What is it about?
This paper assesses the position of the Netherlands as one of Israel’s most faithful European allies in its conflict with the Palestinians. The first part examines the role of the EU and the Netherlands’ national Parliament as external and internal foreign policy determinants. It concludes that a lack of policy consensus at the European level allows a rightist Parliamentary majority to force the Dutch government in continuing its pro-Israeli course. The second part explains why this right-wing majority feels called to do this by referring to a complex mix of both political, religious and emotional motives.
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Why is it important?
This study, which is based on confidential documents from the Dutch Foreign Ministry and interviews with former policymakers and Foreign Ministers, adds to the discussion on the Europeanization of national foreign policies of smaller EU-member states. By stressing the role of Dutch Parliament as internal determinant of Dutch foreign policy with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict it shows that smaller European countries still have room for manoeuvre at the national level in terms of preferences, policy goals and identity.
Perspectives
With this paper I want to add to the still very limited number of studies analysing the policies of individual EU member states concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Many authors define the EU’s policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as weak and ineffective because of diverging political and economic interests between the member states. More in-depth country studies based on primary sources, like this article, may help to obtain a more profound understanding of the limits and opportunities of the EU with regard to ending the longest conflict in modern history.
peter malcontent
Universiteit Utrecht
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Netherlands, the EU and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, European Review of International Studies, August 2022, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/21967415-09020005.
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