by Maurice Hirsch
The radicalized PA education curriculum and system should be replaced with content that supports and promotes peace and coexistence.
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L-R: Former Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and former PLO
Chairman Yasser Arafat, at the Oslo accords signing ceremony on the
White House lawn, 1993. (Wikimedia) |
Institute for Contemporary Affairs
Founded jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation
- The Oslo Accords were designed to achieve lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) used the Palestinian Authority (PA), created as part of the Accords, to cultivate ever-deepening Palestinian hatred of Israel and promote terrorism. As a result, the Oslo path has been disastrous for Israel and the Palestinians alike.
- The Oslo Accords, that provided self-governance for Palestinians in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, were predicated on the assumption that the PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist and abandoned violence and terror as a means to achieve Palestinian aspirations. Yet the PLO-PA have consistently perpetuated a narrative, both within Palestinian society and in international organizations and fora, of Israeli delegitimization.
- These policies include the constant radicalization of the Palestinian education curriculum, thereby brainwashing and poisoning the minds of generations of Palestinians, and adopting and implementing a multi-billion-dollar “Pay-for-Slay” program that promotes, incentivizes, and rewards terror.
- As a result of the Oslo Accords, the PLO-PA was given autonomous rule of extensive areas in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. Instead of building a functioning, democratic, and prosperous society, these areas were turned into safe havens for terror and an incubator for Palestinian terror groups.
- Despite being given the funding, the opportunities, and the capabilities to establish a functioning and prosperous Palestinian economy, the PLO, the PA, and the Palestinian leadership abused international aid, including substantial U.S. and EU aid, to promote Palestinian national aspirations to destroy Israel.
- Recognizing and accepting the Oslo Accords’ failure would allow all the relevant actors to re-evaluate and develop alternative solutions.
The Oslo Accords were designed to achieve lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Betraying this noble goal, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) used the Palestinian Authority (PA), created as part of the Accords, to cultivate ever-deepening Palestinian hatred of Israel and promote terrorism. As a result, the Oslo path has been disastrous for Israel and the Palestinians alike.
The following are some relevant considerations for assessing whether it is time to finally declare the Oslo Accords’ failure.
The Oslo Accords have failed: The Oslo Accords, that provided self-governance for Palestinians in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, were predicated on the assumption that the PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist and abandoned violence and terror as a means to achieve Palestinian aspirations. While the PLO committed to these assumptions, the PLO and the PA, that has been dominated by Fatah (the largest faction in the PLO), that will cumulatively be referred to below as the PLO-PA, have fundamentally breached these commitments.
The PLO-PA have consistently refused to recognize Israel as a legitimate state and have perpetuated a narrative, both within Palestinian society and in international organizations and fora, of Israeli delegitimization. While presenting themselves to the international community as rational political entities, the PLO-PA have maintained policies and rhetoric that erode trust and fuel hostility. These policies include inter alia, the constant radicalization of the Palestinian education curriculum, thereby brainwashing and poisoning the minds of generations of Palestinians, and adopting and implementing a multi-billion-dollar “Pay-for-Slay” program that promotes, incentivizes, and rewards terror. Incitement to violence and terror against Israel and Israelis, and the glorification of terrorists and acts of terror, are an integral part of the PLO-PA ideology, implemented daily.
The PLO is not different from Hamas: While there is often a tendency to classify the PLO (dominated by the Fatah movement) as a moderate organization in comparison to Hamas, the fact of the matter is that both organizations aspire to destroy Israel and differ only, occasionally, on the tactics employed to reach this goal. While Hamas promotes solely using violence as a means to achieve the immediate destruction of Israel, the PLO employs intermittent diplomacy, supported by violence, when its unreasonable demands are not met. For the PLO, the Oslo Accords were nothing more than a Trojan Horse, adopted pursuant to the organization’s 1974 “Plan of Stages” to destroy Israel.
Adopting the October 7 massacre: The October 7, 2023, massacre was never condemned by the PLO-PA leadership. Instead, it was embraced as a legitimate expression of “Palestinian resistance.”
The Oslo Accords and PLO actions led to more violence: As a result of the Oslo Accords, the PLO-PA was given autonomous rule of extensive areas in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. Instead of building a functioning, democratic, and prosperous society, these areas were turned into safe havens for terror and an incubator for Palestinian terror groups. The Oslo Accords were designed as a basis for ending the Palestinian conflict with Israel. However, due to PLO deception in the last three decades since the adoption of the Accords, more Israelis and Palestinians have been killed than ever before.
