Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the C

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Rabin and Arafat Sign Accord: Peace for Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the Cairo Agreement on May 4, 1994, establishing Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho. The agreement was the first concrete implementation of the Oslo Accords signed on the White House lawn in September 1993. Under the terms, Israeli military forces withdrew from Gaza and Jericho, Palestinian police assumed security responsibility, and the Palestinian Authority took over civil administration. Arafat arrived in Gaza on July 1 to a rapturous reception. The agreement was intended as a stepping stone to a comprehensive peace settlement. Instead, it became the high-water mark: Rabin was assassinated in 1995, settlement expansion continued, and the Oslo process collapsed into the Second Intifada in 2000.

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May 4, 1994

32 years ago

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Rabin and Arafat Sign Accord: Peace for Gaza

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