Yossi Beilin and Benny Elon: Time to Rethink Oslo Accords
Dr. Yossi Beilin is a former Israeli minister of justice and deputy minister for foreign affairs and architect of the Oslo Peace Accords. Rabbi Benny Elon is a former Israeli minister of tourism. A longstanding critic of Oslo, he is president of the International Israel Allies Caucus Foundation.
Let us start with a rare activity in that twilight zone that is called the Middle East peace process: talking about things we agree upon.
Regional leaders and experts on all sides of the discussion have declared the peace process to be dormant, if not dead. No meaningful negotiations have taken place in almost three years. The Obama administration is hiding its head in the sand. Rumors have replaced ideas and action.
Alas, that reality remains a taboo topic in Washington. So, for that reason, we and others have arrived on Capitol Hill to lay out the realpolitik of the peace process, to strip away the fig leaf, and to force us to see and act.
The time has come, 20 years after Oslo, to reevaluate our thinking and try a new approach. It is the only hope of moving toward a lasting peace...