A Very Personal Breakthrough

This article examines the role of interpersonal trust (IPT) in establishing and developing the 1992–1993 Oslo Channel by drawing on a number of interviews alongside available English-language discursive material. The central argument is that IPT developed in two specific dyadic relationships in the Oslo Channel: between Dr. Yair Hirschfeld and Ahmed Qurei, and then between Qurei and Uri Savir. These relationships underpinned the development of the Oslo Channel. To support this argument, I examine the 1991–1993 Washington negotiations and demonstrate that IPT did not develop there. To analyze the relationships discussed in this article, I draw extensively on interdisciplinary literature on trust, examining how the basis for IPT changes in these dyads as the relationships develop. This article complements the existing literature on the Oslo Channel by examining the relationships between key individuals on the Israeli and Palestinian side.