Twenty years ago, the Oslo agreements were celebrated on the White House lawn at the invitation of President Bill Clinton. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat and their senior colleagues stood to confirm what was called the Oslo Accords.

On the day before, I wrote an article in the Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat titled: "To the Arab guests at the White House: 'If there is going to be a photograph please avoid smiling!'"

This article of mine was an expression of bitter disappointment because I perceived this to be a trap, one that would further complicate and delay a consequential outcome of a two-state system with East Jerusalem being the capital of Palestine.

Moreover, the bitterness was due to the fact that the Oslo agreement was accomplished in secret, simultaneous to the “negotiations” that were taking place in Washington with the Palestinian delegation headed by the late Palestinian statesman Haidar Abdel Shafi. There is no need to recite that at the time of the Oslo Accords there were at least 105,000 settlers in the West Bank. Today, there are more than 360,000 settlers there, and more than 550,000 settlers if ones in east Jerusalem are included. Israel has allocated about 40% of the West Bank for settlements and their expansion, in addition to army camps, areas of training, nature reserves and roads.