John Kerry, speaking at the Saban Forum this past weekend, said:
When Oslo was signed in 1993, the vision was that with the signing of Oslo, Area C – everybody knows there’s Area A, B, C – Area A is Palestinian security and administrative control, Area B is a split between administrative and security control, and Area C, which is 60 percent of the West Bank, is just Israel security and administrative still. But the deal of Oslo in 1993 was over the next year and a half Area C would be transferred to the Palestinian control administratively. Well, it didn’t happen for a number of different reasons. We won’t go into that now.
Kerry had good reason not to go into it - because it is a complete fiction.
The original 1993 Oslo Accords did not divide the territories into Areas A, B and C. That was Oslo II, in 1995, not 1993.
Oslo II mentioned very little about redeploying Israeli control.
The Wye River Agreement of 1998 did say Israel was to withdraw from a percentage of Area C, but the bulk was going to remain under Israeli control. It was never implemented after Netanyahu, who opposed it, lost a vote of no-confidence. But there were a whole lot of terror attacks in the md-90s that would seem to be a violation of Oslo.
Kerry didn't mention Hamas or suicide bombings or terror.
Kerry is completely wrong in his history. I find it very hard to believe that he doesn't know the intricacies of the peace process history in detail - he could never have negotiated anything if he hadn't known what happened in the recent past.
Why should Israel have ever trusted someone who cannot tell the truth about the basics of the peace process - and who lies about it to make Israel look bad?
(h/t Irene)