Unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood legal status

Excerpts from "Mayday for Oslo", as published in The National Interest, Spring 1999 edition
By Joel Singer, former Foreign Ministry Legal Adviser under Rabin and Peres and one of the architects of the Oslo Accords

A unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood would change the West Bank and Gaza's status and thus constitute a flagrant violation of the Oslo Agreements. This would indeed, as the Israelis argue, entitle Israel to take countermeasures such as the annexation to Israel of parts of the West Bank and Gaza.

Since it is difficult for Arafat to make a convincing legal case for UDI [unilateral declaration of independence] within the Oslo framework, he might justify such a course in a different way, as a rejection of the process and its earlier agreements.
But even this action would not validate a unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence.
One of the recognized conditions for establishing a state is freedom from foreign control, but Israel clearly continues to exercise control over the entire West Bank and Gaza. The Oslo Agreements recognize Israel's supreme authority over these areas, even in those parts where local autonomy has been transferred in full to the Palestinians, such as in most of Gaza and the big cities of the West Bank.

In fact, if Arafat terminates the Oslo Agreements, Israel can make a strong legal argument that, with the expiration of these agreements, the West Bank and Gaza's status would return to the status quo ante; in other words, all the authority currently exercised by the Palestinians should revert to Israel rather than being retained by the Palestinians, because the agreements transferred this authority for five years only.

Moreover, while Israel has long asserted a claim to sovereignty over the West Bank and Gaza, it decided not to effectuate it unilaterally, but rather to negotiate the West Bank and Gaza's status with Jordan and Egypt, from which Israel conquered these areas.
In Camp David, Egypt abstained from asserting any sovereignty claims over Gaza, but Israel committed to a negotiated solution to the West Bank and Gaza. In its Treaty of Peace with Israel, Jordan too did not require the return of the West Bank, leaving its future to be resolved between Israel and the Palestinians per the Oslo Agreements.

In the Oslo Agreements, Israel renewed its commitment to a negotiated solution for the West Bank and Gaza and undertook not to change the West Bank and Gaza's status pending the conclusion of the permanent status negotiations.
However, if the Palestinians themselves terminate the Oslo Agreements, Israel might effectuate its claim for sovereignty, free of any commitment to the contrary to Egypt, Jordan or the Palestinians.