Syllabus
Class 1: Setting the scene of the EU-Israel relations This first class sets the scene for the exploration of the EU-Israel relations by providing important background information about the European Union as a sui generis actor in international relations and by discussing the contours of the relationship between the EU and Israel. Key questions: • Who are the main protagonists? How do they function? What binds them? • What defines the relationship between the EU and Israel? • What are the main areas of cooperation? • What have been the main turning points in the evolution of the relationship? Readings: Giaufret, Emanuele (2019), "A brief history of EU-Israel relations", Jerusalem Post https://www.jpost.com/International/A-brief-history-of-EU-Israel-relations-585673. Pardo, Sharon and Joel Peters (2012), Israel and the European Union: A documentary History, Lexington Books (Read the Preface of the book available on Google Scholar). Smith, Karen E., (2014) European Union Foreign Policy in a Changing World, 3rd edition, Polity Chapters 1, 3 and 9. The EU and the World: Players and Policies Post-Lisbon: A handbook.
Edited by Missiroli Antonio (2016) EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS). Accessible at: https://www.iss.europa.eu/content/handbook-–-eu-and-world-players-and-policies-post-lisbon Read in particular: The Institutional Frame section (pp. 13-43).
Additional readings: Pardo, Sharon (2013), “The Year that Israel Considered Joining the European Economic Community,” Journal of Common Market Studies 51(5), 901-915. Greene, Toby & Jonathan Rynhold (2018), “Europe and Israel: Between Conflict and Cooperation,” Survival, 60(4), 91-112. Class 2: The EU's involvement in the Middle East Peace Process: player or a payer? This class covers the issue that has dominated EU-Israel relations for the past four decades, i.e. the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and critically assesses the EU's involvement in this ambitious endeavour.
Key Questions: • What have been the different forms of EU's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over time? • To what extent has the engagement of the EU been a failure/success? Why? • What are the main obstacles for a more effective policy? Readings: Aoun, Elena (2003), “European Foreign Policy-Making and the Arab-Israeli Dispute: Much Ado About Nothing?,” European Foreign Affairs Review, 8: 289-312. Pardo, Sharon and Joel Peters (2010) Uneasy Neighbourhood: Israel and the European Union, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2010, Chapter 1. Tocci, Nathalie (2009), “Firm in Rhetoric, Compromising in Reality: The EU in the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict,” Ethnopolitics 8 (3–4): 387–401. Del Sarto, Raffaella (2019), “Stuck in the Logic of Oslo: Europe and the Israeli Palestinian conflict,” The Middle East Journal, 73(3): 376-96. Asseburg, Muriel (2019) Chapter 3: Political Paralysis in: "Divided and Divisive - Europeans, Israel and Israeli-Palestinian Peacemaking," edited by Dr. Muriel Asseburg & Dr.
Nimrod Goren. Published by Mitvim - The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, & SWP. Additional readings: Bouris, Dimitris (2012), “The European Union's role in the Palestinian Territories: state-building through Security Sector Reform?,” European Security 21(2): 257-27. Bicchi, Federica and Benedetta Voltolini (2018), “Europe, the Green Line and the Issue of the Israeli-Palestinian border: closing the gap between discourse and practice?,” Geopolitics 23 (1): 124-146. Hollis, Rosemary (2013), 'Europe', in J.
Peters and D. Newman (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
Oxon and New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 336-345 (for a more historical perspective on EU's involvement in the Middle East). Gordon, Neve and Sharon Pardo (2015), “Normative Power Europe meets the Israeli Palestinian conflict,” Asia Europe Journal, 13(3): 265-274. Class 3: Regional aspects and multilateral frameworks: Israel and the Mediterranean As part of its foreign policy, the EU also provides shared frameworks of cooperation for Israel and its neighbours in the Mediterranean region.
Since the mid-90s, Israel and the EU have years been engaged in a series of multilateral regional frameworks (i.e. European Mediterranean Partnership and the Union for the Mediterranean) in which the EU has been directly responsible for the management of relations between Israel and the Arab world.
