Try, Try Again

Many handshakes, but a faltering peace process since 1990.

1991 Madrid conference. Opens period of multilateral Arab-Israeli talks and Israeli-Palestinian contacts.

1993 Oslo accords. First Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. The Palestine Liberation Organization accepts Israel's right to exist. The Palestinian Authority is created to administer areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Sets out a timetable to achieve permanent peace. The process breaks down in 2000 with the outbreak of the intifada.

1994 Israel-Jordan treaty. Jordan is the second Arab country (after Egypt) to normalize relations with Israel.

2000 Camp David summit. Two weeks of peace talks, mediated by President Bill Clinton, end without agreement on key issues of borders, Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the so-called right of return for Palestinian refugees, and the status of Jerusalem.

2002 Saudi peace plan. Calls for Israel's withdrawal from all occupied territories seized in the 1967 Six-Day War—the West Bank, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem—in return for secure borders and recognition of Israel's right to exist.

2003 road map. President Bush announces an internationally backed negotiating plan leading to an independent Palestinian state and security for Israel by 2005. Little follow-through.

2005 Gaza withdrawal. Israel pulls out from the Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation.

2006-2007 Hamas's rise. Islamic radical group Hamas wins Palestinian parliamentary elections. Hamas takes control of the Gaza Strip, splitting with Fatah-backed administration in the West Bank.

2007 Annapolis conference. Opens new Israeli-Palestinian negotiations with the goal of a final "two state" peace deal by the time President Bush leaves office in a year.