New Article: Asseburg & Busse, The End of a Two-State Settlement?

Asseburg, Muriel, and Jan Busse. “The End of a Two-State Settlement? Alternatives and Priorities for Settling the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” SWP Comments 24 (2016).

 

URL: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-46893-9

 

Abstract

On the occasion of their joint government consultations in February 2016, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that this was not the time for making major progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, given the instability in the Middle East. However, merely adhering to a two-state settlement as a mantra without taking any concrete steps to implement it effectively reinforces the one-state reality under Israeli dominance. Ultimately, this will make settling the conflict impossible. Popular support for a two-state solution is waning on both sides. While at present alternative one-state or confederate models have even slimmer chances of being realized, Germany and the EU should nevertheless explore the creative and constructive aspects of these models, which would enable the two sides to maintain their national identities as well as realize their individual and collective rights. Their priority, however, should be to alter the cost-benefit calculation of the parties to the conflict, so as to generate the political will for bringing about a settlement at all.

 

 

 

New Article: Steinberg, EU Foreign Policy and the Role of NGOs

Steinberg, Gerald M. “EU Foreign Policy and the Role of NGOs: The Arab-Israeli Conflict as a Case Study.” European Foreign Affairs Review 21.2 (2016): 251–68.

 

URL: http://www.kluwerlawonline.com/abstract.php?id=EERR2016016

 

Abstract

The European Union’s structural weakness in foreign policy making, and the emphasis on soft power in promoting norms, contribute significantly to its close cooperation with civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).The EU provides core funding to hundreds of NGOs and receives legitimacy, information, and analysis from them. In return, this interdependence allows NGOs to expand their impact in many areas, including foreign policy.

This study analyses the relationship between NGOs and EU decision-making in the foreign policy realm, particularly in the context of the Arab-Israel conflict. By examining EU documents on key issues, such as Jerusalem, settlements, Israeli-Arab citizens, and guidelines for cooperation with Israeli institutions, the article highlights the direct impact of selected NGOs. We argue that the close and mutual NGO-EU dependency has significant political and theoretical ramifications.

 

 

 

Policy Paper: Göbel, The Israeli Lobby for Research and Innovation in the European Union

Göbel, Benedict. “The Israeli Lobby for Research and Innovation in the European Union. An Example of Efficient Cooperation in the European Neighbourhood?” Bruges Political Research Papers 49/2015 (2016).

 

URL: https://www.coleurope.eu/system/files_force/research-paper/wp49_gobel.pdf (PDF)

 

Abstract
Israel figures among the world-leaders in R&D expenditure and has a high-performing scientific community. Since the 1990s it has been associated with the Scientific Policy of the European Union via the European Research Framework Programmes (FP). The cooperation between Israel and the EU in this domain has gradually increased and benefits the scientific communities on both sides. In 2014 the association of Israel to the latest and biggest European FP ever adopted (Horizon 2020) was renewed for the fourth time. Based on all the scientific evidence provided, the elaboration of a European Research Policy can be identified as a highly regulated domain, offering relevant ‘channels of influence’. These channels offer Israel the opportunity to act within the Research Policy system. Being a member of several formal EU bodies in charge of implementing EU Research Policy, Israel is able to introduce its positions effectively. This is accompanied by an outstanding level of activity by Israel in linking concrete EU Research Policy measures to the Israeli Scientific Community at the national level. To carry out this task, Israel relies on an effective organization, which remodels the provided EU structures: European ‘National Contact Points’ (NCPs) are concentrated within the ‘Europe Israel R&D Directorate’ (ISERD). ISERD connects efficiently all the relevant actors, forums and phases of EU-Israeli Research Policy. ISERD can be recognized as being at the heart of Israel’s research cooperation with the EU.

 

 

 

Policy paper: O’Donnell, The European Union as a Mediator in Israel-Palestine

O’Donnell, Hugh. “The European Union as a Mediator in Israel-Palestine: Operations Cast Lead and Protective Edge.” EU Diplomacy Paper 01/2016.

