ABSTRACT

A recent essay1 on European Middle East foreign policy blamed Europe for uncritically following the US. The authors, heads of two influential European think tanks, were reflecting on a meeting they sponsored of 25 Middle East experts from across Europe who shared their ‘real dismay over Europe’s policy drift.’ They further decried the lack of an ‘independent European foreign policy’ which should include, in their view, important points of departure from a shared transatlantic position, including the need to abandon the Quartet’s ‘ill-advised’ principles, a rejection of the use of force under any circumstance, the need to invest in economic projects toward a viable Palestinian state and a veiled threat of economic sanctions against Israel.