1. Secretly Signing the Oslo Accord

Sometimes real-life events are even more amazing than fiction. At least this was the feeling of the three small groups gathered in the Norwegian government guest-house in Oslo on the night of 19–20 August 1993. The main participants were four Israeli and three Palestinian peace negotiators, hosted by a Norwegian negotiating team of four. The evening of 19 August opened with an official dinner hosted by our late foreign minister Johan Jørgen Holst in honour of his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres, who was conveniently on an official visit to Norway on that very day. The conversation revolved around general Norwegian–Israeli ties, but those of us who knew what was to come after the dinner guests had taken their leave could think of nothing else.

Just after midnight, the Norwegian security service escorted the Palestinian and Israeli negotiating teams through the back entrance. They brought with them the final, agreed version of the Declaration of Principles, signalling peace at last between Israel and the PLO. The last points of contention had been resolved only hours before at what was the fourteenth secret round of negotiations in Norway. At one o’ clock in the morning, the Israeli foreign minister, Shimon Peres, joined our small group as an observer when the heads of the two negotiating teams, Abu Ala of the PLO and Uri Savir of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, initialled the historic Declaration of Principles. A greeting from Chairman Arafat was read aloud. No more than 20 people were present, many of whom had regarded one another as enemies only a few months before.

The following day, the two parties again sat down quietly at the negotiating table in Oslo, this time to start work on an agreement that was equally revolutionary. This was the Declaration of Mutual Recognition between Israel and the PLO, which was to transform the two parties from enemies into neighbours. Further rounds of secret negotiations in Oslo and Paris followed as new, decisive elements in the peace process fell into place, ultimately leading to Foreign Minister Holst's remarkable shuttle diplomacy with the actual letters of recognition between Prime Minister Rabin and Chairman Arafat.

The five-year framework agreement on Palestinian self-government in Gaza and the West Bank was analysed and discussed throughout the world. Commentators asked whether the agreement could survive at all.