Middle East

Germany's pivotal part in Mideast peace process

Germany could play a major role as part of the European Union in presenting a package of incentives to Israel and the Palestinians in order to see through a peace deal, according to a former diplomat. 

Former Israeli ambassador to the EU, Oded Eran, believes that within six weeks the EU and Germany are likely to present a package of incentives in addition to the framework hammered out by US Secretary of State John Kerry.
"It's only six weeks until the nine-month point of peace negotiations and then comes the question of how the two sides will react and whether there will be a continuation to the process and obviously a package of incentives could help in this respect. The most important package is not to Israel, it's to the Palestinians - or to both to foster regional cooperation, which will be an incentive to everyone concerned," he told DW.
However, Tommy Steiner, Director of International Relations at the Iinstitute for Policy and Strategy at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, said any package of incentives offered by the EU won't be transformational. "I don't believe Israel, or Palestine will sign a framework agreement based on some sweeteners from the EU," he told DW.
Steiner said the EU had already granted Israel "special status" but no one could define what this meant and it had so far not provided any benefits. "If you called Lady Ashton and asked her what special status means, she would stutter, nobody has really defined this to Israel."

Eran said that in July 2013 Israel and the EU had a heated discussion on the issue of financial guidelines that ended with an agreement.
The agreement laid out that the EU would provide an unprecedented package of European political, economic and security support to both Palestine and Israel in the context of a final status agreement.