The Middle East Quartet’s Quest for Relevance

Arab-Israeli diplomacy has left the Middle East littered with a collection of ad hoc structures, all of which valiantly soldier on to avoid proclaiming failure. One of those—the Quartet comprised of the United States, Russia, the EU, and the UN — attempted in July 2016 to escape such a fate by issuing a strongly worded report designed to entice, scold, and scare Israelis and Palestinians into reviving a so-called peace process.

Strong language should not be a substitute for new ideas, but in this case it seems to be. At first glance, the report appears to contribute an air of urgency with frank and hard-hitting prose. Yet a closer look reveals something different: an attempt to bolster familiar bilateral diplomacy in a manner that continues to ignore the power asymmetry and offers little to either side but hectoring. The report condemns Israeli settlement construction and Palestinian incitement but not in terms likely to induce any real change. It calls on parties to do what they either cannot or will not do on their own but offers them no new reason to do what they have been unwilling or unable to do for two decades.

• Primary Source

EU: EEAS: The EU and the Middle East Peace Process http://eeas.europa.eu/mepp/index_en.htm

ESO: Background information: Report of the Middle East Quartet http://www.europeansources.info/record/report-of-the-middle-east-quartet/

---