The State Archives today (Tuesday) revealed the minutes from the cabinet meeting at which the Oslo Accords were approved in Israel. 30 years later, parts of the protocols remain blacked out for reasons of "state security," but the bulk reveals the discussions about security, recognition of the PLO, the establishment of the Palestinian police, and the concern that it will not be possible to provide security to the settlers who remain on the ground.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin talks about Gaza first and also about the obstacle he saw in the settlements on the way to implementing the agreement: "Gaza for me is a test case of the ability of those who support peace and support the PLO to deal with Hamas. There are risks. The IDF needs to be prepared to deal with them and there will be hard friction because in any solution there it is hard friction. The entire settlement was planned on a political, not security-related basis. Not clusters of Jewish settlements except for the Katif region and maybe a bit of Gush Etzion as well. We have one mixed city, Hebron, which will be a problem. The potential for friction in Judea and Samaria is enormous. In Gaza, it exists, but on a smaller scale."
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres: "In my opinion, Yitzhak said this and I didn't want to repeat it – we didn't give up a single piece of land, we didn't remove any settlements, we preserved the unity of Jerusalem, we took care of Israel's security. In the matter of judgment, in the conditions that exist after Camp David, there is an improvement after what was, certainly not a fall. In my opinion, this is an important and good opportunity and it needs to be approved."
Rabin: "I would let the chief of staff speak. I would like to say that I did not involve the army in all these stages for a simple reason – the problem is mainly political and the decision is political. The IDF, in my opinion, is capable of providing the answers in various situations. Of course, this is a less convenient situation than the current situation in terms of security, because in the current situation there is complete freedom to enter any place and do anything."
IDF Chief of Staff Ehud Barak addresses the risk of establishing a Palestinian police: "The next thing is the issue of the Palestinian police. This is about establishing a strong Palestinian police force – a formulation that originated in the Camp David Agreement. It should be noted that there is an opening here for outsiders, also external policemen - and there are already Palestinian policemen who have been trained in Jordan and now another group is coming out - they may bring in more people and give them short training, including people with a background of belonging to military organizations, or Palestinian paramilitary organizations, members of the Palestinian Liberation Army, or similar things.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri remarks: "We are still in a situation where they can be called 'terrorist organizations.' There is no need to mince words."
Later in the meeting, Peres spoke with full confidence about Arafat's promises. "There is an explicit commitment that when the agreement is signed, there will be an announcement by Arafat about the cessation of terrorism," Peres said, adding that so Arafat could overcome Hamas: "Give him weapons. Give him the police. The PLO is in terrible shape. They were left without money. No weapons. No friends. Suppose the PLO disappears, what will happen then? Who are we going to talk to?"
Barak: "There is a very strong assumption here about the goodwill and effectiveness of the strong Palestinian police or about everything international that will bridge power gaps. Cooperation with the Palestinian police will be weak and forced. I only mention that there will be extremist elements in Palestinian society who will have an active interest in trying to torpedo this agreement and its maturation precisely because of the potential."
Rabin comments: "Including in Israeli society, but that's none of your business."
Rabin: "I want to say that if a situation arises in which the Palestinian police do not act against the terrorist elements, I will see this as a violation of the agreement, so we have to start in Gaza and see what happens."
IDF Chief of Staff Barak reiterates that it will not be possible to return from the agreement to the same situation that existed at the beginning: "If there is an attempt to kill Israeli families or harm children on the way to Dolev or on the way down from Elon Moreh, we may find ourselves facing difficult and problematic phenomena: On the one hand, we are unable to guarantee the security of Israeli citizens who have been allowed by Israeli governments to sit there with problematic implications in both directions – both in the possibility that they begin to leave and then it is not a withdrawal of people but a defeat of a security concept that should have backed them up. The other side is the possibility that we decide to take the intervening action to prevent it, and this I already hinted at earlier does not bring us back to the zero point but brings us to a point that from every possible point of view is more difficult."
Barak goes on to add harsh arguments against the possibility of ensuring Israel's security in the agreement: "In the current reality, to the best of my knowledge, applying autonomy for a long period of time is liable to turn both sides into hostages of extremist Arab elements that may act against both Jews and Arabs in a way that will greatly exacerbate the problem. Therefore, honestly, I must say that I do not know how to point to a kind of autonomy that guarantees good security when two basic conditions are not met: one is the rules of autonomy [the continuation here is censored for 90 years due to "state security"]. Without these two conditions, there would be enormous difficulties in implementing security in practice for civilians. That's the truth."
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