Dr Agus Sudarmaji at 'Oslo at 25: A Legacy of Broken Promises'

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

Dr Agus Sudarmaji of Jakarta State University, a specialist in Anthropology

PANEL: Living with the Occupation

While the PLO envisaged the Oslo Accords as a vehicle to self-determination in the territories occupied in 1967, the Israelis viewed them as a means to transform their direct military rule into a system of indirect rule. This required the transformation of the PLO from a liberation movement to Israel’s security sub-contractor in the occupied territories. Its primary function was to quash any form of resistance to the occupation. The asymmetry in the relationship between the two sides allowed the stronger, Israel, to dictate the direction and speed of the process according to its wishes.