---
alias:
- Oslo Accords
- Oslo Accord
- Oslo I
- Oslo II
- Oslo process
- Oslo channel
- Oslo Peace Process
- Declaration of Principles
- Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements
- Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement
category: Diplomacy
created: 2026-10-01
end: 1995-09-28
location: Oslo, Norway; Washington, D.C.
relations:
- fn: 2
  reverse: true
  role: director of Fafo and Norwegian facilitator of the Oslo channel
  type: participant_in
  with: '[[Terje Rød-Larsen]]'
- fn: 2
  reverse: true
  role: head of the Norwegian foreign ministry's Middle East office and facilitator
  type: participant_in
  with: '[[Mona Juul]]'
- fn: 2
  reverse: true
  role: Norwegian state secretary and facilitator
  type: participant_in
  with: '[[Jan Egeland]]'
- fn: 2
  reverse: true
  role: Norwegian foreign minister
  type: participant_in
  with: '[[Johan Jørgen Holst]]'
- end: 1993-09-13
  fn: 3
  reverse: true
  role: signatory for the PLO
  start: 1993-09-13
  type: participant_in
  with: '[[Mahmoud Abbas]]'
- end: 1993-09-13
  fn: 3
  reverse: true
  role: signatory for Israel
  start: 1993-09-13
  type: participant_in
  with: '[[Shimon Peres]]'
start: 1993-09-13
summary: Israel and the PLO exchanged recognition and signed a Declaration of Principles
  on September 13, 1993 after secret talks in Norway run through Fafo, followed by
  the 1995 Interim Agreement and Norwegian inquiries.
tags:
- Event
- Diplomacy
- OsloAccords
- OsloChannel
- Fafo
- Norway
- PalestineLiberationOrganization
- PalestinianAuthority
- InternationalPeaceInstitute
- JeffreyEpstein
updated: 2026-10-01
---

The Oslo Accords are two agreements between [Israel](/places/israel/) and the [Palestine Liberation Organization](/organizations/palestine-liberation-organization/). The first, the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, was signed at the [White House](/places/white-house/) on September 13, 1993; the second, the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, was signed in Washington on September 28, 1995. The negotiations that produced the first were held in secret in Norway through a channel run by the director of the Norwegian research institute Fafo, [Terje Rød-Larsen](/people/terje-rød-larsen/), and by Mona Juul of the Norwegian foreign ministry.[^1][^2][^3]

### The Fafo Survey and the Norwegian Foreign Ministry

Fafo's Palestinian project began as a living-conditions survey. In his preface to the survey report, dated Oslo, May 1993, Rød-Larsen wrote that its history went back five years to Cairo, where he lived in 1989, and that the chairman of the Palestinian Red Crescent, Dr. Fathi Arafat, and the director of the Palestinian hospital in Cairo, Dr. Khalid Shbaeb, had suggested that Fafo conduct a socioeconomic study of the occupied territories. He wrote that the Norwegian foreign ministry "fully concurred," that the then deputy minister Knut Vollebæk and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) provided financial support to design the project and run a pilot survey, that in 1990 funding for the full project was assured from the foreign ministry, "who would foot most of the bill," and that the Ford Foundation later supplied additional funding to cover local costs. He wrote that he had urged, "with the consent of both Palestinian and Israeli leaders," that the survey be strongly policy oriented, and thanked Deputy Minister Jan Egeland, who "enthusiastically accompanied us on visits in the field." Fieldwork was carried out in June, July and August 1992. The report, Fafo report 151, *Palestinian Society in Gaza, West Bank and Arab Jerusalem*, was authored by Marianne Heiberg, Geir Ovensen and others, and the project was led by Heiberg.[^4]

The introduction to the report observed that the Norwegian government, which funded the survey, provided millions of dollars each year in humanitarian and development assistance to Palestinian society.[^4] The Norwegian encyclopedia *Store norske leksikon* states that Rød-Larsen established Fafo in 1982 as the Trade Union Movement's Center for Research, Evaluation and Documentation and led it until 1993, and that during the Oslo process the institute's survey served as a platform for contacts between Israelis and Palestinians that Rød-Larsen used in the secret negotiations.[^2]

