Possible Data Exchange Between 'Israel' and Europe: How Could It Affect Palestinians?
The talks between the Israeli Occupation and the European Commission regarding a possible exchange of data have raised widespread concern among the Palestinians, officially and popularly, warning of their future dangers.
“Israel” and the European Commission are negotiating to endorse an agreement for a joint exchange of data that includes the residents of the “Palestinian Authority areas” in reference to the occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem.
Political Precedent
On November 20, 2022, DER SPIEGEL, the German magazine, revealed an information exchange agreement between Europe and “Israel” that was recently raised during an internal meeting of the European Union.
The draft agreement contains a clause that would allow the Israeli authorities to use personal data from Europol in the occupied territories.
The magazine indicated that the draft agreement was kept confidential until it was put on the table and noted that the Israeli authorities might use the data exceptionally in the geographical areas that were subject to Israeli administration after June 5, 1967.
According to the magazine, 13 of the 27 European Union countries, including Germany, strongly rejected the use of data in the occupied territories.
The meeting revealed warnings launched by the representative of France and representatives of other European countries, such as Ireland and Luxembourg, which would create a dangerous precedent with great political consequences.
The Legal Department of the Council of the European Union also expressed its fear of this decision and expressed its concerns, as explained by one of the representatives.
They argued that the use of EU police data in the “annexed territories” would not only set a highly political precedent with enormous impact but also violate international law. The German magazine did not explain the final step that the European Union is expected to take in this direction.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki, in an interview with DER SPIEGEL, strongly criticized the planned data exchange agreement. He called it an “attack on international law.”
He said the fact that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen negotiated a data-sharing agreement with “Israel” that mandate extends to the occupied territories of the State of Palestine is an unprecedented scandal.
Al-Maliki indicated that this agreement, if implemented, would amount to a break from the previous policy of the European Union, which was always keen not to legitimize Israeli claim to the occupied lands.
The Palestinian minister criticized the mere acceptance of the European Union Commission President to negotiate under these criteria, “this in itself is a flagrant violation of international law.”
In turn, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Ahmad Majdalani, said that these negotiations represent a violation of the rights of the Palestinian people and international protocols.
He described what is happening as constituting a dangerous political precedent and called on the European Union countries to stop these negotiations.
The Severity of the Draft
Muhammad Imad, director of legal affairs and policies for Skyline International for Human Rights, says that “Israel” is always keen to obtain information about Palestinians residing in the occupied territories, as well as Europe and other countries.
He explained to Al-Estiklal that the importance is increasing, “especially with people whom Israel sees as dangerous, such as students of engineering and military studies.”
He believed that the Israeli benefit from the potential agreement lies in obtaining information about Palestinians who have relations in the European Union and with businessmen and political decision-makers in order to abort their activities there.
Imad pointed out that “Tel Aviv” is working to collect and sort information about people residing in Europe and then determine the extent of their alleged danger.
He continued, “Benefiting from the information is by directing all of Israel’s force on the ground against the activities of these people.”
The Palestinian human rights activist also stated that the draft gives “Israel” the legal authority or legal cover from Europe to commit violations and prosecute individuals within the territories of the Palestinian Authority.
He believed that the matter “is equivalent to a mandate from the European Union for the Occupation to commit violations against individuals in the Palestinian territories, in addition to the danger that this poses to Palestinians abroad.”
He also said, “the [Israeli] Occupation does not hesitate to kidnap and end the life of any Palestinian who represents a threat to Israelis, and we have recently witnessed that in several countries.”
This information and its publication represent a serious violation of the rules of international law for individuals, their privacy, and personal security.
He added: “Israel does not collect information about Palestinians outside the occupied territories except to harm, blackmail, or kill them.”
The matter is becoming more dangerous given that “Israel” criminalizes every critic of its violations under “anti-Semitism,” which is something that the European Union takes very seriously.
This development also comes in an attempt to abort the activities of the global movement to boycott “Israel,” known as BDS, which has achieved wide success in recent years in Europe and the world.
Legalization and Expansion
It appears from this development, according to Imad, that the Occupation authorities want to legitimize the targeting of Palestinians at home and abroad through this agreement.
In countries in which “Israel” does not have official relations, the Israeli foreign intelligence service (Mossad) carries out kidnappings and assassinations.
However, the Occupation seeks to formally criminalize and prosecute the Palestinians in cooperation with the European Union countries, especially with the recent escalation of its foreign activities in other countries.
Beyond that, the Israeli Mossad pursues Palestinian academics abroad who specialize in certain fields, such as engineering and technology, for fear of helping the cyber apparatus of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas.
