Europe, Israel’s No. 1 trading partner, is once again trying to rethink its Israel policies in light of the latter’s failure to facilitate the two-state solution. The European Council for Foreign Relations (ECFR) has issued a powerful document aimed at guiding member states in dealing with Israel, Palestinians and Arabs.

Entitled “Europe and the Vanishing Two-State Solution,” the 65-page report written by Nick Witney deals with what Europeans think about the two-state solution, the need for and the constraints on European action, concluding with specific actions the EU can take.

The report naturally begins by reporting that Europeans are indeed truly interested in the need for a permanent resolution of the conflict. Citing results from various polls, the report concludes that while this view is very strong throughout Europe, younger people are less patient with Israeli obstructionism than older Europeans and the political elite have been. Witney argues that “Europe seems to be … united on a uniquely detailed policy prescription to effect such a resolution,” but divided as to who to blame for the impasse. The report is brutally honest in criticizing Europe’s intellectual dishonesty for, among other things, not accepting that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and former prime minister Salam Fayyad did everything to qualify as partners to peace and received nothing in return. He indicates that the European Commission is on autopilot, calling Europe’s official position “a sort of sophisticated alibi that can be invoked to deflect accusations from one side or the other.”

Israel is the EU’s largest trading partner in the Mediterranean and 24th in the world, ahead of such states as Indonesia or Argentina. And, especially gratifying to crisis-ridden Europeans, 57% of the total $38 billion bilateral goods trade in 2011 was in European exports. Witney details these facts to show that although support for Israel may be diminishing in Brussels, this is a major cause for hesitation on the member-state level.