They walked together on the lawn in front of the White House on September 13, 1993, PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Among those present were former American presidents, Norwegian Foreign Minister Johan Jørgen Holst and other Norwegian facilitators of the secret negotiations. – Welcome to a historic event of hope, said then US President Bill Clinton. The excitement was great after the signing. Would Rabin take his archenemy by the hand? When that happened, cheers erupted. Both sides dissatisfied – PLO leader Yaser Arafat was seen as the Jews’ worst enemy after Adolf Hitler. It was very controversial, says editor of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Aluf Benn to news. 30 years later, the Oslo agreement is associated with anything but peace and reconciliation. – Israelis see it as a mistake and a trap. Oslo gives no positive associations, says Benn. Researcher at Prio, Jørgen Jensehaugen, says both sides have negative feelings about the Oslo agreement. – The Palestinians have bad feelings because the self-governing authorities entered into an agreement that was too bad in which conditions for them worsen year by year. While the Israelis have a feeling of having been deceived. They think they gave a lot and got terror again, he says. Haaretz newspaper has written several articles and comments from the released documents which reveal what happened in the back room before the signing of the Oslo agreement Photo: Åse Marit Befring / news Feared increased terror Wednesday marks exactly 30 years since the Israelis and Palestinians signed The Oslo Agreement. The aim was to end several decades of conflict, and to give the Palestinians limited autonomy, which would eventually pave the way for a two-state solution in which the Palestinians would get their own state. The Oslo Agreement * Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) entered into an agreement in 1993, after secret negotiations with Norwegian diplomats as facilitators, which would give the Palestinians limited autonomy in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. * The agreement established three different zones on the West Bank. * A-areas where the Palestinian authorities on paper have political and security control. * B areas where the Palestinian Authority has political control, while security is controlled by Israeli occupation forces. * C-areas along the border with Jordan, as well as where Israel has established illegal settlements. Israel has full political and security control there. * The Oslo agreement was a declaration of principle and a five-year timetable for further negotiations that would lead to a final peace agreement. * The agreement was signed secretly in Oslo on 20 August 1993, then in front of the White House in Washington with then President Bill Clinton as a witness on 13 September of the same year. * The following year, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat received the Nobel Peace Prize for “their efforts to create peace in the Middle East”. * A sequel to the agreement was concluded in Egypt in 1995 and is referred to as the Oslo 2 agreement. * Real negotiations on a final peace agreement practically stopped when Benjamin Netanyahu from the right-wing Likud party was elected prime minister of Israel in 1996. Source: NTB But the tone at a government meeting in Israel just before the signing was different: – Rabin and his ministers were not ready for any Palestinian state. It was not discussed as a future goal for these Oslo negotiations, says Benn as he scrolls down the released documents from the meeting. The government meeting was held on 30 August 1993. That is, two weeks before they signed the agreement in front of the White House. There, Prime Minister Rabin said, among other things, the following: “Any self-government will be complicated. How can we bring it to life? We would have gotten a much better deal if we had negotiated alone.” – The Israelis would never agree to a completely independent Palestinian state on the same lines as Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Their focus was safety, Benn believes. The Haaretz editor says what surprised him the most when he read through the documents was that no one talked about ending the conflict, but only about how they could handle it better. One of the ministers at the meeting also suggested that they should withdraw from Gaza. It was not meant as a handshake for peace, but to bring down costs. It was expensive to have soldiers to look after the settlers there. It would take 12 years before that happened. Avoided visiting Oslo Aluf Benn was a journalist for Haaretz at the time and was in Oslo when Peres, Arafat and Rabin were awarded the peace prize in 1994. They were awarded the prize for “their efforts to create peace in the Middle East”. Shimon Peres, Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin were awarded the peace prize in Oslo City Hall in 1994. Photo: NTB A few years later he was back in Norway, but then the then prime minister had no desire to travel to Oslo. – It was in 2003 with Ariel Sharon. Kjell Magne Bondevik invited him, but they agreed that with the feelings Oslo created, it was better to meet in his hometown of Molde, says Benn. When Ariel Sharon was invited by then Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik in 2003, they agreed not to visit Oslo. Photo: NTB No pictures Also at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv they have erased the memories of the Oslo agreement. There they have devoted a large area to important events from Israel’s 75 years as an independent state, but two images have been omitted. Neither the handshake in front of the White House, nor the peace award ceremony is included, while for example the peace agreement with Jordan in the same year is depicted. – They have erased Arafat and the Oslo agreement from the biography because they think it would be offensive to people to show this part of history, says Benn. At Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, all the important historical events are marked on a timeline of the country’s 75-year history, but there are no photos from the Oslo process. Photo: Åse Marit Befring / news The year after the Oslo agreement, Israel entered into an agreement with Jordan, which is pictured. King Hussein lights Yitzhak Rabin’s cigar after the session in front of the White House in November 1995. Photo: Åse Marit Befring / news Some 30 years after the Oslo Agreement was signed, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories continues. The illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank have grown year by year. Jensehaugen believes the Palestinians never had good enough cards in their hands when they entered the negotiations. – When they had recognized Israel, there was no more they could give. The bias in the negotiations meant that the establishment of a Palestinian state was postponed. The idea was that it would come on the table later, but that didn’t happen, he says. Nevertheless, Norway’s position is that it is still possible to achieve a two-state solution. – Despite the negative development – and especially the Israeli settlement policy – we still believe that a negotiated two-state solution is possible, says Jonas Gahr Støre to NTB. Benn believes that the Israelis and the Palestinians have lost something important along the way during these 30 years. – What is missing is the notion of peace. It has almost disappeared from the Israeli consciousness and probably the Palestinian one as well, he says.
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Israelis would rather forget this handshake – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
