European-Israeli Military Relations during Israel Regional Wars (2006-2016)

Abstract

The study aims to answer the question of the nature of European-Israeli military relations during the period of four wars, particularly in the Middle East region with Israel; one battle with the Lebanese Hezbollah, and three wars on the Gaza Strip. In this view, we partitioned the study into three principal parts: The first part focuses on the nature of European-Israeli relations and provides a historical synopsis by addressing three phases; the first phase from 1949 to 1967, i.e., from the establishment of the State of Israel to the Six-Day War; the second phase from 1967 to 1993, i.e., the period that preceded the peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians, the Oslo Accord; and the third phase from 1993 to 2006, which addresses the period preceding the Israeli war on Lebanon. The second part examines justifications for the military relations between Europe and Israel through a review of the Israeli concerns, the European concerns, and the two sides’ common concerns which stimulate the existence of military relations between them. The third part addresses the areas of armament and military exercises between the EU countries and Israel during the period (2006 – 2016). The study concludes by providing several findings, most prominently, that the European-Israeli military relations were not seriously affected during the Israel regional wars in the period (2006-2016).

Keywords

• israel
• eu
• military relations
• avrupa
• i̇srail
• askeri ilişki