Cancelling Oslo Ends the Division

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

The entire people of Palestine want to end the division, and I do not believe there is a single Palestinian who wants the fragmentation and rupture to continue, unless he personally benefits from the situation. The slogan tugs at people’s feelings and emotions, but on its own it remains inadequate and insufficient.

The division was never a cause in itself; rather, it is the result of causes that many people are reluctant to examine. We did not become divided because that was our ambition, or because we look to fragmentation and dispersal as a way to restore our rights. The division has causes, and if we want to end it, we must eliminate the causes that produced it. My view since 1988 has been that the path of recognizing Israel and negotiating with it inherently carries within it the path of internal Palestinian fighting, and I was clear at the time in saying that shaking hands with Israel would put an end to the internal Palestinian handshake and would lead to the bleeding of Palestinian blood. For this reason, I believe the slogan should be:

Ending the division by cancelling Oslo; cancelling Oslo ends the division.

No to recognizing Israel, no to making peace with it, no to negotiating with it.

Some promote the slogan of ending the division in good faith, out of love for the land of Palestine and its people, while others promote it out of malice and bad faith. The people of Oslo promote the slogan because they want to save their own skins from responsibility for the harm inflicted on the Palestinian people as a result of their actions during the dark years now behind us.

Ending the division must not become a certificate of innocence for anyone, and all those responsible for the bleeding of Palestinian blood must be held to account.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “إلغاء أوسلو ينهي الانقسام” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.