Room for Peace
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3-minute taste

Starting from zero

Three minutes, five facts, and you will know what everyone is talking about. Then, if you like, the full path.

For anyone new to the subject who wants to understand what everyone is talking about.

First, a minute of archive

Signing of the Israel–PLO Declaration of Principles

· clintonlibrary42

Signing ceremony of the Israel–PLO Declaration of Principles, the White House, 13 September 1993 – Clinton Presidential Library channel

  1. Stop 1 of 7 on the full path

    There is peace, and it holds

    Israel has peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, and open relations with the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco.123

    Go to this stop: Start here: peace in five minutes

  2. Stop 3 of 7 on the full path

    1979: Sinai for peace

    Sadat and Begin signed a peace treaty in Washington. Israel left all of Sinai; Egypt recognised Israel and opened full relations.1 The two countries have not fought since.

    Go to this stop: Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty

  3. Stop 4 of 7 on the full path

    1993: mutual recognition

    The PLO recognised Israel's right to exist in peace and security, and the Government of Israel recognised the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people.4 The hard questions were left for a permanent settlement, which has not been reached.56

    Go to this stop: Oslo I – the Declaration of Principles

  4. Stop 5 of 7 on the full path

    Two stories about one land

    Israelis tell of a Jewish bond with the land thousands of years old, of persecution and of the need for security.78 Palestinians tell of homes and villages, and of 1948, when more than 700,000 Palestinians lost their homes and were not allowed to return.9 The path asks you to read both.

    Go to this stop: Israel and the Jewish people: roots, memory and choosing life

  5. Stop 7 of 7 on the full path

    The question everyone asks

    Each side asks whether the other really wants peace, and many on both sides fear the same answer.10 At the last stop: short answers with sources, and "we don't know yet" when that is the honest answer.

    Go to this stop: Hard questions, honest answers

What was said

Menachem Begin

No more war, no more bloodshed, no more bereavement.

Signing ceremony of the Egypt–Israel peace treaty, the White House, Washington, 26 March 1979

Source and status of the wording

Official US transcript (Public Papers of the Presidents), in English. These are the closing words of a longer sentence in Begin's remarks. The wording is singular – "war", not "wars".

Quote source: The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara (Public Papers of the Presidents)

The full path

About 18 minutes · 7 stops

Start at the first stop
  1. Start here: peace in five minutes
  2. What it looks like
  3. Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty
  4. Oslo I – the Declaration of Principles
  5. Israel and the Jewish people: roots, memory and choosing life
  6. The Palestinian story: belonging, loss and the hope for freedom
  7. Hard questions, honest answers

Sources

You do not have to agree with us. That is what the sources are for: open them, compare and check for yourself.

Show all sources (10)Hide the sources

Cited on this page

  1. Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt, March 26, 1979Primary Avalon Project, Yale Law School26 March 1979
  2. Treaty of Peace between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 26 October 1994Primary United Nations (UNISPAL)26 October 1994
  3. The Abraham Accords (text of the Declaration and index of the signed documents)Primary U.S. Department of State
  4. Israel–PLO Mutual Recognition, Letters and SpeechesPrimary United Nations Peacemaker9 September 1993
  5. Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements ('Oslo Accords')Primary PA-X Peace Agreements Database, University of Edinburgh13 September 1993
  6. The Middle East, including the Palestinian Question — October 2026 Monthly ForecastResearch Security Council Report1 October 2026
  7. A Researcher’s Guide to the Lachish CollectionResearch British Museum
  8. Introduction to the HolocaustResearch United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  9. Maher Charif, The NakbaResearch Institute for Palestine Studies / Palestinian Museum — Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question (PalQuest)
  10. The Palestinian-Israeli Pulse: A Joint Poll — Summary Report (fieldwork July 2024; published 12 September 2024)Research Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) and Tel Aviv University, International Program in Conflict Resolution and Mediation12 September 2024