The Santos Republic | The Israeli Invasion Reason: Gaza’s Offshore Gas Fields

The Santos Republic | The Israeli Invasion Reason: Gaza’s Offshore Gas Fields

by Michel Chossudovsky, Canadian Economist, Economic Adviser to governments of developing countries and Consultant for United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), African Development Bank, International Labour Organization (ILO), World Health Organisation (WHO), et al.

Lady Michelle-Jennifer Santos, Publisher’s Note: The following article was first published by Global Research in January 2009 at the height of the Israeli bombing and invasion under Operation Cast Lead. The ongoing attack on Gaza, which envisages a ground invasion, is  from the point of view of Israeli military planners a followup to the December 2008  attack on Gaza. Since that didn’t work then, here we are again in deja vú.  We need for people to understand that this is all about Israel’s greedy mission to expand their territory and destroy anyone that gets in the way of these gas reserves. We recommend you read our past reports for a bigger picture: Syria, Turkey, Israel and a Greater Middle East Energy War and The Levantine Basin, A Geopolitical Curse of Israel-Lebanon-Syria-Greece-Turkey-Cyprus.  Do you see the names of these countries and their current ongoing crisis? Do you think their crisis is accidental? Do you really believe the mainstream media and West’s lie and propaganda that Turkey and Israel are innocent and heroes?

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November 19, 2012 (TSR) - The [December 2008] military invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves. 

This is a war of conquest. Discovered in 2000, there are extensive gas reserves off the Gaza coastline. 

British Gas (BG Group) and its partner, the Athens based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC) owned by Lebanon’s Sabbagh and Koury families, were granted oil and gas exploration rights in a 25 year agreement signed in November 1999 with the Palestinian Authority.

The rights to the offshore gas field are respectively British Gas (60 percent); Consolidated Contractors (CCC) (30 percent); and the Investment Fund of the Palestinian Authority (10 percent). (Haaretz, October 21,  2007).

The PA-BG-CCC agreement includes field development and the construction of a gas pipeline.(Middle East Economic Digest, Jan 5, 2001).

The BG licence covers the entire Gazan offshore marine area, which is contiguous to several Israeli offshore gas facilities. (See Map below). It should be noted that 60 percent of the gas reserves along the Gaza-Israel coastline belong to Palestine.

The BG Group drilled two wells in 2000: Gaza Marine-1 and Gaza Marine-2. Reserves are estimated by British Gas to be of the order of 1.4 trillion cubic feet, valued at approximately 4 billion dollars. These are the figures made public by British Gas. The size of Palestine’s gas reserves could be much larger.

Map 1: Gaza gas fields

Map 2: Gaza offshore fields

Who Owns the Gas Fields

The issue of sovereignty over Gaza’s gas fields is crucial. From a legal standpoint, the gas reserves belong to Palestine.

The death of Yasser Arafat, the election of the Hamas government and the ruin of the Palestinian Authority have enabled Israel to establish de facto control over Gaza’s offshore gas reserves.

British Gas (BG Group) has been dealing with the Tel Aviv government. In turn, the Hamas government has been bypassed in regards to exploration and development rights over the gas fields.

The election of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001 was a major turning point. Palestine’s sovereignty over the offshore gas fields was challenged in the Israeli Supreme Court. Sharon stated unequivocally that “Israel would never buy gas from Palestine” intimating that Gaza’s offshore gas reserves belong to Israel.

In 2003, Ariel Sharon, vetoed an initial deal, which would allow British Gas to supply Israel with natural gas from Gaza’s offshore wells. (The Independent, August 19, 2003)

The election victory of Hamas in 2006 was conducive to the demise of the Palestinian Authority, which became confined to the West Bank, under the proxy regime of Mahmoud Abbas.

In 2006, British Gas “was close to signing a deal to pump the gas to Egypt.” (Times, May, 23, 2007). According to reports, British Prime Minister Tony Blair intervened on behalf of Israel with a view to shunting the agreement with Egypt.

