In June 1985, Israel withdrew most of its troops from Lebanon, leaving a residual Israeli force and an Israeli-supported militia in South Lebanon, creating a 'security zone' to act as a buffer to prevent attacks on North Israel.
Continued Israeli settlement and occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, led to the First Palestinian Intifada in 1987 which lasted until 1991. In October 1991, US President George W Bush and the Soviet Union Premier, Mikhail Gorbachev, jointly convened a historic meeting in Madrid of Israeli, Lebanese, Jordanian, Syrian and Palestinian leaders. On September 1993, Israel and the PLO signed a Declaration of Principles, it specifically barred foreign-residing PLO leaders from the process outlined in the Madrid framework. The two groups subsequently signed the Gaza-Jericho Agreement and the Agreement on Preparatory Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities which began the process of transferring authority from Israel to the Palestinians. On 25 July 1994, Israel and Jordan signed the Washington Declaration which formally ended the state of war that had existed between them since 1948. On 28 September 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, marking the conclusion of the first stage of negotiations. The agreement allowed the PLO leadership to relocate to the occupied territories and granted autonomy to the Palestinians, in return the Palestinians agreed to recognise the existence of Israel and cease terror attacks. However, the agreement was opposed by Hamas and other Palestinian factions and they began to launch suicide bomber attacks at Israel, Rabin had a barrier constructed around Gaza to prevent attacks. Loss of territory and escalating terrorism contributed to tensions within Israel, leading to the assassination of Rabin by a right wing Jewish radical.
In 2000, Israel withdrew its remaining forces from South Lebanon. Later that year, talks were held at Camp David in an attempt to reach a final agreement on the Israel/Palestine conflict. However, in September the Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Mount Temple sparking widespread Palestinian rioting which marked the beginning of the Second Intifada. The failure of the peace process led to an escalation of Palestinian attacks, in addition there were continued occasional attacks by Hezbollah. Israel's confidence in the Palestinian Authority as a partner in the peace process began to erode. In response to wave of attacks, the Israeli Prime Minister began the construction of a barrier around the West Bank. In 2005, civilians were evacuated from Gaza, full disengagement from the Strip was achieved in September 2005, military engagement was completed in the northern West Bank ten days later.
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