Amb. Alan Baker: How Norway and EU Are Undermining the Oslo Accords
Norway and EU member states have restored funding to six Palestinian civil society organizations designated by Israel as terror-supporting organizations, thereby rejecting evidence submitted by Israel that such organizations are linked to the universally outlawed terror organization: “Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.”David Singer: The way is being paved for the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine plan
Funding terror contravenes international counter-terrorism conventions and resolutions to which Norway and the EU are party that criminalize funding terror. It also undermines distinct counter-terror provisions in the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords between the Palestinians and Israel and is incompatible with their active involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
This decision to restore funding to terror-supporting NGOs is particularly serious in light of Norway’s and the EU’s special status both as witness to the Oslo Accords, but more so in light of Norway’s active involvement as the principal facilitator, mediator, host, and patron of the accords.
Contrary to its special status as witness, sponsor, and facilitator of the Oslo Accords, Norway has consistently conducted a one-sided, partisan policy aimed at prejudging the issues that are still to be negotiated between the parties, such as the issue of Jerusalem and the permanent status of the territories.
Facilitating international funding for supporting and encouraging Palestinian terror, including providing funds for salaries and benefits of terrorists serving prison sentences, is the antithesis of any genuine international action to promote human rights, peace, and stability in the Middle East.
It would appear that back channel negotiations have been going on since the release of the Saudi plan on 8 June to refine it to reflect - with more precision - the starting positions of Jordan, Israel and the PLO in any negotiations.
Those agreed starting positions include:
The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine will be ruled by Jordan’s current Hashemite ruler King Abdullah – which Hashemite dynasty has ruled Jordan for the last 100 years.
The right of return to Israel by Palestinian Arab refugees will not be pursued. Instead The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine will integrate those refugees within its borders
The borders of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan will include
-Jordan with its current borders
-The Gaza Strip
A-reas of the 'West Bank' inhabited by Palestinian Arabs and bordering Jordan that are contiguous and not divided into islands
-The retention by Israel of the Jordan Valley and other areas of the 'West Bank' such as Oslo-designated Area C, where all the Jews in the region live, will be resolved in the negotiations
Neither the Arabs nor the Muslims will seek to expel Israel from Jerusalem. However it remains as a bargaining chip in the hands of the Palestinian Arabs in securing any agreement and giving the Holy Places in Jerusalem a special status.
Any agreement will need to be ratified by a free popular referendum by Arab voter constituencies consisting of all Jordanians and residents of the 'West Bank' and Gaza Strip and those who are stateless such as the residents of the refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria. Palestinian Arabs who are settled in other countries and who enjoy full citizenship will have no vote.
The rationale for creating The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine is based on the fact that Jordanians and Palestinians are Sunni Arabs from the same region and integrating them will not cause any ethnic or sectarian fault lines in the long run.
Jordan has received a flurry of visits from Mohammed Bin Salman, PLO Leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israel’s President Herzog, since the Saudi Plan was published.
Lapid’s visit now when he is only caretaker Prime Minister is highly significant. It could indicate the commencement of negotiations is supported by the majority of Israel’s political parties even though nothing can go forward until after the next government is formed post November elections.
And then - let the negotiations begin.
League of Nations Mandate Centenary
This is a recording of a UKLFI Charitable Trust webinar marking the League of Nations Mandate Centenary. It took place on 21 July 2022, and features a special introduction by the President of the State of Israel, H.E. Isaac Herzog and a talk by Professor Steven Zipperstein. Jonathan Turner is the chairman.
The Mandate for Palestine was adopted by the Council of the League of Nations (the forerunner of today’s United Nations) in London on 24 July 1922. It mandated the British Government to put into effect the Balfour Declaration of 2 November 1917.
The Mandate explicitly recognised the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that territory. It transformed the unilateral declaration of the British government into an instrument of international law and provided the legal basis for Britain’s administration of Western Palestine until 1948. Its impact on the development of the Jewish national home into the modern State of Israel cannot be denied, and the rights and obligations set out in its provisions arguably remain relevant today.