Palestinians Threaten to Withdraw From Oslo Accords Over Trump Plan

In the lead-up to President Trump unveiling his Israel peace plan, the Palestinians were warning they had the right to withdraw from the Oslo Accords over the matter, since it would turn the temporary occupation of Palestine into a permanent one.

Now that Trump has followed through on the announcement, it’s not clear when, or if, the Palestinians will make such a move. The US would clearly be mad at anything undercutting Trump, and Trump already couched the plan as the Palestinians’ “last chance for peace.”

The 1993 Oslo Accords were meant to give the Palestinians a measure of self-governance during a temporary occupation, while setting up a Palestinian ruling force meant to cooperate with the occupation.

This has been very convenient for Israel, even if they don’t always like the Palestinian Authority and even if they never really intended to move beyond the temporary occupation. It also gave Israel legal cover to not directly take care of the civilian population living under occupation as required under international law.

Dismantling the Palestinian Authority, which is what withdrawing from Oslo would do, puts the onus on Israel to take care of the Palestinian people that still live under occupation. That would require both a major increase in Israeli responsibility for infrastructure for the population, and an approach other than occasional military raids to drag people off into detention.

Critics of withdrawing from Oslo have argued that there is no real alternative that results in an independent Palestine. Since the US plan clearly offers nothing close to an independent Palestine, this may no longer be a concern.