Israel’s more secure boundary has long been the Mediterranean Sea. Now, Israel has inked a deal to export its own gas to Egypt. They were no longer beholden to regimes that didn’t align with their interests. When Greece, Cyprus and Israel discovered their own natural-gas reserves, an angel appeared. For the first time, a major source of natural gas in the region was controlled by Western democracies. Meanwhile, Cyprus also paid a premium for energy from Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Saudi Arabia-some of which exploited Greece by offering gas and oil on credit at the height of the country’s economic crisis. The pipeline carrying gas to Israel through the Sinai Peninsula was regularly sabotaged. But under the regime of Mohamed Morsi, the stability of that supply faced constant threats. Israel relied on Egypt for 40 percent of its natural-gas supply.

In 2005, Israel’s diplomatic ties warmed with Egypt, which signed a 15-year agreement to export natural gas to the Jewish state. Since its independence in 1948, Israel’s energy security has been tenuous at best. Numerous bilateral and trilateral agreements between Greece, Israel and Cyprus have yielded strategic military alliances, including shared intelligence, technology and joint drills to bolster security. Energy agreements have lessened their dependence on nefarious regimes. For the last decade, Greece and its partners have forged a new model of statecraft focused on cooperation and investments in technology-a prototype for the Abraham Accords that pave the way for normalized relations between Israel and the Arab world. Stretching 2,700 meters underneath the Mediterranean Sea, the high-voltage highway offers more independence for Greece and its allies.Īccelerating the interconnector is only one piece of the energy diplomacy that offers stability to the region. While ancient Greek culture pioneered democracy, philosophy, geometry and more, modern Greece kick-started a more recent seismic shift: normalization with the State of Israel.Įnergy ministers from Greece, Cyprus and Israel have agreed to speed up work on the Euro-Asia Interconnector, a 2,000-megawatt underwater cable that connects the three countries to European and Asian power grids and cements their standing as energy exporters. Modern Greece is marking its bicentennial, celebrating the nation’s emergence from 400 years of rule under the Ottoman Empire. Resources on the Congressional Caucus on Black-Jewish Relations.The State of Antisemitism in America Report.AJC's Call to Action Against Antisemitism.That project will be then linked to the planned Euro-Asia Interconnector.Your Hub for AJC News and Analysis Main navigation Power grid operator IPTO will build a bigger 1 billion euro underwater power link that will connect Crete to the mainland grid by 2023. This summer, Greece linked the island of Crete to the power grid of the Peloponnese peninsula via an undersea cable, a major step in the country’s drive to cut its reliance on imported fossil fuel and boost its use of renewable energy. The deal comes as Greece, Cyprus and Israel plan to build the Euro-Asia Interconnector, the world’s longest and deepest underwater power cable crossing the Mediterranean at a cost of about $900 million. A memorandum of understanding between the two countries will be signed in Athens, the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Greece is keen to connect its power grid to Egypt, where the cost of energy from solar parks is low. ATHENS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Greece and Egypt are set to sign an agreement on Thursday on a plan to build an undersea cable linking their electricity grids, a Greek energy ministry official said.

Greece agree to link power grids