Thirty years on, we can say with confidence that Oslo and everything that it stood for is dead. Rather than trying to revive it, we would do well to offer it a fitting eulogy.
I blame Israeli military leaders going back 3 decades who not only soft-pedaled the dangers of Oslo, but also promised Israelis a demilitarized West Bank and Gaza under all political circumstances.
No peace prospect between Israelis and Palestinians is currently on the table, but much will depend on how political uncertainty in the Palestinian arena plays out.
The terror attacks (and incitement) that accompanied Oslo and every other attempted peace process with the Palestinians proved that peace with the Palestinians is not just elusive but an illusion.
Whereas the terror that Oslo enabled made it a tragic failure for Israel, for the PLO the terror is what made it a success, because that was one of the goals set by the Palestinian leadership.
As the Palestinians see it, they are in a war of attrition which requires constant terrorism and no compromises.
Then PM Yitzhak Rabin acknowledged that the situation after the deal would be "less comfortable in terms of security."
Israel's national archives released the protocols of a 1993 government meeting on the Olso Accords, led by then prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.
An independent Palestinian state would make the already diplomatically and logistically challenging task of tracking down terrorists incredibly more difficult.
The State Department tapped Shapiro to be its senior advisor for regional cooperation, looking to deepen what he publicly doubted and his former boss said would never happen.
JPOST Digital Library