Key questions: • What have been the logic and vision behind the various EU's regional multilateral initiatives launched in the Mediterranean? • Why did these policy frameworks fail to bring closer Israel and its regional neighbours? Did they bring any benefit? • What could be done to overcome the deadlock and take advantage of the potential for cooperation? Readings: Pardo, Sharon and Joel Peters (2010), Uneasy Neighborhood: Israel and the European Union, Langham, MD: Lexington Books, 2010, Chapter 2. Del Sarto, Rafaella (2006) Chapter "Region-Building, European Union Normative Power, and Contested Identities: The Case of Israel in Adler, E., Bicchi, F., Crawford B. and Del Sarto, R (eds.) The Convergence of Civilizations: Constructing a Mediterranean Region, University of Toronto Press. pp. 296–334. Del Sarto, Rafaella (2011), “Plus ça change...? Israel, the EU and the Union for the Mediterranean," Mediterranean Politics, 16(1): 117-34 (in particular the section on Israel and the Union for the Mediterranean p. 127). Additional readings: Tovias, Alfred and Rafaella Del Sarto (2001), “Caught Between Europe and the Orient: Israel and the ENP,” The International Spectator 36(4): 61-75. Adler, Emanuel and Beverly Crawford (2006) Chapter 1 ''Normative Power: the European Practice of Region-building and the case of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership" in Adler, E., Bicchi, F., Crawford B. and Del Sarto, R (eds.) The Convergence of Civilizations: Constructing a Mediterranean Region, University of Toronto Press. pp. 3-48. Del Sarto, Rafaella (2016), “Normative Empire Europe: The European Union, Its Borderlands, and the “Arab Spring,” Journal of Common Market Studies 54(2): 215-232.
Class 4: EU-Israel bilateral track: from the Association Agreement to the promise of a "Special privileged partnership" This class zooms in on the evolution and dynamics of the EU-Israel bilateral track from the Association Agreement signed in 1995 until today, covering an ever-increasing number of policy areas. It looks at the EU's influence on Israel but also at the strategies developed by Israel to deal with EU.
Key Questions: • How has the bilateral relationship evolved? What have been the main drivers/ challenges? • To what extent has the political situation affected the overall state of the relationship (key events: Second Intifada, 2005 Disengagement from Gaza, Operation cast lead, 2013 Guidelines etc)? Put it differently: How are the political and economic dimensions related? Do they evolve separately? jointly? • To what extent did the EU policy change over the years? (peace-making conditionality, differentiation policy...) Why? • What about Israel's policy towards the European Union? How has Israel tried to advance its interests (using the bilateral tracks)? • To what extent has Israel become 'europeanized' in its interaction with the EU? Readings: Pardo, Sharon and Joel Peters (2010), Uneasy Neighborhood: Israel and the European Union, Langham, MD: Lexington Books, Chapter 2. Hugh Lovatt, “EU Differentiation and the Push for Peace in Israel- Palestine,” in ECFR Policy Briefs, October 2016, https://www.ecfr.eu/publications/ summary/eu_differentiation_and_the_push_for_peace_in_israel_palestine7163. Ronen, Eyal & Nimrod Goren (2018), Chapter 2: Divisive Policies - Israel's Foreign Policy towards the EU and its Member States. pp. 21-35. In: "Divided and Divisive - Europeans, Israel and Israeli-Palestinian Peacemaking", edited by Dr.
Muriel Asseburg & Dr. Nimrod Goren.
May 2019. Published by Mitvim - The Israeli Insitute for Regional Foreign Policies, &SWP. Additional readings: Harpaz, Guy & Gadi Heimann (2016), “Sixty Years of EU-Israeli Trade Relations: The Expectations-Delivery Gap,” Journal of World Trade 50(3): 447–474. Pardo, Sharon & Neve Gordon (2018) 'Euroscepticism as an Instrument of Foreign Policy', Middle East Critique, 27(4): 399-412. Magen, Amichai (2012), “Israel and the Many Pathways of Diffusion,” West European Politics, 35(1), 98-116. Tovias, Alfred (2007), “Spontaneous vs.
Legal Approximation: the Europeanization of Israel,” European Journal of Law Reform, 9(3): 485-501. Voltolini, Benedetta (2015), “Non-State actors and framing processes in EU foreign policy: the case of EU-Israel relations,” Journal of European Public Policy 23(10): 1502-1519. Class 5: Looking back, looking forward: What future for the EU-Israel relationship? How to win European and Israeli hearts and minds? This class tackles specifically the EU's problem of "external legitimacy deficit" (accompanied by ignorance, mistrust and deep-seated misperceptions) and suggests venues to overcome it.
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Annotation
Course Description
Since the early days of the European Political Cooperation (EPC), the relations with Israel have occupied a central place in European Foreign Policy. Yet this partnership has featured an unparalleled level of complexity, exhibiting conflicting patterns of cooperation and divergence over different policy areas. This course examines the different facets of the Israeli-European relations, characterized by a love-hate relationship fuelled by economic interests and deep-seated political disagreements. It traces the evolution of this uneasy partnership from the late 1950s to the present day and unpacks its dynamics in various institutional frameworks: in the context of the Middle East Peace Process, in the multilateral regional initiatives launched in the Mediterranean and on the bilateral track. The thorough analysis of this unique relationship offers valuable insights about the European Union's role as an international actor. EU-Israel relations serve as an important indicator of how well European intentions have been translated into effective policy in Israel, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. As such, this course will be of interest to students interested not only in Israel's external relations but also in EU foreign policy.