Mugs with pictures of U.S. President Barack Obama wearing a keffiyeh, right, late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, top right, and Gazan Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, top left, are displayed in a souvenir shop in Gaza City, Tuesday,9 Nov. 2010. (Photo: AP - Adel Hana)
Twenty years ago in Washington, laughter filled the TV screens and love was born between two sides, one supposedly an occupier and the other its victim. Twenty years ago, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people announced the death of armed struggle and the birth of long decades of empty negotiations, which ripped out historical Palestine from its roots.
Gaza– Two decades ago, Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin grabbed each other’s hands on the White House lawn in Washington DC. They celebrated the birth of the Oslo Declaration of Principles. However, Oslo was not the latest step in the national liberation project launched by Yasser Arafat in 1960, aiming for "revolution until victory." It was to put an end to that revolution and remove the term “victory” from the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) dictionary, replacing it with "permanent defeat."
The defeat was called a "transitional self-authority" over the territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Occupied Jerusalem and the interior of Palestine were not covered. At that time, the PLO’s thoughts did not go beyond peaceful coexistence and a just and comprehensive solution. It was no longer the time or place for arms. All efforts were dedicated to building the state before achieving liberation.
Institutions were built and a Palestinian police force was formed to protect security and internal order in the lands occupied in 1967. Oslo provided the Israeli enemy the full right to self-defense. This was without any objection from the Palestinian side, which supported and entrenched these measures, transforming itself into a tool in the hands of the enemy to disarm the resistance in areas under its control.
Twenty years were enough for the PLO to take off the robe of the Palestinian revolution and don the suit of security coordination. Twenty years and the permanent solution to the questions of Jerusalem, the refugees, the borders, the water, the prisoners, and security arrangements are still pending and Palestinian negotiators keep avoiding them. Twenty years have passed and settlements continue to spread like cancer in the West Bank and Occupied Jerusalem.
Political analyst, Adnan Abu Amr, told Al-Akhbar, "The Israeli enemy succeeded in transforming the negotiation process to one of buying political time to achieve important gains, mainly the expansion of settlements, construction of the apartheid wall, and relinquishing Palestinian control over 80 percent of territories."
Twenty years and the refugee question remains the same, ever since the 1948 nakba and 1967 setback took away their villages and towns. Additionally, UN Resolution 194, calling for the return of refugees to their original homes and their financial compensation, was never implemented. It was merely ink on paper.
Twenty years have gone by and Palestinian negotiators still use the same methods, without learning their lessons. In the past, they committed numerous mistakes. But today, the maximum ambition is to establish an airport in the West Bank, explore for natural gas off the coast of Gaza, and inaugurate vital touristic projects in areas classified C. They are only concerned with receiving guarantees from the Israeli enemy to increase the number of permits for Palestinian workers.
Abu Amr indicated that the constant defeats suffered by the Palestinian side were caused by the weakness of Palestinian negotiators and a negotiating team that has not changed in 20 years. The occupation, on the other hand, has changed its negotiating team seven times to date and studied possibilities for political gains against their opponents who were only capable of giving concessions.
Abu Amr maintained that the PLO had options besides Oslo. It could have continued in the path of the first intifada and imposed its conditions on the Israeli enemy.
Twenty years were enough to extinguish the flame of Palestinian aspirations for liberty from occupation. All they care about today is their livelihood and daily bread.
It is true that Oslo accomplished the return of the Palestinian leadership to its land, along with 300,000 families. It built an independent Palestinian administration and produced presidential and legislative elections, but it stabbed the cause in the back.
The land that the PLO fought for historically is now purely Israeli. Palestinians are like aliens. Abu Amr said that the PLO overcooked the political agreement and succeeded in turning the page on resistance, when the Israeli side created the great illusion of the Palestinian Authority, now being contested by Fatah and Hamas.
Twenty years have gone by and will not return. They took with them the Canaanite, Islamic, and Christian identity of Jerusalem. Ultimately, Oslo, where Palestinian negotiators gambled with their fortunes, is a tragedy, whose chapters the Palestinians have endured.
In these long years, Palestinians stood by watching until they decided in the past few years to raise the slogan, "The People Want the Overthrow of Oslo." The only officially recognized organization to join in the calls against Oslo was the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which maintained that it will remain on the side of the people's movement, at any cost.
Follow Orouba Othman on Twitter.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
Gaza– Two decades ago, Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin grabbed each other’s hands on the White House lawn in Washington DC. They celebrated the birth of the Oslo Declaration of Principles. However, Oslo was not the latest step in the national liberation project launched by Yasser Arafat in 1960, aiming for "revolution until victory." It was to put an end to that revolution and remove the term “victory” from the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) dictionary, replacing it with "permanent defeat."
The defeat was called a "transitional self-authority" over the territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Occupied Jerusalem and the interior of Palestine were not covered. At that time, the PLO’s thoughts did not go beyond peaceful coexistence and a just and comprehensive solution. It was no longer the time or place for arms. All efforts were dedicated to building the state before achieving liberation.
Institutions were built and a Palestinian police force was formed to protect security and internal order in the lands occupied in 1967. Oslo provided the Israeli enemy the full right to self-defense. This was without any objection from the Palestinian side, which supported and entrenched these measures, transforming itself into a tool in the hands of the enemy to disarm the resistance in areas under its control.
Twenty years were enough for the PLO to take off the robe of the Palestinian revolution and don the suit of security coordination. Twenty years and the permanent solution to the questions of Jerusalem, the refugees, the borders, the water, the prisoners, and security arrangements are still pending and Palestinian negotiators keep avoiding them. Twenty years have passed and settlements continue to spread like cancer in the West Bank and Occupied Jerusalem.
Political analyst, Adnan Abu Amr, told Al-Akhbar, "The Israeli enemy succeeded in transforming the negotiation process to one of buying political time to achieve important gains, mainly the expansion of settlements, construction of the apartheid wall, and relinquishing Palestinian control over 80 percent of territories."
Twenty years and the refugee question remains the same, ever since the 1948 nakba and 1967 setback took away their villages and towns. Additionally, UN Resolution 194, calling for the return of refugees to their original homes and their financial compensation, was never implemented. It was merely ink on paper.
Twenty years have gone by and Palestinian negotiators still use the same methods, without learning their lessons. In the past, they committed numerous mistakes. But today, the maximum ambition is to establish an airport in the West Bank, explore for natural gas off the coast of Gaza, and inaugurate vital touristic projects in areas classified C. They are only concerned with receiving guarantees from the Israeli enemy to increase the number of permits for Palestinian workers.
Abu Amr indicated that the constant defeats suffered by the Palestinian side were caused by the weakness of Palestinian negotiators and a negotiating team that has not changed in 20 years. The occupation, on the other hand, has changed its negotiating team seven times to date and studied possibilities for political gains against their opponents who were only capable of giving concessions.
Abu Amr maintained that the PLO had options besides Oslo. It could have continued in the path of the first intifada and imposed its conditions on the Israeli enemy.
Twenty years were enough to extinguish the flame of Palestinian aspirations for liberty from occupation. All they care about today is their livelihood and daily bread.
It is true that Oslo accomplished the return of the Palestinian leadership to its land, along with 300,000 families. It built an independent Palestinian administration and produced presidential and legislative elections, but it stabbed the cause in the back.
The land that the PLO fought for historically is now purely Israeli. Palestinians are like aliens. Abu Amr said that the PLO overcooked the political agreement and succeeded in turning the page on resistance, when the Israeli side created the great illusion of the Palestinian Authority, now being contested by Fatah and Hamas.
Twenty years have gone by and will not return. They took with them the Canaanite, Islamic, and Christian identity of Jerusalem. Ultimately, Oslo, where Palestinian negotiators gambled with their fortunes, is a tragedy, whose chapters the Palestinians have endured.
In these long years, Palestinians stood by watching until they decided in the past few years to raise the slogan, "The People Want the Overthrow of Oslo." The only officially recognized organization to join in the calls against Oslo was the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which maintained that it will remain on the side of the people's movement, at any cost.
Follow Orouba Othman on Twitter.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.