Video: 'NBC Nightly News - 1995-09-28'

(Thursday, September 28, 1995, 1:16 p.m. EDT; during the Arab–Israeli conflict) — Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed a peace accord today that extends Palestinian self-rule to most of the West Bank, pledging to press ahead despite threats from militants on both sides.

The agreement, signed at the White House with U.S. President Bill Clinton looking on, calls for Israeli troops to withdraw from major Palestinian towns and villages by March 30 and for a newly elected Palestinian council to assume control.

“This agreement demonstrates the irreversibility of the peace process,” Arafat said. Rabin, once a wartime commander against the Palestinians, said the scene was “unthinkable just two years ago.”

Video: 'Peace Accord Update'

The accord, initialed earlier this week in Egypt, spells out step-by-step Israeli pullbacks from territory occupied since 1967 and transfers broad governing powers to Palestinians until final-status talks conclude by 2000.

Clinton hailed the pact as “a new chapter” in Middle East history but noted that peace will remain incomplete without Syria and Lebanon. U.S. officials said they were disappointed Syria sent only a low-level diplomat to the ceremony.

Both Rabin and Arafat warned of continuing danger from extremists. “Don’t let the land flowing with milk and honey become a land flowing with blood and tears,” Rabin said. Arafat called for “enough killing of innocent people,” while pressing Israel on settlement activity and the future of Jerusalem.

The deal follows the 1993 Gaza-Jericho accord, also signed at the White House.