The traditional view of Israel is dying a slow death

Joseph Dana
May 31, 2015

The Oslo Accords must end. These were the words of former Israeli minister Yossi Beilin at this year’s United Nations Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East, which took place in Kazakhstan last week. While his words might seem like a frank admission considering his background as an architect of the Oslo Accords and a leading member of the Israeli “peace camp”, the sentiment reveals the logical inconsistency of the liberal Zionist position.

Addressing the crowd of journalists, diplomats and ambassadors, Mr Beilin argued that Palestinians should “set a date” for progress on the peace process. Once that date is reached and no progress has been made, the Palestinians should dissolve the Palestinian Authority (PA), an organisation that he helped create in the course of the Oslo peace process, and force Israel to “directly” occupy the Palestinians of the West Bank.

Israel shouldn’t be given any excuse that there is an agreement in place when it comes to its occupation. The farce that Palestinians enjoy a degree of autonomy must end because they live under a suffocating military occupation with no semblance of autonomy. International donors should stop footing the bill for Israel’s occupation, and the occupier should be made to feel the full burden of its occupation.

To this end, the Oslo Accords must end, as they provide a smokescreen for any lasting peace agreement and, in essence, perpetuate the status quo.

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