Nous mettons en exergue dans cette thèse le concept de système européen en politique étrangère (SEPE) comme outil pertinent afin d’analyser la politique étrangère européenne telle qu’elle fonctionne, et non pas telle qu’elle devrait fonctionner. Le SEPE – composé des politiques étrangères des États membres et de l’action extérieure de l’UE – met en valeur le dynamisme de la gouvernance européenne, issu des interactions entre ses différents agents et leur utilisation des normes européennes. A travers le SEPE, nous démontrons que la politique étrangère commune face à la solution de deux États s’explique par les usages que fait l’UE3 – la France, l’Allemagne et le Royaume-Uni – de l’UE en politique étrangère. Ces usages sont au nombre de trois : fonctionnel, réaliste et normatif. Nous montrons que l’adoption puis la promotion de la solution de deux Etats résultent de la manière dont ils se saisissent de l’UE afin de répondre à un contexte international difficile, de la Déclaration de Copenhague de 1973 au vote à l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies de 2012 concernant le statut de la Palestine. Le déploiement et test de divers outils de politique étrangère, tels que la position d’envoyé spécial en 1996, illustrent l’usage fonctionnel de l’UE. Les usages normatif et réaliste de l’UE envers les Palestiniens rendent compte de l’adoption de normes financières et politiques très contraignantes, reflétant les intérêts communs de l’UE3. Ces mêmes usages leur permettent de promouvoir la reconnaissance de l’Etat d’Israël, et d’autre part, de privilégier leurs intérêts stratégiques avec Israël au niveau bilatéral grâce à l’expression d’un linkage politique au niveau communautaire. / In this thesis we bring up the concept of European System in Foreign Policy (ESFP) as a pertinent tool to analyze the European Foreign Policy as it actually functions rather than as it should function. The ESFP – composed of the Member States’ foreign policies and the External action of the EU – highlights the dynamism of the European governance in foreign policy, which arises from the interactions between the agents of this system and their use of the European norms. Through the ESFP, we demonstrate that the EU’s common policy towards the two-State solution can be explained by the usages of the EU in foreign policy by France, Germany and the United-Kingdom – the EU3. These strategic usages are threefold: a functional or reflexive, a realist and a normative usage. We show that the adoption and the promotion of the two-State solution result from the way they seize upon the EU in order to cope with a difficult international context, since the Declaration of Copenhagen in 1973 to the vote at the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2012 concerning the new status of Palestine. The introduction and test of several foreign policy tools, as the position of special envoy in 1996, illustrate the functional usage of the EU. The normative and realist usages of the EU towards the Palestinians explain the adoption of constraining financial and political norms reflecting the common interests of the EU3. These same usages allow them to promote the recognition of the State of Israel on the one hand, and on the other hand, to privilege their strategic interests with Israel at the bilateral level through the expression of a political linkage at the community level.

The European Union together with other international organizations have a significant role in creating world order, promoting international cooperation, and strengthening international security. For this reason, the EU has been interested in finding a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict which is one of the EU's top foreign policy issues. EU's failure to implement a two- state solution for Israel-Palestine puts the EU in a challenging position and questions its role as an international peacemaker. The starting point of the research problem is covered by the following question: How can the EU's failure to implement a two-state solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict be explained by realism and liberalism? The research problem is studied with the help of realism and liberalism, which are central schools in the political discipline; international relations. The chosen method for this research is a qualitative case study. The results shows that partly internal gaps within the EU, the US role in the conflict, monopolies of violence, disagreements among the Palestinian movements and the absence of binding international law are behind the EU's failure to implement a two-state solution. Despite this, the EU maintains stability in the region by being the main donor to the Palestinians and Israel's primary trading partners.

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