ISRAEL ERRORS 25 YEARS ON
There were too few concrete steps during the initial months after the signing of the Oslo agreement between Israel and PLO 25 years ago, writes
TWENTY-FIVE years ago, on Sept 13, 1993, I sat on the White House lawn to witness the landmark signing of the Oslo agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Diplomats around me gasped as then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin shook hands with former foe, chairman Yasser Arafat. But for some of us present, the handshake came as no surprise.
Weeks earlier, we watched the midnight initialing of the same accord in Oslo. It had been the culmination of an intense eight months of secret talks in Norway, a private back-channel we initiated to end hostilities.
Previous peace diplomacy efforts had failed. A triad of occupation, violence and terror had reigned for many years. The Oslo Accords led to a rare epoch of optimism in Israeli-Palestinian relations.
When our back-channel began, neither Israeli nor American officials were allowed to meet with PLO. The signing momentarily changed everything. The two sides exchanged letters of official recognition, thousands of Palestinians secured jobs in Israel, joint industrial parks were planned, the Israeli stock exchange soared, and the country’s then foreign minister Shimon Peres said Gaza could become a “Singapore of the Middle East”.
Our optimism may seem naïve today.
Hindsight can raise many worthwhile critiques about what that handshake missed. Importantly, the Oslo “Declaration of Principles” was no peace agreement, but rather a five-year time plan for how to negotiate peace through increased reconciliation and cooperation.
Peace antagonists took little time to tear down our efforts to facilitate agreements on Jerusalem, settlements, refugees, and the status and borders of a future Palestine.
Israeli terrorists killed Yitzhak and Muslims at a prayer in Hebron, while a terror campaign from Hamas and other armed groups targeted buses and marketplaces in Israeli cities.
Before final status issues could be fleshed out, the tide of optimism gave way to more terror, violence and brutal crackdowns.
The following years brought a second Intifada, record expansion of illegal settlements, an increasingly entrenched military occupation, division among Palestinian factions, and the closure of Gaza.
Twenty-five years later, it is time to learn from the past.
Too few steps were made during the initial months when mutual trust existed.
Political elites on both sides did too little to enable reconciliation, justice and security in their own backyards.
We also made mistakes as international facilitators in underestimating the counter-forces against peace.
Today, I lead a large international aid organisation assisting millions of people displaced across the world, including Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria.
I have rarely seen, felt or heard as much despair as among Palestinian youth locked in hopelessness in camps and behind closed borders. Unemployment for Gaza’s youth sits at 58 per cent, according to the World Bank.
Young men and women I met recently in Gaza told me they felt betrayed: “You told us to study hard, stay out of trouble and believe in better days.
“Now we are further away than ever from finishing our studies, let alone getting a job, a home or an escape from this cage.”
As Palestinians struggle to meet basic needs, economic opportunity is stifled by endless occupation.
Despite the grim trends, there is a way out of this vicious cycle.
Bridging humanitarian funding gaps and allowing aid delivery would raise real gross domestic product in the Gaza Strip by 40 per cent by 2025, said the World Bank.
Financial aid and other forms of investment in the Palestinian economy are needed, but they are stop-gap measures, not the solution. Without a final political agreement, there can be no end to the human suffering.
These principles remain as true now as they were 25 years ago. But they must be rooted in reverence for international law.
Palestinians are as entitled to basic human rights as are Israelis or Americans.
No external actor has more potential for resolving the IsraeliPalestinian conflict than the United States.
A new US effort is sorely needed. As tensions build once again, humanitarian work becomes more difficult, and tens of thousands of youth take stock of their lack of options.
Unless America’s “ultimate deal” delivers equal rights, justice and security, and respect for international law, political extremism among Israelis and Palestinians will be strengthened and destabilise an already volatile region, and Palestinians will continue to live under seemingly endless military occupation.
In a time when peace efforts are at a standstill, it has been more difficult than ever to deliver humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians.