Oslo (2021)

Yossi Beilin: Tell me exactly what part of the Norwegian government are you with, Mr. Huntsen?
Terje Rød-Larsen: Rød-Larsen. Call me Terje. No, I'm a, a private citizen. I run the Fafo Institute. A think tank.
Yossi Beilin: Why would I accept your help?
Terje Rød-Larsen: Because you need it. Because my negotiating model, and mine alone, is going to help you.

Terje Rød-Larsen: You and the Palestinians are using the antiquated negotiating model of totalism. All issues of disagreement on the table. All sides at the table. It's disastrous. The process is formal, and the results are absolute failure.
Yossi Beilin: But this is what the Americans want us to do.
Terje Rød-Larsen: And so you must do it, but at the same time, start a second process. Built, not on grand pronouncements between but intimate discussions between people held somewhere isolated. Totally. Where you and the PLO can meet. And talk.

Yossi Beilin: It is illegal for any Israeli official.
Terje Rød-Larsen: Yes. But someone unofficial... Who you and Peres could choose...
Yossi Beilin: That you could introduce to...
Terje Rød-Larsen: Exactly what I was thinking.

Mona Juul: Forgive me, but I don't speak Arabic.
Ahmed Qurie: And yet you profess to understand my region and my people, when in fact, clearly, there is very little that you understand.
Mona Juul: That may be true. But I do understand that your Chairman Arafat's backing of Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War so angered your now former Arab allies that they expelled 90,000 Palestinian guest workers, thereby creating such a financial catastrophe for your people, that the PLO is now stuck in exile in Tunis, unable to pay even the electricity bills. I also understand that without additional support from my government, your organization will slide one step closer to irrelevancy.

Terje Rød-Larsen: What's wrong?
Ahmed Qurie: I have never met an Israeli face-to-face.

Ahmed Qurie: Who are you?
Yair Hirschfeld: I'm just a professor of economics who supports dialogue with the PLO.
Ahmed Qurie: On whose authority do you speak?
Yair Hirschfeld: I have no authority! But I am having breakfast tomorrow in Tel Aviv with my dear good friend Yossi Beilin. I am so looking forward to telling our new deputy foreign minister about my trip to London!

Mona Juul: Terje, if this fails... If this goes wrong...
Terje Rød-Larsen: Darling, we have a plan now, and if it goes wrong, then we'll improvise.
Mona Juul: Our lives will be ruined. Do you understand?
Terje Rød-Larsen: Yes, I do. But we have a chance now. A real chance to make a difference.

Mona Juul: ...if we host it, the Israelis are on board,
Jan Egeland: No. Mona Juul, Yossi Beilin is on board, who does not have the authority to authorize such a thing.
Mona Juul: Jan, Jan. Jan, Jan. Yossi told me to my face. Directly. This comes from Shimon Peres. No question.

Terje Rød-Larsen: From the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Mr. Ahmed Qurie, and his associate, Mr. Hassan Asfour. And from the University of Haifa, Professor Yair Hirschfeld, and his associate, Professor Ron Pundak.

Yair Hirschfeld: They say they will take Gaza. They propose Israel withdraw all forces from Gaza. That the territory will be turned over who will govern it themselves. My God! To be able to pull out of Gaza, that would end the Intifada! They, they, they want to go even further! They've brought an outline for a declaration of principles that spells out precisely the issues between us that both sides agree to address. What should I do?
Terje Rød-Larsen: Well, it's, it's easy, Yair. You just, you... Um... That's not for me to say. Yair, trust that you need no road map. The way will show itself.
Yair Hirschfeld: ..... That is completely fucking stupid.

Mona Juul: Type everything up on these. This way, if either side leaks it, the other can claim the entire thing is an unofficial idea concocted by your organization.

Terje Rød-Larsen: One last order of business before you go. When we're speaking on the phone from now on, we'll refer to Israel as "the little country." Prime Minister Rabin will be "the grandfather." Shimon Peres, "the father." Yossi Beilin, "the son." The PLO we'll call "those across the sea." Chairman Arafat will be "the grandfather," of course, also. And Abu Ala, uh... "Puntoffle."
Ahmed Qurie: What?
Yair Hirschfeld: It means "slipper," Abu Ala, in Yiddish.
Ahmed Qurie: You are an even stranger people than I imagined.

Hassan Asfour: May your travels be safe.
Yair Hirschfeld: And yours.
Hassan Asfour: You are my first... Jew.
Yair Hirschfeld: I hope I was not too stringy.
Hassan Asfour: A bit. But still better than fish.

