Wye Agreement

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The Wye Agreement (also Wye Pact) was an interim agreement that was intended to regulate the further withdrawal of troops by the Israeli forces from the West Bank . It implemented the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip of September 28, 1995.

With the mediation of then American President Bill Clinton and the King of Jordan , Husain II , Israelis and Palestinians met in Wye Plantation near Washington, DC to restart the stalled peace process . On October 23, 1998, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the agreement in the White House , with Bill Clinton serving as witness. On November 17, 1998, 75 of the 120 Knesset MPs voted in favor of the agreement and 19 voted against.

Provisions

The Wye Agreement mainly contained the following provisions:

  • The withdrawal of Israelis in increments from an additional 13% of the territories held by Israel since the Six Day War . This should pass within the next three months
  • The transfer of management of another 14% of the areas that were previously under common management
  • The creation of a security corridor between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in which the Palestinians can move freely
  • Israel prematurely releases 700 of around 3,000 Palestinian prisoners from prison.
  • The collection of illegal weapons in the Palestinian Territories
  • Assurances from the Palestinian side to fight terrorism , especially Hamas , and to end the so-called "revolving door policy" (release of terrorists after a few months in prison). They want the American secret service CIA supported
  • Modification of the PLO charter to delete the passage in the statutes that calls for the destruction of Israel
  • Reduction of the Palestinian police force, which has doubled the number of police officers allowed under the Oslo Accords
  • Agreements on the expansion of trade and transport

history

The Wye Agreement should be implemented step by step. However, by December 1998 only about a third of the agreements had been fulfilled. The agreement failed despite Clinton's renewed mediation efforts. Netanyahu's government was split into parts that opposed the deal and parts that criticized what it considered to be a slow withdrawal.

In May 1999 there were new elections and Ehud Barak was elected Prime Minister. This sought a quick implementation of the Wye Agreement and negotiations for a final status. This led to a follow-up agreement in Sharm el-Sheikh ( Egypt ), which was signed by Barak and Arafat on September 5, 1999 (see Wye II ).

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