ABSTRACT
The rise of the EU’s actorness as a result of European enlargement and spill-over towards central and eastern Europe, which has become a new centre of economic growth and an exporter of stability and security, drives it to look for a greater role in this process. The emphasis on the EU as a major power, in the domains of ethics and the economy, has increasingly created a tendency to seek resolutions to existing confl icts and to manage crisis situations according to their geographical proximity, and is consistent with its desire for actorness. EU discourse towards a peace settlement of the Arab-Israeli confl ict, particularly between Palestinians and Israelis, indicates its centrality in a collective European policy framework. For Javier Solana, playing a full and active role in this confl ict’s peacemaking is a matter of ‘presence and visibility’ to the EU. 1 Such involvement is an important matter if the EU is to be an ‘effective global actor’ 2 and to be heard ‘on every continent’. 3 The EU makes it clear that it should take full advantage of opportunities in the region more assertively to promote its interests and values. 4 It perceives itself as a mediating force, inspired by normative values, ‘based on its own experience as a peace project’. 5
In contrast, Russia’s self-perception as the successor of the former Soviet Union has driven it to restore its position as a global actor on the international stage. The Russian discourse on peacemaking in the Arab-Israeli confl ict refl ects the ambition to restore its previous infl uence in the region. Alexander Saltanov, the former deputy foreign minister and Putin’s special envoy to the MEPP, states that Russia’s role is an elimination of ‘disbalance’. 6 Similarly, Lavrov refers to Russia’s involvement in this process as a ‘correction of the regional architecture towards equilibrium’. 7 He emphasizes that Russia’s noticeable presence in the Middle East ‘should be viewed’ 8 as serving to restore former Soviet infl uence in the region and to stress its actorness. Andrej Kreutz views direct Russian involvement as one of the main channels of Russia’s infl uence in the Middle East. 9 This diplomatic approach to the Palestinian-Israeli confl ict started with the appointment of Yevgeny Primakov as foreign minister in 1996. 10 Robert O. Freedman argues that reserving an elevated position in the process of peacemaking is a low-cost area to underscore Russia’s commitment to cooperation with other global actors, especially the US. 11 In his book Russian Crossroads: Toward the New Millennium , Primakov stresses that Russian co-sponsorship in the peace
process, ever since the Madrid Conference (1991), has allowed Russia to open or revive its channels with most of the regional and global actors on the basis of cooperation of mutual interests. 12 Furthermore, Kreutz argues that the preservation of the mechanism that provides smooth and easy access to the Middle East is no less important than reaching a comprehensive peace agreement. 13
This perception of the MEPP is based on the perception of the Middle East as a whole. The EU and Russia recognize the importance and viability of the Middle East in asserting their global actorness and its direct and indirect effects on their stability, security and prosperity. Their involvement in the initiatives to fi nd a solution to the Middle East confl ict has evolved in line with their internal developments and the desire to assert regional infl uence.
