This week our Oslo is almost back. Precisely at a time when we are marking the gloomy and round birthday of thirty years since the Oslo Accords, news of "strengthening the Palestinian Authority" arrived. One by one, the headlines appeared about the transfer of weapons to the Palestinian Authority, armored vehicles, and even cyber warfare and espionage. Everything, it was reported, was transferred by the Americans directly to the Palestinian Authority, but with Israel's approval.
The eyes darkened and the mind blurred with the mixture of sounds and images, news and news – of those days. Oslo in all its glory floats and history has taken on a form, too topical. So, we stood and shouted at every possible intersection, "Don't give them guns," but Rabin and Peres gave them. The same guns later murdered our neighbors and friends, were pointed at IDF soldiers and abandoned us all. The notion that if we only strengthen the Palestinian Authority it will do the dirty work of fighting terror for us has not only sunk, but has gone silent.
The conception was silent. Rabin and Peres on their way to Oslo,
For years we have been told with infantile teasing, "If Oslo was so bad, cancel it," and for years we have explained, intelligently and truthfully, that just as it is impossible to return an omelet to be an egg, so too it is impossible to cancel agreements signed with international guarantees with a wave of the hand. But it is certainly possible not to return to them, not to return to destructive concepts, not to return to destructive measures. Yes, to strive for a different policy, which thinks differently and behaves differently and does not trust or strengthen the greatest of our haters.
Following the public and coalition uproar, Defense Minister Galant and Prime Minister Netanyahu rushed to issue vigorous denials. "This government has not transferred any weapons to the Palestinian Authority," Netanyahu said, "I have not authorized or transferred lethal weapons or weapons to the Palestinian Authority," Galant wrote. Both pointed the finger at former Defense Minister Benny Gantz and the decision he made in January 2022 to transfer armored vehicles to the PA.
Strong denials, Defense Minister Galant, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
If this is the reality, then for now it is possible to relax. I was skeptical at first, but the initial headlines seemed to be less accurate. No weapons were transferred, no cyber or espionage weapons were transferred, and indeed a number of armored vehicles were transferred, according to a previous decision by Benny Gantz. But the warning lights came on.
Tzachi Hanegbi, the current head of the National Security Council, leads a very conciliatory and sympathetic line vis-à-vis the PA. Among other things, he makes it difficult to forfeit terrorist funds, and in closed conversations, it was reported, he clarified that there is no point in opposing the transfer of armored vehicles as well as weapons, and claimed that another concept is outdated and detached from what is happening. Well, Tzachi, this approach is not outdated and it is certainly not disconnected from what is happening, not even from recent history. Don't you dare give us back Oslo, after we managed to overcome it, to recover from it, to try to recover from it despite everything. Don't give them guns, don't give technological means, and please, learn from history. Even today, Palestinian policemen are involved in terrorist acts, so to inject weapons at them? Any weapons transferred to the Palestinian Authority will be directed at us very quickly.
Netanyahu claims: "Approval of arms transfer - in the previous government" || Likud Spokesperson's Office
Above all, the question must hover: Is this just an introduction? Will efforts to reach a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia require such steps and beyond? If so, you have to set a clear boundary right now, it's just not worth it. It is Netanyahu, the man who succeeded in breaking all the paradigms that have been brainwashing us for years, the man who crushed the "territories for peace" and brought "peace for peace" with his own hands, who must stand up for the national interest. It is in the national interest not to give in to pressure to strengthen the Palestinian Authority, but to stick to the new Middle East they started, not the fake one of the nineties.
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