From Oslo onwards, talks have unfolded alongside unlawful settlement growth, turning diplomacy right into a course of that manages, somewhat than ends, occupation.
Printed On 24 Apr 2026
Again within the early 2000s, I used to be a part of the Palestinian staff supposedly negotiating an finish to Israel’s army occupation and colonisation of Palestinian land. The concept was as perverse then as it’s now: that these dwelling beneath army rule must “negotiate” for his or her freedom and that the homeowners of the land must “negotiate” for Israel to return their land to them.
On the time, we Palestinians had been advised by many heads of state – together with these from the US and Europe – there was no different method and that negotiations had been the one path to attaining our freedom. In fact, that’s merely not true, for just about no state has gained its freedom and independence by negotiating with its oppressors.
Because the negotiations happened, Israel used the chance to construct and broaden its unlawful settlements, doubling the variety of Israeli settlers inside seven years of the Oslo negotiations. In different phrases, beneath the guise of “negotiating”, Israel stole extra land. These similar world leaders who pushed negotiations, and those that succeeded them, saved feeding us the road (lie) that every one of Israel’s land theft can be undone with profitable negotiations.
In fact, they didn’t lay out a Plan B, regardless of the illegality of land theft being the cornerstone of worldwide regulation. For its half, Israel saved talking of wanting “peace” and the will for “negotiations”, all whereas consuming up extra Palestinian land.
Quick ahead twenty-six years, and we nonetheless see the identical techniques, for that is how Israel was created within the first place. Israel has lengthy had, as its aim, the growth of the territory it controls because the starting of the Zionist venture. That is why one can see that, with the Partition Plan of 1947, regardless of claims that they “accepted” the Partition (although it was not for anybody to present away), Zionist assaults weren’t confined to the areas that had been illegally “allotted” to the “Jewish state” however that their assaults aimed outwards. That is additionally why Israel made a “pre-emptive” (i.e., unlawful) assault towards Syria, Egypt and Jordan in 1967 and continues to illegally occupy and colonise the West Financial institution, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights in violation of worldwide regulation and of worldwide choices. However, in contrast to the flowery language of wanting “peace” that Israeli leaders used to specific again within the Nineties and 2000s, right this moment, Israeli leaders have turn out to be trustworthy: they’ve made it no secret that they intend to annex the occupied West Financial institution; recolonise the Gaza Strip and additional take land from Lebanon and Syria. And, beneath the guise of perpetual warfare, that is exactly what Israel has executed. Israel has gone deep into Lebanon and Gaza, together with throughout “ceasefires.”
Over the previous few years, not solely has Israel normalised bombing of hospitals, faculties, first responders, journalists and youngsters, but it surely has additionally normalised assassinations and – much more alarmingly – genocide. And somewhat than confront Israel, these similar world leaders have aided in sheltering Israel and in sustaining impunity for the worst of worldwide crimes. It’s subsequently not shocking that Israel continues to steal extra land.
But the muse of the worldwide authorized system as we all know it’s that states can’t steal land – they can’t invade the territory of one other. This foundational rule exists for a cause: for if states can steal land, it merely fuels extra wars. With Israel pushing into a number of international locations and denying freedom, the query that is still is whether or not Israel operates above the system of regulation and order that was put into place after the Second World Warfare or whether or not the principles, as we now have been led to imagine, are merely not relevant. Lebanon has already fallen into the identical lure that Palestinians fell into within the Nineties, believing that negotiations are the trail to eradicating Israel from its land. On the finish of those negotiations – if there ever is an finish – Lebanon and Syria will find yourself with much less land than earlier than, as this sample of “negotiating” the return of land is solely a recipe for Israel to perpetually stay. The query that is still is whether or not we are going to see a system that lastly confronts Israel, which has made a mockery of the worldwide authorized system, or whether or not this turns into the brand new established order.
The views expressed on this article are the writer’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
