Balancing, Bonding, and Balking: The European Union, the United States, and the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process

The increasing resources, albeit largely financial, that the European Union has committed to the Israeli-Palestinian relationship has led to increasing calls for the EU to take a greater political role in the peace process. In this essay the potential role of the EU in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is examined in relation to that of the United States. For the EU to play a more influential role in the peace process, neither a pure balancing nor a pure bonding strategy is likely to work. Instead, the most promising strategy for the EU would be a bonding strategy combined with a threat to balk, to simply withhold support from US initiatives if Europe's views are not taken into account. Christopher Hemmer is professor of international security studies at the Air War College. The views expressed here are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Air War College or any other government department or agency.