Oslo Accords, A Milestone In Rabin's Legacy
Despite criticisms of the Oslo Accords, and the victims who have fallen on both sides since their signing 20 years ago, the agreement nonetheless opened the way for today's negotiations.
It was an event destined to transform Israeli politics, more so than any event that preceded it. From that point on, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was to change course. But about a month after the signing of the Oslo Accords on the White House lawn, on September 13, 1993, the agreement reached the Knesset. The right-wing parties, flabbergasted by the move, were beside themselves with anger. They were determined to make it really difficult for Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who had dared to cross the Rubicon.
Just a few years earlier, in 1989, Israeli citizens had been arrested for having contact with Palestinian officials. Now, none other than the prime minister himself, was publicly shaking hands with the man who, for years, had been depicted as an arch-murderer. Pictures of Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat adorned the streets of East Jerusalem, and the flags of Palestine flew from balconies in that part of the city. Israelis, however, were sharply divided over the agreement, with its enthusiastic advocates on the one side, and its opponents, who were resolved to prevent its implementation at all costs, on the other.
At the time, I was serving as the parliamentary correspondent for the Israeli daily Davar. The atmosphere in the Knesset corridors was one of a prewar era. Urgent meetings were called, all with the aim of looking for ways to torpedo the agreement before it could be submitted to a vote.
A year before the agreement, Rabin had managed to put together a coalition of leftist parties and move into the Prime Minister's Office. Already at that time, the right-wing parties had launched an uncompromising struggle against the newly elected government, which put peace at the top of the national agenda. As far as the leaders of the Israeli right were concerned, this was not merely a political struggle, but above all, a battle for the identity of Israeli society. The desire for normalcy harbored by many Israelis and the aspiration for peace with the Arab world actually intimidated the right wing, in particular, the main part of the religious community, which considered its faith to be the foundation for the existence of Israel.
