BICOM

From 11-24 July 2000, at the invitation of president Clinton, prime minister Barak and chairman Arafat met at Camp David to discuss permanent status issues and negotiate a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in accordance with the September 1993 accord (Oslo I). However, no formal agreement was reached at Camp David. American and Israeli negotiators put forward bold ideas that would have affected issues such as borders, Jerusalem, settlements, the prospects for Palestinian statehood and refugees. Arafat, who did not present any counter-offers to Barak, rejected these offers, and a wave of Palestinian violence erupted in September 2000 (the second intifada).

Read about the Camp David II Summit

Often referred to as the ‘Clinton Peace Plan’, on 23 December 2000, president Clinton presented both Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams with his parameters for a final status agreement. He asked that the parties respond to him by 27 December if the parameters were acceptable as a basis for further negotiations. President Clinton proposed the following: a Palestinian state in 97 percent of the West Bank, 100 percent of Gaza (and a land link between the two), the Arab neighbourhoods of east Jerusalem would become the capital of the Palestinian state, a right for Palestinian refugees to settle in a future Palestinian state (along with an international fund of $30 billion USD that would be put together for either compensation or to cover repatriation, resettlement and rehabilitation costs), some form of sovereignty over parts of the Temple Mount, and many other historic proposals. Barak endorsed the plan; Arafat introduced reservations (without presenting a counter-offer) to each one of the proposals and made them wholly unworkable.

View the Clinton Parameters

Hosted by president Clinton, talks were held in Washington with Israeli and Palestinian teams from 19-23 December 2000. The Israeli delegation was headed by foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami and prime ministerial bureau chief Gilad Sher. President Clinton presented a bridging proposal to the parties. Following a meeting in Cairo between foreign minister Ben-Ami and chairman Arafat, marathon talks between Israeli and Palestinian delegations were held in Taba from 21-27 January 2001, ending in a joint statement, but without an agreement.

Read about the Taba talks

The text of the Mitchell Commission Report (also known as the Sharm el-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee Report) is an account of Israeli-Palestinian violence that erupted in September 2000. It was written by a five-member committee headed by former US senate majority leader George Mitchell. The stated goal of the report is to answer ‘what happened’, ‘why it happened’, and how the ‘recurrence of violence [could] be prevented.’

The report called on the Palestinians to fight terrorism, resume security cooperation with Israel and end incitement. It called on Israel to cease settlement building to re-establish confidence.

View the Mitchell Commission Report

On 30 April 2003, the US State Department released the text of the Performance-based Roadmap peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was issued under the auspices of the Quartet – comprised of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia. The Roadmap specified three phases, with timelines, target dates and benchmarks, aimed at bringing Israelis and Palestinians towards the ultimate goal of a comprehensive and permanent settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The first phase included a halt to violence on both sides, Palestinian political reform, and a halt to Israeli settlement construction. The second phase referred to the option of a Palestinian state within interim borders. The third phase was for a final status agreement to end the conflict. The Roadmap also called for progress towards regional peace, with normal relations between Israel and Arab states. Though both sides accepted the Roadmap in principle, it was not successfully implemented.

View the Performance-based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution

On 15 November 2005, Israel and the Palestinian Authority reached the Agreement on Movement and Access, which is intended to govern the flow of people and goods from and into Gaza. The agreement divides responsibility between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in controlling the crossing between Gaza and Egypt, with the EU as a third party monitor.

View the Agreement on Movement and Access

In late 2003 Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon announced his intention to withdraw all Israeli settlements and military forces from the Gaza Strip and evacuate four settlements in the northern West Bank. The disengagement from the Gaza Strip was completed on 22 August 2005, and from the northern West Bank on 23 August. On 12 September 2005, IDF forces completed their exit from Gaza. The Head of the IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Dan Harel, signed a declaration stating the end of military rule in Gaza after 38 years.

View the Disengagement Plan

On 8 February 2005, prime minister Ariel Sharon, PA president Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah of Jordan convened in Sharm el-Sheikh for a summit intended to produce an official declaration of ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians, and an end to the violence since September 2000.

Click here to view statements by prime minister Sharon and president Abbas

The Annapolis Conference was held on 27 November 2007 at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The conference ended with the issuing of a joint statement in which Israel and the Palestinians agreed to try and conclude a peace agreement by the end of 2008. During the course of 2008, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was forced to announce his resignation due to corruption allegations. Before his term ended, at the end of August 2008, he made a substantial, outline package proposal for a final status agreement to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas never formally responded to the proposal.

Read the Olmert proposal

Read about the Annapolis Conference

US President Barack Obama delivered a major speech on the region in which he presented an outline proposal on various aspects of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. Obama called for peace based on the principle of, ‘Israel as a Jewish state and the homeland for the Jewish people, and the state of Palestine as the homeland for the Palestinian people, each state enjoying self-determination, mutual recognition, and peace.’ He added that, ‘the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps.’

View President Obama’s 19 May Parameters

In July 2013 direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians resumed under the mediation of the United States with negotiations scheduled to last up to nine months with the aim of reaching a final status agreement. Talks ultimately broke down in April 2014 with mutual recriminations over the Palestinian accession to 15 international treaties, an agreed reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas and the Israeli refusal to release the fourth and final tranche of Palestinian prisoners in jail from before the Oslo Accords.