ABSTRACT
The United States (US) administration sought close cooperation with Israel in the peace process, working diligently to reinvigorate the bilateral and multilateral peace discussions between Israel and its Arab neighbors. But in an unprecedented development, Israel went outside of customary American channels to negotiate an agreement directly with the Palestine Liberation Organization. In the US-Israeli context, the United States sought to strengthen Yitzhak Rabin's hand against the opposition to peace from within Israel President Clinton received Rabin in Washington for an official visit in early November 1993. Despite the warming of US-Israeli relations under Rabin, there were a number of problems confronting the relationship. These included American unhappiness with aspects of Israeli-Chinese and Israeli-North Korean relations, as well as lingering conflicts over Israeli settlements. Rabin, who had criticized Yitzhak Shamir for weakening US-Israeli ties, also moved decisively to improve relations with the United States.
