October 1991: Following the end of the Gulf War, Secretary of State James Baker used shuttle diplomacy to bring about the Madrid conference. King Hussein formally surrendered Jordan’s claim to the West Bank in 1988 but, in order to bring the Palestinians to the table, the Jordanian delegation that participated in the conference included non-P.L.O Palestinian representatives. The summit marked the first time in which Israelis and Palestinians discussed a framework for achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace. This process included bilateral negotiations between Israel and its neighboring states, as well as non-P.L.O. Palestinians and multilateral discussions addressing key regional issues such as water, environment, arms control, refugees and economic development.
September 1993: In 1993, backchannel talks began between Israel and the P.L.O. in Oslo, Norway. Israel sent official representatives to the talks starting in May 1993. That September, the two sides signed the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, or Oslo Accords, in Washington, D.C. With this signing, the arrangement by which the Palestinians were represented by a joint Palestinian-Jordanian delegation ceased to exist.
One day after the Israel-P.L.O. signing ceremony, Jordan and Israel signed a separate agreement, the Israel-Jordan Common Agenda, detailing a framework for reaching a peace agreement. The document addressed topics including security, water, refugees, borders and areas for future cooperation.
October 1993: King Hussein sent Crown Prince El Hassan Bin Talal to Washington to meet with President Bill Clinton and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. The parties agreed to create a bilateral economic committee and a U.S.-Jordan-Israel Trilateral Economic Committee.
June 1994: Israelis and Palestinians signed the Cairo, or Gaza-Jericho, agreement operationalizing the Oslo Accords in May 1994. Shortly thereafter, Israelis and Jordanians revealed an outline of an agreement at a meeting of the Trilateral Economic Committee to, among other things, raise the official level of the talks, move discussions to the region and open a dialogue on borders and economic projects.
July 1994: In their first public meeting, King Hussein and Israeli Prime Minister Rabin signed The Washington Declaration, formally ending the 46-year state of war between the countries. The accord included agreements on economic cooperation, telephone links, water, border crossings, tourism, air space and Jordan’s relationship to holy shrines in Jerusalem, among others.
August 1994: In the first such visit by an Israeli leader, Prime Minister Rabin visited Jordan on August 9. Earlier in the month, King Hussein participated in the first flight in Israeli airspace by a Jordanian leader, and the countries opened the first road connection between them. President Clinton also sent a letter to King Abdullah pledging to reduce Jordan’s approximately $700 million debt to the United States.
October 1994: The culmination of talks and agreements led to a peace treaty that was signed at Wadi Araba crossing on October 26 and the establishment of full diplomatic relations on November 28.
