In Washington, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, for Israel, and Yasser Arafat, for the PLO, sign the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The date of the instrument is 28 September 1995. It is not the Oslo Declaration of Principles of 13 September 1993, and it is not the Cairo Agreement of 4 May 1994.

Witnesses: Bill Clinton and Warren Christopher for the United States, Andrei Kozyrev for Russia, Amre Moussa for Egypt, Hussein ibn Talal for Jordan, Bjørn Tore Godal for Norway, Felipe González for the European Union. At Taba, on 24 September, the text was initialled; the official act is this one.

The preamble: a Palestinian Interim Self-Government Authority — the elected Council and the Ra'ees of the Executive Authority — for a transitional period not exceeding five years from 4 May 1994, leading to a permanent settlement based on Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. Permanent-status negotiations as soon as possible, not later than 4 May 1996.

The Palestinian Council: 82 representatives plus the Ra'ees, elected by the Palestinians of the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza. The West Bank and Gaza are viewed as a single territorial unit. The transfer of powers, in phases, within 18 months of the Council’s inauguration, except for the permanent-status issues.

Area A: populated areas, on map No. 1, shaded brown; the Council assumes public order and internal security after Israeli forces redeploy. Area B: areas shaded yellow and the hamlets in Annex I; the Palestinian Police for Palestinians, Israel with overriding responsibility for security. Area C: the rest of the West Bank, outside A and B; Israel keeps, until later phases, the powers relating to territory.

Israel remains responsible for defence against external threats, for the Egyptian and Jordanian borders, for sea and air, and for the security of Israelis and the Settlements. In the West Bank the Settlements are in Area C. No other armed forces, besides the Palestinian Police and the Israeli military, are to be established.

The agreement supersedes Cairo 4 May 1994, the Preparatory Transfer of 29 August 1994 and the Protocol of 27 August 1995. The Paris Protocol of 29 April 1994 remains the basis of economic relations. It is not the Wye River Memorandum of 1998, and it is not Camp David of 2000.

The PLO undertakes that, within two months of the Council’s inauguration, the Palestinian National Council will approve the changes to the National Covenant, as in the letters of 9 September 1993 and 4 May 1994. Rabin is assassinated on 4 November; that later note is not part of the Washington text.

Image: Bill Clinton with Rabin, Hussein, Arafat and Mubarak, Red Room, White House, 28 September 1995; Barbara Kinney, White House Photograph Office; public domain, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Oslo II Accord. Treaty text: Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, Washington, 28 September 1995 (UNISPAL A/51/889).