This gesture, along with promises to liberate Palestine, won Saddam the support of Palestinians. In fighting that lasted from January 16 to February 28, 1991, a coalition formed by the United States, various European countries, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and the other Gulf states forced Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. During the conflict, 39 Iraqi SCUD missiles fell on Tel Aviv and Haifa, cheered on by Arafat and the Palestinian population. Israel, under pressure from the US, and fearful of an Arab-Israeli conflagration in Jor- dan, did not retaliate. THE PEACE PROCESS THE MADRID CONFERENCE. When the Gulf War cease-fire was announced, hope was high that parties such as Israel and Syria-for the first time on the same side of a regional conflict-could be brought to the bargaining table. In July 1991, Syria surprised the world with the announcement that it would attend a regional peace conference. At a summit meeting in Moscow, US President George Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev decided to host the conference jointly. A hesitant Israeli cabinet, uneasy about jeopardizing US aid, voted to attend the pro- posed conference provided that the PLO and residents of East Jerusalem not take part. On October 30, 1991, the Madrid peace conference was convened, with Israel carrying on separate negotiations with Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. This unprecedented gathering was quickly bogged down in discussions of Resolution 242 , Palestinian autonomy and rights, Jerusalem, Israeli settlements, and the PLO's political scope. Subse- quent sessions held in Washington, D.C. did not get much further. The Palestinian representatives, including Faisal al-Husseini and Hanan Ashrawi, were in constant contact with the PLO. THE OSLO CONFERENCE. On June 23, 1992, an Israeli election ousted Shamir's Likud and brought in a Labor-led government under Yitzhak Rabin. Rabin curtailed settlement and promised Palestinian autonomy. Optimism accom- panying the first round of talks under the new Israeli government, held in Novem- ber 1992, was soon undermined. Hamas, an Islamic socio-political movement struggling for Arab control of all of historic Palestine, carried out several terrorist attacks in Israel. In response, the Israeli government deported 415 Palestinians in December 1992. The Palestinian representatives at the negotiations refused to resume talks until the deportees were allowed to return. Almost a year later, Israel and the PLO surprised the world by announcing that representatives meeting secretly in Oslo had successfully negotiated an agreement on a framework for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict peacefully. The Declara- tion of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements was signed on September 13, 1993, with President Bill Clinton presiding over the ceremony.