The following year, in May 2007, the Israeli Cabinet approved a proposal by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert  “to buy gas from the Palestinian Authority.” The proposed contract was for $4 billion, with profits of the order of $2 billion of which one billion was to go the Palestinians.

Tel Aviv, however, had no intention on sharing the revenues with Palestine. An Israeli team of negotiators was set up by the Israeli Cabinet to thrash out a deal with the BG Group, bypassing both the Hamas government and the Palestinian Authority:

“Israeli defence authorities want the Palestinians to be paid in goods and services and insist that no money go to the Hamas-controlled Government.” (Ibid, emphasis added)

The objective was essentially to nullify the contract signed in 1999 between the BG Group and the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat.

Under the proposed 2007 agreement with BG, Palestinian gas from Gaza’s offshore wells was to be channeled by an undersea pipeline to the Israeli seaport of Ashkelon, thereby transferring control over the sale of the natural gas to Israel.

The deal fell through. The negotiations were suspended:

 ”Mossad Chief Meir Dagan opposed the transaction on security grounds, that the proceeds would fund terror”. (Member of Knesset Gilad Erdan, Address to the Knesset on “The Intention of Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Purchase Gas from the Palestinians When Payment Will Serve Hamas,” March 1, 2006, quoted in Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe Yaalon, Does the Prospective Purchase of British Gas from Gaza’s Coastal Waters Threaten Israel’s National Security?  Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, October 2007)

Israel’s intent was to foreclose the possibility that royalties be paid to the Palestinians. In December 2007, The BG Group withdrew from the negotiations with Israel and in January 2008 they closed their office in Israel.(BG website).

Invasion Plan on The Drawing Board

The invasion plan of the Gaza Strip under “Operation Cast Lead” was set in motion in June 2008, according to Israeli military sources:

“Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the operation over six months ago [June or before June] , even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.”(Barak Ravid, Operation “Cast Lead”: Israeli Air Force strike followed months of planning, Haaretz, December 27, 2008)

That very same month, the Israeli authorities contacted British Gas, with a view to resuming crucial negotiations pertaining to the purchase of Gaza’s natural gas:

“Both Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav and Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler agreed to inform BG of Israel’s wish to renew the talks.

The sources added that BG has not yet officially responded to Israel’s request, but that company executives would probably come to Israel in a few weeks to hold talks with government officials.” (Globes online- Israel’s Business Arena, June 23, 2008)

The decision to speed up negotiations with British Gas (BG Group) coincided, chronologically, with the planning of the invasion of Gaza initiated in June. It would appear that Israel was anxious to reach an agreement with the BG Group prior to the invasion, which was already in an advanced planning stage.

Moreover, these negotiations with British Gas were conducted by the Ehud Olmert government with the knowledge that a military invasion was on the drawing board. In all likelihood, a new “post war” political-territorial arrangement for the Gaza strip was also being contemplated by the Israeli government.

In fact, negotiations between British Gas and Israeli officials were ongoing in October 2008, 2-3 months prior to the commencement of the bombings on December 27th.

In November 2008, the Israeli Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of National Infrastructures instructed Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) to enter into negotiations with British Gas, on the purchase of natural gas from the BG’s offshore concession in Gaza. (Globes, November 13, 2008)

“Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav and Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler wrote to IEC CEO Amos Lasker recently, informing him of the government’s decision to allow negotiations to go forward, in line with the framework proposal it approved earlier this year.

The IEC board, headed by chairman Moti Friedman, approved the principles of the framework proposal a few weeks ago. The talks with BG Group will begin once the board approves the exemption from a tender.” (Globes Nov. 13, 2008)

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. (See Map 1 above).

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.

Levantine Energy Corridor

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.” (See Michel Chossudovsky, The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil, Global Research, July 23, 2006).

