In a recent article in The Jerusalem Post entitled "Back on the Oslo Track," former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Shomron shared his views on the Oslo process. Excerpts:
"The direction in which we are headed is not beneficial, as it is exactly the track of Oslo...
"In an attempt to strengthen Arafat, who had supposedly made a strategic decision to end the long-standing conflict with us, we ignored the fact that he did not dismantle the terrorist organizations. Instead, we hoped that he would get around to it at some point, not grasping that these
organizations provided the Palestinians with an option of violence if their demands were not met at the negotiating table.
"Indeed, when Prime Minister Ehud Barak's extremely generous offers at Camp David were not met with satisfaction, the Palestinian Authority exercised the option of violence by unleashing the terrorist organizations, which were armed not only with weapons, but with a political ideology that does not recognize the existence of a sovereign Jewish state.
"Today, we are on the same track. Today we are asked to view the hudna as a substitute for the dismantling of the terrorist organizations agreed upon in the road map, this time claiming the need to strengthen Abu Mazen. And so the PA again retains the option of violence.
"According to the road map, a Palestinian state will be established in 2005. The way things stand now, it will be a state in which there are military organizations with their own ideology - organizations that are not committed to unconditionally accepting the decisions of the PA...
"The current hudna (which, admittedly, has brought a reduction in the number of terrorist casualties) cannot be a substitute for the dismantling of terrorist organizations. If these organizations are not dismantled, we are liable to find ourselves in a war against the terrorism that rehabilitated itself during the hudna...
"It is possible that our use of force has not been enough to accomplish a full strategic upheaval in the Palestinian consciousness. If not, we will have to take military action once again. The defense forces have to be prepared for this, as I'm certain they are."