### The Channel and the Signing

The [State Department](/organizations/state-department/)'s historical office states that U.S. officials were briefed on secret negotiations that the Israelis and Palestinians began in Oslo in December 1992 but made little effort to become involved in them, and that the administration of President [Bill Clinton](/people/bill-clinton/) "played a limited role in bringing the Oslo Accord into being."[^5] According to *Store norske leksikon*, the Norwegian figures in the channel were State Secretary Jan Egeland, Mona Juul, Rød-Larsen, and the foreign ministers Thorvald Stoltenberg and Johan Jørgen Holst; Juul headed the ministry's [Middle East](/places/middle-east/) office. The same source states that the agreement was first signed in secret in Oslo on August 20, 1993, at Parkveien 45, with Holst at the table, Uri Savir leading the Israeli side and Ahmed Qurei the Palestinian side, and that the final wording of the letters of mutual recognition was agreed shortly before the public ceremony. It was signed on September 13 by Mahmoud Abbas for the PLO and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres for Israel, in the presence of [Yasser Arafat](/people/yasser-arafat/), Prime Minister [Yitzhak Rabin](/people/yitzhak-rabin/) and Clinton.[^2][^3] The 1995 agreement recites the letters of September 9, 1993 exchanged between the Prime Minister of Israel and the Chairman of the PLO.[^6]

### The Declaration of Principles

The Declaration provided for direct elections to a Palestinian Council for the [West Bank](/places/west-bank/) and [Gaza Strip](/places/gaza-strip/) no later than nine months after it entered into force, a five-year transitional period beginning with Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the Jericho area, and permanent status negotiations to begin no later than the third year of the interim period, covering "Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, security arrangements, border, relations and cooperation with their neighbors." It established an Israeli-Palestinian Economic Cooperation Committee, treated the multilateral working groups as an instrument for a "[Marshall Plan](/programs/marshall-plan/)" for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and was to enter into force one month after signing.[^1]

### The Donor Conference, the Holst Fund and the United Nations Special Coordinator

On October 1, 1993, more than forty donor countries and institutions met at the Washington Conference to Support Middle East Peace, hosted by the [United States](/places/united-states/), and pledged about $2.4 billion to be disbursed over the five-year transitional period. The Ad Hoc Liaison Committee for assistance to the Palestinians was established in the context of that conference, and Norway chairs it. In June 1994 Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali appointed Rød-Larsen [United Nations](/organizations/united-nations/) Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories; Chinmaya Gharekhan succeeded him in February 1997.[^7]

A July 1996 report of the Office of the Special Coordinator on donor-funded activities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip contains a table of pledges and payments to the Holst Fund, which the report names with the European Union as one of two major examples of support for recurrent costs of the Palestinian Authority, and which it separately credits with funding 25 million dollars of public sector emergency employment projects. The table lists total pledges from, among others, Norway (17.75 million dollars), Kuwait (21 million), Japan (11.5 million) and Israel (10.5 million). The World Bank and the European Union are thanked in the report for clarifying the figures.[^8]

### The Interim Agreement of 1995

The Interim Agreement was signed in Washington on September 28, 1995 by the Government of Israel and the PLO and witnessed by the United States, the Russian Federation, Egypt, Jordan, Norway and the European Union.[^9] It defined Area A (populated areas, with the Council assuming internal security and public order), Area B (populated areas and listed hamlets) and Area C (the remainder of the West Bank, to be transferred gradually except for permanent status issues). Annex I limited the Palestinian Police to 30,000 in all branches in the interim period, up to 12,000 in the West Bank and up to 18,000 in the Gaza Strip, with the numbers changeable by agreement, and listed Norway among the countries whose observer delegations would be present at the Palestinian elections.[^6] *Store norske leksikon* states that the elections were held in 1996, that the Likud victory that year and the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000 are each regarded by some as the end of the Oslo process, and that the 1994 Hebron massacre was an instance of militant opposition to the agreement.[^2]