 

URL: https://www.coleurope.eu/system/files_force/research-paper/edp_1_2016_odonnell.pdf (PDF)

 

Abstract
The European Union (EU) has played an important, yet inconsistent role in the Israel-Palestine conflict since the1980 Venice Declaration. This paper analyses how the EU’s role as a mediator has changed more recently in the Israel-Gaza conflict. Specifically, it examines how the ‘Concept on Strengthening EU Mediation and Dialogue Capacities’ adopted in 2009 and the creation of the European External Action Service and the High Representative by the Lisbon Treaty have changed the EU’s resources and strategies as a mediator as well as how these developments improved cooperation and coordination with other mediators. This analysis is done through a comparison of the EU’s role in the Israeli Operation Cast Lead in 2008/2009 and Operation Protective Edge in 2014. It is argued that the aforementioned changes made the EU a more capable mediator and facilitated internal coordination. However, these changes did not create more resources for the EU as a mediator, rather they changed how the EU used its resources.

 

 

 

New Book: Wittstock, 50 Years of German-Israeli Diplomatic Relations

Wittstock, Alfred, ed. Rapprochement, Change, Perception and Shaping the Future. 50 Years of German-Israeli and Israeli-German Diplomatic Relations. Berlin: Frank & Timme, 2016.

 

The relations between the two states and societies have been rather complex during both the previous half-century and beyond. Embedded in changing political landscapes, the ramifications reach back to the early 19th century. Yet the uniqueness of the relationship network only shows in light of the wholesale murder of Jews in Europe, the creation of the State of Israel, the discussions surrounding the initiation of diplomatic relations and their arrangement until the present day. The development and intensity of the relations with regard to civil society and politics are quite astonishing when considering the beginnings. Approaches, changes and the in part greatly-varying perceptions of the other side can be observed over the course of 50 years of history, and these give rise to questions concerning the current state of the relationship and its future design.

 

Click here for Table of Contents (PDF).

ALFRED WITTSTOCK is the Director of the Israel Study Unit at the Department of Political Science at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz. Co-founder of the German Study Program “Study in Israel – One year at the Hebrew University Jerusalem”. Teaching activities at several secondary schools and Universities. Research interests: state and society of Israel, role of religions in the Middle East conflict, German-Israeli Relations.

 

 

 

New Article: Revel, European Neighborhood Policy in the Middle East

Revel, Sammy. “European Neighborhood Policy in the Middle East: The Test of Reality.” Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23739770.2016.1159043

 

Extract

When it was inaugurated in 1995, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership presented a vision of political cooperation, economic development, and cultural understanding between Europe, Arab countries, and Israel. The atmosphere was one of relative optimism, both in Europe and the Middle East. Ten years later, the regional approach took a back seat and the main emphasis was placed on a more bilateral framework, with the introduction of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP). Following the big wave of European Union enlargement, the gravitational force pulling neighboring countries to the EU was at its peak. The objective was to extend the zone of peace and prosperity beyond its enlarged borders.
Today, at the beginning of 2016, this vision seems to be a faraway dream. In the Middle East and North Africa, the upheavals in Arab countries have brought about growing instability and bloodshed. This situation presents important humanitarian challenges, including major refugee flows within the region and into Europe. Terrorist organizations are exploiting the current situation to spread hatred and commit acts of violence.
In view of this dramatic, unsettling reality, there is a clear need to examine the flaws in the implementation of the ENP and to rethink its most basic elements. A new strategy should include effective tools with which to solidify meaningful cooperation between like-minded countries.

 

New Article: Harpaz & Jacobsen, EU Funding of Israeli Non-Governmental Human Rights Organizations

Harpaz, Guy, and Elisha Jacobsen. “The Israeli Collective Memory and the Masada Syndrome: A Political Instrument to Counter the EU Funding of Israeli Non-Governmental Human Rights Organizations.” Mediterranean Politics (early view; online first).

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13629395.2016.1151136

 

Abstract
The EU’s practice of funding Israeli non-governmental human rights organizations (hereinafter ‘HRNGOs’) has in recent years encountered a counter-strategy, pursued by certain Israeli NGOs and members of the Israeli government, media and academia. This counter-strategy has succeeded in discrediting the HRNGOs and the EU and rendering their mutual collaboration less effective. The purpose of this article is to contextualize the counter-strategy within the sphere of Israel’s collective memory. The article analyses the manner in which certain politicians and various members of the Israeli society (agents of memory), who themselves are the product of the evolving Israeli collective memory and identity (structure), attempt to draw on Israel’s collective memory/structure in order to advance their particular political agenda.

 

 

Online paper: Ben-Meir, The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Time for a New Strategy

Ben-Meir, Alon. “The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Time for a New Strategy.”

