Europes Toolbox and Israeli-Palestinian Relations After the Kerry Effort: What Role for What Purpose

Panel 1: Europe’s Funding Guidelines and Activities Beyond the Green Line: Consequences and Prospects

Until recently, Europe had been successful in insulating its economic relations with Israel from its opposition to settlements and occupation of the West Bank. Through its 2012 Foreign Affairs Council conclusions, the EU laid the ground for a major policy shift which resulted in last summer's guidelines prohibiting EU funding for Israeli settlement-based entities. This discussion will look at what more can be done to advance the EU’s policy of differentiating between Israel and its settlements, and what impact this will likely have on Israeli public debate regarding the continuation of Israel’s settlement policy in the Occupied Territories.

Panel 2: Re-defining Donor Aid to the Palestinians? Europe’s Role

Under Prime Minister Fayyad, the Palestinian Authority pursued a project of institution-building under occupation which received steadfast European support. With the end of Fayyadism and with no final status agreement in sight, European donor aid is in need of a new narrative that provides support to the Palestinians without becoming functional to the Israeli occupation. This panel will look at how to develop a narrative for donor aid that looks at PA and Palestinian support more generally in terms of conflict prevention and damage limitation, and  how future efforts can be perceived as a form of empowerment rather than as a way to delegitimise the PA and the national project