Bill Clinton, Yitzhak Rabin, and Yassir Arafat at the Oslo Signing Ceremony, September 13, 1993. Photo: Wikipedia.

JNS.org – Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Sept. 20 that the 1993 Oslo Accords should be annulled.

“Only by officially annulling the Oslo Accords will we have the opportunity to rethink the existing paradigm and hopefully lay the foundations for a more realistic modus vivendi between the Jews and Arabs of this region,” Danon wrote.

Oslo’s failure “cannot be attributed to a lack of will and persistence by Israel,” according to Danon.

“What didn’t we try? We attempted direct negotiations, third-party mediators, public conferences and back-channel talks. We staged withdrawals and unilateral disengagements, established joint Israeli-Palestinian military patrols in Gaza and deployed American-trained security forces in the West Bank. None of this worked,” Danon wrote.

“The P.L.O., and later the Palestinian Authority, never truly accepted that Israel, as the national state and homeland of the Jewish people, was here to stay. No amount of impressive ceremonies, cosmetic changes to the P.L.O. charter and Palestinian doublespeak to Western media outlets about their commitment to peace was able to change this grim fact,” he added.

In an interview with JNS.org published on Sept. 13, which marked the 20th anniversary of the Oslo Accords, Danon said the main lesson from the accords “is that the paradigm of the left, that land for peace will bring security to the region, has failed, and this is the time to think clearly that we should not endorse a Palestinian state.”