The ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip cannot be viewed in isolation from the rich resources of natural gas that abound on its shores. The attack deliberately destroyed buildings and infrastructure and killed thousands to push people to emigrate so that Gaza would be freed from occupation.
With this conversation, writer Tara Allami began her article, which was published by the American website “Mondoweiss,” and stated that only 10 days after the start of the attack on Gaza, the World Health Organization announced that the Strip had run out of water, electricity, and fuel.
By October 24, the Ministry of Health warned of the possibility of closing hospitals within two days due to a lack of fuel, amid a bombing it described as “brutal,” and news leaked about American plans to exploit gas fields off the coast of Gaza as part of the “economic revitalization plan.”
Allami points out that the current aggression against Gaza is part of an ongoing attempt to ethnically cleanse it as part of a colonial and settlement project, and some consider that the gas fields are a motive for the Israeli aggression.
“Marine 1” and “Marine 2”
The writer says that the Israeli project aims to build an ethnic colonial state, and Israel seeks to achieve this goal by exporting “stolen gas” and concluding deals with neighboring countries with the participation of the European Union, as British Gas discovered gas fields off Gaza 25 years ago, and knows Today, it is called “Gaza Marine 1” and “Gaza Marine 2,” and it constitutes a point of interest for Israel and America in exploiting Palestinian resources.
Allami adds that the Israeli occupation controls the energy and water resources in Gaza, which hinders efforts to establish an independent energy infrastructure in the Strip, and the occupation benefits from “stolen gas” and water, while the Palestinians in Gaza suffer from a severe energy crisis.
Regional dominance
Allami points to Israel’s interest in extracting gas off the coasts of Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt, and attributes this to the occupation’s goals that are strengthened by the Oslo Accords and the Paris Protocol, such as encouraging settlement expansion and restricting Palestinian access to resources.
The agreements imposed complete economic subordination to Israel and obstructed Palestinian access to natural resources, leading to significant economic backwardness exacerbated by non-stop Israeli military operations.
Allami says that before Hamas won the 2007 legislative elections, the “peace” negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority included the signing of an agreement worth $4 billion annually to purchase Gaza’s gas from Tel Aviv starting in 2009, but Hamas’ victory suspended the agreements, while Israel imposed a strict siege on Gaza. During that period, Tel Aviv planned to invade Gaza, and at the same time it was negotiating an agreement with the British Gas group.
In 2005, after the gas deal between Egypt and Israel and the discovery of the Tamar field in 2009, the need to extract gas from Gaza slowed down. However, plans to benefit from the gas fields continued with the imposition of the siege on the Strip.
The writer says that Lebanon – which has been disputed by Israel over the maritime borders since 2010 – signed a historic agreement in 2022 to demarcate the borders mediated by the United States, which will be a monitor and mediator in gas extraction operations in addition to sharing resource data.
The deal is limited to “reputable international companies” approved by the United States to extract the gas, limiting Lebanon’s control over much of the disputed area.
In 2016, the Jordanian National Electricity Company signed a 15-year agreement with Israel and controversial energy companies, according to the author, and in December 2019, Israel began exporting “stolen gas” to Jordan from the Leviathan field.
Challenging the world order
Allami concludes that the Israeli interest in gas fields near Palestine is a clear example of “imperialism,” and despite attempts to hide the seizure of resources, this quest to export gas from the Leviathan field to European markets has been part of the plans of the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Israel for some time.
Allami points out that the Yemeni attacks on Israel’s sea routes constitute a threat to it and to the safety of the global economy, and every attempt to “theft” is accompanied by efforts to preserve its “colonial” borders.
The author concludes that these events are only part of an Israeli project based on policies of ethnic cleansing, expropriation, and economic control, and that the liberation of Palestine means the end of this project with all its “colonial” details and the restoration of Palestinian marine resources.
