The Use of Palestinian Narrative by Palestinian Diplomacy to Help in Resolving the Palestinian- Israeli Conflict after the Oslo Accord (1993-2021) رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

In all forms of ending occupation and colonialism, major issues are resolved to end the conflict between two states, starting with the signing of the agreement, and then details are left for negotiations or any other political tool, and the issues of withdrawal, sovereignty, and self-determination are resolved. However, as with what happened in the Oslo accords, some details were agreed upon, and major issues were postponed. It has been talked about a limited Palestinian autonomy, which is gradually growing under the hegemony of the Israeli occupation, without regulations or standards that obligate Israel. Therefore, major issues have become marginal, such as: Jerusalem, refugees, settlement expansion, the right to self-determination, state borders, sovereignty, and natural resources. As diplomacy plays a major role in representing countries, taking care of their interests, defending them, and taking full care of their citizens, the responsibility of diplomatic missions is doubled when it comes to people searching for their rights and self-determination in a world where interests prevail, especially the rights of the Palestinian people, who have been struggling for more than 73 years. Herein lies the importance of this study, as the researcher found that the Palestinian diplomacy, in its several forms, has not reached its minimum demands, due to its compliance in the first place with the political decisions, as it did not have any participatory role with the Palestinian leadership, but rather obeyed what the leadership dictated to it. The Palestinian leadership, in turn, was following the Oslo agreement, which limited many options that could have given more rights to the Palestinian people and the Palestinian state. In addition to that, the Palestinian diplomatic sector did not have any clear long-term plan or strategy in the last two decades, and their participation in VI international forums has been because of a crisis occurring, as they did not work internationally in normal times, and even their access to international forums was due to the suspension of negotiations with the Israeli occupation, which in turn rejected any settlement process with the Palestinians. Other important reasons that weakened the Palestinian diplomatic role in conveying the Palestinian narrative, include the lack of a unified Palestinian narrative that was adopted by the official Palestinian position with all its institutions and the preference to adopt the peaceful narrative based on the Oslo accords. In addition to that, the presence of the United States of America as a strong ally of Israel and its possession of the right of veto led to the marginalization of basic Palestinian issues and rights.