Israel may cancel the Oslo Accords if the November 29 Palestinian bid for non-member statehood at the United Nations succeeds, Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported Wednesday.

The foreign ministry reportedly sent a cable Sunday to Israeli diplomats instructing them to “do all possible to halt the Palestinian initiative because of its far-reaching consequences.”

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman had met with Israeli ambassadors to the EU two days earlier informing them that punitive measures against Palestinians, for the UN bid, would include forcing the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, stopping the transfer of tax money, canceling work permits for thousands of Palestinian laborers, and canceling the Oslo Accords.

The Oslo Accords, signed in 1993 by late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli president Yitzhak Rabin, ostensibly formed an interim peace deal that would pave the way to an independent Palestinian state within five years. It created the Palestinian Authority which would rule over various territories in the West Bank, and generated significant opposition from members from within the ranks of the PLO.

Palestinian National Initiative leader Mustafa Barghouti said the accords turned out to be “a transition to nothing,” and had been used as a cover by Israel “to consolidate a system of apartheid.”

“The Palestinian resolution is a clear violation of the fundamental principle of negotiations,” Roni Leshno-Yaar, head of Israel’s foreign ministry division for international organizations, was quoted as saying by Ha’aretz.

“The adoption of the resolution will give Israel the right to re-evaluate previous agreements with the PLO and consider canceling them partially or completely, and would make progress in the future.”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s request for non-member status in the UN will be put to the vote at the UN General Assembly on November 29 and is expected to secure majority support. 

 – Al-Akhbar, Middle East Monitor