Arafat, in an attempt to end the…

Arafat, in an attempt to end the attacks by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, sends a new truce proposal to leaders of the militant groups following the signing of the accord with the Israeli government to expand Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank.

Fulfilling the commitment it has made with the PLO, Israel releases some nine hundred incarcerated Palestinians and begins a military withdrawal from Palestinian towns.

This second phase of the agreement to expand Palestinian self-rule gradually beyond the enclave of Jericho to seven other cities and about four hundred and fifty towns in the West Bank will, it is hoped, lead to a peaceful withdrawal of all Israeli troops from the area by March 1996.

As West Bank villages, towns, and cities are handed over to the PA, right-wing religious and extremist nationalist Israelis step up their rhetoric against Rabin and the peace process.