The People Want to Topple Oslo

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Calls have multiplied in the West Bank to end the internal Palestinian division, and festivals are being held that call for ending the division. But there is no clarification whatsoever of the basis on which the division is supposed to end. Does the division end just like that, automatically, with the causes that led to it disappearing along with it? Does ending the division mean ending the causes that produced it? Or will the causes be addressed first, with the division ending only afterward? There is no clarification of what is actually required for the division to end. Perhaps whoever raises this slogan simply wants the people to chant his name as the basis for ending the division.

The whole of the people wants an end to the division, but the slogan must not be used merely for emotional appeal, without discussing the causes that produced it. A living, great people is one that pauses at every problem it faces, and studies it carefully and with complete freedom, in order to correct the error and reinforce what is right.

The division did not come out of nowhere; its roots and causes go back to the decisions of the Palestinian National Council in 1988, which recognized Israel and Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. These causes were then reinforced by the signing of the Oslo Accord, and by the agreements that followed. Remove the causes, and the division disappears.

For this reason, the slogan that ought to be raised is:

The People Want to Topple Oslo

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “الشعب يريد إسقاط أوسلو” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.