What the Failed Oslo Accords Can Teach Us About Prospects for Middle East Peace

Thirty years ago, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shook hands on the White House lawn and pledged to work together for peace. At that historic meeting, they signed what became known as the first Oslo Accord, ushering in an era of renewed optimism that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be resolved. Was its failure inevitable? Amid the tragedy of the current Israel-Hamas war, The New York Times magazine recently assembled a panel of experts — three Palestinian, three Israeli and one American – to discuss the Oslo peace process and why it broke down. Two of the participants in that discussion and journalist Emily Bazelon, who moderated it, join us to look back at what happened before and after the handshake and what it can tell us about the possibilities for negotiating peace.

Guests:

Emily Bazelon, staff writer, The New York Times Magazine; author, "Was Peace Ever Possible?" in the New York Times; co-host, Slate's political gabfest

Efraim Inbar, professor of political studies, Bar-Ilan University; president, Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security

Omar Dajani, former senior legal advisor, Palestine Liberation Organization's Negotiations Support Unit; professor of law, University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law