Its hard to find an opening to my story. A tale of a small footnote in the history of our region. I can only write my own private memories of these 3 years of hope and anguish. Is this a tale of triumph. Or defeat. The ending to our story has not yet been written. If they werent believe im that stupid. Perhaps i should start with one decisive wednesday in july of 1902 professor he has failed call me up with a dangerous proposition to join him for a secret meeting with our sworn enemies the Palestinian Liberation Organization known to all as the p. L. O. Joined us fighting shoulder to shoulder with the palestinian revolution against the zionist and of palestine all of palestine is an era arab arab an arab. The p. L. O. Was a terrorist Organization Led by Yasser Arafat a man many israelis considered hitlers successor. Arafats believed in Armed Struggle fighting for palestinian freedom he took pride in the slaughter of the athletes at the munich olympics opening fire on schoolchildren in monologues and planting deadly bombs all over israel. The problem was our thought was the only one palestinians looked up to he had the final say in only goshi ations but israel refused to talk to him. I mean theyre good im against a palestinian state run by the p. L. O. Shelbys out of the ground as you know and no negotiations with the reality of vision but maybe the most. 9 months before rabin had been elected to lead israel on a platform of peace and security. But as the months went by he delivered neither. With terror attacks on the rise and the Peace Process deadlocked the right wing opposition threatened to overrun him before he even completed his 1st year. In a desperate attempt to renew the peace talks deputy minister yossi beilin decided to act outside the law and set up a secret back channel to negotiate with the p. L. O. He approached his felt in me because we were the perfect fall guys 2 professors who had dedicated their careers to the israeli arab conflict but had no ties to the israeli government. We were in a very strange situation legally the law forbids us to come into contact with the palestinians i dont loose foliage if you dont go to conduct a ballistic is what are you going for them and go was very painful i mean moms. Busses all over the world there were barracks there that quite an organization of general. The oslo process which i like to call the accidental channel was neither preplanned nor preprogrammed my own partial involvement began in december 92 when i was sent by the p. L. O. To norway to meet secretly with 2 israeli professors. On my long flight from tunisia to oslo i thought back on the day i was forced to flee my home and i would use when the p. L. O. Was declared illegal. I left my family and home behind under the oppressive occupation of the israeli army and swore id return the day we were liberated. And the past 25 years of being admitted known to us as the bonebreaker the architect of the iron fist policy of repression. The idea of meeting our occupiers face to face did not appeal to me at all but the freedom of palestine demanded all of us take high risks. But 3 soldiers killed yesterday in gaza have been laid to rest an explosive device was found in a plastic bag under a bench of amal the border to gaza was closed and will remain so for a few more days. As we approach the secluded villa hidden deep within a norwegian forest a chill ran through my spine negotiating with terrorists was one thing in theory but now i was just hoping that we had made a terrible mistake. Our 1st handshake was rather tense. I scanned the people in front of me and matched their faces to the memos we had prepared back home. Served as the palestinian minister of finance. Beside him said court arafats confidant. The youngest of the group was asked for a militant communist who was the most aggressive of the 3 the palestinians wanted to know who we were and who we represented but all we could say was that we were 2 professors who were here in defiance of the law. The morning started bad morning started. Said only been listed in understand how difficult it was to live in a not superficial in no way usually in the stand of difficult words to live for them for us to live in these are your capricious. And it would have wanted to Say Something more irritating me him ok to me up like this is a good sentencing youre not allowed to do if you literally think that there is any comparison between israelis and palestinians in the nazis if you ever say this again im going to stand up and move out it never came back it never came back again and i think it was a very it was it was a very unpleasant stop but it was an important stuff. We knew that all past negotiations had been fruitless and in order to temper of being wed have to come up with a completely new offer to be perfectly honest i said were standing on the verge of a new war which will harm both sides. We are serious in reaching an understanding with you and are open for a historic compromise. Until now we have demanded your immediate withdrawal from the occupied territories but we realize it wont happen overnight. Arafat wants to bring up the possibility of withdrawal from the gaza strip as a 1st step towards peace. Is found and i exchanged glances although we were trying to conceal them. We were stunned. The p. L. O. Was considered an Extremist Group and here was arafats messenger with a Game Changing solution. Now were left with the most difficult task of all presenting the draft to the decision makers. So i dont care if they send you know his garden on pond doors lawn to meet some p. L. O. People and after somebody else they have this paper and i really want you to look at it and decide what we are going its ok. Then next day im asking to meet shimon did you read the papers and know. You know they did you read the paper. And then you read it and then he understood that he had something explosive in his hand. And so you could serve the but i was thrilled when my i said think about it there fred the important fact was the discovery