The Economic Diplomacy of Peace in the Middle East

This book draws lessons from a pivotal moment in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a time marked by both conflict and uncertainty. It explores how economic ideas—particularly bilateral trade—contributed to the unprecedented breakthrough of the 1993 Oslo I Accord. A special focus is given to the establishment of the economic relations between the conflicting sides as manifested in the 1994 Paris Protocol, the legal economic framework of the Oslo Accords. While the economic empowerment of Palestine within the Oslo Accord showed initial promise, in the decades to follow, increasing economic (inter)dependence coincided with rising tensions. 

The book examines how the ‘Economic Peace for the Middle East’ has since been shaping the peace process in the region, from the 1993 Oslo process to the 2020 Abraham Accords and the ongoing negotiations amid the Israel-Hamas 2023 war. Through a multidisciplinary approach, it explores the intersection of economic policy and diplomacy, offering insights into both the lessons of Oslo and the derangement of the peace process for practitioners, researchers, and students engaged with international relations, political economy, peace and conflict and Middle East affairs. 

Libby Lahar is a visiting scholar at the International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her PhD research employed a multimethod approach to examine the political-development nexus in Israeli-Palestinian peace processes. She has also worked at the UN, with the EU, and in a leading regional peacebuilding NGO.