The Securitization of the Bi-National State: The Oslo Accords 1993-1995

While military measures are the most prevalent means for confronting security threats, non-military means such as diplomacy and peace agreements offer an alternative recourse for countries as they seek to overcome existential threats. This article contends that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s decision to promote the Oslo Accords was essentially a security move to counter the threat of a bi-national state. Using securitization theory, which explores the process of how issues transform into security threats, the article analyzes how Israel chose a peace process to tackle an existential threat to its future as Jewish and democratic state. Although the Oslo Accords are widely perceived as a peace process, the article argues that the desire to create a demographic separation between Israel and the Palestinians was the main consideration driving the agreement. Departing from the literature that discusses Israel’s national security through conventional historical and descriptive analytical lenses, the article proposes examining decision making processes relating to Israel’s national security using theoretical tools, in this case, securitization theory.