Editing Yasser Arafat (section)

===Other peace agreements===
[[File:Yasser-arafat-1999-3.jpg|thumb|right|Arafat with PNA cabinet members [[Yasser Abed Rabbo]] (left) and [[Nabil Shaath]] (right) at a meeting in [[Copenhagen]], 1999]]

In mid-1996, [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] was [[1996 Israeli prime ministerial election|elected]] [[Prime Minister of Israel]]. Palestinian-Israeli relations grew even more hostile as a result of continued conflict.<ref>{{cite news|title=Profile: Binyamin Netanyahu|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2393677.stm |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=20 December 2005 |access-date=17 June 2024}}</ref> Despite the Israel-PLO accord, Netanyahu opposed the idea of Palestinian statehood.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hardliners Gain Around Likud Vote|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2558451.stm |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=9 December 2002|access-date=17 June 2024}}</ref> In 1998, US President [[Bill Clinton]] persuaded the two leaders to meet. The resulting [[Wye River Memorandum]] detailed the steps to be taken by the Israeli government and PNA to complete the peace process.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.knesset.gov.il/process/docs/wye_eng.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010715073548/https://www.knesset.gov.il/process/docs/wye_eng.htm|archive-date=15 July 2001|title=The Wye River Memorandum|access-date=24 August 2007|date=23 October 1998|publisher=The State of Israel (Translated from Hebrew)}}</ref>

[[File:President Bill Clinton with Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel and Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority.jpg|thumb|left|Arafat with [[Ehud Barak]] and Bill Clinton at [[2000 Camp David Summit|Camp David Summit]], 2000]]

Arafat continued negotiations with Netanyahu's successor, [[Ehud Barak]], at the [[Camp David 2000 Summit]] in July 2000. Due partly to his own politics (Barak was from the leftist [[Labor Party (Israel)|Labor Party]], whereas Netanyahu was from the [[Right-wing politics|rightist]] [[Likud]] Party) and partly due to insistence for compromise by President Clinton, Barak offered Arafat a Palestinian state in 73 percent of the West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian percentage of sovereignty would extend to 90 percent over a ten- to twenty-five-year period. Also included in the offer was the return of a small number of refugees and compensation for those not allowed to return. Palestinians would also have "custodianship" over [[Al-Aqsa]], sovereignty on all Islamic and Christian holy sites, and three of Jerusalem's four Old City quarters. Arafat rejected Barak's offer and refused to make an immediate counter-offer.<ref name="Palestinian peace"/> He told President Clinton that, "the Arab leader who would surrender Jerusalem is not born yet."<ref name="Arafat Timeline">{{cite web|url=http://www.passia.org/Arafat/Arafat.pdf|title=Yasser Arafat (1929–2004)|date=11 December 2004|publisher=PASSIA|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229043817/http://www.passia.org/Arafat/Arafat.pdf|archive-date=29 February 2012}}</ref>

After the September 2000 outbreak of the [[Second Intifada]], negotiations continued at the [[Taba summit]] in January 2001; this time, Ehud Barak pulled out of the talks to campaign in the Israeli elections. In October and December 2001, [[List of Palestinian suicide attacks|suicide bombings by Palestinian militant groups]] increased and Israeli counter strikes intensified. Following the election of [[Ariel Sharon]] in February, the peace process took a steep downfall. Palestinian elections scheduled for January 2002 were postponed—the stated reason was an inability to campaign due to the emergency conditions imposed by the Intifada, as well as IDF incursions and restrictions on [[freedom of movement]] in the Palestinian territories. In the same month, Sharon ordered Arafat to be confined to his [[Arafat's Compound|Mukata'a]] headquarters in [[Ramallah]], following an attack in the Israeli city of [[Hadera]];<ref name="Arafat Timeline"/> US President [[George W. Bush]] supported Sharon's action, claiming that Arafat was "an obstacle to the peace."<ref>{{cite news|title=Mid-East press reflects on Arafat legacy|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4002497.stm |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=5 November 2004|access-date=17 June 2024}}</ref>