### Norwegian Foreign Ministry Grants to the International Peace Institute

Rød-Larsen was president of the International Peace Institute (IPI) in New York from January 2005 to October 2020.[^10] The Office of the Auditor General of Norway (Riksrevisjonen) investigated the foreign ministry's grants to the institute for 2007 to 2012. According to the report as summarized in the Storting's control committee recommendation (Innst. 167 S, 2021 to 2022), the ministry paid 130.6 million kroner to IPI and its predecessor from 1997 to 2018 and none after 2018; the ministry and IPI concluded two three-year framework agreements in the period under review, at 11 million kroner a year for 2007 to 2009 and 8 million kroner a year for 2010 to 2012. The auditor general concluded that there were considerable weaknesses in the ministry's case handling, control and follow-up, that the ministry had not followed up missing project plans, budgets, reports and accounts from IPI, and that it was open to criticism for failing to ensure that conflict-of-interest assessments were carried out. The auditor general obtained no further information from IPI.[^10]

The committee recommendation quotes the report on the ministry's legal department's assessment of April 13, 2012, which considered the possible disqualification of the then director general (ekspedisjonssjef) Geir O. Pedersen, the then director general Mona Juul, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and the political leadership in matters concerning IPI. A Progress Party member of the committee, quoting the report, stated that about 47.1 million kroner was processed and paid to IPI during Pedersen's term, that Rød-Larsen communicated directly with Pedersen on several occasions, and that Pedersen was a member of IPI's International Advisory Council. The report quotes the legal department as stating that Juul and her department should neither prepare nor decide matters concerning IPI, her spouse being its head. On April 17, 2012 Pedersen's section advised Støre to support the establishment of IPI as an international organization; Støre declared himself not disqualified, according to the report, on the ground that "he knew Rød-Larsen solely through sporadic contact in a work context, that they were not friends, and that they had never met privately or at each other's homes." The same member added that Rød-Larsen had been planning minister in the government of [Thorbjørn Jagland](/people/thorbjørn-jagland/) and that his ties to the labour movement and the Norwegian Labour Party were well known, and proposed that the Storting ask the government to consider whether foreign ministry employees had breached criminal provisions; the Progress Party and the Red Party also proposed that the Storting ask the auditor general to audit the grants for 2012 to 2018. The committee recommendation is dated February 15, 2022.[^10]

### The Epstein Donations and the 2020 Reviews

The 2017 Form 990 of IPI reports total revenue of 8,704,582 dollars, of which 6,003,286 dollars was government grants, and lists Rød-Larsen as president, 35 hours a week, with reportable compensation from the organization of 517,980 dollars and other compensation of 37,624 dollars.[^11]

The IPI board accepted Rød-Larsen's resignation on October 29, 2020 and at the same meeting decided to commission the accounting firm KPMG. The board stated that its concerns included donations Rød-Larsen accepted from Epstein-affiliated foundations, "a short-term loan from Epstein to Mr. Rød-Larsen personally," and whether IPI was involved in other transactions; it stated that on December 4, 2019 it had directed that an amount equal to all Epstein-related donations be given to programs for victims of human trafficking and sexual assault.[^12] The probity review states that the board first became aware of the donations in late 2019.[^13] KPMG's report of December 18, 2020 analyzed IPI's records from January 2010 to October 2020 against a list of 56 entities affiliated with [Jeffrey Epstein](/people/jeffrey-epstein/) and identified five donations totaling 650,000 dollars:

- October 11, 2011: [Enhanced Education](/organizations/jeffrey-epstein-vi-foundation/), 125,000 dollars, ledger description "Enhanced Education funding for WK Rick Hooper fellowship."
- May 8, 2017: [Gratitude America](/organizations/gratitude-america/), 150,000 dollars, "Reimbursement of tickets to the Oslo Play."
- June 12, 2017: Gratitude America, 125,000 dollars.
- November 1, 2017: Gratitude America, 100,000 dollars, "Contribution from Gatitude America, LTD Oslo Play."
- April 5, 2019: Gratitude America, 150,000 dollars, "Contribution from Gratitude America."

