Understanding the Dispute over the Treatment of Products Exported to the European Union from the Occupied Territories in the Context of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

• Authors: Chmiel Oskar J.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

While the European Union (EU) does not recognize any legal Israeli sovereignty over the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, it does not grant preferential access to the EU market for goods produced in the Israeli settlements in this area, contrary to the preferential treatment for goods produced in Israel. This situation is different, however, as regards the United States (U.S.) trade policy, which does not make any distinction between goods produced in Israel and in the Occupied Territories, since it grants the preferential access to both. Furthermore, the currently suspended negotiations of the super-regional trade agreement called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), spurred the enacting of a law that set the principal negotiating objectives of the U.S. regarding commercial partnerships, which included some provisions to discourage politically motivated economic actions against the State of Israel. As TTIP embraced the free trade agreement between the EU and the U.S., the EU differentiation policy could become problematic for the two partners, which despite the failure of the negotiations, revealed much about economic diplomacy. Consequently, this article attempts to show the different approaches adopted by the two trading powers, in order to deal with the dispute over the treatment of products exported to the EU from the Occupied Territories.

Keywords

EN

European Union; Israel; Occupied Palestinian Territories; the United States; trade negotiations; TTIP

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek
• Journal: Polish Political Science Yearbook
• Year: 2018
• Volume: 2 (47)
• Pages: 254–264

Contributors

author

Chmiel Oskar J.

• University of Wrocław (Poland)

References

• AIPAC Memo. (2015). BDS: An Overview and Approach. Retrieved from: https://www.aipac.org/-/media/publications/policy-and-politics/aipac-analyses/issue-memos/2015/aipac-memo-bds-an-overview-and-approach.pdf.
• Aprodev et al. (2012). Trading Away Peace: How Europe helps sustain illegal Israeli settlements. Retrieved from: https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/trading_away_peace_-_embargoed_copy_of_designed_report.pdf.
• Blanc, P., Chagnollaud J-P., & Souiah S-A. (2007). Palestine, La depossession d'un territoire. L'Harmattan.
• Civic Impulse. (2015). 114th Congress. S. 995, Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015. Retrieved from: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/s995.
• Council of the European Union. (2016). Council conclusions on the Middle East Peace Process - Council conclusions. Retrieved from: http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-5328-2016-INIT/en/pdf.
• Cronin, D. (2015, October 16). “Outlawing Israel boycott in Europe revealed as key AIPAC goal”. Lobby Watch. Retrieved from: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/outlawing-israel-boycott-europe-revealed-key-aipac-goal.
• Eeckelaert, R.A.-F. (2013). Transatlantic trends in democracy promotion: Electoral assistance in the Palestinian Territories. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited.
• Elliot, K. (2016). TPP Risks and TTIP Opportunities: Rules of Origin, Trade Diversion, and Developing Countries (CGD Policy Paper 078).
• European Commission. (1998). Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament: Implementation of the Interim Agreement on Trade and Trade Related Matters between the European Community and Israel (SEC #695 final, May 12, 1998).
• European Commission. (2013). Independent study outlines benefits of EU-US trade agreement. Retrieved from: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-211_en.htm.
• European Commission. (2015). The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP): The TTIP explained. Retrieved from: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2014/may/tradoc_152462.pdf.
• European Commission. (2016). The Twelfth Round of Negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP): Public Report – March 2016. Retrieved from: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2016/march/tradoc_154391.pdf.
• Fergusson, I. F. (2015). Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) and the Role of Congress in Trade Policy, Congressional Research Service.
• Gordon, N., & Pardo, S. (2015a). “Normative Power Europe and the Power of the Local”. Journal of Common Market Studies, 53, pp. 416-427.
• Gordon, N., & Pardo, S. (2015b). “The European Union and Israel’s Occupation: Using Technical Customs Rules as Instruments of Foreign Policy”. Middle East Journal, 69 (1), pp. 74-90.
• Harpaz, G. (2017). “The EU’s New Approach To the Two-State Solution in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Paradigm Shift or PR Exercise?”. Leiden Journal of International Law, 30, pp. 603–628.
• Hirsch, M. (2002). “Rules of Origin as Trade or Foreign Policy Instruments? The European Union Policy on Products Manufactured in the Settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip”. Fordham International Law Journal, 26 (3).
• Hirsch, M. (2013). “The Politics of Rules of Origin”. The International Law Forum of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Law Faculty. Research Paper No. 08-13.
• Israel Allies Foundation. (n.d.). Defeat BDS: A Guide for advocacy and supporting legislation. Retrieved from: http://defeatbds.org/sites/default/files/Defeat-BDS-Guidebook.pdf?v=1.0.
• Lovatt, H., & Toaldo, M. (2015). EU differentiation and Israeli Settlements. The European Council on Foreign Relations.
• Lovatt, H. (2016). EU differentiation and the push for peace in Israel-Palestine. The European Council on Foreign Relations.
• Mearsheimer, J., & Walt, S. M. (2007). The Israel lobby and U.S. foreign policy. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
• Morin, J-F., Novotna, T., Ponjaert, F., & Telo, M. (Eds.). (2015). The politics of transatlantic trade negotiations: TTIP in a globalized world. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited.
• Newhouse, J. (2009). “Diplomacy, Inc.: The Influence of Lobbies on U.S. Foreign Policy”. Foreign Affairs, 88 (3), pp. 73-92.
• Naumann, E. (2011). UN LDC IV: Reforming Rules of Origin in Preference-Giving Countries (Policy Brief, Nr 2).
• Pardo, S. (2011). “How the EU could lend its weight to the Israeli Palestinian peace process”. Europe's World. Retrieved from: http://cris.unu.edu/sites/cris.unu.edu/files/How%20the%20EU%20could%20lend%20its%20weight%20to%20the%20Israeli-Palestinian%20peace%20process.pdf.
• Persson, A. (2018). “‘EU differentiation’ as a case of ‘Normative Power Europe’ (NPE) in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”. Journal of European Integration, 40 (2), pp. 193-208.
• Rosen, H. (2003). “Free Trade Agreements as Foreign Policy Tools: The US-Israel and US-Jordan FTAs”. In J. J. Schott (Ed.), Free Trade Agreements: US Strategies and Priorities (pp. 51-79). Washington, D. C.: Institute for International Economics.
• Roskam, P. J., & Vargas, J. (n.d.). U.S.-Israel Trade and Commercial Enhancement Act (Bill Summary). Retrieved from: https://roskam.house.gov/sites/roskam.house.gov/files/UITCEA_One%20Pager.pdf.
• U.S. House. (2016). 114th Congress. H.R. 644, Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act. Retrieved from: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/644/text.
• Voltolini, B. (2013). Lobbying in EU foreign policy-making towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Exploring the potential of a constructivist perspective (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from: LSE Theses Online.
• Zanotti, J. (2015). Israel and the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement. Congressional Research Service.
• Zartman, W. I. (1971). Politics of Trade Negotiations Between Africa and the European Economic Community : The Weak Confronts the Strong. Princeton University Press.