Opinion – The legacy of Oslo: Biden’s opportunity to ‘build back better’ Palestine
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The Oslo Legacy: Biden’s Opportunity to ‘Build Back Better’ Palestine
Joe Biden’s campaign slogan, “build back better,” should not only apply to national issues. The Trump administration withdrew Palestinian aid and granted billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, unilaterally declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel, and tolerated its settlements. The Biden administration has a unique opportunity to restore relations with the Palestinian leadership and address the needs of Palestinians and Israelis if it avoids the mistakes of the past.
For decades, the United States has maintained the same approach to dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. US policy has prompted the Israeli and Palestinian leadership to return to the negotiating table with help. The most promising outcome has been the Oslo Accords, the set of agreements resulting from the Oslo peace process. Although the Oslo peace process has collapsed, the United States consistently uses it as a benchmark for peace talks. If the United States continues to support and refer to the failure of the deal, it will continue to cost them billions of dollars in aid because of the perpetual conflict in the region.
Institutional destabilizing factors
The Oslo Accords do not address mechanisms to ensure free and fair Palestinian elections or involve consensual leaders.
The last presidential elections were held in 2005, when Mahmoud Abbas was elected for a four-year term. The last big elections were held in 2006, in which the rival Fatah party, Hamas, won seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council. After an attempt to form a unity government collapsed into violent conflict, Hamas became the de facto government in Gaza and Abbas’s Fatah party remains the leader of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank.
Along with the Palestinian Authority, the Oslo Accords established a Palestinian security force with a mandate to cooperate with Israeli national security interests. The security force serves to calm dissidents who threaten the agreement between PA officials and Israel, as well as those who threaten the PA’s grip on power.
Factors of economic destabilization
The Oslo Accords provide the Palestinian Authority with territorial jurisdiction that includes âland, subsoil and territorial watersâ in the West Bank and Gaza. However, Yasser Arafat, the late Palestinian leader, did not negotiate details of land or water rights, which the Israeli government took advantage of.
In 2015, Israel enforced its Absentee Property Law, which allows the government to seize property left vacant by war refugees from Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem.
Israel also controls the water supply. As shown in the book by law professor John Quigley The case of Palestine, in 2005, when they represented only 3% of the population of the West Bank, the Israelis consumed 20% of the water. The Israeli government controls the water supply by limiting the consumption of Palestinian water for domestic purposes only, prohibiting its use for agriculture.
Israel is also banning the transfer of fresh water from the West Bank to Gaza, whose water supply is 90-95% contaminated, according to Amnesty International.
Safety factors
A weak economy can lead to destabilizing factors, such as lack of employment opportunities and food shortage. The loopholes in the Oslo accords allowed Israel to thwart the Palestinian economy, increasing Israel’s national security and defense needs.
The Oslo II Accord states: “In order to fulfill Israel’s responsibility for the external and internal security and public order of the settlements and of the Israelis, Israel must, in parallel with the withdrawal, redeploy its forces. remaining soldiers to the settlements. Today, the Israel Defense Forces have jurisdiction over 42% of the West Bank and 86% of East Jerusalem due to growing settlements, according to Al Jazeera. As the settlements continue to expand, Israel can use this clause to increase its control over Palestinian territory.
Monetary implications
Since the United States cut funding for UNRWA, UN officials predict it will have devastating effects on food stability, education and health care, all of which are destabilizing factors. Meanwhile, the United States has consistently provided Israel with more military aid than any other state since World War II. US support for the Oslo accords and the withdrawal of Palestinian aid will only increase Israel’s need for military aid in the long term. These destabilizing factors will cost Israel $ 38 billion in military aid over the next 10 years, according to a Congressional Research Service report. These expenses could be reduced through improved policies in the region.
The ambiguity of the Oslo accords left loopholes that allowed the Palestinian leadership to monopolize power and the Israeli government to seize more land in the Palestinian territories. Therefore, a new, unambiguous peace plan is needed. In addition, US aid should be conditional on free and fair elections in Palestine, and on concessions and an end to settlement building by the Israeli government. Although it is more difficult to ‘build back better’, any chance for stability in the region is worth seizing.
Miranda Franklin-Wall has an MA in Conflict Studies from Tel Aviv University, where she was inspired by studying Arabic to deepen the conflagrations in the Middle East. She is studying Arabic at the University of California, Pennsylvania and recently lectured on Libya at City College, San Francisco. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the US government.
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