https://crsreports.congress.gov
Updated June 30, 2020
Israel and the Palestinians: Chronology of a Two-State Solution
The idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict developed gradually in the years after Israel
captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Arab-
Israeli war. This product highlights the evolution of this
idea. In 2002, U.S. policy became explicitly supportive of
creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Since then,
unsuccessful negotiating efforts and other developments
have led many observers to doubt the viability of a two-
state solution. Analysts debate whether the Trump
Administration’s 2020 release of the Administration’s
Vision for Peace will help or hinder the parties in resolving
core issues of dispute (security, borders, settlements,
Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees). The plan sets some
arguably difficult preconditions for a future Palestinian
state, and could permit Israeli annexation of some West
Bank areas—primarily Israeli settlements and the Jordan
Valley.
From U.N. Security Council Resolution
242 to Oslo Process (1967-1995)
Shortly after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the U.N. Security
Council adopted Resolution 242, which supported future
negotiations involving the Israeli return of captured
territories in exchange for peace with Arab states (the
“land-for-peace” principle). The U.S.-brokered 1978 Camp
David Accords between Israel and Egypt had provisions
addressing Palestinian aspirations for self-rule. The
Accords anticipated transitional Palestinian autonomy in the
West Bank and Gaza accompanied by Israeli-Palestinian
peace negotiations.
Initially, the prevailing U.S. and Israeli view was that
autonomy would not necessarily lead to statehood. Yet,
U.S. officials began more seriously contemplating that
peace talks could lead to a Palestinian state after Yasser
Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signaled
its willingness to negotiate with Israel in the late 1980s and
early 1990s. That timeframe coincided with the first
Palestinian intifada (or uprising), which raised widespread
concern in Israel that political control over the West Bank
and Gaza was unsustainable. Political space opened for a
diplomatic process anticipating territorially contiguous
Israeli and Palestinian states that would share close
commercial ties, opening the way to the Oslo agreements of
1993-1995 (see timeline below) and the accompanying
peace process.
Arab-Israeli War: Israel captures West Bank (including
East Jerusalem) from Jordan, Golan Heights from
Syria, and Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt
U.N. Security Council Resolution 242
Israel-Egypt peace treaty
Israel unilaterally applies civilian law to the Golan
Heights, effectively annexing it; U.N. Security Council
Resolution 297 holds Israeli action to be invalid
Israel finalizes return of Sinai Peninsula to Egypt
First Palestinian intifada begins
PLO under Yasser Arafat agrees to consider a
solution focused on Palestinian claims to the West
Bank and Gaza, not all of historic Palestine; Jordan
gives up its claims to the West Bank to the PLO
Following the Gulf War, the United States helps start
Arab-Israeli (including Israeli-Palestinian) peace talks at
the Madrid Conference
Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles (Oslo Accord)
signed in Washington, DC
Palestinian Authority (PA) created via Gaza-Jericho
Agreement signed by Israel and the PLO in Egypt
Israel-Jordan peace treaty
Israel-PLO Interim Agreement on the West Bank and
Gaza Strip (Oslo II) signed in Egypt to formalize areas
of limited PA rule; final-status negotiating period
begins
Assassination of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin
Negotiations Amid Changing Political
Realities (1995-2014)
After the initial Oslo process ended in 2000 without a peace
agreement, Israeli public opinion grew wary of diplomatic
compromise, especially with a second intifada and attacks
inside Israel from the West Bank and Gaza. Israel’s
emphasis on security measures grew—focused both on
protection (building walls and fences) and prevention
(expanding Israeli military and intelligence operations in
the West Bank and around Gaza)—and contributed to
Palestinian economic difficulties. Additionally, the numbers
of Israeli settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem had
steadily increased over time, making the prospect of cleanly
separating Israeli and Palestinian populations more
complicated and politically charged.
The principle of a two-state solution mediated by the
United States and supported by neighboring Arab states was
the basis for subsequent rounds of Israeli-Palestinian
negotiations in 2007-2008 and 2013-2014. This was the
case despite the post-2000 changes mentioned above, the
emergence of other global and regional powers, and
heightened political unrest in surrounding Arab states. Both
rounds of negotiations ended without an agreement, leading
Israel and the Palestinians to pursue leverage over each
