The European Union and the Middle East: Pragmatism, Post-normativity, and International Law

The aim of this article is to examine how the European Union (EU) seeks to broker peace in the Middle East, in particular the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and tries to balance this with upholding respect for international law and human rights. The main arguments are that the Union’s approach to the legal issues must be seen in the context of more general geopolitical considerations and that in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict international law has been marginalized and the Union and its Member States have contributed to this.

It is furthermore argued that the balance currently being struck by the Union between attempting to respect international law, on the one hand, and trying to achieve a sustainable solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, on the other, needs to be reassessed so as to not only reflect more realistically events on the ground but also to allow the Union to (re)emerge as a credible actor promoting respect for international legal norms.