It was an event destined to transform Israeli politics, more so than any event that preceded it. From that point on, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was to change course. But about a month after the signing of the Oslo Accords on the White House lawn, on September 13, 1993, the agreement reached the Knesset. The right-wing parties, flabbergasted by the move, were beside themselves with anger. They were determined to make it really difficult for Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who had dared to cross the Rubicon.
Just a few years earlier, in 1989, Israeli citizens had been arrested for having contact with Palestinian officials. Now, none other than the prime minister himself, was publicly shaking hands with the man who, for years, had been depicted as an arch-murderer. Pictures of Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat adorned the streets of East Jerusalem, and the flags of Palestine flew from balconies in that part of the city. Israelis, however, were sharply divided over the agreement, with its enthusiastic advocates on the one side, and its opponents, who were resolved to prevent its implementation at all costs, on the other.
