Europe''s Alliance with Israel : Aiding the Occupation

Shows that the EU's close relationship with Israel has legitimised actions such as the ill-treatment of prisoners and the Gaza invasion.

In carefully crafted official statements, the European Union presents itself as an honest broker in the Middle East. In reality, however, the EU''s 27 governments have been engaged in a long process of accommodating Israel''s occupation of Palestinian territories. Journalist David Cronin interrogates the relationship and its outcomes. A recent agreement for ''more intense, more fruitful, more influential co-operation'' between the EU and Israel has meant that Israel has become a member state of the Union in all but name. Cronin shows that rather than using this relationship to encourage Israeli restraint, the EU has legitimised actions such as the ill-treatment of prisoners and the Gaza invasion. Concluding his revealing and shocking account, Cronin calls for a continuation and deepening of international activism and protest to halt the EU''s slide into complicity.