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Michel Chossudovsky is a Canadian economist who has acted as economic adviser to governments of developing countries and has worked as a consultant for international organizations including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the African Development Bank, the United Nations African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (AIEDEP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). He is also a professor of economics at the University of Ottawa and has taught as visiting professor at academic institutions in Western Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia. He is a member of research organisations that include the Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform (COMER), the Geopolitical Drug Watch (OGD) (Paris)and the International People’s Health Council (IPHC). After the September 11 terrorist attacks he has also been involved in highlighting the historical relationship between the US government, Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. He published  an article on September 12, 2001 entitled “The Truth Behind 9/11: Who is Osama Bin Laden?”and was one of the first to question the Bush administration’s assertion that Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. He is a frequent contributor to Le Monde diplomatique, Third World Resurgence and Covert Action Quarterly His publications have been translated into more than twenty languages. He is also the Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

Originally published in Global Research.

Read more http://thesantosrepublic.com/2012/11/the-israeli-invasion-reason-gazas-offshore-gas-fields/

Special Palestine Cry Blog articles: Donors Should Reevaluate Support for Palestinian Security Forces « Kawther Salam

Special Palestine Cry Blog articles: Donors Should Reevaluate Support for Palestinian Security Forces « Kawther Salam

Donors Should Reevaluate Support for Palestinian Security Forces « Kawther Salam

Donors Should Reevaluate Support for Palestinian Security Forces

The US finances and trains the National Security Force (NSF), a Palestinian gendarmerie, whose officers participated in Amer’s arrest, his father told Human Rights Watch. The NSF, which has been the subject of two torture complaints by Palestinians since January 2009, does not interrogate detainees or operate prisons, but conducts joint arrest raids with the intelligence service and Preventive Security and turns detainees over to their custody. Source HRW.

August 27 2012 – Human Rights Watch – The Palestinian Authority (PA) should urgently act to hold accountable the police officials responsible for recent beatings of peaceful demonstrators in Ramallah in the West Bank. Police severely beat protesters in the street and dragged others to a police station, where the police continued to beat and kick them. At least six protesters required hospitalization.

A coalition of Palestinian human rights groups released a report on August 27, 2012, that identified several senior police officials who were present and in charge of the forces that beat protesters in Ramallah’s main square on June 30 and July 1.

“Two months and four reports later, the Palestinian Authority has not yet brought to justice the police officers responsible for brutal assaults on peaceful protesters in Ramallah’s main square,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The PA should end its foot-dragging and promptly investigate and prosecute abuse by members of its security forces.”

Senior Palestinian officials have said they will carry out the recommendations of a prior report on the incidents by an independent committee of inquiry established by President Mahmud Abbas. On July 24, the committee delivered a report to Abbas that called for the prosecution of the head of the Ramallah police station, the chief of police for the Ramallah area, and the head of the criminal investigations unit, among others.

Palestinian news reports said that the Palestinian Interior Ministry delivered the results of its own inquiry to Abbas in early August. The official Palestinian human rights ombudsman reported on the incidents to the interior minister on July 3.

The Palestinian Authority’s civil police are funded and trained by a European Union program, EUPOL-COPPS, with a €9.3 million annual budget. The United States and other countries support other Palestinian security services in the West Bank. The EU program states that it aims to create a criminal justice system that “complies with international human rights standards” by advising and closely mentoring the Palestinian police, “specifically senior officials at District and Headquarters level.”

“The EU and US should take a hard look at the PA security forces’ record of impunity, and condition support for those forces on credible investigations and prosecutions of abuses,” Stork said.

From January 2009 to July 2012, the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), the official Palestinian human rights ombudsman, received 584 complaints of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by Palestinian security forces in the West Bank, including severe beatings, slamming detainees’ heads against the wall, forcing detainees to stand or sit in painful positions for prolonged periods, and sleep deprivation. Of the 109 alleged cases of abuse reported in 2012, 62 were by civil police investigators.

