Oslo Is Dead. Should We Bury the Corpse?

First, a short review. Under the Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995, Israel recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and the PLO recognized Israel’s right to live in peace and security. The Oslo agreements envisioned a gradual process to build trust. The initial stage divided land captured in the Six-Day War (including Judea and Samaria, also called the West Bank, and Gaza), into Areas A, B and C. A new ruling body was created to administer these lands, called the Palestinian Authority, which included many former members of the PLO. In Area A, encompassing all of Gaza and parts of the West Bank, the PA was given complete civil/internal security control, including weapons for policing. In Area B, they shared security control with Israel and had civil control: health care, schools, municipal administration, local policing and taxation. Area C remained completely under Israeli control. Depending on how this worked out, it would lead to final negotiations on borders, settlements, Jerusalem, refugees and statehood.

There is no agreement, compromise or treaty of value to be made with fanatic enemies.

In 1998, President Clinton pushed Israel into agreeing to the Wye River Memorandum, which transferred additional parts of Areas C and B into Palestinian-controlled Area A, in exchange for a Palestinian pledge of “zero tolerance” for terrorism, including dismantling terror infrastructure and arresting suspects.

Well, as we all know, Oslo was a spectacular failure, leading to thousands of Israelis murdered in cold blood, years of terrorism, suicide bombings, failed negotiations and the Second Intifada. As for how the PA did with schools, hospitals, taxes, etc.: It produced antisemitic textbooks glorifying shahids, martyrs; medical care that depended on Israeli and Jordanian hospitals for serious cases; and an economy based mostly on international aid handouts, including to the families of terrorists, instead of industry.

It is also no secret that following October 7, the IDF continuously raided PA-ruled areas such as Tul Karem, Ramallah and Jenin, killing terrorists, dismantling terror networks and weapons factories for fear of a copycat invasion into Israel’s homeland—all steps the PA, as per the Wye River Memorandum, was obligated to take and never did. When the PA did attempt to rein in terrorists in the West Bank city of Tubas in 2024, it sparked a veritable civil war.

So why, you might ask, would Israel hesitate to cancel these abrogated contracts, which limit its ability to control what happens in these areas so close to Israel’s main population centers?

Ask Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, while no fan of Oslo, has pushed to postpone the passage of this law by keeping it in the Ministerial Committee that must approve it before it goes up for a vote. It’s reasonable to assume that, in the middle of a war, he doesn’t need the headache of the inevitable international backlash against such a move. The bill might take a long, circuitous road and never be made into law because of internal Israeli politics.

I understand the opposition. Taking over civil and municipal responsibilities for millions of Palestinians would be a headache, not militarily but administratively. The Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security has supported the idea of making PA-controlled Palestinian-run cities into independent emirates, with control of civil administration, and incorporating rural areas into Israel. But if we still harbor any hope of a peaceful future, the education of Palestinian children and the use of their parents’ tax money would be better left in Israeli hands.

Whatever the difficulties of such a decision, I strongly believe it is worth the effort. Oslo, pursued with such high hopes, which exploded in such an orgy of blood-soaked death, deserves an ignoble end. And the Jewish people should have the chance to take over and settle their historic heartland in Judea and Samaria, along with parts of Gaza. The PA, created in a fruitless and delusional attempt to find peace where there was no peace to be found, should be disbanded along with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah. Israelis must finally accept that there is no agreement, compromise or treaty of value to be made with fanatic enemies. Instead, Israel must concentrate on honest initiatives like the Abraham Accords with those in the Arab world whose hands are truly extended in peace, like the United Arab Emirates.

As MK Har-Melech said ahead of the debate on the bill: “Over the years, it has been proven in a way that cannot be ignored what happens when you give power, weapons and territory to an enemy whose goal is to eliminate the State of Israel. The State of Israel must free itself from these failed agreements and return to itself full responsibility for the security of its citizens and its sovereignty.”