oslo accord

Ron Pundak in 2011 (Photo by Yossi Gurvitz)

Oslo Accord architect Ron Pundak dies at 59

Ron Pundak, one of the architects of the Oslo Accord, died Friday at the age of 59. In 1993, Pundak, an expert on Middle East history, was working under Yossi Beilin, who was then the Israeli deputy foreign minister. At the time, Israel was holding formal negotiations in Washington with a Palestinian team, but the…

By Noam Sheizaf April 11, 2014

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a joint press conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry following their meeting in Jerusalem, December 5, 2013. (Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO)

The rejectionist: Netanyahu and the peace talks

The Palestinian leadership changed, the political circumstances shifted, administrations came and went, but every round of talks involving Netanyahu follows the same dynamic, and ends the same way. When talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators resumed last summer, a couple of pollsters asked Israelis whether they think Prime Minister Netanyahu actually supports the two-state solution…

By Noam Sheizaf April 6, 2014

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. president Bill Clinton, and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat at the signing of the Oslo Accords at the White House on September 13, 1993. (Vince Musi/The White House)

Oslo years, a view from the ground

I was sent to the Occupied Palestinian Territories on the day the Accords were signed, and got to spend the Oslo years in uniform. Twenty years ago I was in the final section of “advanced training” in my infantry unit, five months into my mandatory service in the IDF. We were about to go to…

By Noam Sheizaf September 13, 2013

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Palestinians wait to get through at checkpoint at the separation wall in Bethlehem [file photo], (Photo: Activestills.org)

What’s the big deal about a Knesset member acknowledging the occupation?

A Facebook post expressing shock and dismay about the occupation by new MK Adi Koll of the ‘centrist’ Yesh Atid party went viral over the weekend. Has segregation between Israelis and Palestinians become so entrenched in Israeli society that expressing empathy for Palestinians is a shocking aberration? After reading MK Adi Koll’s Facebook status that Noam…

By Mairav Zonszein April 22, 2013

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. president Bill Clinton, and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat at the signing of the Oslo Accords at the White House on September 13, 1993. (Vince Musi/The White House)

The Israeli negotiator who thinks the two-state solution is still possible

Veteran Israeli negotiator Shaul Arieli discusses the failure of the Oslo Accords, various Israeli prime ministers’ commitment (or lack thereof) to ending the occupation, and the only solution he believes both sides could live with, however unsatisfied they might be with it. Shaul Arieli is a man on a dual mission: educating Israelis about the conflict and diplomatic process…

By Noam Sheizaf March 27, 2013

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. president Bill Clinton, and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat at the signing of the Oslo Accords at the White House on September 13, 1993. (Vince Musi/The White House)

An agreement on indefinite occupation: Oslo celebrates 19 years

Regardless of the intentions of the people signing it, there is no denying what the Oslo Accords and the Paris Protocol have become: providers of the legal framework and international legitimacy for the oppression of millions. Today, 19 years ago, hours before the Oslo agreement was signed in Washington, I set foot for the first…

By Noam Sheizaf September 13, 2012

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. president Bill Clinton, and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat at the signing of the Oslo Accords at the White House on September 13, 1993. (Vince Musi/The White House)

How we created ‘the world’s only prison where prisoners must provide for themselves’

A surprisingly candid op-ed from a high-level Israeli official explains the role the Oslo Accords played in allowing Israel to maintain the occupation. Dov Weisglass, former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s righthand man, recently had another very candid moment. After Before the disengagement from Gaza, Weisglass gave a famous interview to Haaretz in which he was honest about…

By Noam Sheizaf August 28, 2012

Palestinian day workers lining at the Bethlehem Checkpoint, June 30 2011 (photo: Porter Speakman, Jr.)

The profitable occupation, and why it is never discussed

An understanding of the profitable side of the occupation – way more considerable than most people imagine – could force us to change our entire political thinking. Ami Kaufman (on his +972 blog) and Emily Hauser (Open Zion) join the debate regarding the financial burden the occupation puts on the Israeli economy. As Ami notes,…

By Noam Sheizaf June 27, 2012

The man who invented the PA calls for it to be dismantled

Yossi Beilin, one of the architects of the Oslo Accords, calls on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to put an end to the ‘fig leaf’ that is the Palestinian Authority. This is as big as an op-ed gets: Yossi Beilin, the Israeli architect of the Oslo process, has published a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,…

By Noam Sheizaf April 4, 2012

When will his Peace Prize be withdrawn? Shimon Peres speaks (Photo: Yossi Gurvitz)

The Palestinians have abandoned Oslo

The Palestinian leadership realized the sham of the Oslo Accords, and is moving on If any proof was necessary to understand Palestinians must leave the old paths and strike their own way, the response of Finance Minister Steinitz to the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah provided it. Steinitz announced (Hebrew) he is withholding transferring of…

By Yossi Gurvitz May 2, 2011

IDF document: “Policy principle: separating Gaza from West Bank”

An IDF Powerpoint slideshow, presented before the Turkel committee for the investigation of the Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla, reveals the official goals of the Israeli policy regarding the Gaza strip. The slideshow, prepared by The Administration for the Coordination of Government Policy in the Territories – the IDF body in charge of carrying…

By Noam Sheizaf September 5, 2010