Sobering Reality: Shattering the Illusions of Oslo - by Sarah N. Stern

Many other variations set along the same basic themes have been offered: Oslo II, the Hebron Accords, the Wye River Memorandum, the “road map for peace.” The same set of conditions was continuously placed upon the Palestinians, all almost entirely ignored.

Sarah N. Stern..
JNS.org..
24 June '20..

Within the next week, the government of Israel will decide whether or not to implement a part of the Trump “Peace to Prosperity” plan by extending sovereignty over 30 percent of Judea and Samaria, and the Jordan Valley. This represents a significant paradigm shift away from the Oslo Accords.

Paradigms are difficult things to break from. For the last 27 years, an elaborate crystal palace chiseled from Oslo was erected and has taken firm root in the brains of many well-intentioned people. Since its signing on Sept. 13, 1993, the agreement has caused an enormous industry of professional “peace processors” to spring up. These folks stand a lot to gain—and everything to lose—both financially and in terms of their own personal reputations by looking squarely at the facts on the ground of what has transpired since that time.

“Two states for two people” and “land for peace” are lovely aphorisms, and make for nice bumper stickers. Responsible foreign policy, however, entails delving into the sobering reality and looking at the facts, as vexing as they might be.

The night after signing the Oslo Accords, PLO chief Yasser Arafat went on Jordanian television and said that this was “the peace of the brave”—words many in the West immediately embraced and interpreted to mean Arafat displayed the courage to finally make peace with the Israelis. However, he then added that this was “like the prophet Mohammad signed with the tribe of Koresh.”

That part of the sentence has been ignored, long forgotten from our collective memories. It references the fact that Mohammad had entered into a peace agreement with the tribe of Koresh—a stronger tribe—only to gain attack them later and totally vanquish them.

Such is the selective editing of many of us in the West, who tend to think with our cardiac organs and not our cranial ones. A “group think” mentality subsequently set in. We therefore sleep well at night, safe on this side of the Atlantic and far from having to deal with the bloody consequences of these monumental decisions.

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Sarah N. Stern is founder and president of the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET), a pro-Israel and pro-American think tank and policy institute in Washington, D.C.