URL: http://www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu/sites/default/files/Proposal%20Full%20Document_EU_final_saving_jordan_river_160303.pdf (PDF)

Abstract

After nearly seven decades of conflict, peace between Israel and the Palestinians remains elusive. The longer the conflict persists, the more intractable it will become. Those Israelis and Palestinians who wish to have it all are dangerously misguided and will ultimately condemn any prospect for peaceful coexistence.
The new international effort led by the US and the EU to resume the peace negotiations must not lose sight of the popular demand of the majority on both sides to live in peace, because on their own, they will not come to terms with one another. The regional turmoil must not forestall the Israeli-Palestinian peace process; on the contrary, it should serve as the catalyst that could end one of the longest conflicts in modern history.
Past experiences also revealed that although some progress was made through US mediation, the negotiations failed to produce an agreement and nothing indicates that the resumption of the negotiations under US auspices would lead to different results. As such, it has become increasingly clear that only international intervention would provide the practical channel for the peace negotiations and motivate or incentivize both sides to come to terms with the inevitability of coexistence. The EU role is central to the success of these efforts, provided that Obama or his successor stop enabling Israel to pursue its self-destructive path by no longer providing Israel with unconditional political backing as well as economic and military support. Indeed, the two-state solution remains the only viable option that allows for peaceful coexistence, on which any new initiative must be based.

New Article: Martins, Interpreting EU–Israel Relations

Martins, Bruno Oliveira. “Interpreting EU–Israel Relations: A Contextual Analysis of the EU’s Special Privileged Partnership Proposal.” Cambridge Review of International Affairs (early view; online first).
 
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2015.1117921
 
Abstract

This article analyses the background, content and implications of the EU proposal for ‘Special Privileged Partnership’ status to be granted to Israel and the future state of Palestine in the event of a successful conclusion to the peace process. It employs a sociological institutionalist perspective to assess the diplomatic manoeuvring in the broader context of EU–Israel relations. The analysis offers an identification and categorization of the constitutive components of the EU–Israel relationship into formal and social elements. It argues that differences in threat perception, Israel’s highly securitized ethos and different interpretations of the security versus legality equation are social, constitutive elements of the relationship that cannot be efficiently changed by a mere upgrade of the formal institutional setting, even if the economic incentives to do so were attractive. In other words, the sources of tension between the EU and Israel observed in recent decades are not likely to be overcome by a discursive or institutional upgrade around the concept of partnership.

 

 

 

New Book: Rosenfeld, Deciphering the New Antisemitism

Rosenfeld, Alvin H., ed. Deciphering the New Antisemitism. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2015.

Deciphering the New Antisemitism addresses the increasing prevalence of antisemitism on a global scale. Antisemitism takes on various forms in all parts of the world, and the essays in this wide-ranging volume deal with many of them: European antisemitism, antisemitism and Islamophobia, antisemitism and anti-Zionism, and efforts to demonize and delegitimize Israel. Contributors are an international group of scholars who clarify the cultural, intellectual, political, and religious conditions that give rise to antisemitic words and deeds. These landmark essays are noteworthy for their timeliness and ability to grapple effectively with the serious issues at hand.

 

Table of Contents

Introduction Alvin H. Rosenfeld

Part I. Defining and Assessing Antisemitism
1. Antisemitism and Islamophobia: The Inversion of the Debt – Pascal Bruckner
2. The Ideology of the New Antisemitism – Kenneth L. Marcus
3. A Framework for Assessing Antisemitism: Three Case Studies (Dieudonné, Erdoğan, and Hamas) – Günther Jikeli
4. Virtuous Antisemitism – Elhanan Yakira

Part II. Intellectual and Ideological Contexts
5. Historicizing the Transhistorical: Apostasy and the Dialectic of Jew-Hatred – Doron Ben-Atar
6. Literary Theory and the Delegitimization of Israel – Jean Axelrad Cahan
7. Good News from France: There Is No New Antisemitism – Bruno Chaouat
8. Anti-Zionism and the Anarchist Tradition – Eirik Eiglad
9. Antisemitism and the Radical Catholic Traditionalist Movement – Mark Weitzman

Part III. Holocaust Denial, Evasion, Minimization
10. The Uniqueness Debate Revisited – Bernard Harrison
11. Denial, Evasion, and Anti-Historical Antisemitism: The Continuing Assault on Memory – David Patterson
12. Generational Changes in the Holocaust Denial Movement in the United States – Aryeh Tuchman

