Reflection of European and West Asian cooperation perspective in the light of the Gaza War

Europeans are more concerned about the continuation of war and violence in the occupied Palestinian areas than ever because the international community has once again attracted the attention of the West Asian region. The issue of Ukraine is gradually being forgotten. The statements of Ukrainian President Zelensky and Poland President Duda confirm this. Europe has realized that the widespread conflict in West Asia will undermine the Euro-Atlantic position in the face of Russia.
6 November 2023
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Ali Beman Eghbali Zarch

Europeans are more concerned about the continuation of war and violence in the occupied Palestinian areas than ever because the international community has once again attracted the attention of the West Asian region. The issue of Ukraine is gradually being forgotten. The statements of Ukrainian President Zelensky and Poland President Duda confirm this. Europe has realized that the widespread conflict in West Asia will undermine the Euro-Atlantic position in the face of Russia.

With 16000 billion dollars in GDP as one of the world's highest per capita income, the European Union has been trying to strengthen its role in the international arena since the beginning of the third millennium. Still, it failed to showcase the right capacity to manage the two internal security crises, namely the Bosnian War and the Kosovo War in the late twentieth century. It ultimately overwhelmed two crises with the role of the United States. In the early decades of the third millennium, while focusing on internal structural consolidation, the European Union experienced a new chapter in the role of foreign and security policy, especially the Black Sea.

With more than 3000 billion euros of foreign exchange, the European Union is the world's largest trade pole and provides more than 50 % of its energy from the West Asian region. In general, the West Asian region, due to the issues of energy security, terrorism, the challenge of immigration, the old Palestinian crisis, and the Zionist and ISIS regimes in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and so on, is of great importance to the European Union.

But the European Union considers more of a soft, passive, and social approach to managing crises because of its diversity and more important and influential countries, especially three countries in Germany, France, and Italy, with the British association and following the US positions and paying attention to the Gulf cooperation council's considerations, Turkey and the Zionist regime have been less successful with playing an active role in West Asian conflicts.

After the bitter experience of three centuries of war and conflict and after World War II, Europe has turned to development. With its own political geography, it has an important role to play in regional and international interactions. It can be acknowledged that the five foreign policy principles have been agreed as the slogan of all member states, political parties, and civil society.

Providing security and stability with a social-cultural approach to promoting economic revenues and improving public welfare at the national level and at the EU's structural level

Friendly relationship with America and the Zionist regime

Attempt to strengthen and expand the European Union and NATO to the east to confront Russia;

The necessary assistance to strengthen the United Nations and international organizations, especially in Africa

Close cooperation with Asian countries and, especially West Asia

Basically, in the various historical and human life of humanity, Asia, and especially the West Asian region, will always have and will have a very important place in the European Union's foreign policy, and in general, its importance components are summarized in the following:

A: High West Asian energy capacity due to the existence of more than 60 % of the world's oil and gas resources in the region and the dependence of more than 70 % of the European production and economy sector on energy imports from abroad.

B: West Asian developments in the early years of the third millennium and the US military invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya have evolved the region's stability and expansion of insecurity and the spread of violence and various forms of terrorism, which spread can target the security of Europe very quickly, especially through the Mediterranean.

C: Immigration is one of the most important issues and one of the major challenges of Europe in the early decades of the third millennium. In the study of the foreign policy of the countries, culture and the amount of scientific progress have been stable factors. This has caused the attraction of European scientific and educational centers for foreign nationals and, as a result, migration from all over the world, especially from West Asia to the Green Continent.

D: Another important issue goes back to the field of culture and religion. Given the increasing trend of births among Muslims living in the European Union and the significant amount of Muslim immigrants, the European Union is concerned about disrupting the religious integrity and increasing the share and role of Muslims against Christianity. In fact, the European Union, especially the nationalist and even Christian religious parties and groups, are concerned that Christian civilization will have to lose its position in a soft battle in competition with Islamic civilization. However, in contemporary geopolitical equations, special attention has been paid to the role of religion, and in fact, the second message of the supreme leader of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to European youth with important characteristics of audiology, the determinant of inter-religious dialogue, terrorism and false accusations to the pure Islam indicates the deep understanding of the civilizational competition between Islam and Christianity in Europe.

E: Democratic values are another challenge in European Union interactions with West Asia. In fact, if the European Union follows the support approach for the liberation movements in this region. The result will be the establishment of religious democracy and the rule of independent leaders who, under any circumstances, which are not willing to compromise on national interests and auction their underground capital under any circumstances

F: The deterioration of the situation in West Asia in general and lack of clear prospects for the policies of Euro Atlantic in three countries of Syrian, Yemen, Libya, and even occupied Palestine have been deeply concerned about Europe's security and social impressionability, and European Union members' approach to resolving the regional crisis is different, and the process followed has mostly been influenced by the expansionist policies of some regional countries, especially the Zionist regime and the dual policy of the United States.

However, the EU's foreign policy goals in interacting with West Asia and North Africa are quite clear due to access to the Persian Gulf, Central Asia and the wealth of natural and human resources, and it is necessary to consider the special role of the Islamic Republic of Iran due to the long-standing historical and cultural ties. The last word is that the EU must balance public and private diplomacy between the long-term work of technology and geopolitical interaction.

Ali Bemaneqbali Zarch, Head of the Eurasia Studies Department

(The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the IPIS)

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