The Oslo Process: 19932000

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The Oslo Process 1993-2000
Palestine NGO Delegation to the WSSD
Prospects for Peace or Recipe for Disaster

• HISTORIC COMPROMISE
• The Oslo Process (usually referred to as the
  Peace Process), was based on, among other things,
  a Palestinian historic compromise in which
  Palestinians were willing to create a Palestinian
  state in the Occupied Territories of the West
  Bank and Gaza Strip, which represent only 22 of
  historic Palestine. The other 79, since 1948,
  forms the State of Israel.
• MILITARY OCCUPATION
• After the signing of the Oslo Accords on
  September 13, 1993 at the White House lawn,
  Israeli military occupation continued, while any
  tiny step taken toward Palestinian sovereignty --
  including agreements to withdraw in miniscule,
  agreed-upon phases were almost always delayed
  and cancelled, at Israel's will.
• SETTLEMENTS (COLONIES), LAND CONFISCATION, AND
  DEMOLITIONS
• Between the signing of the Oslo Agreement and
  until the end of the year 2000, around 70,000
  acres of land has been confiscated, and over
  250,000 trees uprooted in the West Bank alone.
  The total land area of the West Bank and Gaza is
  only 6170 km2.
• Land expropriations and house demolitions
  proceeded throughout the Rabin, Peres, Netanyahu
  and Barak administrations along with the
  expansion of settlements (200,000 Israeli Jews
  added to Jerusalem, 200,000 more in Gaza and the
  West Bank). Between 1993-2000, over 600 homes
  were demolished.
• From 1992 to 1996 alone, when the Labor-Meretz
  left coalition government was in office, the West
  Bank settler population expanded by 39 to
  145,000. Only 16 of this growth was due to
  natural increase. The government constructed a
  vast network of bypass roads to provide easy
  access to the settlements, preparing the way for
  annexing several large settlement blocs, most
  notably in and around Jerusalem.
• POPULATION TRANSFER AND ANNEXATION OF EAST
  JERUSALEM
• The Israeli policy of house demolitions, land
  confiscation, and ID confiscation continued
  against Palestinian Jerusalmites. Before Oslo
  (1987-1993) 217 Palestinians had their Jerusalem
  residency revoked. From the signing of Oslo until
  1998 this number climbed to 2,224.
• During this period, only 13 of East Jerusalem
  was allocated for Arab neighborhoods. The rest
  were allocated for settlements, public use,
  and green areas all of which almost always turn
  into settlements.
• One half of the settler population would live in
  East Jerusalem and the surrounding areas.
• Occupied East Jerusalem was placed out of bounds
  to the rest of the West Bank by a massive Israeli
  campaign to decree the city off limits to
  Palestinians and to claim it as Israel's
  "eternal, undivided capital." In violation of
  international law Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres
  reaffirmed Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem.
  
• CLOSURE, FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT
• Since 1993, Israel has imposed a general closure
  on the West Bank and Gaza, allowing only those
  with special permits issued by Israel to travel
  between the West Bank and Gaza, within Israel,
  and into Jerusalem. Under the pretext that Oslo
  was a process that would lead to a Palestinian
  state, this was actually the commencement of the
  cantonization of the West Bank and Gaza.
• Almost 25 of the Palestinian labor force
  depends on work within Israel. Because of the
  closure policy that began with Oslo, many workers
  were forced to smuggle themselves to their
  workplace in Israel, often located just a few kms
  from their homes. Others became unemployed. The
  full Israeli control of Palestinian borders meant
  that no significant economy could be built.
• DENIAL OF THE RIGHT OF RETURN
• The four million Palestinian refugees today the
  largest and longest existing refugee population
  anywhere -- were told to forget about the right
  of return and compensation.

APARTHEID
The
continued expansion of settlements and bypass
roads, along with the closure policy, turned the
West Bank into 64 isolated areas or cantons and
the Gaza Strip into three isolated areas. Labor
and Likud leaders alike made no secret of the
fact that Oslo was designed to segregate the
Palestinians in disconnected enclaves, surrounded
by Israeli-controlled borders, with settlements
and settlement roads violating the territories'
integrity.
The Road to Johannesburg Palestine and the
Second Intifada The Oslo Process 1993-2000
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these fact sheets, visit www.pengon.org
Produced by the Palestinian Environmental NGOs
Network (PENGON)