This book offers an analysis of the dynamics of Israeli-European relations and discusses significant developments in that relationship from the late 1950s through to the present day. The emphasis is placed on five broad themes that address different dimensions of the relationship: 1) Israeli-E.U. relations and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process; 2) Israeli-E.U. relations in a multilateral context; 3) the bilateral nature of Israeli-E.U. relations; 4) Israeli (mis)perceptions of the E.U.; 5) the future of Israeli-E.U. relations.

This Chaillot Paper examines European involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict. It focuses on European Union involvement in the conflict, with special, but not exclusive, attention to EU involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian dimension of the conflict.

What are the achievements, the limits and the failures of the EU's involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict? This book sets out to answer this question by analysing the development of European policy towards the conflict over the last forty years.

The EU two-state policy concerning the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is failing, despite a half-century of strenuous EU efforts expending tens of billions of euros to implement it. The reality of policy failure is discomforting but must be acknowledged.Failure should provoke reflection: reasons need to be understood to avoid repeated mistakes and to construct a more successful policy for the future. The reasons for failure of the EU Two State Policy are serious but surprisingly obvious. At the base of the EU two-state policy lie 3 false assumptions of wishful thinking: the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is territorial and not existential; East Jerusalem and the West Bank legally belong to the Palestinians; and the establishment of a democratic Palestinian state at peace beside Israel is realistic and feasible.This report challenges these assumptions and makes recommendations for a new approach to enabling Palestinian autonomy, Israeli security and regional stability.Palestinian rights to self-determination must be respected, but they may not be allowed to conflict with the fair and non-discriminatory application of international law, nor be allowed to undermine Israeli sovereignty or regional stability. Peace will never be achieved through agendas aimed at destruction.The EU should focus on ensuring rejection of extremism and mutual acceptance; the fair and equal application of international law to all actors in the region; and strengthening institutions of government based on the rule of law. The authors of this report seek to stimulate vigorous debate on the EU approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and a better way forward for Europes engagement in the Middle East.

The Middle East is a region of crises, conflicts and wars as much as it is a region of great potential and opportunity. However, the European Union and its member states have not yet found a viable strategic approach to meet both the challenges and opportunities in their immediate neighbourhood. The Europeans have not yet developed sufficient foreign and security policy mechanisms to pursue their interests effectively. How the European Union can support economic and political transformation processes throughout the region and thus contribute to a more stable, more prosperous and more democratic Middle East remains the subject of intense debate. The objective of this book is to provide a platform for this debate about the European Union's future role as a player in the Middle East, at a crucial moment in EU-U.S.-Middle East relations. As the European Union re-organizes its Mediterranean policies and the United States vote a new president into office, the authors of this book discuss a wide range of topics related to European foreign policy in the Middle East, the Mediterranean and the Gulf region, Europe's role in the Arab-Israeli conflict and the state of transformation processes in the region.

This book examines the interplay between the national and the European levels in EU foreign policymaking, focusing on the Middle East. European engagement in peacemaking in the Middle East dates back to foreign-policy cooperation in the early 1970s. Following the launch of the peace process in 1991, the EU and its Member States further stepped up their involvement in conflict resolution, focusing on one central area of EU engagement – the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This book covers the period from the beginning of the peace process in 1991 until 2008, and focuses on the actions of the big three Member States: Germany, France and the UK. Using the Europeanization concept as framework of analysis, the book examines the problematic dynamics between these Member States’ national foreign-policy models and the construction of a common European conflict-resolution policy. It also provides interesting new insights into the EU’s international role and potential, addressing the often neglected question of how Europeanization effects help to mitigate some of the classical limitations of European foreign policymaking. The book will be of great interest to students of EU policy, Middle Eastern Politics, peace and conflict resolution, security studies and IR.

This volume brings together an international network of political scientists and economists to offer options and strategies for strengthening Euro-Middle-East political, economic and social relations.

This book examines lobbying in EU foreign policy-making and the activities of non-state actors (NSAs), focusing on EU foreign policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It sheds light on the interactions between the EU and NSAs as well as the ways in which NSAs attempt to shape EU foreign policies. By analysing issues that have not yet received systematic attention in the literature, this book offers new insights into lobbying in EU foreign policy, EU relations surrounding the conflict and the EU’s broader role in the peace process. The book will be of key interest to scholars and students of political science, international relations, EU politics, EU foreign policy-making, Middle East studies and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.