European Contestations of EU Democracy Support in Palestine

On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups launched fatal attacks in southern Israel. Since then, the Israeli military has conducted relentless operations in Gaza, killing and injuring tens of thousands of Palestinians. This has brought the “Palestine question” back onto the agenda. Inner-EU differences – between EU institutions as well as among EU member states – have become increasingly apparent, and an unprecedented Palestinian solidarity movement has emerged within Europe. October 7 was thus a turning point for EU-Palestine relations, including in the field of democracy support.
Against this backdrop, this paper traces discursive practices on EU democracy support since October 7 in a context of lacking functioning statehood and democratic institutions in Palestine, and of ongoing violence during the studied period of reflection. Accordingly, not many discursive practices on EU democracy support in a narrow sense could be observed; therefore, we analyse “framework conditions for democracy” as well as the “democratic-ness” of EU practices, extending the scope to EU discourses on Israel.
The article consists of four parts. Firstly, it outlines the general background of the case study to contextualise developments and narratives since October 7. Secondly, it maps relevant actors and works out the general contours of their narratives. Thirdly, it analyses some important sub-aspects of narratives. Lastly, it provides concluding remarks. This study combines in-depth qualitative analysis of written sources (EU documents, statements, speeches, press releases, policy briefs, etc.) with semi-directive interviews with EU officials and actors contesting EU narratives.