Oct. 15-23, 1998
Wye River Plantation, Maryland
Players: U.S. President Bill Clinton; Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Nethanyahu; PLO Chairman and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat
Agenda: President Clinton called the Wye River Summit to keep the Oslo process alive. On the Israeli side, Yitzhak Rabin had been assassinated, and soon after, the anti-Oslo Benjamin Netanyahu had been elected to replace him as prime minister. On the Palestinian side, Hamas had challenged the Accords by launching a wave of suicide bombings inside Israel in 1996. Amid the growing mistrust, the Oslo process appeared to have stalled. The Wye talks aimed to craft agreements on issues ranging from anti-terror measures to be taken by the PA and land transfers by Israel to ensure that the process remained on track.
Outcome: In the Wye River Memorandum, Israel agreed to a staged withdrawal from a further 13% of occupied territory, in exchange for a commitment by the Palestinian National Authority to suppress terror and eliminate weapons stockpiles and act against anti-Israel incitement. At the same time, the U.S. provided Letters of Assurance, offering guarantees to answer Israel's demands concerning provisions in the PLO Charter calling for the destruction of Israel, a crackdown on militants, and an end to the "revolving door" for prisoners arrested by the PA. Despite the agreement, neither the PA's arms-reduction undertakings, nor the final transfers of land by Israel to the PA, were undertaken.
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