KPMG also found a reimbursement of 14,158.88 dollars from Enhanced Education in 2014 for the flight of [Larry Summers](/people/larry-summers/); no payments by IPI to Epstein or his entities; no payments related to the loan between Epstein and Rød-Larsen; and a 100,000 dollar honorarium wired on February 28, 2014 to LHSummers Economic Consulting for the Mongolian Advisory Board, funded by the Government of Mongolia, on wire instructions sent to Rød-Larsen by an assistant to Epstein.[^14]

A separate probity review of December 21, 2020 by IPI's treasurer, the attorney Clifford Perlman, found that Rød-Larsen did not violate the wording of IPI's 2013 conflict of interest policy but should have informed the board and should not have taken the loan, found no evidence that Epstein derived personal benefit from IPI, and described the 2017 special performance of the play *Oslo*, which dramatized Rød-Larsen's role in the accords, as a fundraising event underwritten by one of Epstein's foundations. The review stated that Epstein attended the performance, had no control over the invitation list, and that his name did not appear in association with it.[^13] IPI's statement of December 22, 2020 put the donations at about 0.9 percent of IPI's revenue over the period.[^12]

### Epstein Library Records

The [Department of Justice](/organizations/department-of-justice/) [Epstein Library](/concepts/epstein-files/) contains a Gratitude America, Ltd check no. 315 on [Deutsche Bank](/organizations/deutsche-bank/) Trust Company Americas, dated November 1, 2017, payable to International Peace Institute, Inc. for 100,000 dollars with the line "Attn: Terje Rod Larsen." The same document contains an email of November 1, 2017, 7:25 a.m., from the account displayed as "Jeffrey E." to [Richard Kahn](/people/richard-kahn/) reading "send IPI 100 k . to terje attention."; an email of June 12, 2017 reading "Rich please send 125 k to ipi"; Kahn's message of the same day "Confirming 125k is in addition to 150k sent in may"; and a forwarded May 8, 2017 exchange in which Kahn asked Rød-Larsen whether a check to IPI at 777 United Nations Plaza should be mailed or delivered, and Rød-Larsen replied "That is great - thank you!"[^15] Another document is an email of May 12, 2015 from Brad Wechsler to the Epstein account, replying to a message "ipi donation?", stating that "A wire transfer for 750k was processed today and IPI shld have by later today or tomorrow." The email does not name the sending entity, and KPMG's schedule of five Epstein-related donations lists none in 2015.[^16] A May 6, 2014 email from IPI's senior accountant, addressed to "Ms. Groff", states that IPI wired the honorarium to LHSummers Economic Consulting for the Mongolian Advisory Board on February 28, 2014 and asks for Summers's W-9.[^17]

### The Økokrim Investigation

On February 9, 2026 the Norwegian economic crime authority Økokrim announced an investigation in which Juul was named a suspect in aggravated corruption in connection with her positions in the foreign ministry and Rød-Larsen a suspect in complicity. Økokrim's chief Pål Lønseth said the investigation would be extensive and long-running. Juul's lawyer Thomas Skjelbred said she did not recognize herself in the charge, and Rød-Larsen's lawyer John Christian Elden said his client was surprised by it. Økokrim had opened an investigation of Jagland on February 5.[^18] The newspaper *VG* reported on February 27, 2026 that Jagland, Juul and Rød-Larsen were all being investigated for aggravated corruption or complicity as a result of gifts and services received from Epstein, and on March 4, 2026 that the foreign ministry had suspected seven years earlier that Rød-Larsen had given visa help to women on Epstein's behalf and that Økokrim was now investigating the matter.[^19]

