The Palestinians did not leave a path to seizing their rights without going through it, in war, peace, and agreement. From this perspective, the Oslo Accords signed between US President Bill Clinton and Palestinian President Arafat and Israeli President Yitzhak Rabin after the Second Gulf War, on September 13, 1993, in the American city of Washington, can be viewed. The agreement, officially known as the Declaration of Principles on Transitional Self-Government Arrangements, is an agreement signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the American city of Washington, in the presence of former US President Bill Clinton. The agreement was named after the Norwegian city of Oslo, where the secret talks took place in late 1992 and early 1993, which resulted in this agreement in what was known as the Madrid Conference. The Oslo Agreement is considered the first direct official agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The Declaration of Principles and the exchange of letters constituted a turning point in the form of the relationship between them. What obligations did the agreement include for both parties?
PLO commitments
The Palestine Liberation Organization, through its Chairman Yasser Arafat, has committed itself to the right of the State of Israel to live in peace and security and to reach a solution to all basic issues related to permanent status through negotiations, and that this Declaration of Principles begins an era free of violence. Accordingly, the Palestine Liberation Organization condemns the use of armed action, and will amend the provisions of the National Charter to be consistent with this change. It will also take it upon itself to bind all members of the PLO to it, prevent violation of this status, and arrest violators. Yasser Arafat also sent a letter to the then Norwegian Foreign Minister, Johan Jørgen Holst, confirming that he would include in his public statements a position for the PLO calling on the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to participate in the steps leading to the normalization of life, reject violence and terrorism, contribute to peace and stability, and participate effectively in reconstruction, economic development, and cooperation.
Israel’s obligations
The Government of Israel decided, through its Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, that in light of the commitments of the Palestine Liberation Organization, it would recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization as the representative of the Palestinian people, and begin negotiations with it. The Declaration of Principles stipulates the establishment of a Palestinian transitional self-governing authority (which later became known as the Palestinian National Authority), and an elected legislative council for the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, for a transitional period not exceeding five years, to reach a permanent settlement based on United Nations Resolutions 242 and 338. Not later than the beginning of the third year of the transitional period. The agreement stipulated that these negotiations would cover the remaining issues, including Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, security arrangements, borders, relations and cooperation with other neighbors. These agreements were followed by more agreements, treaties and protocols, such as the Gaza-Jericho Agreement and the Paris Economic Protocol, which were included in a subsequent treaty called Baslo 2.
Terms of the agreement
The most important thing that the agreement stipulates is that the Palestine Liberation Organization renounces terrorism and violence (and prevents armed resistance against Israel) and deletes the provisions related to it in its charter, such as armed action and the destruction of Israel, in exchange for Israel recognizing the Palestine Liberation Organization as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. This has previously been mentioned and it also stipulates that the Palestine Liberation Organization recognizes the State of Israel (78% of the lands of Palestine – that is, all of Palestine except the West Bank and Gaza), and within five years Israel will withdraw from lands in The West Bank and Gaza Strip in stages, the first of which is Jericho and Gaza, which constitute 1.5% of the land of Palestine. It also stipulated that “Israel recognizes the right of the Palestinians to establish self-rule (which later became known as the Palestinian National Authority) over the lands from which it withdraws in the West Bank and Gaza (self-rule for the Palestinians and not an independent, sovereign state.” It also included the establishment of an elected legislative council for the Palestinian people in the lands subject to the Palestinian Authority, and the establishment of a police force in order to maintain security in the lands subject to the Palestinian Authority, with Israel being responsible for preserving the security of the autonomous region from any external aggression (there is no army). Palestinian for the Palestinian Authority.
Reactions
In Israel, a strong controversy arose regarding the agreement; The Israeli left supported it, while the right opposed it. After two days of discussions in the Knesset regarding the government’s statements on the subject of the agreement and the exchange of letters, a vote of confidence was held on September 23, 1993, with 61 Knesset members approved, 50 others opposed, and 8 abstained from voting. Palestinian responses were also divided. Fatah, which represented the Palestinians in the negotiations, accepted the Declaration of Principles, while Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Palestine Liberation Front (opposition organizations) objected to it because their internal systems refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist in Palestine. The Hamas movement considered the Asloa Agreement an invalid agreement, which it described as “disastrous,” as it gave the occupation the right to “usurp 78% of the land of historic Palestine.” The movement said that what was built upon is invalid and is invalid, and our Palestinian people will not abide by what the organization has committed to, and will not recognize any results that detract from one iota of the soil of Palestine or its sanctities. It can be said that the subsequent days of the agreement revealed the sincerity of the view of those who rejected the agreement, as it now seemed clear that Israel did not adhere to any of its provisions, but rather expanded its violations, while the Palestinian Authority maintained the provisions that restricted struggle against the occupation, or as Palestinian writer Edward Said described: “The Palestine Liberation Organization transformed itself from a national liberation movement into something resembling a small municipal government, with the same handful of people remaining in the leadership.”
