Alwaght- Gaza war has provided a proper opportunity for the hardline government of Benjamin Netanyahu to revoke all the agreements with the Palestinians to pave the way for realization of his ambitious plans. In his recent speech, the Israeli PM attacked Oslo Accords and described them as a disaster and a political mistake. Declaration of war on the Palestinian Authority (PA) and death of the Oslo Accords have been a series of stances the Israeli government has taken against the PA and the political mechanisms advocated by the supporters of compromises to the Israeli regime in the Palestinian cause.
To shed light on Netanyahu’s recent stances and declaration of war on the PA, Alwaght arranged an interview with West Asia affairs expert Sayyed Hadi Afghahi.
Alwaght: What do Netanyahu’s remarks about death of Oslo Accords mean amid Gaza war? What does he seek behind such claims?
Afghahi: Since the beginning, Netanyahu was against the Oslo Accords and this returns to his family discipline. His father as a history professor was against any interaction and coexistence with the Palestinians and Arabs, and Netanyahu himself since his youth has had far-right tendencies. So, the hardliners in their teachings and theories were against any understanding and peace with the Palestinians and are against all measures serving peace and reconciliation between the Israelis and Arabs.
The young Netanyahu had such a thought and his father advised him and his brothers that they should be the saviors of the Jews, and for this reason, Netanyahu has been one of the biggest opponents of the Camp David and Wadi Araba agreements, and during his premiership, he used all the tools at his disposal to counter these deals.
When then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed the Oslo Accords with the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat in 1993, Netanyahu put the maximum pressures on Rabin for this agreement, and these actions of him and other radicals finally led to the assassination of Rabin. After a series of explosions killed a number of Israelis, Netanyahu again seized the opportunity and strongly attacked the Oslo agreements, and this opposition continues to date.
Therefore, when Torah and anti-peace thoughts grew in Netanyahu, the outcome showed itself in Gaza war and crimes. Actually, what is happening in Gaza is not separate from Netanyahu’s thought and ideology. Now the situation has even grown tougher as the Palestinian blow of October 7 to the Israelis was stronger. So, Netanyahu once again is exploiting the developments and argues that since the beginning he advised against peace with Palestinians and pushed for the necessity of showing no mercy with them.
From another aspect, Netanyahu coalesced with people like National Security Minister Itmar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who are even more hardline than him and this fans the flames of fire of war. Netanyahu even several times clashed with various American administrations and attacked their demands for peace with Palestinians.
Alwaght: Why was the Palestinian Authority working with Tel Aviv while Netanyahu was against Oslo and for years openly described it obsolete?
Afghahi: After Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas was selected to play a Tel Aviv pawn and behind the scenes, he has been working with the Israelis. His actions showed that the Palestinian Authority’s security and intelligence apparatus is at the enemy’s service. But now, Netanyahu is discontented with Abbas puppetship. While one of the options for post-war Gaza was handing over the enclave to the Palestinian Authority, Netanyahu argues that Abbas is no longer an option for Israel. The Israelis are looking for a reformed and even rebuilt Palestinian Authority and perhaps one of their options is Mohammed Dahlan, if he survives the current crisisb.
Currently, given the ongoing conflicts in the West Bank and the development of settlements, there is no such thing as the Palestinian Authority that manages the crisis and solves the problems of the Palestinians. The Israelis themselves also know that Abbas is an expired pawn and cannot serve the interests of the occupation. Abbas was the first to attack Hamas’s Operation Al-Aqsa Storm and claimed that Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people and even earlier he had supported the destruction of Hamas tunnels, because the power of the Gaza resistance groups was increasing day by day among Palestinians, posing a threat to the foundations of the Palestinian Authority.
Mahmoud Abbas is a mercenary and a traitor, however, the Arab countries that claim to help Palestine actually fund his Palestinian Authority, and recognize its political delegations as the the legal representatives of Palestine on the international stage, and they do not care about the people of Gaza and the leaders of the resistance groups, and they try to empower Abbas and destroy Hamas.
Alwaght: How will death of Oslo Accords influence the security and political developments in Palestine, especially the conflict between Tel Aviv and the resistance groups?
Afghahi: Oslo Accords were born dead and did not benefit the Palestinians. Israel has not even been committed to Camp David and Wadi Araba agreements and many of the agreements remained ink on paper. After former Donald Trump assumed the office as the US president and rampped up support to the Israeli regime, he violated the Oslo agreement and the two-state solution and moved the US embassy to Al-Quds (Jerusalem), and now there is no such thing as Oslo agreements. One of the terms of Oslo Accords was the formation of an independent Palestinian state, but the Israelis do not allow this term to come to existence. Stopping the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank was also one of the terms of the agreements, but it continues unchecked.
