Old Newscast: The Oslo Accords, 1993 (Part 1)

Newscast

BBC

Politics, News

4.4 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this episode of Old Newscast, we go back to September 13 1993, when long term enemies Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli Prime Minister and Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the PLO shake hands on the White House lawn.

They shook hands after decades of violence and publicly acknowledged a peace process that produced a set of agreements known as the Oslo Accords. The handshake came about after a series of secret negotiations held in Norway, where negotiators from both sides lived together until they came to an agreement.

Adam speaks to Jane Corbin from BBC Panorama, who had the inside scoop during the secret negotiations, and BBC Chief International Correspondent who reported on the peace process.

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New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bit.ly/3ENLcS1 Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. It was presented by Adam Fleming. It was made by Shiler Mahmoudi with Chris Flynn. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for listening to this episode of Old Newscast on BBC Sounds.
0:04.0	Just a reminder, if you want to listen to our daily episodes of newscast from the modern world,
0:09.1	they're available and you can subscribe to them on BBC Sounds.
0:13.5	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:16.7	For this old newscast, we're taking you to the White House lawn on the 13th of September
0:21.8	1993 and a famous handshake between longtime enemies Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli Prime Minister,
0:29.4	and Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, or the PLO,
0:34.9	who were recognized as the official representatives of the Palestinian people by
0:39.4	Israel. The handshake was a public acknowledgement of the Oslo peace process that produced a set of
0:45.7	agreements known as the Oslo Accords. The PLO's militant wing had been involved in conflict with
0:51.9	Israel for decades leading up to 1993, and this handshake
0:56.3	is the closest both sides have ever come to lasting peace. Given how far away peace feels at the
1:02.5	moment, we thought it would be a good idea to go back to this period and lift the lid on the
1:08.1	secret negotiations that were going on behind the scenes,
1:11.4	and the subsequent events that came afterwards.
1:14.2	You'll see as we go through the episodes that Oslo tried to address all the issues that remain contentious today,
1:20.7	things like the status of Jerusalem and Gaza, Israeli settlements, and Palestinian statehood.
1:28.2	So, it's September the 13th, 1993, and after a bloody few years known as the First Intifada,
1:35.1	Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Chairman Arafat are sharing the same stage.
1:40.1	We'll be talking about that momentous day on this episode of Newscast.
1:44.5	Newscast from the BBC.
1:47.2	We have been granted the great privilege of witnessing this victory for peace.
	...

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