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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element" dir="ltr"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/why-unicef-proud-supporter-israeli-settlements">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/why-unicef-proud-supporter-israeli-settlements</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Why is UNICEF a "proud supporter" of
Israeli settlements?</h1>
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<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah">Ali
Abunimah</a></span> <span class="field field-blog">-</span>
<span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single"
content="2019-04-09T19:36:05+00:00">9 April 2019</span></span>
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<figure id="file-77026"><source media="(min-width:
72rem)"><figcaption><small><span></span></small></figcaption></figure>
<p>UNICEF is sponsoring a major EU-financed project to
link Israeli settlements to Europe’s electricity grid.</p>
<p>The United Nations children’s agency is <a
href="https://www.euroasia-interconnector.com/">listed</a>
among the “proud supporters” of the EuroAsia
Interconnector, a <a
href="https://www.euroasia-interconnector.com/at-glance/">project</a>
to build a 1,000-mile subsea cable linking the
European electricity grid with Israel via Greece and
Cyprus.</p>
<p>This means that Israel’s settlements in the occupied
West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Syria’s Golan
Heights – all illegal under international law – would
be <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/eu-supply-electricity-israeli-settlements">linked
to the European network</a> and would benefit from
Israel’s ability to trade electricity through the
interconnector.</p>
<p>When completed, the system will also <a
href="https://bdsmovement.net/news/fueling-impunity-israel%E2%80%99s-gas-exports-europe">allow
Israel to sell electricity</a> produced from gas
extracted from Mediterranean fields that are the
subject of international disputes involving Israel,
the Palestinians and Lebanon.</p>
<div id="file-77031">
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<blockquote data-width="550">
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<p>.<a
href="https://twitter.com/UNICEF?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UNICEF</a>
Israel’s settlements are war crimes and they
violate the human rights of Palestinian
children. </p>
<p>Drop your “proud support” for EuroAsia
Interconnector, the electricity cable linking
Israel’s illegal settlements to Europe. <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UnplugIsraeliCrimes?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UnplugIsraeliCrimes</a>
<a href="https://t.co/ZdsgAiPkXi">pic.twitter.com/ZdsgAiPkXi</a></p>
</div>
— BDS movement (@BDSmovement) <a
href="https://twitter.com/BDSmovement/status/1115277319432753153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April
8, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>“This multi-billion euro project rewards Israel for
its war crimes while Palestinians are being kept in
the dark,” the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions National Committee (BNC) said in an action
alert this week urging the public to tell UNICEF to
drop its support for the project.</p>
<p>“Israel’s siege on Gaza limits electricity to just a
few hours per day for close to two million
Palestinians living there,” the action alert states.
“Israel has repeatedly demolished Palestinian solar
energy installations in the occupied West Bank, the
only source of energy for many communities.”</p>
<p>Many of the Palestinian energy projects destroyed by
Israel were <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/israel-drastically-escalates-destruction-eu-funded-energy-projects">funded
by the EU</a>.</p>
<h2>Crimes against children</h2>
<p>The BNC notes that UNICEF’s slogan is “For every
child, hope,” and that the UN organization “has widely
documented how Israel’s illegal settlements deny
Palestinian children their basic human rights and any
hope for a future of justice, peace and dignity.”</p>
<p>Yet UNICEF is “supporting an electricity cable to
these colonial settlements, granting them recognition,
money and infrastructure so they flourish,” the BNC
states.</p>
<p>Israel’s systematic abuse of Palestinian children
includes <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/intifada-starting-us-congress/22741">military
detention and torture</a> in the West Bank.</p>
<p>And in Gaza, a UN independent commission of inquiry
recently <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/un-investigators-call-arrests-over-gaza-war-crimes">called
for the arrest</a> of Israelis involved in alleged
war crimes and crimes against humanity including the
intentional killing of children during <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/great-march-return">Great
March of Return</a> protests.</p>
<p>With a <a
href="https://www.euroasia-interconnector.com/completionmain/">budget
of $4 billion</a> largely <a
href="https://www.euroasia-interconnector.com/at-glance/the-big-picture/euroasia-eu-status/">financed</a>
by the European Union, the EuroAsia Interconnector has
received a <a
href="https://www.euroasia-interconnector.com/cyprus-greece-israelsupport/">high-level
blessing</a> from the Trump administration, which <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/after-golan-are-trump-and-netanyahu-coming-west-bank-0">recently
granted US recognition</a> to Israel’s illegal
annexation of the Golan Heights.</p>
<p>“By financing the interconnector and connecting
Europe’s electricity grid with Israel’s, the EU and
member states would provide direct support to Israel’s
illegal settlements in violation of their legal
obligations and commitments,” the BNC states in a
recent <a
href="https://www.scribd.com/document/399975928/BNC-Briefing-The-EuroAsia-Interconnector#fullscreen&from_embed">briefing
document</a> on the project.</p>
<p>The BNC, a broad-based Palestinian civil society
coalition, is demanding that the EU withdraw tenders
and financing related to the Israel-Cyprus electricity
link, conduct a credible human rights assessment of
the EuroAsia Interconnector and warn companies and
investors of legal and other risks of involving
themselves in Israeli gas and electricity projects.</p>
<h2>Risk to citizens’ privacy</h2>
<p>The BNC is also warning of a risk to citizens’
privacy in relation to a side project of the EuroAsia
Interconnector, the so-called Quantum cable, a
fiber-optic line that will run from Spain to Israel.</p>
<p>“Laying of the Quantum cable will mean that <a
href="https://www.quantum-cable.com/">60 percent</a>
of the world’s internet traffic – between Europe and
Asia – will pass through Israel, raising serious
concerns on security and civil rights,” according to
the BNC.</p>
<p>Israel has a well-documented record of cyberspying
and <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/watch-film-israel-lobby-didnt-want-you-see/25876">subterfuge</a>,
capabilities that its intelligence agencies and firms
<a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/ex-mossad-agents-harass-us-students-bds-activists/26846">deploy
against advocates for Palestinian human rights</a>
or <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/friend-khashoggi-sues-israeli-spyware-company">market
to other repressive regimes</a> such as Saudi Arabia
and the United Arab Emirates.</p>
<p>“The EU’s support for the EuroAsia Interconnector and
Israeli gas export to Europe stands in stark contrast
with Israel’s systematic assault on Palestinian human
rights, energy sources and supply,” the BNC adds.</p>
<p>While UNICEF’s open support for Israel’s criminal
activities is out of keeping with its mission and
mandate, the EU’s complicity is typical of the bloc’s
long-standing policy of <a
href="https://bdsmovement.net/news/talk-israel-tried-censor-european-parliament">rewarding
Israel</a> for its violations in spite of European
lip service to peace, human rights and international
law.</p>
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