5) Going Beyond the Impasse of the Oslo Agreement

The Oslo Agreements, which considered the occupied Palestinian territories to be "disputable territories," led to partial redeployment of the Israeli army in this zone. The Agreements also led to the formation of an Autonomous Palestinian Authority that included a legislative structure with limited powers (The Palestinian Council) and an executive structure (ministries and other institutions) with internal and civil faculties over a part of the occupied Palestinian territories. In addition, the Agreements allowed for the continuation of settlement activity, expansion, and a continuation of the illegal occupation. It also allowed for 'civil' administration under Israeli military rule, complete Israeli control over much of Palestinian land, water and air space, and complete domination over the Palestinian economy.

The Oslo Agreements consist of two stages, transitional and permanent. The first stage involves ending the power of internationally recognized resolutions, which placed the Palestinian situation within a long and tedious process of negotiation, as well as within a chain of partial agreements that were not carried out by Israel. As a result, applying the Oslo Agreements meant the continuation of occupation, settlement building and expansion, and the further repression and confiscation of Palestinian national rights. The Agreements did not offer an adequate solution to the objective contradiction of interests between the Palestinian people and the occupying powers. On the contrary, they increased the contradiction. This contradiction was the main factor that instigated the eruption of the Great Palestinian Uprising (the Intifada of 1987 1993). The continuation of these contradictions perpetuates the possibility that the Intifada will occur again and again.

The crystallization of the Palestinian position to confront the dangers of this situation, in both the present and the future, regarding national rights, must rely upon regaining national consensus. It must also activate the mass movement to confront Israeli policy as a fait acompli against Palestinians, through the application of force and the repression of occupation. The international community supports national rights of Palestinians. These rights are also supported by a Declaration of Independence by the Palestinian people themselves, which includes the exercise of Palestinian sovereignty over the land area internationally acknowledged and acclaimed as Palestine (this includes the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip). The Palestinian position must call upon the Israeli government to hold negotiations which establish a permanent and balanced peace, on the basis of the application of U.N. Security Council Resolutions Nos. 242 and 338, which stipulate the exchange of land for peace, and a just solution for the problem of refugees and displaced persons through the implementation of U.N. Resolutions Nos. 194 and 237.

These negotiations should be held within the context of a suitable international framework. On the one hand, this framework must facilitate the recuperation of coordination between Palestinians and Arab nations regarding negotiations with Israel. On the other hand, the framework must ensure international supervision of the peace process, replacing the unilateral approach typically used by Washington with a dynamic participation of the United Nations along with other active coalitions and countries, especially the European Union, Russia and China in addition to U.S. authorities.

To ensure success of the above mentioned process requires the reconstruction of Palestinian unity so as to guarantee the underlying principles of resistance. This will enable Palestinians to face possible continuing Israeli aggression, as well as ensure the ongoing support of the Arab world and the international community. This requires a unified strategy of resistance based upon a total popular mobilization for confronting Israeli violence, as well as revitalizing the Intifada through the development of new forms of resistance.