Israel Publishes the Oslo Meeting Minutes

Israeli government session that approved the Oslo Accords (State Archive)
Israeli government session that approved the Oslo Accords (State Archive)
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Israel Publishes the Oslo Meeting Minutes

Israeli government session that approved the Oslo Accords (State Archive)
Israeli government session that approved the Oslo Accords (State Archive)

The Israeli State Archives allowed the publication of Yitzhak Rabin's government meeting minutes, at which the Oslo Accords were approved.

Haim Ramon, the Health Minister back then, stated that Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu caused the termination of the agreement and the outbreak of the Second Intifada.

Ramon said that the protocol clearly shows that Barak, then Chief of Staff of the Army, opposed the Oslo Accords from the beginning.

When he later became Minister of the Interior, Barak voted against the second part of the agreements and then announced in 1999 that there was no Palestinian partner for a peace process after the Camp David meetings.

Netanyahu declared that Israel can and will stop the Oslo process.

Later, in 1996, when he was elected prime minister, he abolished what remained of the Oslo agreement.

Ramon stressed that if Rabin had not been assassinated in 1995 and Israel had proceeded with his method, the second Intifada may not have erupted, and the Oslo agreement might have been successful.

Several other Israeli politicians who were ministers at that time echoed Ramon's assessment and agreed that Oslo was an adventure for Israel, but it also carried a historic missed opportunity.

Notably, the government session that approved these agreements was held on August 30, 1993, during a session headed by Rabin.

The 80-page transcript of that session remained "top secret" throughout this period. Publication of certain parts of the transcript remains forbidden for reasons of state security and may not take place for another 20 to 60 years.

- Fears of weapons

The declassified minutes reveal that of the 18 cabinet ministers at the time, 16 approved the Oslo Accords, and two abstained: Aryeh Deri and Shimon Sheetrit.

Deri and Sheetrit confirmed that they were negatively affected by the security doubts of Rabin, Barak, and even Shimon Peres, who feared weapons delivered to the Palestinian security apparatus and Hamas operations.

At the beginning of the session, Rabin said: "I want to start by saying this is not an easy agreement. Obviously, had we negotiated with ourselves, I'm sure the wording would have been far better. The text also includes unpleasant wording."

He stressed: "We must look much more comprehensively at all the different components."

Former Housing Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer said that defeating Hamas is possible if the King of Jordan did, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) will be able to do the same.

- Police for Arafat, the weapons for Hamas

Peres echoed Ben Eliezer, pointing out an "explicit commitment with the signing of the Declaration of Principles, according to which [PLO leader Yasser] Arafat will announce the cessation of terrorism."

He said, "I think so too, so give him weapons and the police. Look at the absurd situation we're in: You take the police from the PLO while leaving weapons with Hamas... Let's imagine that Asaf Yalim [head of Hamas] disappears; who will we talk to? Who are we going to negotiate with?"

Peres then asserts that the evacuation of settlements must be avoided.

"It is agreed that the settlements will remain as they are, even in the Gaza Strip (...) no settlement will be destroyed," he said.

At this moment, Army Chief of Staff Barak intervenes in the conversation: "From the first reading of the agreements in principle, I see very serious problems in the implementation of the security component, both in the Gaza and Jericho phase and in the more distant phase."

Barak continued, "In the text, the goodwill and effectiveness of the Palestinian police are merely hypotheses (...) As regards the [internal security agency] that the Palestinians will establish, the agreements envisage minimal cooperation with it."

He indicated that the agreements also foresee that "extremist elements" among the Palestinians will try to torpedo the deal.

Rabin concluded the meeting by saying: "The problems will be hard, and I must say, any form of autonomy will be more difficult than today. Because today, you have total control, while you have a partnership when there's autonomy. The test will be the partnership. I don't suggest covering this up."

He added that it was necessary to establish a partnership with the Palestinians, while it is uncertain how they will act in control.

Peres signed the Oslo Accords two weeks after this session with the current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on September 13, 1993, in the White House garden, in the presence of Rabin and Arafat, and under the auspices of US President Bill Clinton, who pushed both of them to the famous historic handshake.



More Than 20 Killed as Israeli Strikes Pound Lebanon

This picture shows the destruction at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Majdel Balhis in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley on November 9, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Hassan JARRAH / AFP)
This picture shows the destruction at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Majdel Balhis in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley on November 9, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Hassan JARRAH / AFP)
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More Than 20 Killed as Israeli Strikes Pound Lebanon

This picture shows the destruction at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Majdel Balhis in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley on November 9, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Hassan JARRAH / AFP)
This picture shows the destruction at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Majdel Balhis in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley on November 9, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Hassan JARRAH / AFP)

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon over the last day have killed more than 20 people including several children, Lebanese authorities said on Saturday, after heavy Israeli bombardment pounded the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut overnight.
At least seven people were killed in the coastal city of Tyre late on Friday, Lebanon's health ministry said. The Israeli military has previously ordered swathes of the city to evacuate but there were no orders published by the Israeli military spokesperson on social media platform X ahead of Friday's strikes.
The ministry said two children were among the dead. Rescue operations were ongoing and other body parts retrieved in the aftermath of the attack would undergo DNA testing to identify them, the ministry added.
At least 16 more people were killed in Israeli strikes on Saturday across the eastern plains around the historic city of Baalbek, the area's governor said in a post on social media platform X.
Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Lebanese health ministry said Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,136 people and wounded 13,979 in Lebanon over the last year. The toll includes 619 women and 194 children.
Israel has been locked in fighting with Hezbollah since October 2023, but fighting has escalated dramatically since late September of this year. Israel has intensified and expanded its bombing campaign, and Hezbollah has ramped up daily rocket and drone attacks against Israel.
The Iran-backed group announced more than 20 operations on Saturday, as well as one that it said fighters carried out the previous day against a military factory south of Tel Aviv.
More than a dozen Israeli strikes also hit the southern suburbs of Beirut overnight.
Now, many buildings have been almost entirely flattened, with Hezbollah's yellow flags jutting out from the ruins, according to Reuters reporters who were taken on a tour of the area by Hezbollah.

Some buildings were partially damaged by the strikes, leading some floors to collapse and sending furniture and other personal belongings spilling onto parked cars below.

Men and women were picking through the rubble for their belongings, shoving blankets and mats under their arms or into black plastic bags.
"We are trying to gather as many (of our possessions) as we can, so we can manage to live off them, nothing more," said Hassan Hannawi, one of the men looking for his belongings.