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==The Oslo Agreements==

==The Oslo Agreements==

[[File:Rabin, Clinton and Yasser Arafat.jpg|thumb|[[President Clinton]] with [[Yitzhak Rabin]] and Yassir Arafat on the South Lawn, September 13, 1993.]]

[[File:Rabin, Clinton and Yasser Arafat.jpg|thumb|[[President Clinton]] with [[Yitzhak Rabin]] and Yassir Arafat on the South Lawn, September 13, 1993.]]

The PLO lost much of its financial support after the fall of the Soviet Union and its allied governments in eastern Europe. Further compounding the problem was Arafat’s support of Saddam Hussein during the [[Gulf War]]; the remaining Arab governments withdrew their financial support from the PLO, diminishing its ability to yield dominance among the "Palestinians".<ref>[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/arafat.html Yasser Arafat – Jewish Virtual Library]</ref> As a result, Arafat was facing marginalization.

The PLO lost much of its financial support after the fall of the Soviet Union and its allied governments in eastern Europe. Further compounding the problem was Arafat’s support of Saddam Hussein during the [[Gulf War]]; the remaining Arab governments withdrew their financial support from the PLO, diminishing its ability to yield dominance among the "Palestinians".<ref>[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/arafat.html Yasser Arafat – Jewish Virtual Library]</ref> Arafat was facing marginalization.

As a result, Arafat was willing to answer Israel’s peace offers and signed the Oslo accords in 1993 in order to rebuild his power by renewing relations with Israel and the United States. In the Oslo accords Arafat promised to refrain from terrorism; in return, a PLO-controlled Palestinian Authority was established as a governing body responsible for administering self-rule in the "Palestinian" territories and preventing terrorism through its police force.<ref>[http://www.cfr.org/israel/oslo-accords-declaration-principles-interim-self-government-arrangements/p9674 Oslo I Accords on Council on Foreign Affairs]</ref><ref>[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/dop.html Declaration of Principles On Interim Self-Government Arrangements]</ref> In 1994, in what would later turn out to be the most shameful moment in the Nobel Prize committee’s history, the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] was awarded to Arafat, [[Shimon Peres]] and [[Yitzhak Rabin]], "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East," following negotiations leading to the [[Oslo Accords]] of 1993.<ref>[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1994/ The Nobel Peace Prize 1994]</ref>

As a result, Arafat was willing to answer Israel’s peace offers and signed the Oslo accords in 1993 in order to rebuild his power by renewing relations with Israel and the United States. In the Oslo accords Arafat promised to refrain from terrorism; in return, a PLO-controlled Palestinian Authority was established as a governing body responsible for administering self-rule in the "Palestinian" territories and preventing terrorism through its police force.<ref>[http://www.cfr.org/israel/oslo-accords-declaration-principles-interim-self-government-arrangements/p9674 Oslo I Accords on Council on Foreign Affairs]</ref><ref>[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/dop.html Declaration of Principles On Interim Self-Government Arrangements]</ref> In 1994, in what would later turn out to be the most shameful moment in the Nobel Prize committee’s history, the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] was awarded to Arafat, [[Shimon Peres]] and [[Yitzhak Rabin]], "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East," following negotiations leading to the [[Oslo Accords]] of 1993.<ref>[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1994/ The Nobel Peace Prize 1994]</ref>