The Wye River Memorandum (23 October 1998)

Summary

The Wye River Memorandum, done at Washington, DC on 23 October 1998, steps to carry out the Interim Agreement and the Note for the Record of January 17, 1997 in a parallel phased approach over twelve weeks: Israel transfers 13% from Area C (1% to Area A, 12% to Area B, 3% of the latter as Green Areas/Nature Reserves under Israeli overriding security responsibility) and 14.2% from Area B to Area A, in three timeline stages, while the Palestinian side carries out a U.S.-shared security work plan against terrorist organizations, a systematic illegal-weapons collection program, an anti-incitement decree and committee, and reaffirmation of the January 22, 1998 Charter letter, with permanent status negotiations to reach agreement by May 4, 1999 and neither side to change the status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (The Wye River Memorandum (23 October 1998), lines 1-275).

What the file is

The Avalon Project reproduction, headed by the White House Office of the Press Secretary, about 2,890 words in the text copy, lines 1-275: preamble, Sections I-V and an integral attached Time Line. No individual signatory names are printed in this copy; the closing reads for the Government of the State of Israel, for the PLO, witnessed by the United States of America.

Section by section

• Preamble (lines 25-35). Steps to facilitate implementation of the Interim Agreement and the Note for the Record of January 17, 1997; parallel phased approach; subject to and not superseding the prior agreements.
• I.A, Phase One and Two Further Redeployments (lines 35-55). Thirteen per cent from Area C (1% to A, 12% to B); 3% of the B area designated Green Areas/Nature Reserves under scientific standards, no new construction, Israeli overriding security responsibility, Palestinian Police movement only after coordination and confirmation; 14.2% from B to A.
• I.B, Third Phase (lines 55-60). A committee to address it, under the Interim Agreement and Secretary Christopher’s letters of January 17, 1997; the United States briefed regularly.
• II, Security, preamble (lines 60-75). Reciprocal duties to prevent terrorism, crime and hostilities and incitement; the struggle must be comprehensive, continuous with no pauses, and cooperative.
• II.A.1, Outlawing and combating terrorist organizations (lines 75-95). Zero tolerance policy; Palestinian work plan shared with the U.S.; biweekly U.S.-Palestinian committee; apprehension, investigation, prosecution and punishment; a second U.S.-Palestinian committee on prosecution decisions.
• II.A.2, Prohibiting illegal weapons (lines 95-110). Criminalizing legal framework; systematic collection and handling program with U.S. assistance; trilateral committee against smuggling.
• II.A.3, Prevention of incitement (lines 110-120). Palestinian decree prohibiting all forms of incitement to violence or terror comparable to existing Israeli legislation; trilateral monitoring committee with media, law-enforcement, education and elected-official members from each side.
• II.B, Security cooperation (lines 120-135). Full, continuous, intensive and comprehensive bilateral cooperation; forensic cooperation; high-ranking trilateral committee meeting as required and not less than biweekly to assess current threats, deal with impediments to effective security cooperation and coordination and address the steps being taken to combat terror and terrorist organizations, serving also as a forum on external support for terror, with the Palestinian side fully informing its members of the results of its investigations concerning terrorist suspects already in custody, the participants exchanging additional relevant information, and the committee reporting regularly to the leaders.
• II.C, Other issues (lines 135-165). List of Palestinian policemen to Israel; U.S. technical assistance; Monitoring and Steering Committee oversight. PLO Charter reaffirmation of the 22 January 1998 Arafat letter by the Executive Committee, Central Council and a meeting of PNC, Council and ministry heads addressed by President Clinton. Arrest-and-transfer requests answered within the twelve-week period under Annex IV Article II(7)(f). Palestinian Police to act with due regard to human rights and the rule of law.
• III, Interim committees and economic issues (lines 165-195). All standing committees reactivated; Gaza Industrial Estate opening; Gaza airport protocol concluded; Safe passage negotiations renewed (southern route agreement within a week, northern route to follow); Gaza port protocol goal within 60 days; outstanding legal issues accelerated, Palestinian laws provided to Israel; strategic economic dialogue on purchase taxes, vehicle theft, unpaid Palestinian debts and Israeli standards/A1-A2 lists (interim report three weeks, conclusions six weeks); joint approach for a Ministerial donor Conference before the end of 1998.
• IV, Permanent status negotiations (lines 195-205). Resume immediately, accelerated and without interruption, determined effort to reach agreement by May 4, 1999; U.S. facilitation.
• V, Unilateral actions (lines 205-215). Recognizing the necessity to create a positive environment for the negotiations, neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in accordance with the Interim Agreement.
• Closing and Time Line (lines 215-275). Entry into force ten days from signature. Stage 1 (entry to week 2): 2% C to B, 7.1% B to A. Stage 2 (weeks 2-6): 5% C to B. Stage 3 (weeks 6-12): 5% C to B, 1% C to A, 7.1% B to A — with the security, Charter, weapons, incitement, policemen-list and committee steps phased alongside, and continuing activities after week 12.

Key passages

• The Palestinian side will make known its “policy of zero tolerance for terror and violence against both sides” (lines 75-85).
• “neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip” (lines 205-215).

Evidence the work relies on

The Memorandum relies on the prior agreements it implements — the Interim Agreement (citing Articles XXII(1), Annex I Article XI(1), Annex IV Article II(7)), the Note for the Record of January 17, 1997, Secretary Christopher’s letters of that date, and Chairman Arafat’s Charter letter of 22 January 1998. It is an operative agreement text and presents no other evidence.

Analysis

An operative reciprocal-implementation memorandum. Its structure pairs each Israeli redeployment stage with Palestinian security, weapons, incitement and Charter steps on a single twelve-week timeline, and embeds the United States in the verification of the Palestinian steps (work plan shared with the U.S., biweekly U.S.-Palestinian committees, a trilateral security committee) while the third redeployment phase is left to a committee with only U.S. briefing. The Green Areas/Nature Reserves carve-out keeps Israeli overriding security responsibility inside part of the transferred Area B.

People, organizations, places and events

Wye River Memorandum, Interim Agreement, Area A, Area B, Area C, Palestinian Police, Palestine Liberation Organization, Bill Clinton, Yasir Arafat, Benjamin Netanyahu

Concepts

Safe passage, Right of Return

How it relates to other sources

This is the primary text Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: Part V (1989-2000) summarized (13% and 14.2% figures, twelve weeks, suspension on 20 December 1998 — a suspension this text does not record). It succeeds the Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron (15 January 1997) and its Note for the Record, and is in turn the agreement whose outstanding commitments The Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum on Implementation Timeline of Outstanding Commitments of Agreements Signed and the Resumption of Permanent Status Negotiations (4 September 1999) re-timelines, rescheduling the same redeployments, prisoner, committee and safe passage items.

Open questions

• No individual signatory names are printed in this copy.
• “eliminate terrorists calls” in II.A.1(c) and “the stops being taken” in II.C.3 are as printed; both readings are uncertain.
• The Memorandum sets May 4, 1999 as the permanent-status goal; whether and how its stages were carried out is not stated in this file.

Coverage

lines 1-275 of 275, read in full