On September 26, 2026 NRK published an account of the 335-square-metre Frogner apartment at Drammensveien 42 in Oslo. According to NRK, the shipowner Morits Skaugen bought the apartment in 2011 for 12.6 million kroner, leased it to Juul and Rød-Larsen from June 1, 2011 at 500,000 kroner a year, and granted a five-year option to buy it for 13 million kroner for a premium of 3.5 million kroner, which Skaugen said Rød-Larsen paid. NRK reported that Skaugen mortgaged the apartment to SEB for 12.5 million kroner in 2013 and to DNB for 25 million kroner in December 2015, and that on March 31, 2018 Skaugen emailed Epstein that the option had lapsed and the bank's assessed market value was 18 million kroner. NRK published an email attributed to Epstein dated April 4, 2018, addressed to a lawyer for Rød-Larsen, reading "closing the rope slowly he is coming to paris to meet. the more he puts in writing the better. DO not reach out to him yet," and reported that Skaugen met Epstein in Paris on April 6, 2018. Skaugen told *VG* that he felt pressure from Epstein in Paris and told NRK that he disputes its account and that no bank suffered a loss. NRK reported that the couple took title on June 25, 2018 for 14 million kroner, and quoted an email from Skaugen to Epstein describing the price as "Half price." NRK quoted Økokrim's first state attorney Marianne Bender: "We want to find out whether Epstein, through the purchase of the apartment, contributed any transfer of wealth or other transfer to the suspected couple." Elden told NRK that "there is no funny business with this apartment sale," that the couple reject the charge and that he saw no criminal matter in it, and that Rød-Larsen did not know of any contact between Epstein and Skaugen. NRK also reported that its analysis of the released Epstein files found 5,684 emails and text messages between Epstein and Rød-Larsen, the first from 2010.[^20]

### The Oslo Papers

Nettavisen reported on September 29, 2026 that Økokrim found documents relating to the Oslo process in the cellar storage room of Juul and Rød-Larsen's home during the February search, seized one box, and that the foreign ministry and the National Archives of Norway were given access to the storage room in mid-March and collected five further boxes. The foreign ministry told the newspaper that material directly linked to the Oslo process would be made public at the National Archives, and Elden said the ministry was working with the defense on publication of the material Rød-Larsen transferred to the archives, both through Økokrim and directly from his cellar. The newspaper reported that the documents are not part of Økokrim's investigation and that the Storting's control and constitution committee, chaired by Per-Willy Amundsen, was holding hearings on September 30 and October 1, 2026 with current and former foreign and development ministers, including Støre and Espen Barth Eide.[^21]

