Palestinian Authority.

The Gaza–Jericho Agreement of 4 May 1994 remains the act that launched limited Palestinian autonomy after Oslo.

Image: Cairo / Middle East; Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Gaza–Jericho Agreement. Treaty text: Agreement on Gaza Strip and Jericho Area (Israel MFA).