The Madrid Conference of 1991 was an early attempt by the international community to start a peace process through negotiations with Israel and the Palestinians.

In November 1988, the Palestinian National Council of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation voted on recognizing Israel, but the vote failed to gain the minimum two-thirds of all who were to be invited to vote. Their December vote on cessation of terrorism also failed to meet the minimum two-thirds majority needed because it would entail amending the Palestinian Covenant.

In spite of this, or perhaps because of this, King Hussein of Jordan transferred his country's claims to the "Western Bank of the Kingdom" to the PLO. In 1964, the PLO had given up any claims of sovereignty for the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Himma Area. In 1968, with these areas back in Israel's control, they amended their Covenant so that these areas were once again defined as part of a "Palestine" "whose borders were those of the undivided British Mandate of Palestine."

• [Note: The original Mandate included the land on both sides of the Jordan River, i.e. Israel and Jordan. The British used Article 25 of the Mandate to separate the land east of the Jordan River and give it instead to Emir Abdullah, who immediately called it "Transjordan". This was in part, payback for Abdullah's father, Sharif Hussein of Mecca, King of Hejaz, allowing Britain in 1922 to take the Sinai Peninsula from Hejaz and attach it to Egypt in 1922, as a means of security for Britain's financial interests in the Suez Canal. Abdullah's brother Faisel was given the Vilayets of Baghdad and Basra, which Faisel combined and called his Kingdom of Iraq.]

The incoming President of the USA, George H. W. Bush, recognized this failure and issued orders in January 1989,the month of his inauguration, that "formal contact with the PLO was not permitted". The same year the U.S. Congress voted for PLOCCA.

This set the stage for the Madrid Conference and the "secret" negotiations that finally led to the exchange of letters of 9 and 10 September 1993 and the subsequent 13 September 1993 signing on the lawn of the White House of the Declaration of Principles.

Arab-Israeli peace diplomacy and treaties

• Paris Peace Conference, 1919
• Faisal-Weizmann Agreement
• 1949 Armistice Agreements
• Camp David Accords (1978)
• Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace (1994)
• Oslo Accords (1993)
• Camp David 2000 Summit
• Peace Process in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
• Projects working for peace among Israelis and Arabs
• List of Middle East peace proposals
• International law and the Arab-Israeli conflict