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Chronology of major Mideast peace talks
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-12-29 11:37

The following is a chronology of previous efforts to bring peace between Israel and Palestine.

October 1991 - The first meeting to resolve the conflict between Arab countries and Israel since the declaration of the Jewish state in 1948 took place in Madrid, Spain. Parties at the conference agreed to the principle of "land for peace," setting the framework for bilateral and multilateral Middle East peace talks.

January 1992 - The first multilateral Middle East peace talks was held in Moscow, Russia. China sent a delegation to the conference. The Moscow conference set up five groups to negotiate when, where and how to hold multilateral talks on such regional issues as weapons control, use of water resources, settlement of refugees, economic cooperation and environmental protection. Syriaand Lebanon as well as Palestinian delegation did not attend the meeting.

Later, group talks were held several times but were stalled in 1996 as the Palestine-Israel and Syria-Israel talks were halted.

September 1993 - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin traded historic handshake at the U.S. White House, sealing Oslo Accords which outlined for limited Palestinian self-rule in the Israel-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

May 1994 - Arafat and Rabin signed in Cairo, Egypt, an accord on the implementation of Palestinian autonomy.

May 1996 - Negotiations on Palestinian final status started but was later stalled when Benjamin Netanyahu, who advocated "security for peace" instead of the "land for peace" principle, was elected Israeli prime minister.

February 2000 - Initiated by Russia and the United States, multilateral Middle East talks at the ministerial level resumed in Moscow, Russia. Senior representatives from Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Canada, Norway, China, Japan, Switzerland and the European Union attended the conference. Syria boycotted the meeting.

July 2000 - Camp David peace summit, brokered by U.S. President Bill Clinton, broke down after two weeks of talks between Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

October 2000 - A multilateral Middle East summit was held in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheik in an effort to end the conflict between Israel and Palestine after Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited Jerusalem's Temple Mount, revered by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif.

January 2001 - Barak launched last-ditch talks with Palestinians in the Egyptian resort of Taba ahead of Israeli elections. The talks ended without a deal and Barak lost election to Sharon.

April 2003 - The United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia unveiled their Middle East "roadmap" peace plan for a statehood solution. But spiraling violence between the Palestinians and Israelis disrupted its implementation.

February 2005 - Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared ceasefire at a summit in Sharm el-Sheik.