Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas (Credit: Anonymous, EPA)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas threatened on Tuesday that his government will withdraw from all agreements made with the United States and Israel, including the landmark 1993 Oslo peace accord that created the framework for Palestinian self-governance. Abbas faulted the expected Israeli decision to annex the Jordan Valley in his announcement, stating, “The Palestine Liberation Organization and the State of Palestine are absolved, as of today, of all the agreements and understandings with the American and Israeli governments and of all the obligations based on these understandings and agreements, including the security ones.”
The Oslo accord was signed in 1993 by the late PLO chairman Yasser Arafat and his counterpart, the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, under the sponsorship of US president Bill Clinton. It mandated the Palestinian Authority as a governing body for the territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and it created a mechanism by which the Israeli and Palestinian signatories would jointly govern the territories, with shared responsibility for security and public services. The Oslo accords have acted as the basis for Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations ever since. However, each round of talks for the last quarter-century under the Oslo framework have ultimately proved fruitless, and even counter-productive.
In 2000, during the Camp David accords, Israeli PM Ehud Barak afforded a deal that met the majority of Arafat’s demands. But at the height of negotiations, the PLO chairman balked and returned home to commission a Second Intifada of shootings and suicide bombings across Israel. Another round of talks in 2008, sponsored by US President George W. Bush, saw even greater progress. The dovish Israeli PM Ehud Olmert offered even more concessions of territory and autonomy to Arafat’s successor, Mahmoud Abbas. But once again, the PA refused to negotiate in good faith, and walked away.
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The ascension of Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud party in 2010 signaled a growing sea change in Israeli politics; a general frustration with the failures of the Olso accords, and an understanding that the PA was not genuinely interested in a Palestinian state which would to co-exist side-by-side with a Jewish State. Rather, the status-quo of Palestine as “occupied territory” has been far more lucrative for Abbas and the PA leadership. Over several decades, they have become billionaires by a finely-tuned system of foreign aid and graft, while also perpetuating the narrative of Palestinian victimization. In a Palestinian state, the PA would be accountable to its people for its social ills, such as political corruption and economic stagnation. But as long as the Israeli government is responsible for social services and security, the PA can absolve itself of responsibility for the welfare of it's own people, while making Israel the scapegoat.
The Trump Administration’s “Deal of the Century” attempts to circumvent the status quo, bypassing the cronyism of PA leadership and fostering grassroots economic cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian businesses. It also provides a mechanism by which the Israeli government can unilaterally implement its provisions of the deal, including the annexation of the Jordan Valley, if the Palestinian parties do not agree to negotiation. Netanyahu has already publicly vowed to annex the strip of border territory with Jordan, citing its strategic importance in securing his small nation from foreign malefactors. The center-left Blue and White party, led by Netanyahu’s rival-turned-partner Benny Ganz, has also signaled tacit approval for the plan. Arab nations such as Egypt, Sudan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, formerly sworn to the the “three no’s” of “no recognition, no negotiations, and no peace” with Israel, are now actively seeking diplomatic relations with her, while openly endorsing Trump’s framework and nodding to Israel’s security concerns. On the same day that Abbas announced his government’s withdrawal from all agreements with the US and Israel, the first known direct commercial flight from the UAE to Israel landed in Tel Aviv. Ironically, its cargo included humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people.
We ask our global partners to join us in prayer, as Israel and the Middle East enter a new season of uncertainly. The era of the Oslo accords have been in decline for a decade, but its formal demise is sure to usher in a period of upheaval for Israel and the region-at-large. Backed against a wall, Mahmoud Abbas’ only recourse has become the upending of the status quo, the shifting of the old order, while depending on rogue states such as Iran and Turkey to bolster his credibility. It remains to be seen if his words are just words, or a prelude to something more consequential. Please pray for the FAI/IAI teams active in the Golan Heights, as we continue to serve the mixed communities around us. We believe the Lord has placed us here, for such a time as this.