of hogwash. They planned it out you had many plans like which im all for i take the bait of so full of friends i dont think that though i need region in the world as so many plans its already too late as i was in the middle of it. As the wave of terror engulfed the streets the protests outside the homes of rabin and peres had become routine the 2 leaders were stuck between a rock and a hard place they were losing their war against terror and the Peace Process showed no sign of revival. Perhaps the oslo channel was their only way out. With a heavy heart they authorized us to continue the talks as long as we exercised every precaution to keep the loose from leaking if it became known we were deliberating with the p. L. O. It would be their last day in office. Now that the leaders were involved we were no longer in the drivers seat that has announced that they also channel would now be led by yourself here the director general of the Foreign Ministry and joelle singer our rigid military lawyer. Now we are bringing a military lawyer with. Former coach that was feeling it was the law in the west bank in gaza and i come there to meet was the p. L. O. Terror always there are so from my perspective for you it was like a feel for. As i go into the room and see a war like the 1st time he comes to me and kisses me on both cheeks coast is kissing me. On my caught ive been kissed by a tourist and probably thought i just kissed a militar former military i mean. Kiss one another in the United States or in israel. That was the 1st time a man kissed me. Before the 1st round of talks i decided to get acquainted with my counterpart. Where are you from here jerusalem i replied. Im also from jerusalem he said where is your father from he was born in germany my father is from jerusalem and still lives there he said. We could go all the way back to king david i replied and didnt try to conceal my anger im sure we could argue about the past for years and never reach an agreement lets try and see if we could agree on the future. All right he said and we reached our 1st Mutual Understanding we wouldnt argue about the past ever again. Singur started the meeting by announcing that we had a real concrete proposal for the signed agreement. All traces of our optimistic document were raced and replaced by rabins agenda that would security and defense before cooperation and coexistence rabin had refused to deliberate on the core issues of the conflict demanding to discuss them at a later stage of his offer did not include any mention of up rooting settlements dividing jerusalem the return of the Palestinian Refugees or definitive borders. As the reading commenced the palestinians astonishment grew. After a few minutes abu alaa turn to ask for another quietly in arabic its a massacre. The last round of talks left me more confused than ever despite sinkers humiliating offer it was clear we were now in the big leagues it was no longer an initiative of 2 peace loving professors but rather of her being and parents themselves. All the while the news painted an entirely different picture. Being tightened his fist every day demonstrators were being killed throughout palestine some of them innocent kids who should we believe the reality on t. V. Or yuris promises. The whole the show host dean israelis was not in the past. We made the following decision 1st to impose a closure on the west bank and additional disclosure on gaza also starting tomorrow there will be no palestinian. Territories on israeli law until 5 and i was just out load of the shot. For the 11th round in oslo we arrived with the proposition of our own perhaps singur and the israeli delegation thought we would surrender to their terms but that would not be the case our revised proposition stated the end goal would be Un Resolution 242. 00 demanding israels withdrawal from the occupied territories. The palestinian proposition enraged me and i responded with hard right opposition we would not acknowledge resolution 242 because it meant retreating to the 1967 borders and we refused to discuss borders at that stage we started believing the p. L. O. Were our partners in this but when we put our cards down the p. L. O. Always backed away from any clear decision maybe people are right to say the palestinians never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. There was a lot of tension people were walking out of the room slamming the doors but it was all. You know we know that. There were desperate to reach an agreement. I just said let them. Let kids we need to let all play out and then well just say no. The israelis dismissed our proposition refusing to discuss the definitive borders at this stage i said to europe you refuse to recognize our national right and insist on retaining all the settlements we prefer to wait another 10 years for a reasonable offer yuri fired back in that case you can keep waiting until the messiah comes. I said to erie weve made every possible effort to reach a Peace Agreement with you but unfortunately i now find myself unable to go on i have decided to resign from the talks. The room fell silent a dark expression spread across abu alaa face and he seemed powerless as he rose to his feet and left the room best time it was really over. Yuri asked me how i was feeling i didnt hide my emotions. Both sides were stubborn and did not grasp the importance of the moment. I just could not continue this negotiation i told him if you cant cure the onus we must find its cause lets put aside the maps and the agreements and begin by recognizing each other as partners the p. L. O. Will denounce all terror attacks against israel and we will stop viewing you as terrorists and allow our of fat to return to his homeland. I promised yuri i would present his mutual recognition proposal to arafat in tunis perhaps this round of talks wasnt a complete failure after all i descended to a blowing up of this and you left this area many years ago do you think the your dream about your coming back to your home thats my dream all the period