Bordering Disputed Territories: The European Union’s Technical Customs Rules and Israel’s Occupation

Neve Gordon, Sharon Pardo

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

In January 2005, the European Union (EU) decided to implement fully the rules of origin (ROO) clause (Pardo and Peters, 2012, Doc. 5/12)1 of the 1995 European Community (EC)-Israel Association Agreement (Doc. 4/23) and to subject products manufactured in the territories Israel had occupied during the 1967 war to customs duty. The EU’s decision spurred a scholarly debate about its legal basis (Hirsch, 1998, 2002–2003; Paasivirta, 1999; Hauswaldt, 2003; Zemer and Pardo, 2003; Aoun, 2003; Harpaz, 2004; Pardo and Peters, 2010), the implications it would likely have on Europe’s normative positions (Harpaz, 2008; Harpaz and Rubinson, 2010; Pardo and Zemer, 2011), and on whether it is consistent with the EU’s policies involving rules of origin in other regions (Pardo and Zemer, 2011; Rubinson, 2011). Surprisingly, though, no one has examined the actual economic and political implications of applying the ROO on Israeli products manufactured in the Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and the Golan Heights.2 Put differently, the implementation of the ROO is the EU’s attempt to use technical customs rules to reassert the Green Line, and it is important to determine whether the effort to redraw an international border — that the Israeli government has wittingly tried to erase — has actually had an impact on Israeli industry in the occupied territories (OT) or on Israel’s settlement policies.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationFragmented Borders, Interdependence and External Relations
Subtitle of host publicationThe Israel Palestine-European Union Triangle
EditorsRaffaella A Del Sarto
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
Pages86-106
Number of pages21
ISBN (Electronic)9781137504142
ISBN (Print)9781137504135
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2015

Publication series

NamePalgrave Studies in International Relations
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
ISSN (Print)2946-2673
ISSN (Electronic)2946-2681

Keywords

  • European Union
  • Gaza Strip
  • Custom Duty
  • Occupied Territory
  • Association Agreement

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Bordering Disputed Territories: The European Union’s Technical Customs Rules and Israel’s Occupation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this