Towards rethinking the European Union's relationship with the Palestinian question
By Omar Shaban. With the United States monopolising the peace process between the Palestinian Authority and Israel and sidelining the UN, EU, Russia and China, and after the failure of round upon round of negotiations, it is time to rethink the process's methodology and its stewards.
- Author
- Omar Shaban Ismail
- Date
- 2013-11-13
By: Omar Shaban
In light of the monopoly of the United States of America over the peace process between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, and the exclusion of the other international powers — most prominently the United Nations, the European Union, Russia, and China — and after the failure of the inconclusive rounds of negotiations, the time has come to reconsider the methodology of the peace process and those in charge of it. Perhaps the United States must realise that it is not in its interest to monopolise the political track, so that it does not bear the sin of failure alone, and it must strive hard for the failure to be distributed over the international community. Likewise the Palestinian side must press strongly to return the European Union and the other powers to the arena.
The Palestinians had grown accustomed to directing sharp criticisms at the European Union because of the weakness of its influence on the political track, compared with the American role dominating the peace process. The Palestinians acknowledge that the European Union is the most generous regarding the size of the financial support to the Palestinian Authority, but they fault it for taking the back seat regarding political influence. And it is natural that the European Union is not happy with the equation: it pays much.. it influences little.
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