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When
Yitzhak Rabin shook Yasser Arafat’s hand on the White House
lawn 30 years ago today, many around the world hoped peace was
coming to the Middle East. Rabin, the Israeli prime minister,
and Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization,
were there to sign a declaration of principles that would
later become known as the first of the Oslo accords. For
although it was US president Bill Clinton towering above the
two men during their famous handshake, this was a moment
brokered during secret negotiations in Oslo, not
Washington.
In
the early 1990s, Jan Egeland was Norway’s deputy foreign
minister. In an interview for Inside the Oslo Accords, a
new podcast series for The Conversation Weekly, Egeland
reflects on the unique set of circumstances that allowed the
negotiations to happen when they did. “People couldn’t believe
it,” he remembers.
The
series is hosted by James Rodgers, reader in international
journalism and Amnon Aran, professor of international
politics, both at City, University of London. After hearing
discussion about the Israel-Palestine conflict by students on
campus, they came to The Conversation wanting to inform a new
generation about what happened.
In
the coming weeks, through conversations with some of the
leading participants in the process, they’ll help us to
explore what happened after the handshake, as well as the
legacy of Oslo today. Subscribe to The Conversation Weekly to
listen.
The
statement issued by the G20 after its meeting in New Delhi
threw a proverbial cat among the pigeons. Jennifer Mathers argues
that understanding the dynamics behind the statement - which
didn’t explicitly mention Russia as the aggressor in the war
in Ukraine - requires looking at the drive by countries in the
global south (developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin
America) for greater influence in international forums. Their
efforts are affecting the global balance of political power.
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