The EU now appears too divided to play a significant role in any resolution of the conflict.
The day after the barbaric attacks by Hamas on Israel, the EU’s Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, Oliver Varhelyi of Hungary, announced the suspension of aid to the Palestinians. He was soon rebuffed by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and by several countries and members of the European Parliament. In the end, it was decided to “revise” European aid to the Palestinians rather than suspend it.
A bipolar system The 1980 Venice Declaration, on Palestine enabled the nine Member States to express their support for the Palestinians’ right to self-determination. Two years later, French president François Mitterrand, spoke before the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. He expressed his attachment to the state of Israel, but also the prospect of a Palestinian state. Mitterrand’s position was subsequently adopted by the EU itself.
Europe in support The EU supported the peace agreements, funded the Palestinian Authority and launched a mission to assist the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, evacuated by Israel in 2005.
Too many differences? Despite some points of agreement, the Member States have strikingly different visions of the Israeli-Palestinian question – a fact that limits their effectiveness. While the EU has adopted a common position in UN General Assembly texts more than 90% of the time, the divisions reappear as soon as the issues become sensitive. This is how the votes of the Member States were divided on the UN’s reaction to the Israeli offensive in Gaza in 2008-2009, on the admission of Palestine to UNESCO in 2011, and then on granting it UN observer in 2012.
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