Because the official negotiations were exposed to the public in every phase, concessions had not been forthcoming and the negotiating positions had remained rigid and polarized. Confidentiality and secrecy were therefore viewed as indispensable in the Oslo channel, enabling the parties to elaborate new ideas and make tentative concessions. Indeed, the back channel was meant to be permanently secret and results concluded in Oslo were to be transferred back to the official negotiations (Aas 1994; Beilin 1994; Savir 1994).
Secrecy was also necessary because of the Israeli law against its citizens meeting with PLO officials. When the back channel was initiated, this law was still in force. Thus the use of unofficial diplomats, in this case the two academics, was inevitable because exposure of the back channel could have led to the fall of the Israeli government (Hirshfeld 1994b). However, this use of unofficial diplomats also reflected Israeli uncertainty about the PLO’s willingness and credibility to conclude an agreement. The PLO leadership was well aware of this situation and tried to make the back channel extra safe (Abbas 1995: 58).
The constant fear of leaks obviously created pressure to conclude an agreement; Savir indeed asserted that “we were hysterical about leaks” (1994). However, with the increasing prospects of concluding a DOP leaks started to appear, some stemming from Peres, who made optimistic statements in the press about an agreement with the Palestinians (Abbas 1995: 159; Hirshfeld 1994b).
Many secret back channels had been tried, and some were even used as a supplement to the Oslo channel. During negotiations on mutual recognition, an additional channel was operating between the Israeli Arab Ahmad Tibi (presently adviser to Arafat) and Haim Ramon (former health and interior minister). This was a way for the sides to “double-check” each other, posing questions and carrying messages between Rabin and Arafat (Abbas 1995: 74-78; Inbar 1996: 212-215).
Setbacks and problems in conducting secret negotiations were soon discovered by both sides. Because of the fear of leaks, never in the entire process of negotiation did the Palestinians review the documents with legal consultants (except on August 20, 1993, with the PLO’s legal consultant Taher Shash). Hence, when the agreement was made public, the Palestinian negotiators were criticized for not having consulted experts on various issues. Opposition was voiced particularly by the official Palestinian delegation and the Executive Committee in Tunis, who had been excluded and kept in the dark (Abbas 1995: 206-209; Ashrawi 1995: 260, 278). The Israelis also avoided any involvement of experts, including military ones, and Rabin “ended up vetting every line of the DOP himself” (Makovsky 1996: 51).