The European Union And Occupied Palestinian Territories

This book analyses the present European Union (EU) approach to state-building, both in policy and operation. It offers a review of the literature on peace-building, EU state-building and conflict resolution, before examining in detail the EU’s role as a state-builder in the case of the Occupied Palestinian Territories following the 1993 Oslo Accords. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and over 140 interviews carried out in Brussels, London, Jerusalem and Ramallah with EU, Palestinian and Israeli officials as well as academics, members of NGOs and civil society, the author evaluates the present approach of state-building and offers a framework to test the effectiveness of the EU as a state-builder. Examining security sector reform, judiciary sector reform and the rule of law, the book brings the ‘voices from the field’ to the forefront and measures the contribution of the EU to state-building against a backdrop of on-going conflict and a polarised social setting. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, EU politics, Middle Eastern politics, conflict resolution and state-building.

Focusing on key countries and topics, this book looks at Europe’s involvement in the occupation of Palestinian territories. What has been Europe’s role in the occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967? How have European actors responded, countered and/or supported the occupation? The international context of this exceptionally long occupation shows a complex web of denunciations, but also and especially complicit engagements and indifference. The book looks at the perspective of international law, before analysing the European Union and key European countries (France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom). It also embraces different perspectives, from the debate on campus to the role of European multinational companies to the conceptual approach of the World Bank. While much of the literature focuses on Israel, Palestine and the United States, this volume by leading experts adds a very important piece to the puzzle: the European dimension. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Global Affairs.

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.

This book investigates relations between Israel, the Palestinian territories and the European Union by considering them as interlinked entities, with relations between any two of the three parties affecting the other side. The contributors to this edited volume explore different aspects of Israeli-Palestinian-European Union interconnectedness.

"In this report, the European Court of Auditors assessed how well the European Commission and the European External Action Service managed the Pegase direct financial support (DFS) programme which has been the EU's largest programme in the occupied Palestinian territory since 2008, providing approximately 1 billion euro in funding from 2008 to 2012. It concludes that the Commission and the European External Action Service succeeded, despite difficult circumstances, in implementing the Pegase DFS programme. However, a number of aspects of the current approach are increasingly in need of an overhaul. While some important results have been achieved, their sustainability cannot be ensured without major revisions such as encouraging the Palestinian Authority to undertake more reforms, notably in relation to its civil service. At the same time, a way needs to be found to engage Israel into taking the necessary steps to help ensure that Pegase DFS is effective." -- Page [4] of cover.

Israel's relations with the European Union stretch back to the early days of the European Community and the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957. From that point onward, Israel and Europe have developed an increasingly strong network of political, economic, scientific, and cultural ties. These relations have, however, consisted of a number of conflicting trends. Indeed, even while the EU has become Israel's most important trading partner, the political relationship has been marked by disappointment, frustration, and, at times, even anger. Israel and the European Union: A Documentary History, by Sharon Pardo and Joel Peters, traces the history of these complex relations by bringing together over two hundred documents in one volume. The documents contained in this book are divided into five time periods: i) 1957-1966, Israel Looks to Europe; ii) 1967-1979, Between War and Peace; iii) 1980-1991, From Venice to Madrid; iv) 1992-2003, From Oslo to Barcelona; and v) 2004-2011, A Renaissance Cut Short'. Each section is preceded by a short essay outlining the major themes of Israeli-European Relations during those years. The authors have not added any commentary to the documents themselves and instead have allowed the documents to speak for themselves. The aim of this book is to offer a public record for future researchers and students of the dynamics of European-Israeli relations--as well as of Europe's relationship with the Middle East--over the past fifty years. Israel and the European Union is designed to serve as a companion volume to Pardo and Peters' Uneasy Neighbors: Israel and the European Union (Lexington Books, 2010).

European public opinion holds that the gravest obstacle to peace in the Middle East is the unwillingness of both sides to compromise, stemming from Israel’s oppression of Palestinians, Israeli housing settlements on disputed territories and Palestinian suicide attacks. When asked to identify the primary aggressor in the conflict, 43 percent of respondents chose both Israel and the Palestinians, reflecting the chain of retaliations in the conflict. Only 25 percent considered Israel to be the sole aggressor and even less – 13 percent – believed that only the Palestinian side was to blame. Although the European public deeply condemns the Palestinian suicide and rocket attacks on Israel, they are equally critical of Tel Aviv’s response. For example: 46 percent disapprove of the wall built to separate Israel from the West Bank; 53 percent consider the economic blockade of the Gaza Strip to be illegal; and 60 percent condemn the Israeli armed incursion in the area in the winter of 2008–2009. These results show a growing trend in the opinion of European citizens that Israeli government policies are responsible for the failure of the peace process. The Arab democratic wave is fundamentally changing the regional context of the Palestinian issue, and gradually ending the American and European quasi-monopoly as external peace mediators. Obviously, in the past a number of Arab initiatives have occurred, but the gap between leaders and Arab public opinion allowed some – such as Mubarak – to align them with the American stance at the time. The end of the Mubarak regime has brought Egypt much closer to all Palestinians. It was already clear there was no longer support in Egypt for the stifling closure of Gaza. With the end of authoritarianism, Egypt was quick to move to a position quite similar to that of Turkey, in that it combines a genuine desire for peace with Israel with strong support for the rights of the Palestinians, including the right to statehood, an opinion shared by the majority of the European public. Whether a one- or a two-state solution looms on the horizon, the question of civil rights for the Palestinians will not go away, nor will the need of all parties in the conflict to comply with international law. Whatever the circumstances, an approach centered on adherence to laws, norms and fundamental rights seems to be the option that will remain at the heart of EU policy for years to come.