The EU's Self-Defeating Aid Policy Towards Palestine (original) (raw)
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The European Union (EU) and its member states shoulder a significant part of the aid devoted to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestinians in Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). They do so according to a development aid model that is driven intellectually by the World Bank, under US political oversight. This article locates European aid in the World Bank-led approach and analyses its shortcomings. It starts with an overview of how such an approach came to characterize economic development in the Oslo Peace Process. It highlights its fundamental ambiguities when it comes to analysing the occupation and settlements. It then focuses on the issue of settlement-building and de- development in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) that punctuates the failure of the aid model. It concludes by analysing current thinking in aid effectiveness and how it could be adopted as an alternative approach by the Europeans.
The Foreign Policy of the EU in the Palestinian Territory
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Territories is in need of a reassessment. Despite some initial improvements in the political and economic structures, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership alone has failed to anchor a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. In response, the European Neighbourhood Policy was launched to bring out a number of new foreign policy instruments, which induced substantial reforms. Yet the win by Hamas in the 2006 elections brought a halt to the EU's aid and diplomacy. This boycott proved detrimental, as it widened the rift between the main parties to the point of no reconciliation. Whether the Union for the Mediterranean proves any better than its predecessor policies in the region remains to be seen. This publication aims at providing a broad picture of the EU's policies towards the Palestinian Territories, in order to draw lessons from them and offer proposals for the way ahead. CEPS Working Documents are intended to give an indication of work being conducted within CEPS research programmes and to stimulate reactions from other experts in the field. Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed are attributable only to the author in a personal capacity and not to any institution with which she is associated.
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The current European differentiation policy toward Israel-Palestine, as currently designed and fragmentarily implemented by member states, is not enough. The EU has the power to do more: instead of using trade and research funding programmes as a bargaining tool to bring Israelis to the negotiating table, it should first and foremost leverage its position to hold Israel accountable and ensure that it fully complies with international law prioritising the legitimate aspirations and rights of the Palestinian people.
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As is well known, the amount of aid given by international donors both to Israel and to the occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt) is unparalleled in the world, but the fact that people can turn violent against their own CSOs trying to promote reconciliation speaks abundantly about the resentment that external aid can generate. Studying the nexus EU-civil society-Palestinian-Israeli conflict cannot therefore be done without a general overview of the particular setting in which aid for conflict transformation takes place. This report is articulated in four parts. The paper first briefly discusses the nature of the conflict and recent trends in its development, affecting, inter alia, the domestic context in which civil society operates. It then looks at the EU's involvement in the conflict and presents the tools that the EU uses in its support for civil society. Moving on, it analyses the impact and effectiveness of Israeli and Palestinian civil societies (with a view on CSO typologies and activities) and suggests why the effectiveness of civil society has remained limited. Finally the paper deals with the EU's impact and the role of EU-funded programmes supporting civil society involvement in conflict transformation, testing the different hypotheses outlined in the guiding report issued for this work package.