Mona Juul: I want to help as much as you do. But we are government officials who could now be accused of conspiring with another government's official. We...
Terje Rød-Larsen: We could be fired. Jailed. Worse.
Mona Juul: Wait. Wait. What if we're missing something? We're not telling Holst, in order to protect him and the ministry. What if Beilin is just doing the same? Look, the moment he tells Peres, Peres will have to tell Prime Minister Rabin, and then things will become official. And once they're official, then this whole channel is over. So, as long as Peres remains in the dark, then Beilin can keep pushing the process forward. See how far things go.
Terje Rød-Larsen: Oh. I see. So then we push on. Right?
Mona Juul: One more meeting. Discreet. Under wraps.

Ahmed Qurie: Mona Juul has done this?
Terje Rød-Larsen: Yeah.
Ahmed Qurie: Swear it to me, Rød-Larsen. On the soul of your wife.
Terje Rød-Larsen: I swear on the soul of my wife. You've got to trust me.
Ahmed Qurie: I trust Mona Juul. Without her, you are nothing.

Mona Juul: This is finished, Terje. It's finished. Unless we do one thing.
Terje Rød-Larsen: What?
Mona Juul: Tell Holst what we are doing.
Terje Rød-Larsen: No. No, Mona Juul. He's a megalomaniac!
Mona Juul: And now, that megalomaniac is exactly what we need. Holst does nothing in half measures. If we can convince him, he'll throw the full weight of the ministry behind us. He will help us get that upgrade, and then we will make this happen.
Terje Rød-Larsen: You... are the most extraordinary woman who has ever lived.

Ahmed Qurie: Minister Holst, in but one meeting, the Israelis and ourselves have made progress beyond all hopes. With your support, our secret channel will continue to feed fresh water to the official Washington-sponsored talks. You are your nation's greatest statesman. Only you can move our two peoples towards a true and lasting peace.

Uri Savir: Let us put our cards on the table. In my country, we see you as terrorists and murderers who wish to drive us into the sea. You killed our athletes in Munich. Murdered our school children in Ma'alot, invaded us and spilled our blood the highest holy day we have. So you will understand when I say that we do not view you as ideal partners for peace.
Ahmed Qurie: In my country, we see you as a savage nation, whose army shoots our children for sport. Your people persecuted for your faith... murdered in Pogroms, fled to Palestine, where you were left alone to pray, and strive, and grow strong. And when you became strong, you burned our homes, drove a million people from Palestine, and claim to this day that there was never such a thing as Palestine! So, you will understand our mistrust of you as ideal partners for peace.

Uri Savir: Now, we are willing to relinquish control of Gaza... Which we will accept, on condition that you relinquish control of Jericho to us at the same time.
Ahmed Qurie: Are you fucking serious? Gaza alone would make us an island, surrounded by a sea of Israeli forces!
Uri Savir: I've been talking of nothing but Israel's concern for our security, and now you're asking us to give you control of a city 20 kilometers from Jerusalem?
Ahmed Qurie: Our city in our West Bank! Your country divides my people in two! So we must have a foothold in Gaza and the West Bank!
Uri Savir: We'll give you Gaza, and when you show you can stop the killing of our soldiers in Gaza, then we'll talk about Jericho. That is from Shimon Peres himself.

Uri Savir: I'll tell you a secret. I was nervous as hell to meet those two. First members of the PLO I've ever been face-to-face with.
Mona Juul: So what do you think of them?
Uri Savir: Not the demons I was expecting.

Uri Savir: Hassan! I'm right here. You want to say something, say it to my face.
Hassan Asfour: Okay. You sit there, comrade, with your colonial superiority, dictating what our future will or will not be. Yet somehow, with your intelligence service, your army, your nuclear weapons, you are threatened by us. So, are you the master who must be obeyed, or the victim who must be coddled, because you cannot be both!

Uri Savir: Abu Ala, our peoples live in the past. Both obsessing over... over what we have lost. Let us find a way to live in the present. Together...
Ahmed Qurie: We will agree to drop our demand that outstanding quarrels between us be referred to third-party international arbitration.
Uri Savir: And we will agree to negotiate turning over Gaza... and Jericho. You and I, Abu Ala... We are going to change the world.

Joel Singer: It's a fucking Hanukkah present to Yasser Arafat!
Uri Savir: This is what Peres wanted.
Joel Singer: Peres answers to Rabin just like the rest of us! This flies in the face of 40 years of Israeli policy. We turn over control of Gaza, and Jericho? The inclusion of Jerusalem in Palestinian self-rule?
Uri Savir: Joel, these are just talking points...
Joel Singer: Is this why our grandparents founded this country? So we could do this?

Ron Pundak: In four months, we've gone from not even conceiving of meeting these people to that. Forty years, nothing. Now four months, that.
Uri Savir: Every negotiating round, my counterpart calls PLO headquarters in Tunis, and speaks directly to Arafat. Every point. Every concession these men have made has been signed off on by Arafat.
Joel Singer: Who in the government knows this document exists?
Ron Pundak: The three of us, and Peres. And Rabin.
Joel Singer: It's written like mush. The janitor in my law firm would have done a better job. Every sentence here could be read to mean anything by either side. It's a fucking time bomb.
Ron Pundak: So diffuse it, Joel. Rabin trusts you, and you alone, to do it. We are not lawyers. We need your expertise.
Uri Savir: Go through this "mush." Figure out if it can be turned into a real binding document or not. Nothing more can happen between Israel and the PLO unless you tell us it's a go.

