Research Papers

This paper picks up and develops ideas and insights concerning the impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the political process of the EU. The EU Commission has declared that “resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict is a strategic priority for Europe”. However, the Action Plan issued in 2004 to promote cooperation has produced much debate but modest results. Interestingly, the National Indicative Program for the triennium 2011-2013 (the principal policy instrument within the European Neighborhood and Partnership framework) mentions the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict only in passing. Moreover, the Indicative program calls the conflict, alternatively, Arab-Israeli and Israel-Palestinian (arguably a cue to its non-committal attitude towards the issue). Nevertheless, the impact of the conflict on the political process of the EU remains huge, with implications affecting several policy areas. This paper argues that the conflict reverberates in the democratic discourse of the EU and brings about a significant effect of polarization within the political spectrum. The paper reviews a number of factors, such as voting patterns within the EP, policy-making roles and outcomes at both the Council and the Commission levels, and the orientation and mobilization of public opinion within the EU. It engages with recent attempts to come to terms with the thorny relationship between Israel and the EU (Musu 2010; Pardo &Peters 2010; Miller 2011) and focuses on aspects (such as the impact, or effect, of the conflict at the level of the political process of the EU) overlooked by the literature. Travel costs and conference fees will be charged on the Cost Center of the Research Project "The Israel Effect" (WW5095), generously financed by the Free University of Bozen/Bolzano.