Norway on Thursday released thousands of pages of documents relating to the secret negotiations that led to the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians, making public material that had been kept at the home of Norwegian diplomats Terje Rød-Larsen and Mona Juul until now.
The documents, published by Norway’s National Archives and Foreign Ministry, cover the period from 1983 to 2003 and include draft agreements, correspondence, meeting records and handwritten notes relating to the peace process.
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry said the release included material that would not ordinarily be part of a public archive, citing the documents’ historical significance and the public interest in examining the negotiations.
The ministry said it has not distinguished between material considered to have archival value and material that does not, or between documents that belong in the Ministry’s archives, documents belonging to third parties and private documents. It said the aim has been to make available all material that may shed light on the historical Oslo process to ensure the greatest possible degree of transparency.
Proposal to address terror disagreements through joint declaration condemning future acts
In one document reviewed by The Jerusalem Post so far, dated August 16, 1993, an unidentified author proposed addressing disagreements over terrorism through a joint declaration condemning future acts rather than attempting to settle disputes over past actions.
Written less than a month before the Oslo Accords were signed, the document acknowledged that definitions of terrorism differed widely between the parties and warned that mutual mistrust could undermine the agreement’s implementation. It also suggested that some unresolved issues could be addressed during implementation rather than settled before an agreement was reached.
