CLINTON, WILLIAM (BILL) J.

(1946- )

President of theUnited Statesfrom 1993 to 2001. As president, he became deeply and directly involved inArab-Israeli diplomacy, most notably efforts to achieve a permanent settlement of the Israeli-Palestinianconflict. He hosted the signing of the historic Israel-Palestine Liberation Organization(PLO)Declaration of Principles(September 1993). He mediated the negotiations that culminated in theWye River Memorandum(1998) and theSharm el-Sheikhcease-fire agreement (October 2000). He also served as an interlocutor in the unsuccessfulCamp David II-Tabatalks. Clinton witnessed two major Israel-Jordanianagreements, the Common Agenda of 14 September 1993 and the Peace Treaty of 26 October 1994, and expended tremendous energy in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to achieve an agreement betweenSyriaand Israel over theGolan Heights. He hosted bilateral talks with senior Israeli and Syrian officials in Washington, DC, and Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and held an unprecedented meeting with Syrian president Hafez al-Assad in Geneva, Switzerland, in March 2000.

See alsoArab-Israeli Conflict.