EU Diplomacy and the Israeli-Arab Conflict, 1967-2019

Book excerpt: Nearly 50 years since the European Foreign Ministers issued their first declaration on the conflict between Israel and Palestine in 1971, EU continues to have close political and economic ties with the region. Based exclusively on primary sources, this study offers an up-to-date overview of EU's involvement in the Israeli-Arab conflict since 1967. It utilises an innovative methodology to analyse keyword frequency in a sample of more than 2300 declarations and statements published in the Bulletin of the European Communities/European Union (1967-2009) as well as council reports and press interviews (2009-2018) to uncover broad patterns for qualitative analysis. The outcomes suggest that the Israeli-Arab conflict is more important to the EU than any other conflict, having been key to shaping EU's foreign policy overall.