Brief/ A Decade of Deadlock. The EU’s Shipwreck on Palestine Embodies the EU’s Blockade Problem by Kristina Kausch

EU decision-making on the Middle East peace process has been paralyzed for a decade, making it the poster child for broader foreign policy pathologies. The weak, erratic European response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the latter’s retaliation in Gaza was the natural consequence of a long-standing stalemate.

The Israel/Palestine file has displayed in a particularly harsh manner the impact of the EU’s larger structural problems that lead to member states’ niche interests and domestic dynamics holding the bloc’s whole foreign policy apparatus hostage. As EU politics is set to polarize further and obstructionist tactics proliferate, the EU must find creative ways to work around paralysis, writes Kristina Kausch (Deputy Managing Director of GMF South and Senior Fellow – German Marshall Fund’s Brussels office) in a new JOINT Brief.