Abstract
With the recent election of Mahmud Abbas as chairman of the Palestinian Authority and Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw Israeli troops and settlers from the Gaza strip, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians appears to be at a crossroads, after years of severe strain on the so-called peace process. The two sides declared an end to all hostilities after a summit in February 2005, but the truce looks very fragile. The European Union has recently supported Mahmud Abbas' candidacy and been more active in the region over the past few years. However, European interest for the conflict is not new: under the European Political Cooperation, from 1970 to 1987, around ninety declarations relating to the Mediterranean were adopted, the majority of which on the Arab-Israeli conflict . Since the regime of the European Political Cooperation, European policy towards the conflict has been relatively stable. The 1980 landmark Venice declaration indeed set the tone for future European policies. It stated that the treatment of the Palestinian people was more than a question of dealing with refugees, and pronounced itself in favour of Palestinian self-determination . Member states have also been constant in their defence of a secure Israel accepted by its neighbours.
