Creator of Oslo Process calls for the end of the PA

Supporters of the Zionist State of Israel never tire of telling me that Israel offered the Palestinians peace and self rule via the Oslo Peace process, only to have patently reasonable conditions for a peaceful settlement thrown back at them by a Palestinian leadership that preferred bloodshed and suffering. The ridiculous nature of this claim is obvious to anyone who would simply put themselves in the shoes of the Palestinians.

Now one of the main advocates of the Oslo process, Yossi Beilin, has come out calling for and end to the farce that is the Palestinian Authority. The PA was created by the Oslo process and has never had a true mandate from the Palestinian people. It’s power is completely derivative, having no authority over settlers or military personnel in the occupied territories and can make no legislative decisions without the say so of the Israeli Knesset. All the PA has done is help support the illusion that the Zionist state truly intends to give Palestinians self rule some time in the future. The following article by Philip Weiss was posted on the Mondoweiss website.

‘Struggle is now for equal rights for everyone in Greater Israel’ –Gideon Levy

by Philip Weiss on April 5, 2012

Two big breaks in the Israeli discourse. Two moments of moral clarity. First, the man who invented the Palestinian Authority calls on PA President Mahmoud Abbas to shut it down. Palestinian activists have been telling us this for years. Now it’s out in Israel. Noam Sheizaf reports:

This is as big as an op-ed gets: Yossi Beilin, the Israeli architect of the Oslo process, has published a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, urging him to shut down the Palestinian Authority and let Prime Minister Netanyahu bear direct responsibility for the fate of the Palestinians under Israeli control.

“Do not hesitate for a moment! Do not accept the request of President Obama, who merely wants to be left undisturbed before election day. Do not let Prime Minister Netanyahu hide behind the fig leaf of the Palestinian Authority — impose upon him, once again, the responsibility for the fate of 4 million Palestinians. Remain as the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which will give you the authority to lead the political negotiations if and when they resume.

“But for the sake of your own people, and for the sake of peace, you cannot let this farce continue.”

For years, Beilin was known as a relentless advocate of the peace process, even as more and more people came to realize that the endless process was keeping the occupation alive. Beilin still believes in the two-state solution – but even he knows that the Palestinian Authority won’t get us there, so he begs the Palestinian president to “end this farce.

And Gideon Levy in Haaretz says the two state solution is dead, we must have equal rights for all in Israel/Palestine. Oh my. Peter Beinart will join Levy one day.

It’s time to raise the white flag, to admit publicly that the two-state solution has been foiled…

If the apartheid neighbourhood in Hebron could not stir Israelis from their moral fog – and any decent person who visits there is shocked to the depths of their being – and if life goes on undisturbed, with no moral questions, even as this horror occurs in our own backyard, then what difference does another stolen house make? Let it go, let other houses go; the chance for a solution is long past.

Even the twitching of the dead are moving. The determination of organizations such as B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence and Gush Shalom not to surrender should evoke admiration here and abroad. But it’s hard to revel in them when they are fighting a final battle…

The Palestinians, as everyone knows by now, aren’t going anywhere. There is even a handful of settlers that has begun talking about giving them citizenship. If this, too, is not a ruse, then this little group is openly reconciling with the great victory of Israel’s most extreme left.

The struggle? From now on it must focus on human rights. Yes, equal rights for everyone who lives in Greater Israel, just as you wanted.

Again, I would emphasize: Palestinian leaders have been saying this for a couple of years now, this is a struggle for equal rights, forget about how many states there are. This is why Adam Horowitz says that the Palestinians are leading the discourse. Though yes, I’m waiting for the American choir to take up the hymn of equal rights.