{"article":{"id":223832,"heading":"1\/12 Palestine Watch:War and Natural Gas-Israeli Invasion & Gaza's Offshore Gas Fields","author":"Lee Siu Hin - Peace NO War Network","created":"2009-01-14 05:47:38","modified":"2013-11-11 00:59:40","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 07:59:40","article":"
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\r\n Palestine Watch - Projects of Peace\r\n NO War Network
\r\n <\/strong>http:\/\/www.PalestineWatch.net<\/strong><\/u>
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\r\n Here's another critical information the reason behind Israeli\r\n invasion of Gaza, has been motivated by the Gaza's offshore oilfield.\r\n Major oil companies like: BP and CCC are involved.<\/strong>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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\r\n This is yet another critical pieces of information, along with\r\n U.S. covertly shipping 3,000 tons of weapons to Israel in this moment, is\r\n a clear proof of the U.S.-western backing Israel's long-planning and\r\n calculated war & massacre in Gaza.<\/strong>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n \r\n 1\/9: U.S. covertly shipping arms to Israel >>\r\n Read\r\n More\r\n 1\/8: U.S. Weaponry Facilitates Killings in\r\n Gaza\/Resource: War in Gaza, Weapons from the USA >> Read\r\n More \r\n <\/strong>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Peace NO War Network<\/strong>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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\r\n War and Natural Gas: The Israeli Invasion and\r\n Gaza's Offshore Gas Fields\r\n by Michel Chossudovsky - GlobalResearch.ca
\r\n January 8, 2009\r\n http:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/index.php?context=va&aid=11680\r\n The military invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct\r\n relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves. \r\n This is a war of conquest. Discovered in 2000, there are\r\n extensive gas reserves off the Gaza coastline. \r\n British\r\n Gas (BG Group) and its partner, the Athens based Consolidated\r\n Contractors International Company (CCC) owned by Lebanon's\r\n Sabbagh and Koury families, were granted oil and gas exploration rights in a\r\n 25 year agreement signed in November 1999 with the Palestinian Authority. \r\n The rights to the offshore gas field are respectively\r\n British Gas (60 percent); Consolidated Contractors (CCC) (30 percent); and\r\n the Investment Fund of the Palestinian Authority (10 percent). (Haaretz,\r\n October 21,  2007). 
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\r\n The PA-BG-CCC agreement includes field development and the construction of a\r\n gas pipeline.(Middle East Economic Digest, Jan 5, 2001). \r\n The BG licence covers the entire Gazan offshore marine\r\n area, which is contiguous to several Israeli offshore gas facilities. (See\r\n Map below). It should be noted that 60 percent of the gas reserves along the\r\n Gaza-Israel coastline belong to Palestine.  \r\n The BG Group drilled two wells in 2000: Gaza Marine-1\r\n and Gaza Marine-2. Reserves are estimated by British Gas to be of the order\r\n of 1.4 trillion cubic feet, valued at approximately 4 billion dollars. These\r\n are the figures made public by British Gas. The size of Palestine's gas\r\n reserves could be much larger. \r\n  \r\n
\r\n Map 1\r\n  \r\n \r\n Map 2\r\n Who Owns the Gas Fields\r\n The issue of sovereignty over Gaza's gas fields is\r\n crucial. From a legal standpoint, the gas reserves belong to Palestine. \r\n The death of Yasser Arafat, the election of the Hamas\r\n government and the ruin of the Palestinian Authority have enabled Israel to\r\n establish de facto control over Gaza's offshore gas reserves. \r\n British Gas (BG Group) has been dealing with the Tel\r\n Aviv government. In turn, the Hamas government has been bypassed in regards\r\n to exploration and development rights over the gas fields. \r\n The election of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001 was\r\n a major turning point. Palestine's sovereignty over the offshore gas fields\r\n was challenged in the Israeli Supreme Court. Sharon stated unequivocally\r\n that \"Israel would never buy gas from Palestine\" intimating that\r\n Gaza's offshore gas reserves belong to Israel. \r\n In 2003, Ariel Sharon, vetoed an initial deal, which\r\n would allow British Gas to supply Israel with natural gas from Gaza's\r\n offshore wells. (The Independent, August 19, 2003) \r\n The election victory of Hamas in 2006 was conducive to\r\n the demise of the Palestinian Authority, which became confined to the West\r\n Bank, under the proxy regime of Mahmoud Abbas.  \r\n In 2006, British Gas \"was close to signing a deal\r\n to pump the gas to Egypt.\" (Times, May, 23, 2007). According to\r\n reports, British Prime Minister Tony Blair intervened on behalf of Israel\r\n with a view to shunting the agreement with Egypt. \r\n The following year, in May 2007, the Israeli Cabinet\r\n approved a proposal by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert  \"to buy gas\r\n from the Palestinian Authority.