Thirty years on, the hoax of the Oslo Accords lingers

This month marks the 30th anniversary of the historic signing of the Oslo I Accords in Washington between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). This event followed secret talks in Oslo, Norway, where the two sides recognized each other. While there has been little mention of the significance and relevance of this occasion by Palestinian and Arab analysts, Israeli media and Jewish think tanks in Israel and abroad have released numerous articles and research papers examining the impact of the accords, primarily on Israel, with little attention given to the Palestinians.  اضافة اعلان

A mistake and a calamity
Almost all Israeli and Jewish Zionist analysts, except for a few, described the accords as a “mistake” and a “calamity”, allowing “a terrorist organization” to control parts of the West Bank and undermining Israel’s security and that of its people. They lambasted Yasser Arafat, the PLO, and the PNA, noting that more than 1500 Israelis have been murdered by “Palestinian terrorists” since 1993—conveniently, they forget to mention the number of Palestinian civilians who have been killed, injured and maimed by Israel since then. Nor do they talk about the number of illegal Jewish settlements built on stolen Palestinian lands since the accords were signed.

It is easy to blame the Palestinians for the failed Oslo Accords
 When you have the upper hand, with boots on the ground, it is easy to blame the Palestinians for the failed Oslo Accords. But this is a gross misrepresentation of the facts. Yes, the Palestinian leadership carries a good measure of responsibility for missing opportunities and for making bad decisions at crucial junctures. But that is not why the accords had stumbled.

One can feel free to distribute blame all around; the US administrations, the European Union, the international community, some Arab countries and yes, the Palestinian leadership itself.

When you have the upper hand, with boots on the ground, it is easy to blame the Palestinians for the failed Oslo Accords. But this is a gross misrepresentation of the facts. Yes, the Palestinian leadership carries a good measure of responsibility for missing opportunities and for making bad decisions at crucial junctures. But that is not why the accords had stumbled.

The biggest political hoax in modern times
But let us agree that the Oslo Accords, one and two, were flawed in so many ways. The technical details and the annexes that few bothered to read and the poor political will, on either side, contributed to creating the biggest political hoax in modern times.

More critics than cheerleaders
Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres may have had good intentions to bring peace to the troubled Holy Land finally; to imagine and work for a grand Middle East with prosperity and progress to all those involved. But good intentions do not make peace and, like all negotiated treaties, bring out more critics than cheerleaders.

Rabin, the warrior turned peacemaker, was assassinated by a Jewish extremist two years after the White House ceremony. From there on, it was downhill for the nascent peace process. Peres lost crucial elections to a rising right-wing star in Israeli politics, Benyamin Netanyahu, in 1996. It was then that Oslo had ended. But most were in denial.

A land grab and choke
The cruel and hard-hitting fact is and remains to be that the Zionist project, whether under a secular or a right-wing Israeli government, has been and will always be this: Land grab of West Bank territory and the choking of any genuine and rightful claim to a Palestinian state. Whether on geopolitical, national security, or biblical grounds, the Israelis will always find an excuse to deny Palestinians a state of their own in historical Palestine.

One could take a quick look at how the Oslo Accords spiraled downhill. Both sides take the blame and waste no opportunity to blame each other. It was always a case of mistrust and suspicion. The Second Intifada, the siege of Arafat, the re-occupation of the West Bank, the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the Hizbollah factor, the Hamas takeover of Gaza, the PA’s loss of direction, the missed chance at Camp David, the settlements and the changing geopolitical winds.

There was no Palestinian peace partner
As Netanyahu solidified his power base, he openly said that there was no Palestinian peace partner. But his politics were clear. He had denounced the Oslo Accords, rejected the two-state solution, and paralyzed the peace process. Bibi was now in control. The Americans, who had absolute control over the ailing peace process, failed to resuscitate it several times. They stood by as Israeli governments opened the floodgates of settlement buildings. This had become a zero-sum game.

But let us agree that the Oslo Accords, one and two, were flawed in so many ways. The technical details and the annexes that few bothered to read and the poor political will, on either side, contributed to creating the biggest political hoax in modern times.

Netanyahu, who now heads the most Far Right Israeli government in the state's history, is only a figurehead of a new and evolving Israel. The once secular state is being hijacked by ultra-nationalist and ultra-religious extremists who do not see a place for the Palestinians in historical Palestine.

Oslo is dead
How Israel, at 75, will handle this cataclysmic challenge remains to be seen. But that has little to do with the future of the Palestinians. Oslo is dead! This is something that the Palestinian leadership has refused to admit, but must.

The new reality is complex
The new reality is complex: An internal fight within Israel for the soul of the state. This international community is divided on how to perceive the new Israel, which is now depicted as an apartheid state. Furthermore, the Palestinians are not doing much better: A thorny succession saga that could determine the fate of the PA, which has become an agent for normalizing Israeli encroachment of Palestinian lands. And the vultures are waiting for the prey to fall: Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and others with conflicting agendas.

And now we have the normalization process between Israel and Arab states. The Abraham Accords breached the once-sterling dam of Arab boycott. Geopolitical trends undermine the Palestinians and their cause. Oslo Accords is in the past. It is a horse-trading affair where the Palestinian leadership hopes to get something in return, even on paper.

Was Oslo's process a fatal mistake? The Israelis will say yes. But for the Palestinian leadership, it was a path to oblivion. It was their choice then, a historic opportunity not to be missed. It turned out to be a stigma and a curse. Thirty years on the Oslo Accords was more about bringing two opposites together; two evolving entities unlikely to ever meet!


Osama Al Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman.


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