The Allenby Bridge was named after the British general who led his troops into Palestine in 1917 at the beginning of the British Mandate. After eight decades of rule by British, Jordanian, and Israeli forces, the bridge was now under limited control of the newly formed Palestinian Authority. The partial autonomy was a result of the Oslo peace accords, symbolized by the handshake between Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn in September 1993.
