Exclusive: EU Commission still seeking controversial police agreement with Israel, despite warnings - Statewatch
▻https://statewatch.org/news/2026/july/exclusive-eu-commission-still-seeking-controversial-police-agreement-wit
Statewatch has learned that not only could the agreement be in breach of international law, but that the Commission kept negotiating even during the ongoing genocide against the Palestinians. If adopted, the deal may allow for the exchange of sensitive personal data between the EU and Israel, which could be used in occupied territories. Experts warn this could lead to state-sanctioned human rights violations against both Palestinians and Israelis.
Drawing on leaked documents and internal files, Statewatch has reconstructed what led to the standoff between the European governing bodies, what has happened since, and what the proposed agreement entails.
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The draft agreement’s breach of international law
The exception outlined in the draft agreement marks a significant departure from the EU’s long-held position that its agreements with Israel should not apply to the territories occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War.
According to the Legal Service’s assessment, the arrangement would therefore conflict with the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination under international law.3 It would also go against the principle of the Vienna Convention, which states that international treaties should not damage third parties. The proposed text would damage the Palestinian Authority’s capacity to negotiate similar agreements.
Still, during internal meetings in October 2022, the Commission sought to justify the exception by invoking “Israel’s duty under international humanitarian law to restore and maintain public order and safety in the territories controlled by its forces.”
The Council’s Legal Service rejected that argument, claiming:
“Israel’s duty as occupying power to ensure public order and safety in the occupied territories does not imply that other States or international organisations would be allowed to assist it in the fulfilment of that duty, in violation of other principles of international law.”
Ben Saul, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, added to this view. Speaking to Statewatch, he said the proposed derogation appeared to contravene “the duty of European states not to recognise situations arising from breaches of peremptory norms of international law.”
Eitan Diamond, head of Diakonia‘s International Humanitarian Law Centre in Jerusalem, said the Legal Service’s reasoning was further reinforced by the International Court of Justice’s July 2024 advisory opinion. The court concluded that Israel must “end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible” and that all states and international organisations must avoid actions that could help maintain that unlawful presence.
