[Peace-discuss] Fw: [socialistdiscussion] Fwd: [M20all] Chossudovsky-- Israeli Invasion and Gaza's Offshore Gas Fields

Tue Jan 13 10:39:53 CST 2009

----- Original Message ----- 
From: John Reimann 
To: socialistdiscussion at yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 10:16 AM
Subject: Re: [socialistdiscussion] Fwd: [M20all] Chossudovsky-- Israeli Invasion and Gaza's Offshore Gas Fields

I always figured that the expansionist forces within Israel must be
eying the oil fields of the mid east and trying to figure out how to
get ahold of them. I never knew that gas fields were so close to home.
John

On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 6:15 AM, <LOUGHFINN at aol.com> wrote:
> An interesting and credible article on the invasion and slaugher in Gaza.
> Sean
>
> Check us out:
> www.weknowwhatsup.blogspot.com
> www.laborsmilitantvoice.com
> www.myspace.com/lmvprofile
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NealBetty at aol.com
> To: m20all at m20coalition.net; JVP-Chgo-BB at yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:38 am
> Subject: [M20all] Chossudovsky-- Israeli Invasion and Gaza's Offshore Gas
> Fields
>
>
>
> War and Natural Gas: The Israeli Invasion and Gaza's Offshore Gas Fields
>
> by Michel Chossudovsky - GlobalResearch.ca
> January 8, 2009
>
> http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11680
>
> The 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 a t 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
>
> Map 2
>
> 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)
>
> Is rael'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
> natur al 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 27t h.
>
> 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 the20stationing 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.
>
> 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)
>
> Map 3
>
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