Languages: English, Arabic, French
Areas of Expertise: Middle East; Israel/Palestine; Mashreq region; conflict prevention/resolution; Islamic societies; identity politics
Hugh Lovatt is a policy fellow with the Middle East and North Africa programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Since joining ECFR, Lovatt has focused extensively on EU policy towards the Middle East Peace Process (MEPP), domestic Palestinian politics, and Israeli regional policy.
Lovatt co-led a 2016 track-II initiative to draft an updated set of final status parameters, and has worked to advance the concept of EU Differentiation, which was enshrined in UN Security Council Resolution 2334. Lovatt also co-developed an innovative online project mapping Palestinian politics.
His most recent publications include Rethinking Oslo: How Europe can promote peace in Israel-Palestine (July 2017) and Gaza’s fragile calm: The search for lasting stability (November 2018). He is regularly interviewed or quoted in international media, including by AFP, Reuters, Newsweek, France24, and Al Jazeera.
Prior to this, Lovatt worked as a researcher for International Crisis Group and as a Schuman Fellow in the European Parliament focusing on Middle-East policy. He also worked for Aga Khan University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations as an Arabic translator.
Lovatt studied Arabic at the Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies at Exeter University as well as at the Institut Français du Proche-Orient (IFPO) in Damascus. He then went on to earn an MA in Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the London School of Oriental and African Studies, where he majored in Anthropology. Lovatt is Chairman of the Brussels-based European Middle East Project (EuMEP).
Podcast
Hugh Lovatt - 4 September, 2020
In this special ECFR discussion, MENA Policy Fellow Hugh Lovatt interviews Daniel Seidemann, the Founder of Terrestrial Jerusalem and an Israeli attorney that specialises in the geopolitics of contemporary Jerusalem. Together they discuss the recent UAE – Israel…
Cinzia Bianco, Hugh Lovatt - 14 August, 2020
The Israel-UAE peace deal provides multiple wins for both countries, and for the US. But it could yet deepen the region’s political fault lines.
Special
Asli Aydıntaşbaş, Julien Barnes-Dacey, Cinzia Bianco, John V. Bowlus, Hugh Lovatt, Tarek Megerisi, Michaël Tanchum - 21 May, 2020
The eastern Mediterranean is becoming ever more perilous as geopolitical fault lines steadily enmesh the region. These rifts emerge from the Cyprus ‘frozen conflict’, competition for valuable gas fields, and the increasingly entangled wars in Libya and Syria.
Hugh Lovatt - 14 May, 2020
West Bank annexation will bring an end to the EU’s cherished two-state solution. International norms and the EU’s own laws will now need to underpin post-annexation relations with Israel.
Hugh Lovatt - 7 April, 2020
Urgent intervention can mitigate the worst effects of the pandemic. But the EU should also help Gaza escape its man-made crisis.
Hugh Lovatt - 18 February, 2020
A disinformation campaign against a new UN database aims to legitimise the Israeli settler movement and those who illegally profit from it.
Podcast
René Wildangel, Mark Leonard, Hugh Lovatt - 14 February, 2020
When US-President Donal Trump revealed his much-awaited plan for peace for Israel and Palestine it was set to solve one of the world's longest-running conflict. But this “deal of the century” was not met with the same enthusiasm in Palestine as it was seen on…
Hugh Lovatt - 11 February, 2020
Comparing the US “peace plan” for Israel-Palestine with ECFR’s own work on future parameters illuminates how Donald Trump is departing from longstanding international consensus positions.
Hugh Lovatt - 29 January, 2020
Although the Trump deal marks a radical break from past American support for a two-state solution, it aligns with ideas put forward by supporters of Israel’s settler movement.
Special
René Wildangel, Tarek Megerisi, Julien Barnes-Dacey, Anthony Dworkin, Ellie Geranmayeh, Hugh Lovatt - 12 December, 2019
Turmoil in the Middle East and north Africa directly affects Europeans. Yet their influence in the region has never been weaker. This project maps Europe’s role across the Middle East and north Africa, making the case that Europeans can do more to leverage their influence…
Special
Hugh Lovatt - 1 October, 2019
ECFR’s Differentiation Tracker provides a snapshot of third state relations with Israel – and the extent to which these contain a clearly defined territorial definition that explicitly excludes Israeli settlements constructed on occupied territory in line with UNSCR…
by Hugh Lovatt - 21st December, 2017
How should the EU respond to the reality of the one-state reality taking hold in Israel-Palestine?
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by Omar Dajani & Hugh Lovatt - 26th July, 2017
The Oslo Accords have provided political cover for Israel’s creeping occupation and eroded the possibility of Palestinian self-determination.
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by Hugh Lovatt - 31st October, 2016
Renewed focus on differentiation one of few hopes for saving the two state solution.
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by Dennison et al. - 28th January, 2016
The sixth ECFR Foreign Policy Scorecard highlights the EU's diminishing ability to influence its neighbours, and the neighbourhood's growing impact on the EU.