Part IV. Regional Manifestations
13. From Occupation to Occupy: Antisemitism and the Contemporary Left in the United States – Sina Arnold
14. The EU’s Responses to Contemporary Antisemitism: A Shell Game – R. Amy Elman
15. Anti-Israeli Boycotts: European and International Human Rights Law Perspectives – Aleksandra Gliszczynska-Grabias
16. Delegitimizing Israel in Germany and Austria: Past Politics, the Iranian Threat, and Post-national Anti-Zionism – Stephan Grigat
17. Antisemitism and Antiurbanism, Past and Present: Empirical and Theoretical Approaches – Bodo Kahmann
18. Tehran’s Efforts to Mobilize Antisemitism: The Global Impact – Matthias Küntzel

List of Contributors
Index

ALVIN H. ROSENFELD holds the Irving M. Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies and is Professor of English and Founding Director of the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism at Indiana University Bloomington. He is editor of Resurgent Antisemitism: Global Perspectives (IUP, 2013) and author of The End of the Holocaust (IUP, 2011), among other books.

 

ToC: Mediterranean Politics, Forum on Prospects for Palestinian‒Israeli Relations

Forum Introduction: Prospects for Palestinian‒Israeli Relations: What Lies Ahead

Alaa Tartir & Bruno Oliveira Martins

 

Original Articles

The EU against the New Normal: Avoiding the Banalization of the Israeli‒Palestinian Dispute

Bruno Oliveira Martins

Is a Just and Lasting Peace Possible?

George Giacaman

Overcoming Phobias and Asymmetries in Israel and Palestine

Yonatan Mendel

Palestine‒Israel: Decolonization Now, Peace Later

Alaa Tartir

New Book: Pardo, Normative Power Europe Meets Israel

Pardo, Sharon. Normative Power Europe Meets Israel: Perceptions and Realities. Lanham and Boulder: Lexington Books, 2015.

 

 

The book draws on some of the scholarship in perception studies and “Normative Power Europe” theory. The study of perceptions, although dating back to the mid-1970s, is gaining renewed currency in recent years both in international relations, in general, and in European Union studies, in particular. And yet, despite the significance of external perceptions of the European Union, there is still a lack of theoretical forays into this area as well as an absence of empirical investigations of actual external role conceptions. These lacunae in scholarly work are significant, since how the European Union is perceived outside its borders, and what factors shape these perceptions, are crucial for deepening the theory of “Normative Power Europe.” The book analyzes Israeli perceptions towards “Normative Power Europe,” the European Union, and NATO through five themes that, the book argues, underscore different dimensions of key Israeli conceptions of “Normative Power Europe” and NATO. The book seeks to contribute to the existing research on the European Union’s role as a “normative power,” the Union’s external representations, and on Israeli-European Union relations more broadly.

 

Table of Contents

• Introduction: Normative Power Europe Meets Israel
• Chapter 1: Normative Power Europe in Israeli Eyes
• Chapter 2: The Seventh Would-Be Member State of the European Economic Community
• Chapter 3: Normative Power Europe and Perceptions as Cultural Filters: Israeli Civic Studies as a Case-Study, with Natalia Chaban
• Chapter 4: When a Lioness Roars: The Union’s Guidelines Prohibiting the Allocation of Funds to Israeli Entities in the Occupied Territories
• Chapter 5: An Elusive Desire: Israeli Perceptions of NATO
• Conclusion: Normative Power Europe as Israel’s Negative “Other”

Sharon Pardo is Jean Monnet chair ad personam in European studies in the Department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
 

New Article: Voltolini,Non-State Actors and Framing Processes in EU Foreign Policy

Voltolini, Benedetta. “Non-State Actors and Framing Processes in EU Foreign Policy: The Case of EU–Israel Relations.” Journal of European Public Policy (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2015.1085429

 

Abstract

This article investigates the role of non-state actors (NSAs) in European Union (EU) foreign policy, focusing on how they contribute to the emergence and codification of new frames that underpin EU external policies. It argues that changes in EU foreign policy are the result of interactions among a frame entrepreneur, often played by an NSA, and policy-makers in situations of cognitive uncertainty and when a policy window opens. The empirical evidence is based on the case of EU–Israel relations: a non-governmental orgaization (NGO) called MATTIN Group acted as frame entrepreneur and contributed to the emergence and codification of a new frame of understanding of EU–Israel relations, redefining them on the basis of a legal paradigm. This clarifies the territorial scope of bilateral agreements and ensures that the bilateral relations are constructed and implemented in accordance with EU legal framework and its commitments under international law.

