The first Oslo agreement was a temporary plan, not a final peace treaty. Its main change was mutual recognition. Israel recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization, or PLO. The PLO recognized Israel. They also agreed on a path to limited Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza.
The parties signed the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements in Washington on September 13, 1993. Just before that event, Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat traded letters. The State Department’s Office of the Historian explains the terms. Israel accepted the PLO as the voice of the Palestinian people. The PLO accepted Israel’s right to live in peace and gave up terrorism.
What the agreement actually promised
Article I set a five-year changeover. A temporary Palestinian body would take on set powers in the West Bank and Gaza. The agreement did not create a Palestinian state. Article V left the hardest issues for later. They included Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, security, borders, and ties with neighbors.
The agreement had clear legal limits. It also depended on later talks. It was a path toward a final deal, not the deal itself.
What mutual recognition changed
The text records Israel’s talks with and recognition of the PLO. It also records the PLO’s pledge to recognize Israel and reject violence. Those matching pledges made the temporary process possible.
The opening was real. It did not mean the conflict was near an end. The hardest issues remained outside the deal.
What it did not achieve
The State Department says the process later stalled. A new round of Israeli-Palestinian violence followed. The accord achieved mutual recognition and a temporary plan. It did not lead to the final deal it expected.
The text supports a narrow conclusion. Mutual recognition and a planned changeover were real achievements. The main disputes were left for later, and those talks did not produce lasting peace.