The EuroAsia Interconnector is a leading EU infrastructure project that aims to connect the national electricity grids of Israel, Cyprus and Greece through a 1,208 km subsea HVDC cable. It would allow the bi-directional transmission of electricity between Israel, Cyprus, Greece and wider Europe, enabling each party to be either an exporter or an importer of electricity. 

This briefing by the Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC) concludes that the implementation of this project would contribute to the further entrenchment of Israel’s illegal settlements, its ongoing de facto annexation and planned de jure annexation of occupied Palestinian territory. Therefore PHROC recommends that the EU and European States abolish the planned Israel-Cyprus segment of the EuroAsia Interconnector project.

The briefing reviews the main facts about the EuroAsia Interconnector project, the EU’s and the European States’ support for it, and the Israeli main partner. It presents the legal framework regarding the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including obligations arising from them on the EU and on European States. The briefing demonstrates why and how the EU and European States’ support for the EuroAsia Interconnector invokes – and violates – their international and EU legal obligations in connection with Israel’s illegal settlements, specifically that of non-recognition and non-assistance and the obligation under EU law to abstain from financing activities of Israeli entities in the OPT. The briefing concludes that the violation of these obligations enables Israel’s illegal settlement and annexation policies and practices to continue, and that the EU and European States cannot fulfill these obligations while at the same time pursuing the EuroAsia Interconnector project with the planned Israel-Cyprus segment.