 

 

New Article: Harpaz, The EU Funding of Israeli Non-Governmental Human Rights Organizations

Harpaz, Guy. “The EU Funding of Israeli Non-Governmental Human Rights Organizations: When EU External Governance Meets a Domestic Counter-Strategy.” European Foreign Affairs Review 20.2 (2015): 207–25.

 
URL: http://www.kluwerlawonline.com/abstract.php?area=Journals&id=EERR2015016

 

Abstract
This article analyses the European Union’s (EU’s) practice of funding of Israeli Human Rights NGOs. It argues that the pursuance of such a model of governance is a natural choice for the EU, yet such pursuance has encountered in Israel a bottom-to-top counter-strategy of delegitimization conducted against the EU, the NGOs and their collaboration. This counter-strategy was found to discredit the NGOs and the EU and render their mutual collaboration less effective.

 

 

New Book: Del Sarto, The Israel-Palestine-European Union Triangle

Del Sarto, Raffaella A., ed. Fragmented Borders, Interdependence and External Relations. The Israel-Palestine-European Union Triangle. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

 

 

This edited volume investigates the complex relations between Israel, the Palestinian territories and the European Union. They are considered as three entities that are linked to each other through various policies, bonds and borders, with relations between any two of the three parties affecting the other side. The contributors to this study explore different aspects of Israeli-Palestinian-European Union interconnectedness, including security cooperation; the movement of people; trade relations; information and telecommunication technology; legal borders defining different areas of jurisdiction; and normative borders in the context of conflict resolution and international law. By assessing the rules and practices that establish a web of interlocking functional and legal borders across this space, together with their implications, this volume adopts a novel perspective and sheds light on the complex patterns of interdependence and power asymmetries that exist across these fragmented borderlands.

 

Table of Contents

PART I: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
1. Borders, Power, and Interdependence: A Borderlands Approach to Israel-Palestine and the European Union; Raffaella A. Del Sarto
PART II: SECURITY, SOVEREIGNTY, PEOPLE
2. EU-Palestinian Security Cooperation after Oslo: Enforcing Borders, Interdependence and Existing Power Imbalance; Dimitris Bouris
3. Visa Regimes and the Movement of People across the EU and Israel-Palestine; Raffaella A. Del Sarto
PART III: ECONOMIC BORDERS AND INFRASTRUCTURE
4. Territorial Borders and Functional Regimes in EU-Israeli Agreements; Benedetta Voltolini
5. Bordering Disputed Territories: The European Union’s Technical Custom Rules and Israel’s Occupation; Neve Gordon and Sharon Pardo
6. Between Digital Flows and Territorial Borders: ICTs in the Palestine-Israel-EU Matrix; Helga Tawil-Souri
PART IV: LEGAL AND NORMATIVE BORDERS
7. The Legal Fragmentation of Palestine/Israel and European Union Policies Promoting the Rule of Law; Asem Khalil, Birzeit University and Raffaella A. Del Sarto
8. The Legal Foundations of Normative Borders and Normative Orders: Individual and Human Rights and the EU-Israel-Palestine Triangle; Stephan Stetter
PART V: CONCLUSIONS
9. On Borderlands, Borders, and Bordering Practices; Federica Bicchi

Raffaella A. Del Sarto is a part-time professor at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, and an Adjunct Professor in Middle East Studies and International Relations at SAIS Europe, Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of Contested State Identities and Regional Security in the Euro-Mediterranean Area (Palgrave, 2006).

 

 

New Book: Voltolini, Lobbying in EU Foreign Policy-Making: The Case of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Voltolini, Benedetta. Lobbying in EU Foreign Policy-Making: The Case of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Routledge/UACES Contemporary European Studies. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2016.

 

 

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.

 

Table of Contents

• Introduction: ‘Embedded’ lobbying in EU foreign policy
• 1 Exploring lobbying in EU foreign policy-making
• 2 The EU and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict: An overview of declarations, policies and actors
• 3: Who’s who? Mapping non-state actors in EU policies towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• 4: Trade relations between the EU and Israel: Lobbying on the territorial scope of the EU–Israel Association Agreement
• 5 The Goldstone Report: To endorse or not to endorse it?
• 6 Framing the EU–Israel Agreement on pharmaceutical products: Cheaper medicines, territorial scope or policy coherence?
• 7 Using the national level to lobby the EU
• 8 Conclusions

 

Benedetta Voltolini is Lecturer in International Relations at the Department of Political Science, Maastricht University, the Netherlands.

