The past years have seen many commemorations in the Israeli–Arab conflict: 100 years since the Balfour Declaration (2017), seventy years since Israel was created (2018), fifty years since the 1967 war (2017), thirty years since the first intifada (2017), and twenty-five years since the Declaration of Principles (2018). In 2021, it will be fifty years since the EU's Foreign Ministers issued their first declaration on the Israeli–Arab conflict and also fifty years since it started to fund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). If not before, this should be an opportune moment for European policy-makers to reflect on the past half-century's involvement of the European Community/European Union in the conflict – and the next fifty years. At present, there is little suggesting that the conflict is about to end in a negotiated agreement any time soon. On the contrary, it may even escalate if a two-state solution is out of reach for the Palestinians. Many Europeans, Israelis, Palestinians and others – from policy-makers and practitioners to students and engaged citizens – have a deep interest in the relations between the EU, including its Member States, and the Israeli–Arab conflict, but few have any knowledge about when, how and why the EC got involved in the conflict. This book aims to be the first historic overview of the EU's almost fifty-year involvement in the conflict, based exclusively on primary sources. It tries to identify and analyse all the big policy departures – when, how and why they happened.

Why has this Conflict been so Important for the EU?

Both the European Community (EC) and Israel emerged from the ashes of World War II. Both drew the same, yet very different conclusion from the war. It consisted of two words: never again. For Israel, it was never again victim; never again would the Jewish people suffer as they had done during World War II.