\" The proposed contract was for $4\r\n billion, with profits of the order of $2 billion of which one billion was to\r\n go the Palestinians. \r\n Tel Aviv, however, had no intention on sharing the\r\n revenues with Palestine. An Israeli team of negotiators was set up by the\r\n Israeli Cabinet to thrash out a deal with the BG Group, bypassing both the\r\n Hamas government and the Palestinian Authority:   \r\n \r\n \"Israeli defence authorities want the\r\n Palestinians to be paid in goods and services and insist that no money go\r\n to the Hamas-controlled Government.\" (Ibid, emphasis added)\r\n \r\n The objective was essentially to nullify the contract\r\n signed in 1999 between the BG Group and the Palestinian Authority under\r\n Yasser Arafat. \r\n Under the proposed 2007 agreement with BG, Palestinian\r\n gas from Gaza's offshore wells was to be channeled by an undersea pipeline\r\n to the Israeli seaport of Ashkelon, thereby transferring control over the\r\n sale of the natural gas to Israel. \r\n \r\n The deal fell through. The negotiations were suspended:\r\n \r\n  \"Mossad Chief Meir Dagan opposed the\r\n transaction on security grounds, that the proceeds would fund\r\n terror\". (Member of Knesset Gilad Erdan, Address to the Knesset on\r\n \"The Intention of Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Purchase Gas\r\n from the Palestinians When Payment Will Serve Hamas,\" March 1, 2006,\r\n quoted in Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe Yaalon, Does\r\n the Prospective Purchase of British Gas from Gaza's Coastal Waters\r\n Threaten Israel's National Security?  Jerusalem Center for\r\n Public Affairs, October 2007)\r\n \r\n Israel's intent was to foreclose the possibility that\r\n royalties be paid to the Palestinians. In December 2007, The BG Group\r\n withdrew from the negotiations with Israel and in January 2008 they closed\r\n their office in Israel.(BG\r\n website). \r\n Invasion Plan on The Drawing Board\r\n The invasion plan of the Gaza Strip under\r\n \"Operation Cast Lead\" was set in motion in June 2008, according to\r\n Israeli military sources: \r\n \r\n \"Sources in the defense establishment said\r\n Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to\r\n prepare for the operation over six months ago [June or before June] , even\r\n as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with\r\n Hamas.\"(Barak Ravid, Operation\r\n \"Cast Lead\": Israeli Air Force strike followed months of\r\n planning, Haaretz, December 27, 2008)\r\n \r\n That very same month, the Israeli authorities contacted\r\n British Gas, with a view to resuming crucial negotiations pertaining to the\r\n purchase of Gaza's natural gas:  \r\n \r\n \"Both Ministry of Finance director general Yarom\r\n Ariav and Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Hezi\r\n Kugler agreed to inform BG of Israel's wish to renew the talks.\r\n The sources added that BG has not yet officially\r\n responded to Israel's request, but that company executives would probably\r\n come to Israel in a few weeks to hold talks with government\r\n officials.\" (Globes online- Israel's Business Arena, June 23, 2008)\r\n \r\n The decision to speed up negotiations with British Gas\r\n (BG Group) coincided, chronologically, with the planning of the invasion of\r\n Gaza initiated in June. It would appear that Israel was anxious to\r\n reach an agreement with the BG Group prior to the invasion, which was\r\n already in an advanced planning stage.  \r\n Moreover, these negotiations with British Gas were\r\n conducted by the Ehud Olmert government with the knowledge that a military\r\n invasion was on the drawing board. In all likelihood, a new \"post\r\n war\" political-territorial arrangement for the Gaza strip was also\r\n being contemplated by the Israeli government.     \r\n In fact, negotiations between British Gas and Israeli\r\n officials were ongoing in October 2008, 2-3 months prior to the commencement\r\n of the bombings on December 27th.  \r\n In November 2008, the Israeli Ministry of Finance and\r\n the Ministry of National Infrastructures instructed Israel Electric\r\n Corporation (IEC) to enter into negotiations with British Gas, on the\r\n purchase of natural gas from the BG's offshore concession in Gaza. (Globes,\r\n November 13, 2008) \r\n \r\n \"Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav\r\n and Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler\r\n wrote to IEC CEO Amos Lasker recently, informing him of the government's\r\n decision to allow negotiations to go forward, in line with the framework\r\n proposal it approved earlier this year.\r\n The IEC board, headed by chairman Moti Friedman,\r\n approved the principles of the framework proposal a few weeks ago. The\r\n talks with BG Group will begin once the board approves the exemption from\r\n a tender.\" (Globes Nov. 13, 2008) \r\n \r\n Gaza and Energy Geopolitics \r\n The military occupation of Gaza is intent upon\r\n transferring the sovereignty of the gas fields to Israel in violation of\r\n international law.\r\n What can we expect in the wake of the invasion?