 

 

New Article: du Plessix, The Case of the (Future) Borders of Israel and Palestine

du Plessix, Caroline. “EU3 Resistance to Norms in External Action: The Case of the (Future) Borders of Israel and Palestine.” European Foreign Affairs Review 20.1-2 (2015): 103–21.

 
URL: http://www.kluwerlawonline.com/abstract.php?id=EERR2015027

 
Abstract

This article deals with the resistance of France, Germany and the United Kingdom (EU3) to comply with the EU norms regarding the (future) borders of Israel and Palestine. To do so, it focuses on two cases studies: the issue of Israel’s exports to the EU originating from the settlements, and EU companies operating in settlements in East Jerusalem. The EU3’s reactions differ when it comes to ensure the implementation of the EU soft law regarding the two state solution, and more particularly the issue of future borders. Yet, they all reflect the Member States’ resistance to directly enforce CFSP norms on this matter. In the case of a territorial dispute, the EU’s soft and hard laws are de facto intertwined through EU external action. As matter of fact, the rule of origin defined in EU free trade agreements with both Israel and the Palestinian Authority strongly relies on CFSP positions regarding their future borders. This article argues that conflicting objectives related to this issue between Member States and the EU and among national actors account for the EU3’s resistance attitudes. In other words, a certain form of cognitive distance – the fourth hypothesis of the introduction – between the content of EU norms and Member States’ objectives affects the implementation of CFSP norms. In this case, Germany’s reaction to the Brita case demonstrates its unwillingness to take direct responsibility for setting a precedent regarding the sensitive case of Israeli exports from the settlements, due to its special relationship with Israel. France’s cautious reaction is more particularly related to the latent conflict within its population about this issue. The United Kingdom’s preference for the labelling solution illustrates its liberal nature and its willingness to let British consumers assume the responsibility to decide, though this solution proves difficult to implement in fact. Yet, this article also shows that these resistance attitudes can also lead to the renegotiation of the means of implementation of CFSP norms on this matter, and potentially to their strengthening.

 

 

Reviews: Perrson, The EU and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, 1971-2013

Persson, Anders. The EU and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, 1971-2013 : In Pursuit of a Just Peace. Lanham : Lexington Books, 2014.

 

Reviews

Hollis, Rosemary. “Review.” Middle East Journal 69.3 (2015): 469-71.

New article: İşleyen, Governing the Israeli–Palestinian peace process: The European Union Partnership for Peace

İşleyen, Beste. “Governing the Israeli–Palestinian peace process: The European Union Partnership for Peace.” Security Dialogue 46.3 (2015): 256-71.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0967010615579563

 

Abstract

This study applies a governmentality approach to analyse the European Union’s civil society promotion in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process through the EU’s Partnership for Peace instrument. Contrary to a widespread conviction in earlier academic research, it argues that the EU engagement with the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has political substance, and the Partnership for Peace provides a good illustration of this. The governmentality perspective highlights the power of the technical in guiding civil society towards particular visions, activities and goals. It brings to light a set of supposedly neutral definitions and technical instruments related to project applications and project selection that sort out, promote and link together civil society action in a way that manages and reinforces the existing dynamics of the peace process. The technical brings with it a particular idea of civil society, which is encouraged to assume functions that focus on the management of the outcomes of the conflict rather than striving for a transformative vision of peace based on political deliberation and fundamental change. The use of the governmentality approach not only aims to provide a better understanding of the nature of the Partnership for Peace programme, but also contributes to debates over the theoretical merits of governmentality by applying the approach to peace and conflict research.

 
 

New Article: Martins, The EU and the Recognition of the Palestinian State

Martins, Bruno Oliveira. “‘A Sense of Urgency’: The EU, EU Member States and the Recognition of the Palestinian State.” Mediterranean Politics 20.2 (2015): 281-287.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13629395.2015.1046268

 

Abstract

In the aftermath of the July–August 2014 war in Gaza, the Swedish government officially recognized the state of Palestine. This decision triggered a cascade of resolutions adopted in national parliaments of European Union member states and, eventually, led to the adoption of a European Parliament resolution supporting in principle the recognition of Palestinian statehood. Understood collectively, these efforts constitute a multifaceted European attempt to break with the status quo of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. This Profile critically analyses these developments and sets the context in which they unfolded, arguing that they are indicative of a complex yet growing European impatience with Israel’s policies towards the conflict and with the stalemate of the peace process.