Barak and Arafat sign a deal at…

Barak and Arafat sign a deal at Sharm el-Sheikh on September 5 providing for the conclusion of a framework agreement on permanent status by February 15, 2000, preceded by the transfer of more Israeli-occupied territory in the West Bank to Palestinian control, and a final peace accord by September 2000.

The Palestinians will not agree to abandon the third and final troop withdrawal promised under Oslo II, but in return for what he sees as Barak's serious commitment to peacemaking, Arafat indicates that he will drop his threat to declare an independent Palestinian state unilaterally in May 2000.

Arafat insists on maximum American intervention and seeks the most territory he can recover before the final negotiations.

These new arrangements are incorporated in the so-called Wye II agreement, reached in September 1999.