The Oslo I Accords

The Oslo I Accords

Introduction

The Oslo I Accord officially known as the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government arrangements was a 1993 peace-talk and potential-negotiation attempting to resolve the currently on going Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was the first and face-to-face rendezvous of the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in a mutual effort to reduce hostilities. The Oslo I facilitated the creation of a Palestinian interim government which would claim responsibility for the territory assigned to it. Oslo I demanded the withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from the Gaza Strip. The length of this agreement was five years during which the Accords intended a permanent negotiation. Permanent sensitive issues of the refugee crisis, Jerusalem, Israeli settlements, individual security and predefined borders were ignored temporarily for future negotiations. Neither Oslo I nor its successor Oslo II promised Palestinian sovereignty and recognition as a state. Thus the effectiveness of the Oslo I and II remain debatable and under the constant scrutiny of political scientists. Israel's concessions at the Oslo I Accords were by no means limited. For the first time in a history dominated by conflict, Israel recognized the PLO as representatives of the Palestinian people and also, for the first time, agreed to transfer to the Palestinians what Israel considered “the Land of Israel”. The Israeli government, which had long believed the PLO to be a terrorist organization, finally at Oslo, endorsed Arafat as its chief partner in peace and resolution (Agha&Feldman, 2003).

Discussion

Articles of the Oslo I Accords

The Oslo I Accords began by stressing the need to recognize both Israel and Palestine's “mutual and legitimate political rights”, which is quite contradicting since the Oslo I never recognized Palestine's statehood. Nevertheless, the Oslo I accord maintained that “peaceful coexistence” must emerge as a result of peace talks to end hostilities and conflict on going for several decades. The purpose or intention was to achieve a “lasting and comprehensive peace settlement” which marks a “historic reconciliation” (Donohue & Druckman, 2009). According to Article IV which covered jurisdiction, the Oslo I decided that the Gaza strip and the West Bank was a “single territorial unit”, and the Palestinian interim government was responsible for its administration. Under Article V dealing with transitional period and permanent status negotiations, the Oslo I urged the withdrawal of the IDF from the Gaza Strip and Jericho areas falling under the jurisdiction of Palestine as established by the preceding article. Article V also postponed sensitive topics such as the refugee issue for further negotiations (Gunderson, 2004). Article VI outlined the preparatory transfer of powers and responsibilities which highlighted the key spheres that the Israeli military and civil government, upon withdrawal from the Gaza strip and Jericho, would hand over to the Palestinian interim government. These spheres included education, culture, health, social welfare, direct taxation and travel and tourism. Another clause agreed upon was the construction of the Palestinian police force (Agha&Feldman, 2003). In future negotiations, the Oslo I hinted that additional transfers related to ...