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"the fashion-show vulgarities of the White House ceremony, the degrading spectacle of Yasser Arafat thanking everyone for the suspension of most of his people's rights, and the fatuous solemnity of Bill Clinton's performance, like a 20th century Roman emperor shepherding two vassal kings through rituals of reconciliation and obeisance, (and) the truly astonishing proportions of the Palestinian capitulation."
It was unilateral surrender, a Palestinian Versailles, affirming a vaguely defined negotiating process. No outcome was specified. Israel obstructed and delayed, refused to make concessions, and continued its colonization agenda unimpeded.
Palestinians got nothing for renouncing armed struggle, recognizing Israel's right to exist, and leaving major unresolved issues for later final status talks. They included an independent Palestinian state, the right of return, the future of settlements, borders, water rights, and status of Jerusalem as sovereign Palestinian territory and future home of its capital. Under Arafat, a new Palestinian Authority (PA) was established as Israel's enforcer.
In September 1995, Oslo II followed, concluded in Taba, Egypt, countersigned in Washington four days later, it called for further Israeli troop redeployments from Gaza, major West Bank population centers and rural areas, except for Israeli settlements and designated military zones.
The West Bank was divided into three parts, each with distinct borders, administration, and security rules - Areas A, B and C plus a fourth for Greater Jerusalem. A complicated system was as follows:
-- Area A under Palestinian control for internal security, public order, and civil affairs;
-- Area B under Palestinian civil control for 450 West Bank towns and villages, Israel retaining overriding authority for settler safety; and
-- Area C, its water resources, and settlements under Israeli control on the West Bank's most valuable land connected by special by-pass roads for Jews only.
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