The NY Times reports that during his speech to the UN General Assembly, Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinians are withdrawing from the Oslo framework.
“We cannot continue to be bound by these signed agreements with Israel and Israel must assume fully all its responsibility as an occupying power,” Mr. Abbas said.
Since the Palestinian Authority was created under the Oslo agreements, it is not clear whether Abbas's position would exist if the agreements are abrogated. Abbas was elected to a four year term in 2005. He has stayed on since no further elections have been held. After Hamas won 74 of 132 seats in the Palestinian legislature in 2006, infighting between Fatah (the former PLO) and Hamas led to a standstill and separate governments in the West Bank and Gaza.
In a HuffPost opinion piece published earlier this week, Abbas now appears to have been hinting at such an announcement:
"Israel's pursuit of reckless policies obstructs any international progress for the two-state solution. I recall the high hopes I felt in 1993 when the Oslo Accords were signed and a five-year deadline set to achieve an end to the occupation and peace and security between the two states, the State of Palestine and Israel. That was 22 years ago. Since then, Israel has failed to negotiate in good faith while entrenching its illegal occupation. Israel is not dedicated to the international community's values of freedom, justice and peace -- let alone the two-state solution and the longstanding parameters underpinning it. It has trampled the Oslo Accords and with it the peace process."
[...]
"While the Israeli government pays lip service to the two-state solution internationally, domestically it employs policies aimed at destroying what's left of Palestine. Israel demolishes our homes, swallows up our land and works at breaking the spirit and will of our people."
The Oslo accords created the Palestinian Authority, which has civil jurisdiction over certain areas of the West Bank and (nominally) Gaza. The agreements also demarcated three separate areas of the West Bank with different levels of Israeli and Palestinian controls in each. Security agreements exist between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, it is unclear whether those are toast now too.
Hamas has urged Mr. Abbas to call off all agreements with Israel, including the security arrangements. From Haaretz:
Hamas on Wednesday called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to use his UN General Assembly address to cancel all agreements signed with Israel, including ones pertaining to security coordination.
A spokesman for Abbas said that the Palestinian president's speech won't be finalized until the last moment. Western diplomats estimate that Abbas will threaten in his speech to stop honoring some provisions of its agreements with Israel.
The Oslo accords were signed in 1993 and 1995 and were meant to pave the way towards a final two-state resolution. That goal has not been realized, though the state of Palestine has been recognized by over 135 nations. The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the failure of subsequent talks, the violence and terrorism in the second intifada, the continued increase in the number of Israeli settlers in the west bank, the election of Hamas and continuing armed conflict between Hamas in Gaza and the IDF has combined to make the prospect of reviving the Oslo accords increasingly remote. After 20 years, it looks like this journey to nowhere might just be over.
Since this is developing, I'll update the post as/when more comes in. A few historical tidbits below the fold.
11:11 AM PT: An English translation of Abbas' speech was posted by the PA's observer mission to the UN.
There's a good overview in a 1994 NY Times piece on Oslo. It contains this quote:
The hope was echoed by the Prime Minister Rabin. "We have hope, but we have much trepidation, that the two peoples could live on a tiny patch of land, each under their own fig tree, as the prophets said," Mr. Rabin declared.
He said that "at this stage I do not want to deal with the permanent solution," adding: "We do not accept the Palestinian goal of an independent Palestinian state between Israel and Jordan. We believe there is a separate Palestinian entity short of a state."