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Israeli Perceptions of the European Union and Normative Power Europe

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Israeli Perceptions of the European Union and Normative Power Europe Faculty of Social Sciences MSc Political Science, European Politics and External Relations Everything is a Matter of Perception: Israeli Perceptions of the European Union and Normative Power Europe Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Dimitris Bouris Second Reader: Dr. Rocco Bellanova Author: Shirel Levi, 11741813 Date of Submission: 22/06/18 Academic Year: 2017/2018 Acknowledgments I would like to express my deep gratitude to all the people who made this thesis possible through their contribution. Firstly, to my supervisor Dr. Dimitris Bouris, for his patience, encouragement, enthusiastic guidance, useful critique, and most of all for inspiring me from the very first moment to follow my passion. Secondly, I want to thank Dr. Bellanova, for being the second reader of this thesis and giving his much appreciated feedback. Thirdly, I would like to thank all my interviewees, especially in the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the EU officials, for their time and effort. Last but not least, I wish to thank my parents and my partner for their support, advice, encouragement and patience. Without you this thesis would not have been completed. Special thanks to my mom who always has faith in me, encourages me to be the best that I can be, and always understands. “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” -Abraham Lincoln 2 Abstract European Union-Israel relations are one of the most interesting examples of the European Union’s (EU) external relations. Israel is connected to Europe through historical, cultural and economic ties. The relations are characterized by rich economic and research cooperation but yet are over- shadowed in the political sphere by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the context of the conflict and EU foreign relations in general, the EU attempts to present itself as a normative power, emphasizing the importance of norms and values in its external relations. However, third countries do not necessarily view the EU as a normative power nor perceive its actions positively. This thesis identifies what are the main Israeli perceptions of the EU, how they affect EU-Israel relations and whether Israelis perceive the EU as a normative power to begin with, regardless if the EU is considered to be one. The conceptual framework of the thesis emphasizes the importance of examining normative power Europe and external perceptions of the EU, since the EU cannot be perceived as a power if that power is not recognized, and therefore the EU is not able to exert it. This thesis uses the method of content analysis to identify the perceptions of the Israeli political elite, as can be observed in Israeli parliamentary debates, political statements and interviews, and also the perceptions of the Israeli public, through examining online comments of Israelis on the Facebook page of the EU delegation to Israel. Negative perceptions of the EU began to develop since the 1970s after the European Community began to support the Palestinians and criticize Israeli policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Furthermore, Israeli perceptions have been very much influenced by the events of the Holocaust and the subsequent mistrust towards Europe. As concluded in this thesis, these perceptions should be addressed if the relations are to be improved and the EU’s role in the Middle East strengthened. Keywords: EU-Israel relations, EU foreign policy, normative power Europe, external perceptions of the EU, Israeli perceptions, content analysis 3 Abbreviations AA Association Agreement ACAA Agreements on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of industrial products AP Action Plan EC European Community EEC European Economic Community ENP European Neighbourhood Policy EMP Euro-Mediterranean Partnership EPE Ethical Power Europe EEAS European External Action Service ESS European Security Strategy EU European Union FP EU Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development MEPP Middle East Peace Process MFA Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs MPE Market Power Europe MS European Union Member State NGO Non-Governmental Organization NPE Normative Power Europe OT Occupied Territories PA Palestinian Authority PLO Palestinian Liberation Organization PM Prime Minister UfM Union for the Mediterranean ROO Rules of Origin UN United Nations US United States 4 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 6 2. Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Type of data and data collection ...................................................................................... 8 2.2 Method of analysis and sampling .................................................................................. 11 2.3 Limitations and advantages ............................................................................................ 12 3. Literature Review ................................................................................................................... 15 3.1 The EU as a Global Power ............................................................................................. 15 3.1.1 Normative Power Europe ...................................................................................... 16 3.1.2 Alternative Roles of the EU as a Global Power .................................................... 19 3.1.3 Criticism of Normative Power Europe ................................................................. 23 3.2 Perception and Misperception in International Relations .............................................. 25 3.2.1 External Perceptions of the European Union ........................................................ 26 3.3 Conceptual Framework: NPE and External Perceptions of the European Union .......... 29 4. EU-Israel Relations: Historical overview and challenges ............................................... 33 4.1 High Hopes and the Fog of War: 1957-1979 ................................................................. 33 4.2 Long and Winding Road: 1980-2000 ............................................................................ 34 4.3 Increased European Involvement: 2001-2012 ............................................................... 38 4.4 Trade and Politics .......................................................................................................... 40 5. Israeli Perceptions of the EU ............................................................................................. 45 5.1 Perceptions of the Israeli Political Elite ......................................................................... 49 5.2 Perceptions of the Israeli Public in Social Media .......................................................... 57 5.3 Understanding the findings and comparing the results .................................................. 63 6. Israeli Perceptions of the EU and Normative Power Europe –‘mind the gap’ ............. 69 7. Conclusions .......................................................................................................................... 77 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 79 Annex 1: Codebook - Israeli perceptions of the European Union ............................................... 96 5 1. Introduction Despite not being geographically located in Europe, Israel is connected to Europe in many ways, such as the historical roots of the Jewish people, the horrific events of the Holocaust, hundreds of thousands of Israelis that uphold a European citizenship, the establishment of Israel after the British Mandate, the European founding fathers of Israel with Europe being the birthplace of Zionism, and the valuable economic and research cooperation between Israel and the European Union (EU) (Pardo and Peters, 2010:112; Harpaz, 2013:170). The EU is the most important trading partner of Israel and the second largest funder of Israeli research (Pardo and Peters, 2010:50). Alongside the prosperous economic and research relations, the EU has been highly critical of Israel regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Ibid:5). It has criticized Israeli policies, especially the building of Israeli settlements in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967 (OT) (Ibid:20). The criticizing of Israel on the political level goes hand in hand with the EU’s attempts to present itself in international relations as a normative power, emphasizing the importance of norms and values, such as human rights and democracy, in its external relations (Sjursen, 2006:248). The EU has been increasing its involvement in the Middle East peace process (MEPP), and has become a meaningful political and economic actor in the international arena (Pardo and Peters, 2010:65). The EU is becoming more involved in the Mediterranean region, and specifically in issues vital to Israeli security, such as the Iranian nuclear program and the Syrian civil war (Chaban and Holland, 2014:189). Therefore, it seems natural that Israel should strive towards enhancing its relations with the EU. This view however is not shared by all in Israel (Harpaz, 2004:1057). Many Israelis do not see the importance of the relations with the EU, as they have obtained negative perceptions of the EU, perceiving it as pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli and possibly anti-Semitic, ultimately preferring that the EU did not intervene in Israeli affairs (Pardo and
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