CNN 20: Mideast Peace Signing, September 13, 1993
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: "CNN 20" today, a historic handshake at the White House.</s>ANNOUNCER: Bringing you the world for 20 years, this is CNN.</s>WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was the historic moment nervously anticipated, but by no means certain. And when the life- long enemies did shake hands, it was the PLO leader reaching out to an obviously uneasy prime minister of Israel.</s>BLITZER: I've been covering the Middle East for almost 30 years. And looking back on all those years, one of the most dramatic moments was that handshake between Prime Minister Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat on the south lawn of the White House when President Clinton brought them together in that dramatic moment. The accord set in motion a timetable, a framework for a final settlement. There were going to be interim arrangements, partial withdrawals by Israeli military forces from parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and there would be joint cooperation combating terrorism, strengthening security cooperation on both sides, normalization, really, of the relations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. And that accord set in motion some of the dramatic changes we've seen on the ground on the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and in Israel ever since. The agreement was favorably received by much of the Arab world, the moderate Arab nations, certainly in Egypt and in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. There was less excitement in some of the other countries like Syria, which still had not made that strategic decision to negotiate a peace agreement with Israel.