Gaza remains on the edge

Thirty-two years after the Oslo Accords were signed, then deputy foreign minister Yossi Beilin, who played a leading role in the Oslo peace process, remains actively involved in advocating for warmer peace between the two peoples.

The Oslo Accords are a set of framework agreements designed to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

While the widely considered "lead architect" of the 1993 landmark agreement strongly rejects what Hamas did on Oct 7, 2023, as "really beyond any nightmare" — referring to the attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people — and does not recognize Hamas as a "peace partner" due to its refusal to recognize a Jewish state, Beilin also believes Israel and the international community should do more to clear the path toward the two-state solution.

A ceasefire that came into force in October brokered by the Donald Trump administration, Qatar and Egypt provided some hope. It was followed by the United Nations Security Council in November adopting Resolution 2803 (2025), based on the new peace plan.

The proposal included the establishment of a Board of Peace and an International Stabilization Force, or ISF, in Gaza, which is expected to monitor the progress of the ceasefire.

The ceasefire that came into effect in October saw a hostage-prisoner exchange and a pause in heavy fighting between Israel and Hamas. But calls for more aid flows, to this day, remain. Flashes of reported attacks also saw Israel and Hamas occasionally accuse each other of violating the ceasefire deal.

Beilin, a member of the Knesset — the Israeli parliament — between 1988 and 2008 and now a scholar, told China Daily in an interview that he "would like to see a bigger role for the Palestinian Authority in solving problems" in Trump's peace plan.

Beilin, who was also a former minister in the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel, said that today, "more people understand the Palestinian Authority is important". One of the notable outcomes of the Oslo Accords was the creation of the Palestinian Authority, which was tasked with the responsibility of conducting limited Palestinian self-governance over parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

"Our partners are the Palestine Liberation Organization and the big mistake of the current Israeli government is that it is weakening the PLO, it is weakening the Palestinian Authority (PA). It is not doing enough against the violence of the settlers on the Palestinian inhabitants in the West Bank," said Beilin.

He cited Israel's refusal to transfer money owed to the PA according to the Paris agreement of 1994. He also noted that the Israeli government was "doing whatever they can in order to put pressure on them (Palestinians) and to make their lives miserable".

"What should be done is to work with the Palestinian Authority, to work with the PLO, not to work with Hamas as Bibi (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) in the past (helped Hamas). Not because he loved them (but) because he actually was assured that with them, there will never be a demand for a two-state solution. For them, it is not enough. This is the whole story," he added.

In an opinion article published in The Times of Israel on Oct 8, 2023, Tal Schneider, a political correspondent at the Israeli media outlet, noted that for years, the various governments led by Netanyahu took an approach of "dividing the power between Gaza Strip and the West Bank".

Fast forward to today, and with the Netanyahu government hell-bent on wiping out Hamas, leaving at least 70,000 dead in Gaza in the process, 157 countries of the 193 UN member states now recognize the State of Palestine, according to the UN. Israel, by contrast, is recognized by 165 of the UN's 193 member states.

Despite these diplomatic strides, all parties to the ceasefire agreement, which include Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators, have been struggling to move to the second phase of the deal, which would tackle Hamas' disarmament and Israel's withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territory.

Ammar Al-Dwaik, director general of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights, or ICHR, told China Daily in an interview that international experiences in disarmament call for a parallel, genuine political process that would give Hamas a compelling reason to disarm.