Oslo accords: Thirty years of peace distortion
Three decades on, the Oslo accords framework continues to affect and shape major aspects of Palestinian life and death. Since its inception and adoption, Oslo has created processes, institutions, and arrangements in Palestinian society that have resulted in major structural transformations and deficiencies, particularly in the occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Oslo accords framework distorted Palestinian civil society, redefined and reconceptualised key pillars of the social contract, and further fragmented and divided the Palestinian people.
It solidified Palestinian economic dependence on, and asymmetrical containment by, the Israeli economy, creating an economy that is inherently reliant on international aid and institutionalising a process that denied the Palestinian right to development.
Politically, the Oslo framework led to the domination of personal styles of governance over inclusive, accountable, and participatory approaches.
This inevitably alienated the Palestinian people from the core of the political system and governing bodies by breeding corruption and failing to establish effective mechanisms of accountability and transparency.
Such flaws are neither accidental nor unintended; they are integral to the design of the Oslo Accords and constitute fundamental prerequisites for the "peace and state-building" processes.
Yet every September, Palestinians are reminded that their political leadership is fixated on a failed and obsolete framework that denies their fundamental rights.
They are also reminded that the notion of peace dwindled to a mere function of a securitised arrangement between the occupied and the occupier to preserve the status quo and imbalance of power.
The Oslo framework therefore violates Palestinian rights - including safety and security - and reinforces the multi-layered system of subjugation, control, and repression that Palestinians have long endured. Thirty years on, Oslo has proven to be neither an avenue for peace nor a framework that will bring the Palestinian people any closer to realising their inalienable right to self-determination.
If anything, it has made Palestinians weaker and more fragmented and the prospects of statehood - let alone equality, justice, and freedom - more distant.