so far. To go yet and whats to come if it as a citizen and its too much for me. We were negotiating in all slope in complete secrecy no one knew about working outside of this really small coop and then when we were. Suddenly it leaked the story leaked oh. I think harder for the op may not have any sacred talks between the p. L. O. And israel awoke snowbound aussie law from its sunday now they grabbed a lot of headlines with little actual information at press that lining up their location and content were no. The Israeli Embassy is absolutely decimated the security guards for that they knew nothing of the talks not to mention where they were held but it was our last stop in our search for the secret talks here at the kings palace is ours we can tell they are here either. Here with me in tel aviv as Deputy Foreign minister yossi beilin is the recognition of the p. L. O. By israel official. I know nothing of any such recognition there is no such recognition. The worst thing that could happen was the premature exposure of the channel reporters kept calling me and i consistently denied everything without giving any unnecessary explanations but i knew we couldnt keep up the charade much longer it was only a matter of time until the who hardly used the talks to make rebellion and paris to my traitors who were conspiring with the murderous terrified. I was this was go to the people tell the truth tell them this is our intention to hand the heart of israel over to our fat and establish a palestinian state go to the people before you implement your plan were trying to beat the clock by reaching an agreement before a prematurely could would stop the oil slick agreement. The mutual recognition option excited the leadership in tunis and i was sent back to oslo with arafat support. It seemed as if the israelis returned with a deep desire to move forward as well. But eventually. Sitting there in that guesthouse which the press made out to be a sort of dream cast of legal but thats how the press is able to shoot a very difficult month several terrorist attacks and youre sitting there talking in a businesslike manner and gentlemanly making jokes but youre out of touch so you have been. As you know new turk and i hope we arent out of touch we dont want to ignore the present or forget the past were trying to set them aside for the moment and figure out together not how to make the past better but how to make the future better keep it over as if so we created a bubble we arent out of touch not from what happened to the jews or the arabs not from whats happening now what were applying maximum force to try to get this process moving because. We managed to progress simply. Of differences to 5 open issues and we went back and force and force and early in the morning fall by the morning we reached. Fully agree ment on those 5 patients. At 5 am the norwegians printer delivered the final draft of the declaration of principles for peace between israel and the p. L. O. It stated that as a 1st step israel would withdraw from gaza in jericho and grant the Palestinians Authority for self governance. In the 2nd stage which would take place within a year the Palestinian Authority would expand to most of the west bank. And within 5 years a Permanent Peace treaty would be signed addressing the core issues of settlements Palestinian Refugees definitive borders and jerusalem. Union. And the law it was strange there were 15 of us home but after hundreds of hours of negotiations crammed inside a small room asleep it was signing our initials and the world knew nothing about the disconnect between the intimacy of a handful of people in that small room and agreement which is such a breakthrough made in such secrecy so they looked as though there wasnt a sense of euphoria or joyful emotions in high but a sort of heaviness the strangeness was a little. I feel like this week. The 1st time aside the plug after we finished pretty good and. Become jaded to each other. In that period we said now we have to stop that. But for Development Programs that action for. That age has a start to the day we want it and it must be won by both of us thank you very much. And then. We came in with a will yes we know d you. And we follow a man of truce of cause and hope that you are the neighborhoods it was to you live. By the city and friends but they may not be and are. In the wrong that in that we also or with great love about to inform them that weve got a list of them. Yeah. Good evening israel and the p. L. O. Are not far from a historic embrace and i remember there was a t. V. Set with people who stations norwegian swede feed me and everyone was talking in. Words you know Foreign Languages all slow were going to be alone. No no. No i. Suddenly realized wow. We. Need its. 29 years after declaring israel any illegal state the palestine Liberation Organization has decided to recognize israels right to exist peacefully and after decades of calling the p. L. O. A terrorist organization israel finally recognizes the p. L. O. As the legitimate representative of the Palestinian People given the history of the palestinians and the israelis which isnt so much of the rest of the world. You know were staggering. The last minute negotiations went on for a day. When the haggard norwegian mediator arrived in jonahs he said he had the historic documents of recognition in his back. In his doing he said modestly but belong to israeli Prime Minister rabin and p. L. O. Chairman arafat in the one page letter from arafat to rabin the p. L. O. Recognizes the right of the state of israel to exist in peace and security in his return letter to arafat rabin says that in view of those commitments the government of israel has decided to recognize the p. L. O. As the representative of the Palestinian People. I want. But this is there. I never expect to see the government come from hard. In the middle east today israeli Prime MinisterYitzhak Rabin will fly to washington for the signing ceremony of the also the agreement between israel and the palestinians