page_title: Foreign policy of the Bill Clinton administration
section_title: Israeli–Palestinian conflict
hierarchical_section_title: Foreign policy of the Bill Clinton administration / The Middle East / Israeli–Palestinian conflict
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Izraelský premiér Jicchak Rabin, americký prezident Bill Clinton a předseda Organizace pro osvobození Palestiny (OOP) Jásir Arafat. English: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. president Bill Clinton, and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat. Svenska: Israels premiärminister Yitzhak Rabin, USA:s president Bill Clinton och PLO:s ordförande Yassir Arafat. العربية: رئيس الوزراء الإسرائيلي إسحاق رابين، والرئيس الأمريكي بيل كلينتون، ورئيس منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية ياسر عرفات خلال التوقيع على اتفاق أوسلو.
context_page_description: The foreign policy of the Bill Clinton administration was the foreign policy of the United States during the two term Presidency of Bill Clinton, 1993 to 2001. Clinton's main foreign policy advisors were Secretaries of State Warren M. Christopher followed by Madeleine Albright in his second term. The Cold War had ended and the Soviet Union had disintegrated under his predecessor President George H. W. Bush, whom Clinton criticized for being too preoccupied with foreign affairs. The United States was the only remaining superpower, with a military strength far overshadowing the rest of the world. Absent the Cold War, Clinton's main priority was always domestic affairs, especially the domestic economy. Foreign-policy took a backseat, except to promote American trade, and during unexpected emergencies. His emergencies had to do with humanitarian crises which raised the issue of American or NATO or United Nations interventions to protect civilians, or armed humanitarian intervention, as the result of civil war, state collapse, or oppressive governments.
  President George H. W.
context_section_description: Clinton was likewise deeply involved in the Middle East peace process to negotiate peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as with the governments of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Secret negotiations mediated by Clinton between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat led to a historic declaration of peace in September 1993, called the Oslo Accords. Clinton personally arranged for the peace accord to be signed at the White House on September 13, 1993. The agreement allowed a limited Palestinian self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Following up after Oslo, Secretary of State Christopher encouraged Jordan's King Hussein to make a peace treaty with Israel. Christopher offered Hussein $200 million in military equipment and $700 million in debt forgiveness to sweeten the deal. On October 27, 1994, Rabin and Jordanian Prime Minister Abdelsalam al-Majali signed the Israel–Jordan peace treaty.  It was the second piece treaty for Israel after Egypt. Christopher sought to obtain a Third treaty between Rabin and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, but to no avail.
  The 1993 and 1995 peace agreements between Israel and Palestine, however, did not end the conflict in the Middle East. As the peace process came to a stall, Clinton invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to peace talks on the Wye River in October 1998. The two leaders signed yet another agreement, known as the Wye River Memorandum, which called for Israel to transfer more territory in the West Bank to the Palestinians. In return, the Palestinians agreed to take steps to curb terrorism. They also agreed to a timetable to negotiate a final resolution of the Palestinian fight for an independent state.
  After an abrupt outbreak of violence sparked by the agreement, however, Netanyahu refused to cede any more West Bank territory and placed new demands upon Palestine. His ceding of territory had shaken his own coalition, though, and together with other factors, this contributed to the downfall of the Netanyahu government in Israel. As a result, in May 1999 Israelis elected Ehud Barak, the leader of a political coalition that favored resuming the peace process, to replace Netanyahu as prime minister. Clinton continued to work passionately on negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Throughout his last year in office, Clinton came close to arranging a final peace settlement but failed, according to Clinton, as a result of Arafat's reluctance. Clinton related a phone conversation he had with Arafat three days before he left office. "You are a great man," Arafat said. Clinton replied, "The hell I am. I'm a colossal failure, and you made me one."
caption: Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat shake hands at the signing of the Oslo Accords on September 13, 1993.
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