The EU must have a clear position on the Middle East and use its political and economic clout to help the region out of its current impasse as Israeli-Palestinian violence escalates, say academic experts.
“The EU should be more resolute in using the means it already has as a civilian power,” Alain Dierkhoff, senior research fellow at the Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Internationales in Paris, told the Centre for European Policy Studies, a Brussels-based think-tank.
“The EU should stress that security must be linked with the political process,” said Dierkhoff, adding that a combination of economic pressure and diplomacy was needed to persuade the Palestinian Authority to crack down on militants and the Israelis to freeze settlement building.
“If the US must play the role of ‘bad cop’, Europe can play the role of ‘good cop’,” said Anthony Cordesman, a strategist at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Cordesman suggested that to complement the United States on issues of security, the EU could use its stronger historic ties with the region to focus on the non-military aspects of dialogue, diplomacy, investment, trade and aid.
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This article appeared in the 11 March 2002 issue of European Voice.
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Khaled Diab is an award-winning journalist, blogger and writer who has been based in Tunis, Jerusalem, Brussels, Geneva and Cairo. Khaled also gives talks and is regularly interviewed by the print and audiovisual media.
Khaled Diab is the author of two books: Islam for the Politically Incorrect (2017) and Intimate Enemies: Living with Israelis and Palestinians in the Holy Land (2014).
In 2014, the Anna Lindh Foundation awarded Khaled its Mediterranean Journalist Award in the press category. This website, The Chronikler, won the 2012 Best of the Blogs (BOBs) for the best English-language blog. Khaled was longlisted for the Orwell journalism prize in 2020.
In addition, Khaled works as communications director for an environmental NGO based in Brussels.
He has also worked as a communications consultant to intergovernmental organisations, such as the EU and the UN, as well as civil society.
Khaled lives with his beautiful and brilliant wife, Katleen, who works in humanitarian aid. The foursome is completed by Iskander, their smart, creative and artistic son, and Sky, their mischievous and footballing cat.
Egyptian by birth, Khaled’s life has been divided between the Middle East and Europe. He grew up in Egypt and the UK, and has lived in Belgium, on and off, since 2001. He holds dual Egyptian-Belgian nationality.
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