Ups and downs of peacemaking

Israeli and Palestinian leaders brought to talks disparate agendas likely to make it hard to agree even on how to make a success of Israel's planned pull-out from occupied Gaza, let alone what to do next.

Following are highlights of Israeli-Palestinian peace moves since 1991:

October-November 1991: Israel holds landmark peace talks with all its frontline Arab neighbours, including the Palestinians, at Madrid conference.

September 13, 1993: Israel and Palestine Liberation Organisation sign Declaration of Principles for peace on White House lawn after decades as sworn enemies.

May 4, 1994: Israel and PLO sign Gaza-Jericho deal giving limited self-rule to two million Palestinians and clearing way for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's return in July 1994 from a life in exile.

September 28, 1995: Israel and PLO sign deal giving self-rule to Palestinians in cities of Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus, Qalqilya, Ramallah, Tulkarm, parts of Hebron, but allowing Jewish settlements to remain.

January 15, 1997: Palestinians sign deal with government of right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clearing way for long-delayed handover of 80 per cent of Hebron.

July 11, 2000: US President Bill Clinton invites Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Mr Arafat to Camp David summit to try to resolve thorniest disputes. Talks end in crisis.

September 28, 2000: Ariel Sharon, opposition Likud leader, visits Jerusalem's Temple Mount, or al-Haram al-Sharif, that is at heart of deadlocked peace talks. Palestinians say visit causes outbreak of their uprising, or Intifada, for statehood.

March 7, 2001: Mr Sharon becomes Prime Minister after overwhelmingly defeating Barak in election.

April 30, 2003: "Road map" for Middle East peace drafted by the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia is given to Israelis and Palestinians. Plan calls for end to bloodshed and Palestinian state in West Bank and Gaza Strip by 2005.

May 17, 2003: Mr Sharon and new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas meet to discuss road map, first such high-level talks in more than two years.

June 4, 2003: US President George W. Bush meets Mr Sharon and Mr Abbas in Aqaba, Jordan at their first three-way summit. They agree to press ahead with road map.

June 6, 2004: Israel's Cabinet approves Mr Sharon's unilateral plan to evacuate all 21 settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in West Bank.

November 11: Mr Arafat dies in Paris. Mahmoud Abbas takes over as head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

January 15, 2005: Mr Abbas sworn in as Palestinian President after landslide election on January 9.

February 3: Israeli leaders approve troop pullback from five West Bank cities and release of 900 Palestinian prisoners.

February 8: Mr Sharon and Mr Abbas declare ceasefire at summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

May 26: Mr Bush hosts Mr Abbas at White House, first such visit by a Palestinian leader in four years.

June 19: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, visiting Israel and West Bank, says Israel and Palestinians agree to coordinate Gaza pull-out and demolish settlers' homes to make way for high-rise Palestinian housing.

June 21: Mr Abbas meets Mr Sharon in Jerusalem for first talks between an Israeli Prime Minister and a Palestinian President in the city at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.