Reuters World News - Weekend episode: The legacy of the Oslo Accords, Israel’s Supreme Court weighs its own fate and Northern Ireland’s controversial amnesty

Episode Date: September 9, 2023

Thirty years since the first of the Oslo Accords were signed, peace in the Middle East is as elusive as ever. What is the future of the two-state solution – at the heart of that 1993 agreement between Israel and the Palestinians? A historic week beckons for Israel’s Supreme Court as it hears an appeal against the first part of a judicial overhaul. And, why a British plan to draw a line under the bloody events of the past is causing fresh pain in Northern Ireland. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The children of Abraham, the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael have embarked together on a bold journey. Together, today with all our hearts and all our souls, we bid them. Shalom. Salam. Peace. Thirty years since Bill Clinton unveiled the Oslo Accords, peace in the Middle East seems as elusive as ever. Surging violence across the West Bank. highlighting the dire state of relations between Israel and the Palestinians.

In this weekend episode of the Reuters World News podcast, we examined the future of the two-state solution at the heart of the Oslo Agreement. We look at the internal conflict within Israel over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial reform and the role the Supreme Court now faces in deciding its own fate. And in Northern Ireland, how British government planned a draw line under the bloody events of the past as causing fresh pain

on both sides of the sectarian divide. I'm Amanda Ferguson in Belfast. I'm Emily Rose in Jerusalem. And I'm Kim Vinal in London. Cheers from the White House lawn in 1993, as Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat shake hands. But immediate protests back home.

and Rabin, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Arafat in 1994, was assassinated the following year by a far-right Jewish-Israeli opposed to the deal. Emily Rose is in Jerusalem. So, Emily, the Oslo Peace Accords were meant to prepare the ground for a two-state solution. Is that just a pipe dream now? I'm not sure it's entirely impossible, but support for a two-state solution among Israelis and Palestinians. Palestinians is actually at an all-time low. Why the lack of support among the Palestinian population?

When I've spoken to Palestinians, specifically in the West Bank, when they talk about wanting to grow their businesses without Israeli restrictions, wanting to travel abroad easily, wanting to be able to live not under Israeli occupations. So the conversation perhaps is shifted to become less about a Palestinian state and more just wanting equal rights. What about on the Israeli side? why the declining support for two-state solution there? I've heard a lot of Israelis express to me the frustration with the stagnation in a two-state solution and feeling like things are really going nowhere.

This year we've spent a lot of time with settlers in the West Bank. And a lot of them have told me that they feel like the two-state solution just isn't viable anymore. Remind us of what these Israeli settlements are and what they mean for any progress. on a two-state solution? Yeah, actually, it's really important because this week the Israeli government just legalized three new Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and they're expanding at a rapid rate. And the reason they're so controversial is because critics say they are on land that is earmarked for the future of a Palestinian state. And they are very difficult at that point, or would be, to withdraw from in a final status negotiation. I mean, you say the word settlements, and some of them

just kind of look like hilltops with a bunch of caravans out there kind of in the distance. But a lot of them have really the appearance of an actual city and town. You have huge houses, sometimes high rises that were going up. When you look at them and you think about how difficult it would be to withdraw from those settlements, when you're on the ground and you see them for yourself, you realize just how difficult, a hard task that would actually be. What is the alternative? So I've heard almost every alternative you could possibly imagine.

One major one would be a one-state solution where you have Palestinians and Israelis given equal rights. I've heard about sharing leadership rotation with a confederation model that has international control over Jerusalem. But the truth is that none of them have really picked up steam in the way the two-state solution has. So the quagmire here is that it's the solution that is the solution that is, the most popular, seemingly the most viable, but it also seems to be in many ways that it's not viable. Street protests have become a common occurrence in Israel after a judicial overhaul that the government pushed through Parliament in July. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to rein in the influence of the Supreme Court comes full circle next week when the court hears an

appeal against the first part of the reform. So Israel's Supreme Court is preparing to rule on its own fate. Emily, this is extraordinary, right? It's extraordinary for two reasons. First of all, we're seeing a full deck of 15 judges on the panel, which is unprecedented. And then the other thing is that legislation that you mentioned that they're deciding on, that's an amendment to a basic law. And that's something the court has thus far steered clear of making any judgments on. So, So really, it will be historic week in Israel. What exactly is the government trying to do with this overhaul? Well, the main point of that overhaul, if you ask the people who are in support of it,

they say they're trying to restore balance to the branches of government and curb the powers of what they call an overreaching court, an activist court. But critics say that they're trying to consolidate all of those powers in the governing coalition and remove checks on government power. Do we have any idea how the court is likely to rule? I've spoken to legal experts who have told me that this just doesn't have legal legs to stand on, and I've spoken to legal experts who have told me

that they have a really good case. So I really don't know exactly how to answer that question. I do know that either way, what you're going to see, is some kind of big reaction, because whether they rule in favor or against, as you mentioned, this population has already taken to the streets. This has divided a lot of the country. And either way, it's going to evoke a motion among Israelis.

To another part of the world, all too familiar with sectarian conflict, Northern Ireland. A peace deal in 1998 ended three decades of violence. But many of the families of those killed during the troubles are still seeking. justice. This week, Britain's parliament approved a law that gives ex-soldiers and militants an amnesty if they cooperate with a new investigative body. It's triggered condemnation across the political divide. Amanda Ferguson is in Belfast. Amanda, can you start by telling us what this legislation does? Well, the UK government's legacy bill is essentially going to put a halt to criminal prosecutions, inquests and civil remedies to pre-1998 atrocities. So people who maybe five decades

on from the troubles are still seeking justice for their families. They're not going to have the traditional routes to justice available to them. So this is having a major impact on families across the spectrum, really just devastated by what was happened. What is the UK government saying is the reason for the legislation? Well, they believe that the families of victims aren't getting outcomes that the courts are clogged with cases, that it's not an effective system. And they say that this commission that will be headed up by a senior legal figure in Northern Ireland is the best way to do that. Both sides of the divide are opposed to the legislation, right? A rare moment of unity between factions? It really is one of the sort of a few issues in Northern Ireland at the moment,

where political parties in particular are unified. And whenever you're talking to groups, human rights organizations, legal experts, they all say that this will set a bad international precedent in that other conflict zones will look to what's happened here and think, well, you know, eventually people will just draw a line in the sand and move on from us. What happens next?

What happens next is probably a lot of legal challenges. In the meantime, the victims' groups that I'm speaking to are saying a surge and people approaching them for support because of being re-traumatized by what's happening. That's it for this weekend episode. We'll be back with our daily headline show on Monday. To make sure you know what's going on in the world, listen in for 10 minutes every weekday. And don't forget to subscribe on your favourite podcast player or download the Reuters app.