Yitzhak Rabin’s hand moved as if pulled by an external force. After signing the Declaration of Principles, U.S. President Bill Clinton gestured for a handshake with Yasser Arafat. Rabin, a former military chief, hesitated. He then extended his hand, completing a gesture that for decades had been politically impossible. The moment on September 13, 1993, formalized mutual recognition between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization and granted limited Palestinian autonomy in Gaza and Jericho.
The Oslo Accords were not a final peace treaty but a framework for a five-year interim period of negotiation. They created the Palestinian Authority and mandated Israel’s military withdrawal from parts of the occupied territories. The agreement was predicated on the idea that incremental steps and cooperation on security and economics would build trust for a final settlement on borders, refugees, and Jerusalem.
The handshake is often misremembered as a breakthrough of warm reconciliation. In reality, it was an act of grim pragmatism by two leaders pushed to the table by exhaustion. Rabin spoke of fighting Palestinian terrorism "as if there is no peace process" and pursuing peace "as if there is no terror." The ceremony’s hopeful atmosphere masked profound opposition within both societies, from Israeli settlers to Hamas militants.
Oslo’s legacy is one of structural collapse. The interim period expired without a final agreement. Subsequent negotiations failed, violence intensified with the Second Intifada, and the political geography it envisioned fragmented. The handshake now marks not the beginning of peace, but the high-water mark of a specific form of diplomatic optimism that subsequently receded.