ABSTRACT
In this chapter I make evident three claims: 1) the dominant reading of the Oslo Process interprets and represents the process as a peacemaking breakthrough in Palestinian-Israeli relations; 2) there exists a critical corpus of literature that rejects the idea that the DOPOISGA was a landmark peace accord and sees in it instead the continuation of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip by other means; and 3) the dominant reading is dominant because subscription to it was benefi cial to the PLO, Israel and the United States. I do so in three stages. First, I catalogue and organize the literature into two categories.1 The fi rst corpus authors and reproduces an interpretation of the Oslo Process as a landmark peace process and a political discontinuity that fundamentally changed the nature of Palestinian-Israeli relations. This corpus identifi es the DOPOISGA and the Oslo Process as a peacemaking breakthrough. The second corpus is the dissenting literature. It challenges the notion that the Oslo Process was a peacemaking breakthrough. Instead, the Oslo Process facilitated the continuation of the Israeli occupation. Second, I justify my labeling the fi rst corpus the dominant or hegemonic reading of the Oslo Process. I demonstrate that this reading has been popularly adopted and institutionalized and that power has been exercised in accordance with it. Third, I explain the political function of the dominant reading. I show how the PLO, Israel and the United States benefi ted from an interpretation and representations of the DOPOISGA and the Oslo Process as a peacemaking breakthrough.