The PLO and the PA allowed Hamas to seize control: While the PLO-PA committed in the Oslo Accords to combating terror, in practice, they view Hamas and other internationally-designated Palestinian terror organizations as legitimate Palestinian factions. For this reason, they demanded that Hamas be allowed to participate in the 2006 PA elections, which Hamas overwhelmingly won. These elections then provided the basis for Hamas to seize control of the entire PA, later limited to the Gaza Strip. Hamas then used the Gaza Strip as a base for building its terror capabilities and to attack Israel, culminating with the October 7, 2023, massacre – the worst massacre of the Jewish people in a single day since the Holocaust. This approach exposed, in the most calamitous manner, the danger posed to Israel as a result of creating self-governed Palestinian areas in which terror festered.
The Two-State Solution poses an existential threat to Israel: The concept of a Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza is not a path to peace but rather a catalyst for regional destabilization. Establishing a second state to the west of the Jordan River would not promote peace. Instead, it would provide Palestinian terrorist organizations with a sovereign region that would be used to promote the destruction of Israel and provide the Palestinian leadership with international legitimacy to continue demonizing Israel.
The PLO-PA is an obstacle to peace: The PLO and the Palestinian leadership have persistently acted as a hurdle to achieving international goals and interests in the Middle East and the Arab world. Instead of promoting peace, the PLO continues to block regional normalization with Israel. Recurring cycles of Palestinian-initiated violence and war have required the international community to devote both substantial attention and resources to prevent a regional war. These efforts have been further complicated by the Iranian support for terror and the creation of the “circle of fire” around Israel.
Internally, the PA’s governance and rampant corruption exacerbate internal divisions within Palestinian society, undermining any possibility of a substantial and moderate middle class that could serve as a stabilizing force or perhaps an economic lobby to counter the PA’s policies. Despite being given the funding, the opportunities, and the capabilities to establish a functioning and prosperous Palestinian economy, the PLO, the PA, and the Palestinian leadership abused international aid, including substantial U.S. and EU aid, to solely promote Palestinian national aspirations to destroy Israel.
The international community’s misplaced focus: Since the adoption of the Oslo Accords, the international community has been manipulated into viewing the PLO-PA as legitimate partners for peace while ignoring its obstructionist and rejectionist role in preventing it from happening.
The Palestinian issue as an obstacle to regional conciliation: Since Israel’s creation, the Palestinian leadership has managed to hold hostage the other Arab countries of the region. While the original Arab-Israeli conflict has gradually contracted through peace agreements with Egypt (1978), Jordan (1995), and the U.S.-led Abraham Accords (2020), the Palestinian leadership has nonetheless done its utmost to prevent the further expansion of regional agreements while simultaneously rejecting repeated offers to find a permanent solution.
The Gaza Strip: Having seized control of the Gaza Strip, Hamas turned the entire area into a base for terror. Instead of investing in the development of Gaza, Hamas dug hundreds of kilometers of terror tunnels. It imported, developed, and manufactured attack capabilities that included rockets, missiles, and mortars, and built up a terror army that exceeded 40,000 people. Since the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip and Hamas seizing control, the Gazan terrorists have fired over 20,000 rockets, missiles, and mortars indiscriminately targeting Israel’s civilian population. The Gazan terrorists have also conducted hundreds of attempts, some successful, to infiltrate Israel and murder Israelis.
PLO-PA promises to the Palestinian people that can never be realized: By promising the Palestinians that Israel will be destroyed, Jerusalem will be the capital of the Palestinian state, Jews will be prevented from alighting the Temple Mount, and all of the six million “Palestine refugees” will be permitted to return to Israel, the PLO-PA and the Palestinian leadership have entrenched false hopes and, in practice, prevented the creation of any pragmatic Palestinian leadership. Having made grandiose and unrealistic promises, the PLO-PA have set unattainable goals as foundation stones for any discussions with Israel. The inability of the Palestinian leadership to attain these goals then fostered and will continue to foster further Palestinian disenchantment.
Suggested Paths Forward
Acknowledging the failure of the Oslo Accords: By constantly subjugating policy development to the Oslo Accords and the “Land for Peace” paradigm, Israel, the United States, and other countries have ignored the realities on the ground. Recognizing and accepting the Oslo Accords’ abject failure would allow all the relevant actors to re-evaluate and develop alternative solutions.
Abandon the policy of wilful blindness: In an almost desperate attempt to breathe life into the Oslo Accords, Israel, the United States, and other actors adopted and implemented a policy of wilful blindness to the actions of the PLO-PA and the Palestinian leadership. This approach undermined the foundations of the Accords and emboldened the Palestinian actors, who constantly pushed and exceeded all limitations. To foster Palestinian-Israeli peace, any future Palestinian leadership should be held to strict adherence and conformity with accepted norms and held directly and immediately accountable for any deviation.
