Repeal Oslo now!
The time has come for Prime Minister Netanyahu to propose, and for the Knesset to ratify, the repeal of the 'Oslo Accords.' It's time for Israel to stop with the charade that they have any meaning left to them and to adapt its policies accordingly. It's time to acknowledge the reality that the 'Palestinians' do not deem themselves bound by them, and that we should not deem ourselves bound by them either. (Hat Tip: Ashley R). ANYONE PAYING attention knows that Oslo has been over for quite some time. The second intifada defamed it, disengagement exposed it, Annapolis was in spite of it and now Abbas has renounced it.Read it all.
Inevitably, the reality Oslo hoped to create could not keep up with onthe- ground realities. What makes Abbas’s repudiation of Oslo so significant is that he did the one thing that cannot be reversed – he went public. Why would the “moderate” Abbas/Fayyad administration take the step that Arafat would not? An answer can be found in Arafat’s 1974 negotiation strategy, known as the “piece plan.” It was a tactic to grab whatever he could through dubious diplomacy. More famously known as the “phased plan,” it continues to be embraced, engraved momentously in the PLO Covenant, which to this day has not been revoked. This scheme states plainly its aim to “adopt a political solution of establishing a National Authority over any territory from which the occupation withdraws,” buttressed with a negotiation to extract as much as possible by simply taking “the ceiling of the last negotiation as the floor for the next.
It is no wonder that Abbas’s declaration makes no concrete reference to actual borders, resources and neighbors. The reason is now obvious; the Palestinians are not interested in compromise with Israel because they want to supplant Israel. They intend to do this through refugees, demanding indefensible borders and perpetuating attrition-styled conflict on Israel’s population. If the current bid at the UN should fail, we can presume that the strategy will continue with the “Quartet” to try to get a large international power to impose Palestinian terms on Israel. Whatever the outcome of this gambit, the breach of Oslo is irreversible, trust severed and the bilateral framework no longer a viable option.
DESPITE THIS, many of Israel’s brightest thinkers cling warily to the two-state solution, neglecting an clear reality that exposes the absence of a credible negotiating partner. Israel, schooled in the art of pragmatism since its inception, has sustained a Palestinian status quo undeserving of being so dutifully propped up. Even Netanyahu continues to operate as if what happened at the UN created just another stalemate.
For Israel to adopt policies that are consistent with reality, Netanyahu is obligated to reframe the national conversation under the assumption that the Palestinians still refuse to recognize basic Jewish sovereignty on its historic land. Moreover, it is incumbent upon Netanyahu to take the commensurate step to repeal Oslo – and subsequent agreements ratified by the Knesset. Repealing Oslo is not only strategically sound, it is now a matter of principle for the government he represents, which has acted throughout in good faith only to be humiliated, cheated and bamboozled by the Palestinians.
For Netanyahu to continue at the helm of Likud – a party that wrestled with Oslo from the beginning – this repeal is a political opportunity he cannot afford to forsake. He must act on his UN speech, which maintained that Israel would no longer be the party always expected to recognize the rights of others. Instead, the Jewish state’s rights must be recognized.
Those that do not will be identified publicly. Repealing Oslo is the first step in shifting this process to a more leveled diplomatic exchange between Israel and its neighbors and toward a new era in international relations.
Israel should expect some considerable international backlash, in repealing this defunct accord.
However, this official act is the only one that can provide the sort of closure the people of Israel desperately need. Here Netanyahu should not follow the Palestinians in squandering opportunities. By closing this chapter, there is the promise of a new one.
Labels: Abu Mazen, Oslo accords, Palestinian Authority, phased plan, Three no's of Khartoum
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:44 AM
2 Comments:
Danny Danon just introduced a bill to declare Israeli sovereignty over the revanants of Yesha.
I think it does not go nearly far enough. Oslo must be completely reversed.
It hasn't worked and its time for Israel to start over.
What could go wrong indeed
I don't agree with repealing Oslo until you have something else in writing that has those first steps (e.g., stop attacking and killing Israelis, recognize Israel as a state and a Jewish state, etc.). It will be many years before the West will stand for borders or support civilians standing up for living. If you vacate the stream of SIGNED agreements, then there will not even be any courtroom recourse. Instead of vacating it, I would do a resolution that clarifies that Israel is not required to do the freezes, etc. until the first steps are done by the Palestinians. Israel making all these "good faith" moves, which are actually later steps in the agreements, have proven ineffective and need to be stopped until the Pals do the written and signed first steps. NormanF, "starting over" will mean Israel not having any written document that says the rockets are illegal and warcrimes.
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