Oslo Accords

First Intifada in the Gaza Strip, 1987. (Efi Sharir/Dan Hadani Collection, The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, The National Library of Israel)

Why is Gaza so central to the Palestinian struggle?

The history of Gaza illuminates how the tiny enclave has long encapsulated Palestinian identity — and why it is now the focal point of a regional crisis.

By Anne Irfan January 2, 2024

Israeli security forces guard as Palestinians make their way through a checkpoint to attend Friday prayer of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque, near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, April 29, 2022. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

The permit regime is Oslo’s enduring legacy. It must be abolished

The separation logic enshrined by the Oslo Accords birthed a cruel system of Israeli control, whose security justifications collapsed into openly racist ones.

By Yael Berda September 21, 2023

Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi, seen in her office in the West Bank city of Ramallah. January 31, 2012. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

‘I told Arafat: Israel will promise you an inch and not give you a millimeter’

Reflecting on the Oslo Accords 30 years later, veteran politician Hanan Ashrawi recounts her arguments with PLO leaders during the negotiations, and explains why Israel's political crisis is opening cracks in the occupation.

By Meron Rapoport September 13, 2023

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Palestinian policemen celebrate their entry into the West Bank city of Jericho alongside Israeli soldiers, in accordance with the Oslo Accords, May 13, 1994. (Yossi Zamir/Flash 90)

The contradictory afterlives of Oslo

A path to peace. A blasphemous betrayal. A cover for the occupation. How did the Oslo Accords morph into such infinitely pliable meanings?

By Dahlia Scheindlin September 12, 2023

Palestinian policemen celebrate upon entering Jericho, one of the first cities handed over to Palestinian Authority control in accordance with the Oslo Accords, May 13, 1994. (Yossi Zamir/Flash 90)

The Oslo trap: How the PLO signed its own death warrant

From asymmetrical concessions to renouncing armed struggle, the fate of the Palestinians was sealed before Arafat and Rabin even shook hands.

By Raef Zreik September 11, 2023

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gives a press statement in Jerusalem, January 31, 2023. (Emil Salman/POOL)

The US policy world can’t imagine Palestinians as equals

The refusal of American policy figures to consider alternatives to the two-state solution betrays the fact that they will always prioritize Israeli domination.

By Tariq Kenney-Shawa May 11, 2023

MK Simcha Rotman, Head of the Knesset's Constitution Committee, poses for a picture at the Knesset, Jerusalem, January 17, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Welcome to Simcha Rothman’s vengeful coup

Embodying the rage that drives the Israeli right’s judicial assault, the chair of the Knesset’s Law and Justice Committee is poised to bring his once-fringe ideas to fruition. And, he tells +972, he is just getting started.

By Nate Orbach March 9, 2023

Israeli soldiers, settlers and Palestinian demonstrators during a protest against Israeli settlement building in Al-Thaalaba village, near Yatta, August 21, 2020. (Wissam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

Why Israel’s goal of pacifying the Palestinians is failing

Israel relies on a counterinsurgency strategy of economic gestures and local policing to stabilize its rule. But growing resistance shows why it can't prevail.

By Nur Arafeh February 16, 2023

Young Orthodox Israelis wave flags during the annual Jerusalem Day Flag March outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, May 15, 2021. (Keren Manor/Activestills)

The radicalizing rebellion of Israel’s Haredi youth

Once staunch anti-Zionists, Haredi parties have become ensconced in the Israeli right. Now, a generation of disenfranchised Haredi youth is defying its elders and seeking meaning in the most extreme forms of supremacism.

By Pnina Pfeuffer October 31, 2022

Palestinians clash with PA security forces in Nablus, in the West Bank on September 20, 2022, following the arrest of Hamas members by Palestinian security forces. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

Why Israel’s plan of subcontracting the occupation is failing

Rare confrontations in Nablus last week show how the Palestinian Authority, backed by a discordant Israeli policy, has lost legitimacy among its people.

By Omar H. Rahman September 27, 2022

Jenin governor Akram Rajoub in his office, West Bank, September 2022. (Yuval Abraham)

‘We built the Palestinian Authority with blood. We won’t give up on it’

As armed confrontations escalate in Jenin, Governor Akram Rajoub addresses criticisms of the PA's failures as a government under Israeli occupation.

By Yuval Abraham September 26, 2022

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas taking part in a prayer ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan, in Ramallah, West Bank, July 6, 2015. (Flash90)

Abbas is signaling a successor. But will Palestinians accept him?

The nepotistic rise of Hussein al-Sheikh, the PA's key liaison with Israel, is emblematic of much that is wrong with the Palestinian leadership.

By Omar H. Rahman June 21, 2022

Israelis mark the 26th Memorial Day for the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, October 18, 2021. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Good riddance to Rabin Square

The closure of Rabin Square presents an opportunity for the Zionist left to let go of its former leader’s legacy and embrace a politics of decolonization.

By Ben Reiff November 3, 2021