News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Wednesday's visit by two Arab foreign ministers is part of a new bandwagon of peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) that began in 1991 when former Prime Minister Yitzchak Shamir, under heavy international pressure, agreed to debate Yasser Arafat in Madrid.

Two years later, Arafat and former Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin shook hands, and "Oslo Accord" negotiations concluded with Israel's handing over to the PA thousands of rifles and coordinating with Arab security forces. They later used the weapons against Israelis and staged a long string of suicide bombings and sniper attacks that killed hundreds of Israelis.

Arafat turned down an offer from former Prime Ehud Barak for almost all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, and the current Oslo War broke out in 2000. American President George W. Bush proposed the American Roadmap plan in 2003, calling for both sides to show good will. Two years ago, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed in Sharm el-Sheikh on more good will measures. Israel turned over to the PA two major Arab cities, a move that was followed by several suicide bombing attacks.
 
Sharon also executed the destruction of Jewish communities in Gaza and northern Samaria and claimed it would end Kassam attacks, which since have increased and reached deeper into Israel while terrorists have used the IDF vacuum to smuggle advanced weapons into Gaza from Egypt.