[^1]: "Israel-Palestine Liberation Organization Agreement: 1993" (Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements), Articles I to XVII, Avalon Project, Yale Law School. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/isrplo.asp
[^2]: "Oslo-avtalen," *Store norske leksikon* (secret signing August 20, 1993; signatories; criticism; 1996 elections); "Terje Rød-Larsen," *Store norske leksikon* (Fafo 1982 to 1993; role in the Norwegian channel; Juul headed the ministry's Middle East office). https://snl.no/Oslo-avtalen ; https://snl.no/Terje_R%C3%B8d-Larsen
[^3]: "Oslo-avtalen," *Store norske leksikon*, section "Oslo 1" and caption to the photograph of the secret signing at Parkveien 45. https://snl.no/Oslo-avtalen
[^4]: Terje Rød Larsen, Preface (Oslo, May 1993), pp. 6 to 10, and Marianne Heiberg, Introduction, in Marianne Heiberg and Geir Ovensen, *Palestinian Society in Gaza, West Bank and Arab Jerusalem: A Survey of Living Conditions*, Fafo report 151 (Oslo: Fafo, 1993). https://www.fafo.no/media/com_netsukii/151.pdf
[^5]: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, "The Oslo Accords and the Arab-Israeli Peace Process," Milestones 1993-2000 (retired page). https://history.state.gov/milestones/1993-2000/oslo
[^6]: Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Washington, D.C., September 28, 1995, preamble, Article XI, Annex I Article I and the police strength provision, and Annex II election observer provisions (English text published by the Economic Cooperation Foundation, Tel Aviv). https://content.ecf.org.il/files/M00261_TheIsraeli-PalestinianInterimAgreement-EnglishText.pdf
[^7]: Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories, "UNSCO at a Glance: A Profile," United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine. https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-208256/
[^8]: UNSCO, "Partners in Peace: LACC for Development Assistance in the West Bank and Gaza Strip," July 1996, section on public finance, "Pledges and Payments to the Holst Fund." https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-209393/
[^9]: Letters of December 1995 from the permanent representatives of Israel and the Palestinian observer, and from the United States and the Russian Federation, transmitting the Interim Agreement, United Nations document A/51/889 and S/1997/357, May 5, 1997. https://unispal.un.org/pdfs/D91C90A304F06EA4052564E60048C213.pdf
[^10]: Innstilling fra kontroll- og konstitusjonskomiteen om Riksrevisjonens undersøkelse av Utenriksdepartementets tildeling av tilskudd til International Peace Institute (IPI), Innst. 167 S (2021-2022), February 15, 2022, source document Dokument 3:12 (2020-2021), sections 1.1 to 1.4 and the committee's statements. https://www.stortinget.no/no/Saker-og-publikasjoner/Publikasjoner/Innstillinger/Stortinget/2021-2022/inns-202122-167s/?all=true
[^11]: International Peace Institute Inc., IRS Form 990 for the tax year 2017 (EIN 03-0213226), Part VII, Part VIII and summary, IRS e-file object 201833129349302893, published in IRS Form 990 series XML download file download990xml_2018_6. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2018/download990xml_2018_6.zip
[^12]: International Peace Institute, "Release of KPMG Forensic Review and IPI Probity Review," statement of December 22, 2020. https://www.ipinst.org/2020/12/kpmg-forensic-probity-review
[^13]: Clifford Perlman, "Probity Review as requested by the Chair of the Board of Directors, International Peace Institute," December 21, 2020, items 1 and 2. https://www.ipinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ProbityReviewDec2020.pdf
[^14]: KPMG LLP, "International Peace Institute: KPMG Forensic Review," December 18, 2020, Executive Summary, Summary Observations and Appendix A. https://www.ipinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/IPI-KPMG-Forensic-Review-12-18-2020.pdf
[^15]: Gratitude America, Ltd check no. 315 (November 1, 2017) with emails of November 1, June 12 and May 8, 2017, EFTA00802975 to EFTA00802979, DOJ Epstein Library, Data Set 9. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00802975.pdf
[^16]: Email, Brad Wechsler to Jeffrey E., May 12, 2015, 16:13 UTC, EFTA00662431, DOJ Epstein Library, Data Set 9. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00662431.pdf
[^17]: Email, Susan Waugh (International Peace Institute) to Ms. Groff, "Larry Summers's W9," May 6, 2014, EFTA00369962, DOJ Epstein Library, Data Set 9. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00369962.pdf
[^18]: "Økokrim åpner etterforsking av Mona Juul og Terje Rød-Larsen," *NRK*, February 9, 2026 (updated February 12, 2026). https://www.nrk.no/norge/okokrim-apner-etterforsking-av-mona-juul-og-terje-rod-larsen-1.17761823
[^19]: "Dette er Epstein-siktelsene Økokrim ville holde hemmelig," *VG*, February 27, 2026; "Etterforsker visumbistand: 'Skriv ut dette anbefalingsbrevet,'" *VG*, March 4, 2026 (standfirst only; article behind a subscription wall). https://www.vg.no/nyheter/i/vree75/dette-er-epstein-siktelsene-oekokrim-ville-holde-hemmelig ; https://www.vg.no/nyheter/i/GxMwwl/epstein-saken-oekokrim-etterforsker-visumbistand
[^20]: "Leiligheten til korrupsjonssiktede Mona Juul og Terje Rød-Larsen får politiet til å klø seg i hodet," *NRK*, September 26, 2026, by Bjørn Olav Nordahl and others. https://www.nrk.no/dokumentar/xl/okokrim-etterforsker-epsteins-overforinger-til-rod-larsen-1.18001797
[^21]: Thomas Paust, "UD vil frigjøre dokumenter funnet i Rød-Larsens kjeller," *Nettavisen*, September 29, 2026. https://www.nettavisen.no/epstein-horingen/okokrim/terje-rod-larsen/ud-vil-frigjore-flere-oslo-dokumenter-funnet-i-kjellerboden-til-mona-juul-og-terje-rod-larsen/s/80-95-117074