ABSTRACT
The European Union’s (EU) policy towards Israel and Palestine pre-dates the launching of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The Arab–Israeli conflict, and especially its Palestinian dimension, has been among the first issues discussed in the framework of the European Political Cooperation (EPC) that was established, in the early 1970s, as the predecessor of the Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Since then, the EU has progressively developed common positions on key issues pertaining to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict through its declaratory diplomacy, including on the so-called ‘final status issues’: borders, Israeli settlements, Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees (Ifestos 1987; Allen and Pijpers 1984; Nuttall 1992; Pardo and Peters 2010; 2012; Musu 2010; Müller 2012; Bouris 2014). Making close reference to relevant United Nations (UN) resolutions and public international law, the EU supports an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders (with minor, mutually agreed modifications), emphasizes the illegality of settlement building in the Palestinian Occupied Territories (OT), including in East Jerusalem, and calls for a just, viable and agreed solution for Palestinian refugees. At the same time, the EU has repeatedly stated its support for the right of Israel to exist within secure and recognized borders.
