Since the Oslo accords of 1993 turned out to be a colossal disaster, the Israeli architect of the agreement is proposing what he obviously thinks is a brilliant idea: let's do it again!
Writing in the Jerusalem Post a few days ago, Oslo architect Yossi Beilin urged the Trump administration not only to repeat the mistakes of the past, but to make them even worse. According to Beilin, the centerpiece of a new peace agreement should be "the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state." If the conclusion of the negotiations has already been determined (by Beilin), then what's left to negotiate about?
Not much, it seems. Beilin says that some small details about the final borders would remain to be ironed out, but that could all be settled "in a matter of months." The key, according to Beilin, is for the Trump administration to accomplish all this in "quiet talks," behind the scenes, with tightly closed doors shielding the truth from the public.
I can understand why Beilin is so insistent on secrecy. The only way he was able to get the Oslo accords approved was by keeping the public in dark. In blatant violation of his own Labor Party's pledges not to negotiate with Yasir Arafat, Beilin secretly negotiated with Arafat and then presented their agreement to the public as a fait accompli.
Concepts like democracy and transparency are of no interest to Beilin. He's hell-bent on creating a Palestinian state in Israel's back yard, and no trivial matter like the public's wishes can be allowed to get in the way. And now he wants to do it again—and he wants President Trump to repeat President Bill Clinton’s mistake of trusting the Palestinian leadership.
That, of course, is the major obstacle in the way of a Beilin triumph—the reality that Palestinian leaders, and the Palestinian masses, simply are not interested in living in permanent, genuine peace with Israel.
One glance at the week’s news reminds every clear-thinking person of the contrast between Beilin’s fantasies and day-to-day reality.
— Amid a continuing wave of Palestinian Authority encouragement of stabbings, a Palestinian stabbed two Israelis in Jerusalem. The stabber was shot dead. Fatah, which is chaired by PA head Mahmoud Abbas, hailed the stabber as a “martyr.”
— Israeli forces were compelled to briefly enter two Palestinian Authority-ruled towns, El-Bireh and Hebron (which is 80% under the PA) to arrest terrorists because, once again, the PA refused to arrest the killers.
— An illegal PA office was found to be operating in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina. The purpose of the office was to track and intimidate Arabs who sell land to Jews. The PA has the death penalty for Arabs who sell land to Jews. Imagine if Israel had the death penalty for Jews who sell land to Arabs!
— Mahmoud Abbas held a friendly meeting in his office with Imad Hamato, whom Abbas recently named to be head of Gaza’s Al-Azhar institutes. Hamato is a fanatical anti-Semite who declared on official PA Television last year: “Humanity will never live in comfort as long as the Jews are causing devastating corruption throughout the land. Humanity will never live in peace or fortune or tranquility as long as they are corrupting the land. An old man told me: If a fish in the sea fights with another fish, I am sure the Jews are behind it.” (Translation courtesy Palestinian Media Watch).
So dream on, Yossi Beilin; your dreams will never come true. Your Oslo dream fell apart because the Palestinians are addicted to stabbing Israelis, sheltering terrorists, and hating Jews. Your talk of creating a Palestinian state will meet the same fate, for the same reason.
Stephen M. Flatow, a vice president of the Religious Zionists of America, is an attorney in New Jersey. He is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995.