Human Rights Watch has not uncovered information about a single case in which a Palestinian security official has been judicially punished for serious abuses, including torture and denial of medical treatment that caused death. In one case, security officials were prosecuted for abuses involving a death in detention from torture. All were acquitted.

The Palestinian Authority has claimed in the past that it disciplined security officials for abuses but has not published the names of the officials or any other verifiable information about these cases.

On June 30, uniformed police and plainclothes security officers punched, kicked, bludgeoned, and arbitrarily arrested demonstrators who had gathered in the main square of Ramallah to protest a planned meeting between the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, and Shaul Mofaz, then the vice prime minister of Israel. When demonstrators gathered on July 1 to protest those abuses, police attacked them again. At least six protesters were hospitalized for injuries from police assaults on both days, according to the separate reports by the inquiry committee and Palestinian human rights groups.

Police also beat journalists covering the events, the latest in a series of attacks on journalists by Palestinian security forces. Mohammed Jaradat, an independent journalist, told Human Rights Watch that police beat him at the demonstration, dragged him to the nearby central Ramallah police station, and held him down on the ground while striking him with truncheons and kicking him. He was hospitalized for two days for injuries all over his body, he said.

On July 3, the ICHR commissioner-general, Ahmad Harb, met with the Palestinian interior minister, Said Abu Ali, and presented him with the report documenting “the unjustified use of force and beating of a number of participants in the peaceful demonstrations, and the detention of a number of others for some time before being released,” the commission said in a statement.

On July 2, Abbas established the independent inquiry committee, headed by Munib al-Masry, a leading Palestinian businessman, which interviewed dozens of witnesses and officials. The committee’s July 24 report to Abbas identified individual police officials responsible for the attacks.  The report’s executive summary and recommendations, which were published in the Palestinian media, called on the Palestinian Authority to ensure that the police officials are criminally prosecuted.

Al-Masry later told Human Rights Watch that Abbas had called on Abu Ali, the interior minister, to carry out the committee’s recommendations. On August 15, Abu Ali told the committee that he was in the process of issuing the necessary recommendations to do so.

On August 27, the Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organizations, which includes rights groups such as Al-Haq and Addameer, published a report stating that Palestinian police and officers wearing civilian clothes attacked protesters on June 30 on the orders of the Ramallah chief of police, Lt. Col. Abd al-Latif al-Kadumi, to push the protesters back. Police attacks on June 30 and July 1 were both conducted in the presence of al-Kadumi and his deputy, and Maj. Mohammed Abu Bakr, director of the city’s police station, the report said.

The report cited a statement to news media in which the Palestinian security services spokesman, Maj. Gen. Adnan Al-Damiri, said that police acted to stop the protests from reaching the presidential headquarters – the Muqataa compound – in Ramallah, where demonstrations are “prohibited.”
In another recent case, members of the Palestinian Preventive Security service allegedly tortured Zakaria Zubeidi, the co-founder of The Freedom Theater, a theater company in Jenin, at a detention facility in Jericho. Zubeidi has been detained without charge since May 13 on suspicion of knowing the location of guns in the possession of armed groups, which he denies.

The Palestinian Authority has failed to act on the recommendations of other independent inquiries into abuse by security forces. For instance, in response to the report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, led by Richard Goldstone, which documented arbitrary arrests, torture of detainees, and attacks by Palestinian Authority security forces on journalists and demonstrators protesting in the West Bank against Israeli military attacks in Gaza in December 2008-January 2009, Abbas authorized an independent inquiry committee.

The committee’s report, published in June 2010, called on the Palestinian Authority to “hold accountable and prosecute those who violate the law, whether by acts of arbitrary detention, by crimes of torture or other forms of cruel or degrading treatment or by violations of other rights and freedoms.” The Palestinian Authority has not published specific, verifiable information about any such prosecutions, however.

Human Rights Watch also documented Israel’s and Hamas’s responses to the Goldstone report’s other recommendations.

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