Attempting Peace:
CLASS 17 | Oslow and Beyond
ISRAEL INSIDE/OUT
CLASS 17
Attempting Peace:
Oslo and Beyond
Goals (students will be able to):
• Analyze Palestinian leadership’s efforts to meet their Oslo commitments and engage in peaceful negotiations
• Compare the Palestinian and Israeli efforts to achieve peace
• Identify attempts to negotiate peace after the Oslo Accords
• Understand the problem of incitement in the Palestinian media and education
system
Intro
(1 minute)
In previous classes we learned about the establishment of direct peace negotiations between
the Israelis and the Palestinians, beginning with the Oslo Accords, and with the origination
of the “Land for Peace” formula. We examined the commitments made by both sides at Oslo and Israel’s efforts to meet their obligations. In this class we will look at the degree to which
the the Palestinians met their Oslo commitments and compare between the Palestinian and
Israeli efforts for peace throughout future peace negotiations, such as the 2000 Camp David
Accords and the 2003 Road Map for Peace. We will also identify the problem of incitement
through media and education outlets controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA), and examine the perpetuation of conflict in the education system.
return “Handout I – Oslo Report Card” from the previous class to the students, to
be filled out after the film. The film we are about to watch outlines Palestinian fulfillment of their commitments,.
We will use the report card to grade their efforts.
Play “Oslo Accords: Palestinian Commitments”
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(19 minutes)
ISRAEL INSIDE/OUT
Discussion
CLASS 17
(10 minutes)
Ask the students to take 3 minutes to grade Palestinian fulfillment of their Oslo
commitments. Scores are on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the least possible fulfillment and
5 the best possible fulfillment. Students should circle the score they feel reflects the degree
to which the Palestinians met each commitment.
After the students complete their grading, ask them the questions below. Make sure to
discuss the Palestinians’ grade results before comparing them with the Israelis’ results.
Discussion: How did the Palestinians do? What grades did you give them and why?
• End Terror/Solve Problems Peacefully: Some may argue the
terror was beyond the control of the PA, but Arafat, the leader of the PA,
praised Hamas terrorists on Palestinian television and supported Hamas
financially and militarily.
• Destroy Terror Groups: The PA made no attempts to hinder terror
activity or dismantle the terror organizations.
• Amend Charter: The PA took action only after Clinton applied
pressure five years later (1998). The Charter appears unchanged and still
contains the articles calling for the violent destruction of Israel, though
the PA claims to have drafted a memo that states that “certain portions
of the Charter no longer apply.”
• Protection of Jewish Holy Sites: Today, visiting Jewish holy sites
under PA control still involves a significant security risk for Israelis.
The PA allowed mobs to attack visitors and destroy sites and artifacts in
Jericho and Joseph’s tomb.
• Educate for Peace: Palestinian media is under Palestinian leadership
and the media honor and praise suicide bombers, while Palestinian school
texts do not mention peace with Israel or recognize Israel as a country.
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ISRAEL INSIDE/OUT
CLASS 17
Review the main points as you go along:
Instruct the students to add up the scores for the Israelis and Palestinians. Grades should
range between 5 and 25.
Discussion: How do Israeli and Palestinian efforts to meet their Oslo commitments compare?
If time allows, read the quote below to the class:
“Both of us come to mistakes , but not intentional mistakes , from our side . But the Israeli, they are
intentionally, they are destroying also systematically. So, don’t blame the Palestinians that they
are not implementing Oslo. The Palestinians are the occupied people , not the occupier.”
- Salman El Har ti, Palestinian Ambassador to South Africa
Discussion: Are the Palestinians justified in their lack of compliance with Oslo and the terror
they have committed because they consider themselves “the occupied people”? Why or why
not?
PLay “Other Attempts at Peace”
(13 minutes)
DISCUSSION
Question: What offers did Israel make to the Palestinian Authority at the summits of Camp
David (July 2000) and Taba (Januar y 2001)? How did the Palestinians respond to these offers?
Answer: At Camp David, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered the Palestinian
Authority all of Gaza, more than 90% of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), and
a shared capital in Jerusalem, for a future Palestinian state . Additional territor y was
offered months later at a summit in Taba, Egypt. In addition, Israel offered to allow
the return of an undisclosed number of Palestinian refugees into Israel and to provide
financial compensation to the rest of the refugees . This was by far the most substantial
offer made to the Palestinians by any Israeli government.
PA Chairman Yasser Arafat rejected these offers, walked away from the negotiations, and the
Palestinians launched the Second Intifada. This uprising claimed thousands of lives on both sides
of the conflict and further exacerbated the tensions in the region.
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ISRAEL INSIDE/OUT
CLASS 17
Discussion: On the road to peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, how important is
this issue of education, indoctrination and incitement?
Discussion: With Palestinian children receiving this negative education, can peace be achieved?
Discussion: Imagine there is a fifteen-year-old boy named Ahmed who lives in Bethlehem, Israel. He attends a Palestinian school and uses the textbooks quoted in HANDOUT I - CHILDHOOD
EDUCATION. Yesterday his teacher read these quotes to his class. How might these textbooks have influenced his class? Think about what you would say to
Ahmed if you could write a letter to him.
What do you want him to know? What is different about the education you and he are receiving?
Discussion: How significant are education, indoctrination and incitement?
Quiz
(10 Minutes)
GIVE “HANDOUT I – “THE ROAD MAP” to the students.
Allow them 5 minutes to write the answers and then go over each question one by one, asking students to show hands for the answers they chose.
APPENDIX I contains the answers to the student handout. The Answer Key should not be
given to the students, but it can be used by the teacher to assist the students. Explain why the
answers are correct or incorrect. It is important to review each possible answer, as students
can learn as much from an incorrect answer as from a correct one.
Resources:
1) The Palestinian National Charter - http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/plocov.asp
2) The Middle East Peace Summit at Camp David, July 2000 - http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Peace/
Guide/Pages/The%20Middle%20East%20Peace%20Summit%20at%20Camp%20David-%20July%202.aspx
3) A Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflicthttp://www.un.org/news/dh/mideast/roadmap122002.pdf
4) Journalist Charles Krauthammer Interview About the Camp David Accords - http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=KjvIAuwMrL4
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