ABSTRACT
The European policies towards the Middle East conflict and the Middle East peace process will be compared with that of the US to illustrate the separate and independent character of the European position. The common foreign policy towards the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Middle East peace process illustrates how the member-states, through the European Union (EU), managed to build a visible international identity. The Israeli government in fact denied the European Commission (EC) any role in the Middle East peace process and had therefore no intention of cooperating with the EC in its search for common ground among the various parties. French diplomacy was also the first to recognize the political and even legal legitimacy of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to act as a representative of the Palestinians. The PLO, which had already accepted in 1988 Security Council Resolution 242 and was eager to participate in the conference, approved the Israeli demands.
