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Prof Virginia Tilley at ‘Oslo at 25: A Legacy of Broken Promises’ conference

Panel/Topic: The Future of Oslo, Peace or Apartheid in Palestine

October 5, 2018 at 1:21 pm

 

Address by Prof Virginia Tilley at MEMO’s ‘Oslo at 25: A Legacy of Broken Promises’ conference held in London on September 29, 2018.

Prof Virginia Tilley specialises in the politics of ethnic and racial conflict and has research experience in Israel-Palestine, Central America, South Africa and Oceania. At Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, she teaches courses on international and comparative politics, including Middle East Politics and the politics of humanitarian intervention.

PANEL: The Future of Oslo: Peace or Apartheid in Palestine

The defeat of Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War and collapse of the Soviet Union that year left the PLO substantially weakened and isolated. Because of its alignment with Iraq during the conflict, the PLO was left bankrupt after its Gulf donors withdrew their financial support. The US moved quickly to assert its regional dominance as part of the “new world order” envisaged by President George H. W. Bush. With the groundwork laid at the 1991 Madrid conference, Israel convinced the PLO to enter into a series of direct secret negotiations which led to the 1993 Oslo Accords.