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

Nearly fifty years since the European Community's Foreign Ministers issued their first declaration on the conflict between Israel and her neighbours in 1971, the EU continues to have close political and economic ties with the region. Based exclusively on primary sources, this book offers an up-to-date overview of the 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 2,500 declarations and statements published in the Bulletin of the European Communities/European Union (1967 2009), as well as council reports and press interviews (2009 19), 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 central to shaping the EU's foreign policy overall.