The EU and its trickster practices: the case of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

If one looks at the European Union (EU)’s southern neighbourhood and considers its response to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, one can only wonder how the EU can have any apologists left at all. While the tortured history of the conflict dates back more than a century, its roots lie in decades of clashes over religion, borders, and territory. The dispute between Israelis and Palestinians has engulfed politicians, diplomats, academics, NGO officials and others in a peace process in which the ultimate goal has been tantalizingly close on numerous occasions only to be pulled apart at the 11th hour. Few international disputes have generated as much emotion, passion, anguish, and diplomatic gridlock as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.