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\r\n What is the intent of Israel with regard to Palestine's Natural Gas\r\n reserves? \r\n A new territorial arrangement, with the stationing of\r\n Israeli and\/or \"peacekeeping\" troops?  \r\n The militarization of the entire Gaza coastline, which\r\n is strategic for Israel? \r\n The outright confiscation of Palestinian gas fields and\r\n the unilateral declaration of Israeli sovereignty over Gaza's maritime\r\n areas?  \r\n If this were to occur, the Gaza gas fields would be\r\n integrated into Israel's offshore installations, which are contiguous to\r\n those of the Gaza Strip. (See Map 1 above). \r\n These various offshore installations are also linked up\r\n to Israel's energy transport corridor, extending from the port of Eilat,\r\n which is an oil pipeline terminal, on the Red Sea to the seaport - pipeline\r\n terminal at Ashkelon, and northwards to Haifa, and eventually linking up\r\n through a proposed Israeli-Turkish pipeline with the Turkish port of Ceyhan. \r\n Ceyhan is the terminal of the Baku, Tblisi Ceyhan Trans\r\n Caspian pipeline. \"What is envisaged is to link the BTC pipeline to the\r\n Trans-Israel Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline, also known as Israel's Tipline.\"\r\n (See Michel Chossudovsky, The\r\n War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil, Global Research, July 23,\r\n 2006)\r\n  \r\n
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\r\n Map 3\r\n  \r\n
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\r\n \r\n Related News from Israeli Attack and Invade Gaza\r\n  \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n
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\r\n Photo Album: December, 2008 - Massacre of Gaza by Israel (Dec\r\n 27-30,2008) >> View\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n \r\n <\/table>\r\n Gaza: Appeal for Emergency Donations >> Read\r\n More\r\n 1\/11: Obama 'softens' Guantanamo pledge >> Read\r\n More\r\n 1\/10: People worldwide protest against Israel+Videos >> Read\r\n More\r\n 1\/9: Latest Updates from Israel Invade Gaza: Israeli War and Massacre on\r\n Gaza Continues Despite UN Truce Call, Senate Pass Pro-Israel Legislation! >>\r\n Read\r\n More\r\n 1\/9: U.S. covertly shipping arms to Israel >> Read\r\n More\r\n 1\/8: U.S. Weaponry Facilitates Killings in Gaza\/Resource: War in Gaza,\r\n Weapons from the USA >> Read\r\n More \r\n 1\/7: Latest Updates from Israel Invade Gaza, Over 600 Killed, Israel\r\n Bombed Schools, Now They are Agreeing\"Temporary Truce >> Read\r\n More\r\n 1\/3: Latest Updates from Israel Invade Gaza: Worldwide Protest Against\r\n Israeli Invasion and Killing at Gaza  >> Read\r\n More\r\n 1\/3 URGENT ALERT! Israel Begin Invade Gaza! More Killing Will Be Coming!\r\n TAKE ACTION! >> Read\r\n More\r\n 1\/1 Latest News from Gaza: More suffocating bombings claim lives of\r\n children, women; Israel defies peacemakers and prepares for invasion \r\n >> Read\r\n More\r\n 12\/30 Latest News from Gaza: Escalation goes on; death toll up  to\r\n 390 in Gaza >> Read\r\n More\r\n 12\/30: Israel’s lie machine is working flat out + PR Statements from\r\n Pro-Israel group defending attack Gaza >> Read\r\n More\r\n 12\/30: Jewish Opposition to Israeli Attacks >> Read\r\n More\r\n 12\/30: Reports form Worldwide Protests Against Massacre in Gaza >>\r\n Read\r\n More\r\n 12\/29 Latest News from Gaza: Over 364 Palestinians Dead As Israel\r\n Attacks Gaza >> Read\r\n More\r\n 12\/28: Latest News from Israel Attack Gaza (Part Two) >> Read\r\n More\r\n 12\/28 New York, NY: Thousands Rally in Rockefeller Center Against\r\n Israeli Aggression + Update: Video >> Read\r\n More
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\r\n 1\/28 Analysis: Israel had planned the attack for 6 months, mount PR\r\n Campaign, and Israeli far rights gain support from the attack >> Read\r\n More
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\r\n 12\/28: Activist Across the World Statements Against the Israeli Attack on\r\n Gaza >> Read\r\n More
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\r\n 12\/28: Israel launches new wave of Gaza attacks, facing international\r\n condemnation, UN call to halt attack >> Read\r\n More
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\r\n 12\/27: The President of the UN General Assembly on Gaza Airstrikes >> Read\r\n More 
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\r\n 12\/27: Media Release, International Response and Analysis on the Latest\r\n Israeli Attacks on Gaza >> Read\r\n More
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\r\n 12\/27 Palestine Watch: Gaza Massacre! Latest News on Israeli war planes\r\n attacks Gaza Strip >> Read\r\n More
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\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\n","contact":"Info@PeaceNoWar.net","link":"http:\/\/www.PalestineWatch.net","address":"Los Angeles, CA USA","phone":"(2130403-0131","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"Here's another critical information the reason behind Israeli invasion of Gaza, has been motivated by the Gaza's offshore oilfield. Major oil companies like: BP and CCC are involved....","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2009\/01\/223832.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}