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Has Israel Enabled Palestinian Violations of the Oslo Accords?

(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser - The Palestinians know Israel prefers to avoid a harsh response to their violations of the Oslo Accords, fearing that such a response would undermine the PA's stability and its security cooperation with Israel. Israel's accommodating stance was based on a combination of willful blindness toward the Palestinians' true intentions and a belief that making economic and diplomatic gestures, while ignoring most of the Palestinians' infractions, would bolster more pragmatic Palestinian elements and curtail the terror and the other violations of the Accords. In addition, Israel believed that its placatory approach would soften international criticism. In reality, these hopes were disappointed. In recent years, most Israelis have realized that the PA is not a partner for peace who will work to ensure Israel's security. Moreover, the international community and the Arab world increasingly understand that the chances of reaching a settlement that will stabilize Israeli-Palestinian relations are fading and close to zero in the foreseeable future. The political implications of such understandings have seriously weakened Israelis who believed that satisfying Palestinian demands would promote a settlement. Israel acts based on a (groundless) assumption that absent Israeli support, the PA could collapse at any moment and that the alternative to the present situation would likely be worse. Yet, the PA is not in danger of collapse and continues to function in the civilian spheres. Israel sees the PA as a convenient tool that exempts it from closely administering the lives of the Palestinian population. While coordination with the PA's security mechanisms is perceived as contributing to Israel's security, the value of this coordination has been exaggerated, since the PA acts only against the terror operatives that challenge it. It does not act against all the terror operatives in its territory, and it even encourages them by paying high salaries to terrorists imprisoned in Israel and portraying terrorists as exemplary, praiseworthy figures. The writer, former head of the Research Division of IDF Military Intelligence, is Director of the Project on Regional Middle East Developments at the Jerusalem Center.
2023-07-20 00:00:00
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