For instance, Mossad tried, on September 28, 2022, to kidnap a Palestinian expert in information technology in the center of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.
On April 21, 2018, the Malaysian police announced the assassination of Fadi al-Batsh, a Palestinian academic and expert in electrical engineering, in Kuala Lumpur. The Ministry of Interior in Gaza and Malaysian parties accused Mossad of carrying out the operation.
Among the examples of targeting Palestinian elites abroad is what happened in January 2018 in the city of Sidon, southern Lebanon.
At the time, a Hamas leader, Muhammad Hamdan, was wounded when his car was detonated with an explosive device.
Hebrew media later reported that he was building a workshop to produce parts for missiles and drones.
A year later, the Lebanese army said that it had arrested a participant in the attempt to assassinate Hamdan and admitted that he had been employed by Mossad since 2014 and that he had met his operators outside Lebanon and had received equipment and electronic devices for monitoring and communication.
Dirar Abu Seesi, a Palestinian electrical engineer, was kidnapped from Ukraine in 2011, ended up in an Israeli prison more than a week later, and was sentenced to 21 years in prison for helping Hamas manufacture rockets, among other convictions.
In 2016, Muhammad al-Zouari, a Tunisian scientist and military commander affiliated with Hamas, who was said to have been developing drone warfare technology for the al-Qassam Brigades, was assassinated in Sfax.
The Times of Israel quoted accurate intelligence from the Shin Bet that the Israeli army assassinated, on May 12, 2021, Juma’a al-Tahla, the head of the cyber system, the leader of the project to improve missiles and drones, and the owner of the research and development portfolio in Hamas.
The website claimed that al-Tahla was the right hand of Mohammed Deif, chief of staff of the military wing of the al-Qassam Brigades, and his exclusion was a major blow to the project to enhance the capabilities of Hamas.
Broad Warnings
In turn, the Palestinians in Europe Conference expressed its rejection of the draft agreement, indicating that it constitutes a clear violation of international laws and an explicit violation of the general European decree related to the protection of personal data.
It stressed that the agreement is an explicit political coup in the European position towards the Palestinian issue, a delegation of the Occupation authority over the occupied Palestinian territories, and “ an abortion” of any possibility of a “two-state solution” that the union believes in.
The Palestinians in Europe Conference appreciated the position of the European countries rejecting this agreement, calling on the rest of the countries to show a high degree of political responsibility and to look at the Palestinian cause in deep legal and political dimensions, leading to the rejection of the draft agreement.
It called on all pro-Palestinian rights activists within Europe to take action with all mechanisms and means, and to “pressure European political decision-makers, and discourage them from approving such an unjust agreement, which violates all human rights, including the rights of the Palestinian people.”
For its part, Hamas expressed its rejection and denunciation of the ongoing negotiations and demanded in a press statement the European Commission to stop negotiating with the Israeli Occupation to exchange Palestinian data in respect of the Palestinian people’s right to sovereignty and independence.
The movement considered this step a dangerous precedent and a flagrant violation of international law, especially the recognition of the realism of the Occupation and the attempt to grant it legitimacy and sovereignty over our occupied lands at the expense of the security of the Palestinian people and their national rights.
It called on the European Union to stop these negotiations and to back down from any agreements in this regard, and not to deal with double standards when it comes to the Israeli Occupation, “in line with the traditional European position of rejecting the occupation of our Palestinian lands, and in respect of the right of the Palestinian people to liberation, independence and self-determination.”
The Palestine Liberation Organization also considered the negotiations conducted by the European Commission with the occupying power on this issue a violation of international law and described it as a “scandal.”
Rawhi Fattouh, head of the National Council (Parliament of the PLO), denounced these negotiations and stressed that the use of European Union police data by the Occupation “contradicts all resolutions of the United Nations, the Security Council, international covenants and treaties, and the Human Rights Council regarding the occupied Palestinian territories.”
For its part, the Palestinian Human Rights Institutions Association (HRIA) warned the European Union of the danger of signing the agreement with the Occupation authorities and called on them to step back and respect the provisions and rules of international law.
In a statement, the assembly affirmed that signing such an agreement constitutes a flagrant violation of the provisions of Article (2) of the United Nations Charter, which emphasized the prohibition of interference in the internal affairs of states.
It believes that the agreement constitutes a waste of what was decided by the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966, especially what was stipulated in Article (17).
This article stated that no person may be subjected, arbitrarily or unlawfully, to interference with his privacy, family, home, or correspondence.
