Oslo no longer exists, says National Democratic Forum head

The head of the National Democratic Forum, Nasser Al-Qudwa, said on Monday that the Oslo Accords no longer exist and all that is in the occupied Palestinian territories “is a group of city links”, Sama news agency has reported.

The former senior Fatah and Palestinian Authority official spoke during a zoom meeting organised by the Palestinian Centre for Political Research and Strategic Studies with an audience of 100 Palestinian officials, activists, and young people.

“Oslo,” he insisted, “was a transitional period ahead of resolving final status issues. This has now ended but the final status issues remain unresolved.” He added that the PA, which was created by the Oslo Accords, “is not serving the national Palestinian interests.”

Al-Qudwa was dismissed from Fatah and the PA early this year by the head of both, Mahmoud Abbas, because he insisted on forming an electoral list other than that of Fatah. He blamed the political division between Palestinians for the deterioration of their cause and proposed a solution.

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He said that the PLO is in need of reform. Together with the lack of democracy, bad governance, and absence of the law, these are “serious problems that perpetuate the Palestinian crisis.”

To repair the Palestinian issue and end the internal division, he pointed out that the PA-Fatah and Hamas are involved in the political arena and so “must” be part of any potential solution. “We have already proposed this, but, unfortunately, neither the PA, Hamas nor the other factions have accepted it.”

Resolving the Palestinian issue, concluded Al-Qudwa, should be based on rebuilding the PLO, holding elections, forming a new national government, and forming a legal national committee to revise and reform some of the Palestinian laws, namely those covering elections.

Oslo Accords, the 25th Anniversary – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]