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Madrid Summit 1991

With Kuwait liberated from Iraq, the US administration devoted itself to Middle East peacemaking. Numerous visits by the US Secretary of State James Baker prepared the ground for an international summit in Madrid. Syria and Jordan both agreed to attend the summit.

But Israeli PM Shamir refused to talk directly with PLO, so a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation was formed with prominent Palestinian figures. In the days before the summit, Washington withheld $10bn of loan guarantees from Israel in a rare moment of discord over the building of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories.

A worldwide audience watched the historic summit begin on 30 October. The old enemies were each given 45 minutes to set out their positions. The Palestinians spoke of a shared future of hope with Israel, Shamir justified the existence of the Jewish state, while Syrian Foreign Minister dwelled on Mr Shamir's terrorist past.