As Relations Between Israel and Europe Shift, Consider Germany - by Catherine Cheney

The relationship between Israel and Europe has been in the spotlight in recent weeks, beginning with the Nov. 29 United Nations vote for Palestinian statehood, in which the Czech Republic was the only European country to join Israel and the United States in rejecting the bid.

What followed the next week was the summoning of Israeli ambassadors to several European capitals after the decision by Israel to approve the construction of new settlements.

So when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Berlin, Germany earlier this month to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israeli anger over the German decision to abstain from the UN vote, and European anger over Israeli settlements, made for a visit marred by tensions.

"Support of Israel remains a critical part of German and European foreign policy toward the Middle East," Joel Peters, an associate professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech, explained in an interview.

Discussing the shift in European policy toward Israel, Peters, who was also the founding director of the Ben Gurion University Center for the Study of European Politics and Society, said that while these latest developments will not have an immediate impact on relations, they are an important part of a broader transition in the way that Europe deals with Israel in the future.

Europe has always spoken with a common voice on what the peace process should look like, he said. But as its disappointment over perceived Israeli intransigence deepens, there is a greater sense of urgency in its push for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "There is a need to get back to the negotiation table," he said. "There is a need to move forward because time is slipping by."

Peters said that while Europe will continue to work with Israel in the hope of bringing it back to the negotiating table, it also sees the need to strengthen the Palestinian Authority. The European countries that abstained from the UN vote did so in part because voting no would have further alienated and weakened Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, he explained.

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