A Letter to Bruce Cain #7
Why the Brutal Assault? #2
Sam Parker continues:
“Gaza and Energy Geopolitics
The military occupation of Gaza is intent upon transferring the sovereignty of the gas fields to Israel in violation of international law.”
“What can we expect in the wake of the invasion?
What is the intent of Israel with regard to Palestine’s Natural Gas reserves?
A new territorial arrangement, with the stationing of Israeli and/or “peacekeeping” troops?
The militarization of the entire Gaza coastline, which is strategic for Israel?
The outright confiscation of Palestinian gas fields and the unilateral declaration of Israeli sovereignty over Gaza’s maritime areas?”
“If this were to occur, the Gaza gas fields would be integrated into Israel’s offshore installations, which are contiguous to those of the Gaza Strip.”
“These various offshore installations are also linked up to Israel’s energy transport corridor, extending from the port of Eilat, which is an oil pipeline terminal, on the Red Sea to the seaport – pipeline terminal at Ashkelon, and northwards to Haifa, and eventually linking up through a proposed Israeli-Turkish pipeline with the Turkish port of Ceyhan.”
“Ceyhan is the terminal of the Baku, Tblisi Ceyhan Trans Caspian pipeline. “What is envisaged is to link the BTC pipeline to the Trans-Israel Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline, also known as Israel’s Tipline.”
“Further complicating the picture is the recent confirmation of huge offshore Israeli natural gas reserves. Initial exploration in the early 1990s was confirmed in 2009.”
“The Tamar natural gas field off the coast of northern Israel, some 80 km west of Israel’s port of Haifa has an estimated 300 bcm of gas. Tamar was the largest gas discovery in 2009. The game changer was a dramatic discovery in late 2010 of another enormous natural gas field offshore Israel, called Leviathan, after the biblical sea monster. This field is some 120 kms west of Haifa. Estimate reserves are in the region of 900 bcm of gas. A Texas based company, Noble Energy, in partnership with an Israeli company, Delek Group, is the shareholders. Noble is a Rockefeller-linked company, while the Delek Group belongs to Israeli billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva.”
“At the time, total Israeli gas reserves were estimated at only 30 bcm. Israel’s sole operating field, Yam Tethya, which supplies 70% of Israel’s needs, would be depleted by 2013. Within a matter of a year, Israel went from a gas famine to a feast.”
“Now Israel faces a strategic and very dangerous dilemma. There is no clear sea economic zone delimitation of borders between the neighboring states. The Eastern Mediterranean gas pie is disputed by Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Palestine. The matter gets even more complicated because the states have disputes between themselves, as well each of them with Israel. There is a slim chance the countries of the region will effectively cooperate to develop the deposits.”
“The Gazan gas fields are part of the broader Levant assessment area.”
“What is now unfolding is the integration of these adjoining gas fields including those belonging to Palestine into the orbit of Israel.”
“It should be noted that the entire Eastern Mediterranean coastline extending from Egypt’s Sinai to Syria constitutes an area encompassing large gas as well as oil reserves. It is important to relate issue of Gaza’s offshore gas reserves to the recent massacres undertaken by IDF forces directed against the people of Palestine who own the offshore gas fields.”[1]
[1] https://behindthenews.co.za/the-gaza-war-part-1-of-a-2-part-series/?fbclid=IwAR1_h2JMIP66nZ9x1hTwHmEayF80Ftr0KuiZzyVWaXcDnHDwNhLM7bka5Mo