Demand the immediate abolition of the PLO-PA “Pay-for-Slay” policy: In the short term, the PLO-PA should be required to abolish all manifestations of its “Pay-for-Slay” policy immediately. To achieve this goal, the PLO-PA should be given a clear ultimatum that sets a short deadline for compliance. Failure to entirely abolish the policy must result in the PLO-PA being internationally designated as a sponsor of terror, and all Palestinians and others who continue to participate in the implementation of the policy should be sanctioned and, if necessary, held criminally responsible and punished accordingly.
Dismantle the PA: The PA has failed to uphold its commitments and has consistently rejected fundamental reform. In practice, under the banner of the “PA Security Forces,” the PLO-PA has established an army trained and funded by both the US and the European Union. This army should be immediately disbanded.
A new reality: In place of an antagonistic and rejectionist PA, the international community and Israel should adopt a policy to promote localized civic autonomy. The Palestinians would elect their local leadership through municipal elections. These municipalities would have the power and jurisdiction to enact local ordinances and provide services. The new entity would be devoid of any nationalistic characteristics and goals and would work, under international supervision, to provide essential services and opportunities to the Palestinians.
Socio-economic development over national aspirations: Israel and the international community should work to foster economic development within Palestinian society as an alternative to unachievable nationalistic aspirations. Within this goal, all actors should be required to work toward eradicating Palestinian corruption and developing a Palestinian middle class that would support economic prosperity, social stability, and peace. These efforts would be complemented and founded on the principles discussed and suggested in the U.S.-led 2019 Manama dialogue.
De-radicalization of the Palestinian education curriculum and system: The radicalized PA education curriculum and system would be replaced with content that supports and promotes peace and coexistence. Adopting, for example, an education curriculum similar to that of the United Arab Emirates would provide the basis for the long-term de-radicalization of the Palestinians. While this process may take many years, preventing further hostilities is a fundamental prerequisite.
Gaza after the war: Allowing the PA to assume any future governance role in the Gaza Strip will only guarantee more violence. Thus, as already suggested by the JCFA, Gaza, after the war, will come under exclusive Israeli security control. Together with Israel, an international coalition of Western and moderate Sunni-Arab countries would work to rehabilitate and reconstruct the area in a manner that would support peace and economic development. In place of a centralized governance structure, the Strip would be divided into administrative districts run by Palestinians who are not affiliated with either Fatah or Hamas. A new education curriculum and system would ensure the long-term de-radicalization of the Gazan population.
The “Palestine Refugees”: Instead of relying on false and unattainable promises that have held the “Palestine refugees” in perpetual limbo for the last 76 years, the unsustainable UNRWA would be disbanded. The “Palestine refugees” who have been living in their host countries for almost eight decades should be integrated into those countries.
Abbas replaced the PA with the PLO: Since its creation, the PA has been dominated by Fatah, first under the rule of Yasser Arafat and then under the rule of Mahmoud Abbas. In his twilight years, Abbas, now 89, has effectively replaced the PA envisaged by the Oslo Accords with the PLO mechanisms. His decisions and moves were designed to obscure the new reality from public discourse and scrutiny, and ensure Fatah’s continued hegemony and corruption.
The same body, just dressed in different clothes: When Abbas is no longer capable of performing his duties, the PLO-PA will present the new unelected PLO leadership as “pragmatic” and “new faces,” in a manner similar to the passage of power from Arafat to Abbas. While this tactic would create the false hope of fundamental change, the new leadership would be no different from the existing leadership.
Conclusion
Seize the opportunity: The opportunity to dismantle the PA is time-limited and will effectively close, for the foreseeable future, upon the transfer of power from Abbas to whichever Palestinian leader uses the most amount of violence to seize control of the Palestinian entity. Accordingly, Israel should seize the opportunity presented in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, massacre together with the aging of Abbas to announce the fundamental change.
Lt Col. (ret.) Maurice Hirsch served as Director of the Military Prosecution for Judea and Samaria.
Since retiring from the IDF, Hirsch worked as the Head of Legal
Strategies for Palestinian Media Watch, as a Senior Military Consultant
for NGO Monitor, an advisor to the Ministry of Defense, and head of an
advisory committee in the Ministry of Interior. Hirsch was the architect
of the Israeli law that strips citizenship from Israeli terrorists who
have been convicted for terror offenses, sentenced to a custodial
sentence, and receive a payment from the Palestinian Authority as a
reward for their acts of terror.
Source: https://jcpa.org/article/is-it-time-to-declare-the-failure-of-the-oslo-accords/
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