One of Netanyahu’s election promises was the development of settlements, and the clash of Netanyahu’s government with Obama administration was because Washington argued that the Oslo Accords were signed by Rabin and Israel must adhere to them, but Netanyahu rejected the argument. When Netanyahu’s unconditional supporter Trump came to power, the agreements were destroyed and replaced by Arab-Israeli normalization project. Therefore, there is no trace of Oslo left to say what effects its abrogation will have on the developments in Palestine. We hope that the war in Gaza will end with victory of resistance groups so that there will be no need for Oslo Accords nor for such people as Netanyahu.
Alwaght: Some believe that opposition to Oslo is characteristic of the Israeli hardliners, and the moderates have no such idea. What do you think?
Afghahi: Rabin concluded that he could fight the Palestinians forever, but his logic failed under the rule of radicals. When Oslo agreements were signed, they needed an enforcement mechanism. Meanwhile, there was a political wrestling between their supporters and opponents in Israel. There was similar wresting in the United States as the Zionist lobby was strongly opposed to the agreements and so the position of the country was obvious.
Inside Israel, the waves of opposition were strong, Rabin was assassinated, and the far-right led by Likud Party came to rule. Day after day, opposition to the agreements increased and rates of their enforcement success dropped. Today nobody in Israel dares to talk about these accords. So, the once-supporters of the Oslo process now cannot back it as the ruling hardliners dominate the politics.
Netanyahu had no faith in the Oslo agreements from the beginning and with the situation that has arisen in recent months, he does not allow anyone to talk about them at all. Now, there are several radical ministers in Netanyahu’s cabinet who do not even allow a ceasefire in Gaza. One of them, Ben-Gvir, said that if Netanyahu stops the war with Hamas, he will leave the coalition government. If the cabinet hardliners withdraw, the cabinet will collapse and Netanyahu again will have to go to snap elections, which is not in his interest.
Alwaght: What effects will death of Oslo Accords have on the Israeli relations with the Americans and Arabs as these two, at least ostensibly, claim that an independent Palestinian state should be formed?
Afghahi: Concerning formation of an independent Palestinian state, neither the Americans nor the Israelis nor the pro-compromise Arab countries are honest. Presently, the United Arab Emirates is assisting Israel in its war on Gaza, and Saudi Arabia has recently been taking steps towards normalization, and in general the Arabs want Hamas destruction. In spite of the Israeli crimes and barbaric massacring of tens of thousands of Gaza children and women, Persian Gulf Arab media and social and religious channels claim that what Hamas has done is a “sedition” and not jihad against the occupiers. The Arabs do not want such thing as Palestine, let alone an independent state of Palestine. They do not even support a Palestinian administration as small as Palestinian Authority, in which President Abbas does not have powers of even a mayor, and think that this administration should be nixed.
The US lies about its advocacy for a Palestinian state. Here a question presents itself : Why does this country still voice support to enforcement of Oslo Accords? Western leaders went to the occupied territories in the first days of the Gaza war and declared their strong support from Tel Aviv war on Hamas, but now the tone of the British, German and French officials has changed, as the public in these countries hold mass protests against Israel and accuse their countries of complicity to the Israeli war crimes.
Therefore, the Western leaders who need public votes to continue their rule have had to fine-tune their support to the Israelis. Joe Biden’s administration, for example, is worried about the results of the 2024 presidential election and the protests of African and South American immigrants who are largely anti-Semitic will affect the election outcome. The anti-war voices are supporters of the Democratic Party, and the drop of the party’s votes can put the administration in a tight spot.
The US vetoes draft resolutions calling for immediate Gaza ceasefire, but at the same time claims that it asks Israel to respect international laws and reduce civilian casualties. At the same time, Washington backs the two-state solution as the only way out of crisis. But these stances are just to fool the public opinion to prevent heightened sentiments against Israel and its Western and Arab backers.
The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, referring to Article 99 of the United Nations Charter, warned that the Israeli war crimes in Gaza pose a threat to international peace and security, but Washington vetoed the ceasefire resolution, giving Israel a cart blanche to continue the war. Therefore, the country that is accomplice to all Israeli occupation crimes and supports them by all means cannot enforce the two-state initiative.
