CONFLICT PREVENTION IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE EURO-MEDITERRANEAN PARTNERSHIP: A EUROPEAN POINT OF VIEW

Year 1999, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 0 - 0, 01.06.1999

Antonio Marquına

Abstract

In any approach to conflict prevention in the Mediterranean area, three elements deserve attention: the definition of the area, the stage of the conflicts, and the importance of structural factors in Mediterranean conflicts. The definition of the Mediterranean area represents a conditioning element. The Mediterranean can be defined in geographic as well as geo-strategic or geo-economic terms. Depending on the definition, the implications for conflict prevention vary. While the geographic definition is self-explanatory, the definition in geo-strategic terms is more complicated. In any case, two distinctive zones in the Mediterranean can be singled out clearly: the Western Mediterranean, which is easier to handle in strategic terms, and the Eastern Mediterranean, in which the likelihood of violent conflict is still high, most of all with respect to the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli conflicts.

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