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EPUB
Mobi
by Hugh Lovatt, Mattia Toaldo - 22nd July, 2015
The EU needs to act faster and further in ensuring that Israeli settlements in no way benefit from EU-Israel bilateral relations
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EPUB
Mobi
Cinzia Bianco, Hugh Lovatt - 14 August, 2020
The Israel-UAE peace deal provides multiple wins for both countries, and for the US. But it could yet deepen the region’s political fault lines.
Hugh Lovatt - 14 May, 2020
West Bank annexation will bring an end to the EU’s cherished two-state solution. International norms and the EU’s own laws will now need to underpin post-annexation relations with Israel.
Hugh Lovatt - 7 April, 2020
Urgent intervention can mitigate the worst effects of the pandemic. But the EU should also help Gaza escape its man-made crisis.
Hugh Lovatt - 18 February, 2020
A disinformation campaign against a new UN database aims to legitimise the Israeli settler movement and those who illegally profit from it.
Hugh Lovatt - 11 February, 2020
Comparing the US “peace plan” for Israel-Palestine with ECFR’s own work on future parameters illuminates how Donald Trump is departing from longstanding international consensus positions.
Hugh Lovatt - 29 January, 2020
Although the Trump deal marks a radical break from past American support for a two-state solution, it aligns with ideas put forward by supporters of Israel’s settler movement.
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Hugh Lovatt - 5 June, 2019
The United States is set to propose an economic plan for Israel-Palestine, spearheaded by Jared Kushner, on 25 and 26 June in Bahrain, where Gulf Arab states will discuss the troubled Palestinian economy.
Hugh Lovatt - 28 May, 2019
A quarter of a century on from the Oslo Peace Accords, young Palestinian writers share their views on the future of the two-state solution
Hugh Lovatt - 4 April, 2019
Amidst allegations of fraud and bribery, Israeli PM Netanyahu has called for a snap election on 9 April. In what direction could a new Israeli government take its foreign policy?
Hugh Lovatt - 18 September, 2018
ECFR’s two state parameters provide a framework through which the EU can step up its efforts to achieve the just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a two state solution
Julien Barnes-Dacey, Ellie Geranmayeh, Hugh Lovatt - 18 May, 2018
Przewodnik ECFR po głównych konfliktach, które mogą rozniecić wojnę na Bliskim Wschodzie
Podcast
Hugh Lovatt - 4 September, 2020
In this special ECFR discussion, MENA Policy Fellow Hugh Lovatt interviews Daniel Seidemann, the Founder of Terrestrial Jerusalem and an Israeli attorney that specialises in the geopolitics of contemporary Jerusalem. Together they discuss the recent UAE – Israel…
Podcast
René Wildangel, Mark Leonard, Hugh Lovatt - 14 February, 2020
When US-President Donal Trump revealed his much-awaited plan for peace for Israel and Palestine it was set to solve one of the world's longest-running conflict. But this “deal of the century” was not met with the same enthusiasm in Palestine as it was seen on…
Podcast
Shoshana Fine, Hugh Lovatt - 19 June, 2019
Podcast de notre discussion du 19 juin « The future of Israeli-Palestinian conflict: towards annexation and illiberalism? » en présence de Yehuda Shaul, fondateur et directeur de l’ONG Breaking the Silence, et de Hugh Lovatt, chercheur au programme…
Video
ECFR - 3 May, 2019
ECFR’s New Battlelines Project maps Iran’s coalition of allies, regional influence and the counter-coalition that has formed to oppose them.
Podcast
Ruth Citrin, Julien Barnes-Dacey, Ellie Geranmayeh, Hugh Lovatt - 17 January, 2018
Ruth Citrin speaks with Ellie Geranmayeh, Julien Barnes-Dacey and Hugh Lovatt, about the state of play in the MENA region and the considerations for Europeans after one year in office of US president Donald Trump. The Podcast was recorded on 16 January 2018.
Podcast
Julien Barnes-Dacey, Ellie Geranmayeh, Mark Leonard, Hugh Lovatt - 7 December, 2017
Mark Leonard speaks with ECFR Policy Fellows Hugh Lovatt, Ellie Geranmayeh and Julien Barnes-Dacey about reactions to Trump’s recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the new divergence between Washington and Europe across the Middle…
Podcast
Manuel Lafont Rapnouil, Hugh Lovatt - 14 March, 2017
Nouveau podcast de notre série sur les présidentielles de 2017 ayant pour objectif de traiter les thèmes d'actualité et de contribuer au débat dans la perspective des élections du printemps prochain. Entretien en français de…
Podcast
Ellie Geranmayeh, Mark Leonard, Hugh Lovatt - 13 January, 2017
ECFR’s director Mark Leonard speaks with ECFR's Middle East and North Africa Progamme Director, Ruth Citrin, and ECFR Policy Fellows, Ellie Geranmayeh and Hugh Lovatt, on the cards that the EU can play if the U.S. walks away from the table. The podcast was recorded on…