Paper Titles & Abstracts

This paper aims to analyze the EU's role as a third party intervener in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. It argues that the EU's intervener role falls into the category of structural intervention which refers to intervention behaviors aiming to change the incentive structure of conflicting parties. The EU has utilized state-building, socioeconomic development, bilateral cooperative programs in its structural intervention activities. The EU's support to the Palestinian reform process towards the establishment of democratic, politically and economically viable and well-governed Palestinian State has been part of EU's efforts to change Palestinians' conflict behavior. It is expected that the establishment of democratic, viable and well-governed Palestinian State would diminish Palestinians' incentive to continue conflict with Israel and make them more prone to the negotiated settlement of the conflict. Moreover, the EU through its huge amount of financial aid has contributed to the socioeconomic development of the Palestinians. It is expected that this would eliminate structural causes of conflict and create stability and hope and this would lead to the establishment of a favorable environment for the Palestinians to engage with Israelis in their peaceful negotiations towards the settlement of the conflict. Since underdevelopment in Palestine provides fertile ground for radical Islamic terrorism, it is assumed that elimination of underdevelopment and poverty would wipe out terrorism in Palestinian territories. For the EU, sustainable socioeconomic development is the best structural response to the rise of terrorism in Palestinian territories. The EU's financial aid to the peace-oriented NGOs and civil society initiatives on both sides is an example of assisting conflicting parties to foster bilateral cooperative programs. It is expected that this would promote communication and understanding by demonstrating the advantages of working together for mutual benefit and tangible results.