After the Oslo Peace Agreement of 1993, just as many people were killed as in the Hamas massacre on October 7th. With this comparison, Israel’s prime minister sparked outrage – in all camps.
His goal is for Israel to disarm the Gaza Strip and then rebuild it under the leadership of the Arab world and the Gulf states. With these words, the Israeli media consistently quotes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statements to the parliament’s foreign policy committee.
Netanyahu also said in the closed meeting yesterday that the Oslo peace agreement with the Palestinians in the 1990s was “an original sin.” Just as many people were killed after Oslo as in the Hamas massacre on October 7th.
Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords consist of two parts: On September 13, 1993, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel signed the first of the “Oslo Accords”, named after the location of the exploratory talks. Both parties agreed on peaceful coexistence and mutual recognition, including Israel’s right to exist. The Palestinians should administer the Gaza Strip and the West Bank themselves in an interim phase while Israel withdraws from the areas.
The agreements were made more concrete with the “Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip” signed in September 1995. The aim was to gradually prepare a two-state solution, which would ultimately result in a sovereign Palestinian state. The agreement was not implemented despite several attempts to revive it. There have been no serious negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians since 2014.
Strong criticism of Netanyahu’s comparison
Politicians from the moderate and right-wing nationalist camps condemned Netanyahu’s comparison as completely inadmissible: “A statement that compares between Oslo and this terrible catastrophe that happened to us on this Black Saturday is evidence of cheap, neglected leadership,” says Elazar Stern, MP for opposition party Yesh Atid on Army Radio. Reality is alien to this leadership.
Labor Party leader Merav Michaeli accused Netanyahu of returning to his campaign that he was the only one who could prevent a Palestinian state. But he never presented an alternative. Without a diplomatic agreement and a two-state vision, “no one will come to help rebuild the Gaza Strip or make an economic investment,” said Michaeli.
Gaza Strip continues to be bombed
Meanwhile, residents in southern Gaza reported continued heavy bombardment. Air strikes on residential buildings in Rafah and Khan Yunis left 22 people dead and dozens injured, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported this morning.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for the Palestinians (OCHA) reported that heavy fighting continued near hospitals. The maternity ward of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahija in the north of the Gaza Strip was hit yesterday. Two mothers were killed and several people were injured.
The hospital, where around 3,000 internally displaced people were waiting to be evacuated, was surrounded by Israeli troops and tanks. Fights with Hamas gunmen have been reported there for days. Defense Minister Joav Gallant called on Hamas to lay down its weapons and surrender on Monday evening. “We are on the verge of a breakthrough in the northern Gaza Strip and Gaza City, and we will continue this operation in other places as well,” Gallant continued.
Al-Aqsa members killed in West Bank
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, four men were killed in drone fire in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. The men belonged to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah’s armed wing.
Clemens Verenkotte, BR, currently Tel Aviv, tagesschau, December 12, 2023 1:07 p.m