DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES

Declaration of Principles: translation

(13 September 1993)

A document signed at the White House in Washington, DC, by Israel and thePalestine Liberation Organization(PLO), concluding months of secret negotiations inOlso, Norway, and elsewhere in Europe. The document was signed by Foreign MinisterShimon Peresand PLO executive committee memberMahmoud Abbas(Abu Mazen). The signing was witnessed by PresidentWilliam J. (Bill)Clintonof theUnited States(US), Israeli prime ministerYitzhak Rabin, PLO chairmanYasser Arafat, U.S.secretary of state Warren Christopher, and Russian foreign minister Andrei Kozyrov. Key provisions of the Declaration of Principles included the following: Israel and the PLO exchanged recognition; the PLO acceptedUnited Nations(UN)Security Council Resolutions 242and338as the basis for negotiations and renounced the use ofterrorismand violence to resolve outstanding disputes with Israel; the parties agreed to the formation of aPalestinianInterim Self-Government Authority that would administer areas of theWest Bankand theGaza Stripduring a five-year transitional period leading to a permanentsettlement; and there was an agreement to defer until the final status phase of negotiations (to begin no later than the third year of the interim period) decisions aboutJerusalem, refugees, settlements, security arrangements, borders, relations and cooperation with other neighbors, and other issues of common interest. The Declaration of Principles went into effect on 13 October 1993, and subsequent negotiations led to further interim agreements affecting the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town ofJericho; the transfer of authority over civil affairs in majorArabpopulation centers in the West Bank; the election of aPalestinian Legislative Council(PLC) and executive committee in January 1996; and theIsraeli DefenseForce's redeployment from much of the West Bank town ofHebronin January 1997.

See alsoWye River Memorandum (1998).