Joel Singer: I've read the text of the joint document created here, and I've come with 200 questions about this document.
Ahmed Qurie: We reject your questions, as we reject your tone!
Joel Singer: These questions come directly from Yitzhak Rabin. I am here at his personal request. When you're speaking to me, you're speaking to the prime minister of Israel. I have until 0600 hours. We'll need to work through the night. Let's get started.

Hassan Asfour: Do you know who this man is? Joel Singer wrote the military rules of engagement the Zionist army used to crush our people. We are now in the boat with the enemy himself.

Joel Singer: "If the State of Israel agrees to cede control of Jericho and its surrounding territory, will the proposed Palestinian authority collect Israeli garbage? Or only Palestinian garbage?"
Ahmed Qurie: This is your question?!
Joel Singer: Well, this is my first question.
Ahmed Qurie: .... No, we will not collect Israeli garbage.
Joel Singer: "If the State of Israel agrees to cede control of Jericho and its surrounding territory, will the proposed Palestinian authority be prepared to send tax collectors into Israeli settlements?"
Ahmed Qurie: Mr. Singer, we did not fly across the world to speak of garbage and taxes.
Joel Singer: Garbage and taxes is what a government does. If you want us to give you the authority to be a government, then this joint document must spell out exactly how you will be a government.

Joel Singer: .... Question number 200. Are you willing to state herein that you recognize the legitimacy of the State of Israel?
Ahmed Qurie: We will agree in this document to accept the existence of the State of Israel.
Joel Singer: We know we exist, and we know you see that we exist. What this document requires is for you to acknowledge the legitimacy of our existence.
Ahmed Qurie: Mr. Singer, when you are willing to state herein that the Palestine Liberation Organization is the official voice of the Palestinian people, then we will revisit your legitimacy.

Joel Singer: Your answers to my questions were clear and direct, for which you have our thanks and our respect. On behalf of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the State of Israel, we make this offer that this back channel will become the official channel.
Ahmed Qurie: But what of the Washington-sponsored talks?
Joel Singer: They'll continue, and no one involved will know that what they are doing is now nothing but a ruse.

Jan Egeland: I mean, my God, it's one thing for a peace process to have a secret back channel. Now the actual peace process itself is a secret.
Mona Juul: Yes, I know, but...
Jan Egeland: The future of two being decided without accountability, without transparency, by a handful of men who have no mandate to do so.
Mona Juul: But that was always the ca...
Jan Egeland: If you continue down this path, and the world finds out what you are all doing, there will be riots. Blood will be spilled.

Shimon Peres: Look, if this deal does not happen, the PLO will be so hollowed out, so bereft of victories it may well cease to exist. This, we cannot allow. For Israel needs the PLO to exist. Arafat is tricky, but he is a man. And a man aches for one thing above all: his home.

Shimon Peres: Tell Uri to tell Abu Ala that if Arafat makes this deal with us, I will allow him and the rest of the PLO leadership to return to Gaza.
Yossi Beilin: Arafat, and the PLO in Gaza?
Shimon Peres: If we are to be bold, it must be now.

Shimon Peres: What is a lie but a dream that could come true? Fast and high, my friends. It is the only way.

Joel Singer: End of article eight. The sentence, "Israel will continue to carry" must be followed by the words "for defending against external threats or terrorist threats."
Ahmed Qurie: In article eight, "external threats," but not "terrorist threats."
Joel Singer: Agreed.

Ahmed Qurie: Can you hear me?
Terje Rød-Larsen: Yes, yes, Puntoffle.
Ahmed Qurie: Listen to me. I'm calling for the father. He wishes to speak with your grandfather. He wants to finish it. On this phone. Now. Do you understand?

Shimon Peres: We will accept that the Palestine Liberation Organization... is the official voice of the Palestinian people.
Ahmed Qurie: We will accept... the legitimacy of the State of Israel.
Shimon Peres: Jerusalem will remain solely the capital of Israel.
Ahmed Qurie: No!
Shimon Peres: Non-negotiable!
Ahmed Qurie: Larsen! Larsen! This is not the bluffing!
Terje Rød-Larsen: Wait.....
Shimon Peres: .... In the name of constructive ambiguity, we will accept that in the final stage of further negotiations, the future of Jerusalem will be addressed.
Ahmed Qurie: We accept this document.
Shimon Peres: As do we.

Terje Rød-Larsen: Abu Ala... what is that sound?
Ahmed Qurie: They are crying. All of them. They did not think they would live to see this day.

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+ Quotes on the IMDb