What are the Oslo Accords? Here's everything you need to know!

The Oslo Peace Accords refer to a few agreements signed between the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the Government of Israel. It was the Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, and the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Yasser Arafat who signed the agreements.

A pair of agreements were signed. The first one, that is the Oslo I Accord was signed in the year 1993 at Washington D.C. The second one, that is the Oslo II Accord was signed in the year 1995 at Taba, Egypt. These accords set up limited self-rule for Palestine in some parts of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Oslo Peace Accords- A Brief Background

The Oslo Accords are similar to the Camp David Accords. The latter were numerous agreements. These agreements eased the relations between Israel and Egypt in the year 1978 after the Yom Kippur War.

The Camp David Accord envisaged Palestinian autonomy in Gaza and the West Bank. The number of settlers was increasing, and there were concerns regarding the continued Israeli settlement. However, the Israeli government did not have a word with the Palestinian Liberation Organization, as they viewed PLO as a terrorist organization. Therefore, the concern was left on the backburner by the Camp David Accords.

In the 1990s, the situation changed. It was in this decade that Israel chose to view the PLO as Palestinian representatives. Israel started negotiating directly with the PLO. The Oslo Accords were actually signed as an interim agreement.

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Object of the Oslo Accords

After the secret negotiations in Oslo, Israel began recognizing the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people. It started looking at the PLO as an equal partner in matters of negotiations. The accords thus created were made with the following objectives.

• Easing self-government in Palestine
• Setting a protocol for free elections in the territories of Palestine
• Creating a framework for an independent Palestine state
• Withdrawal of the Military of Israel from the territories of Palestine

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Achievements of the Oslo Accords

In the year 1993, the PLO and the Israeli government representatives visited Norway to start the negotiations. Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yassir Arafat, the leader of PLO led their delegations. Delegates from the government of Norway served as mediators.

The Oslo I Accords established a follow-up agreement for the Oslo II Accords. These included discussions over issues like how Jerusalem would actually be governed, and who would govern it.

The Oslo II accord gave limited control to the Palestinian Authority over the West Bank and the Gaza regions. It permitted Israel to annex a lot of areas of the West Bank. It set the groundwork for cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and the government of Israel. One of these important provisions stopped both sides from engaging in violence against each other.

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