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September 20, 2005
The Forgotten Clause of the Oslo Accords
In an Op-Ed today, Ha'aretz's Aluf Benn argues that Ariel Sharon is trying to drive a wedge between the West Bank and Gaza Strip and to establish a separate status for each. He writes:
It is clear that [Sharon] is washing his hands of the forgotten clause in the Oslo Accords, that the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are "one territorial unit."
But it is Benn who seems to be "washing his hands of the forgotten clause in the Oslo Accords"--that which prohibits Hamas from participating in elections. Instead, he portrays Sharon's insistence on Palestinian compliance with that clause as Israeli obstructionism. He avers:
Yet Prime Minister Ariel Sharon already is launching relations with the Palestinian Authority in the post-disengagement era with threats of disrupting West Bank elections should Hamas decide to contend in them. . . .
In demanding Hamas' exlusion, Sharon is defying PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' main effort to integrate the opposition and terror organizations into politics. [TS asks: BTW, Benn, recall that clause in the "road map" which prohibits just that?] . . . Sharon is also placing the American administration in a dilemma between its two main principles . . .
Sharon placed the problem on the agenda, and has four months to find a solution. But the significance of his threats transcends the clumsy attempt to dictate the Palestinians' list of candidates and election platforms.
If the local press can't get the Oslo Accords right, what can we expect of the foreigners? (See here, here, and here.)
Posted by TS at September 20, 2005 06:02 AM
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