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

Abstract:

This article assesses the European Union (EU)’s engagement with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and highlights the unintended consequences of the policies pursued by Brussels on this matter. While stressing that Palestinians and Israelis interested in peace face the danger of the banalization of the conflict, the article argues that the current status quo is unacceptable and unstainable in the long run, and this demands new policies from the actors involved with the conflict or its resolution. The EU policies’ overall rationale must be to treat the Israeli‒Palestinian dispute as a normal, non-exceptional conflict, in which economic and legal tools can be employed to create new legal facts on the ground. An alternative EU approach to the conflict must recognize the insufficiency of recent initiatives and should be built upon two pillars: the legalization of the main contending issues and the empowerment of the civil society actors and initiatives that foster dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis.

‘Who could possibly come up with a new, decisive argument that hasn’t yet been heard?’ she asked with a sigh when anyone else tried to take it up with her. (Grossman, 2010 Grossman, D. (2010) To the End of the Land (London: Vintage).
: 54)

Looking back at a century of European intervention in the territory that corresponds to today’s Israel and Palestine reveals a mixed record, at best. Indeed, after having ruled over the disputed region during some decades at the beginning of the twentieth century, via the infamous British Mandate on Palestine, and considering decades of diplomacy with unsatisfactory results, it is not for the international community, and for the European Union in particular, to say what the solution should be. But external actors can say what the solution could be, and also, perhaps most importantly, what the solution cannot be, based on rules and norms that are widely shared in international affairs. Assuming that the current status quo cannot be the solution, and it cannot be accepted, this article assesses the EU’s involvement with the Israeli‒Palestinian conflict and suggests ways of preventing the normalization of and resignation to the current situation.

As intolerable as the current situation on the ground is, Palestinians and Israelis interested in peace face a real danger: the banalization of the conflict, manifested in a sense of passive acceptance, lethargy and hopelessness. Decades of insolvability and deterioration without any positive breakthrough leave the Israeli‒Palestinian dispute at the mercy of domestic politics in both countries and make international diplomacy struggle to compete with other regional developments such as the Arab Awakening, the emergence of the Islamic State, the civil war in Syria and the Iranian nuclear agreement. And domestic politics in Israel and Palestine have not done their part. There have been no legislative elections in Palestine for almost ten years, the conflict was mostly absent from the Israeli electoral campaign in March 2015, and all the fundamental vectors of the conflict remain unaddressed, while three wars between Israelis and Palestinians took place between 2008 and 2014. Most importantly, as in any other conflict, many structural obstacles to peace are raised by domestic and regional actors that benefit from the status quo. Religious and nationalist agendas and political actors in Israel, and political, security and economic elites in Palestine all directly benefit from the existence of the Israeli‒Palestinian conflict and keep the foundations of a new future at a safe distance.

The maintenance of the conflict affects Israelis’ and Palestinians’ lives, but its effect stretches way beyond the boundaries of these territories. For this reason, any successful diplomatic initiative will most likely be framed in a regional context. Over the last decades several regional actors have contributed to positive and negative dynamics, and actors in the region know that successful diplomatic tracks require the engagement of countries such as Qatar or Turkey, and especially Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Articulating policies with the latter three is part of the mandate of Fernando Gentilini, the EU’s Special Representative to the Middle East Peace Process appointed earlier in 2015 to boost the Union’s contribution to the conflict’s resolution and to provide support to the works of High Representative Mogherini.