One of the most profitable businesses in the world, along with the trafficking of arms, people and drugs, is still the exploitation of fossil energies. And his wheel cannot be stopped even though he is in full military attack. Proof of this was 30 October: Israel has distributed 12 licenses to six companies to explore for natural gas. They explore two areas adjacent to the giant gravera Leviatan. Leviathan is one of the largest discoveries of gas in deep water in the world, a 87,000 square kilometer “treasure” located 130 kilometers from Haifa, discovered in 2010.

"The winning companies are committed to making unprecedented investments in natural gas exploration over the next three years, hoping to find new reserves of natural gas," said Zionist Energy Minister Israel Katz. The winning companies have been divided into two consortia. One group will consist of Italian giant Eni, Scottish giant Dana Petroleum and Israeli Ratio Energies, and the other English giant BP, Azerbaijan Public Oil Company (SOCAR) and Israeli NewMed Energy. General objectives, resolving Israel’s energy dependence and ensuring European supply.

The U.S. Geology Service has planned 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 122 billion cubic feet of gas in an area spanning the sea and most of the coast of Syria, Lebanon and Historical Palestine, known as the province of the Basin. The net value of these resources is $453 billion in natural gas and $71 billion in oil. That is, $524 billion. As far as gas is concerned, the Leviatan area is the largest finding and it is estimated that it could meet Israel’s domestic demand over the next 40 years.

Hurto colonial

But to get that resource and that money Israel does not have “exclusive legal rights,” according to a report released by the UN in 2019. Why? For a very simple reason: these fossil resources took millions of years to form. Palestinians have been living on their land for centuries. Israel was born 75 years ago and became an occupying power. So who is the right to exploit those resources? Today, unfortunately, the answer is clear: Israel, through the violent occupation and unconditional assistance of its two major gas promoters and buyers, the USA and the European Union.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, under pressure to obtain other alternative sources to Russian gas, the European Union signed in June 2022 a Memorandum of Understanding with the Zionist organisation and Egypt to import gas from the Leviathan site.

The United States has gone further and signed an "energy cooperation" agreement with Israel. According to this agreement, "the exploitation of natural resources by Israel has a strategic interest in EE.UU. In return, they stress that it will help Israel on "regional security" issues. Natural gas has been considered a resource with a "positive impact on regional security". In other words, bringing geopolitics means building trade bridges with the Arab countries of the Middle East.

LNG (liquefied natural gas) has been sold by multinationals and western governments as "energy transition fuel". Although logistically it is complex and environmentally damaging, its advocates stress that it emits 40% less carbon dioxide than coal. It is estimated that there are reserves to “supply the world for 125 years.” Iran, Russia and Qatar own half of these reserves.

The United States is today the world’s largest producer and exporter of LNG and is resolutely committed to this expensive gas. In 2022, Europe became the world’s largest importer: 40% of the gas it consumed that year was of this type, as most bring it frozen by boat.

Eastern Mediterranean gas route

The EastMed Pipeline project aims to diversify European gas suppliers and not depend on countries outside the European Union. Israel will be the only external participation and the pipeline will depart from it. It will connect Greece with the Eastern Mediterranean and from Greece, together with the Poseidon pipeline, it links with Italy. This pipeline will mainly transport gas from the Leviatan and Aphrodite areas of Cyprus

Turkey is opposed to this project because the pipeline would not pass through its coast and its waters and would further diversify European suppliers. This clashes with the interests of Russia and Turkey, which transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe through the trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP). It may be better understood that Turkey is one of the countries that has condemned the genocide in Israel more sharply and harshly.

Behind this project is the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF). Founded in 2019 in Egypt, in 2020 it became an international intergovernmental organization based in Cairo. Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Israel and, curiously, the Palestinian National Power (PAN), controlled by Al-Fatah. It is curious because they have asked to leave Palestine. The Palestinian National Commission of the BDS Movement called on PAN to transfer EMGF in 2021 because its participation in this organization "legitimizes Israel to steal natural gas on the Mediterranean Sea coast".

EMGF has been one of Israel’s main approaches to Arab countries in recent years. Then came the Abraham Accords. They are agreements between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco and Israel, driven and supported by the United States. These conventions say that they want to achieve "peace" in Palestine, but once again not counting the Palestinians. In addition to granting privileges to Israel, it creates or strengthens links with other Arab countries. It encourages Saudi Arabia as a regional power and so isolates it in Iran. Moreover, after the first step of this harmony between the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia and the Zionist State, they began to prepare a bilateral agreement. This has not yet materialised and has been called into question after the massacre. Indeed, the fact that Israel has approached several Arab countries in the service of their interests was probably one of the causes of the 7 October aggression by the Palestinian resistance to break this trend of normalization.

Background: Gaza gas theft

In 1999, the British oil multinational BG Group (BGG) found a large gas deposit at about 17 and 21 nautical miles off the Gaza coast. According to the Oslo II agreements signed by Palestine and Israel in 1995, the jurisdiction of the Gaza coast up to 20 nautical miles is Palestinian. In November 1999, the Palestinian National Authority signed a 25-year contract with BGG for gas exploration. These gigantic reserves, estimated at one trillion cubic feet, would cover Palestinian demand and allow exports. Ehud Barca, then Prime Minister of Israel, authorised the JRC to drill the first well in July 2000. Palestine and Israel were negotiating, but in 2003 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon changed his attitude by saying that the benefits of gas could be used to support Palestinian terrorism. It was one of the many cases in which Israel has violated the Oslo agreements. After a number of changes, broken agreements and diplomatic pressures, in December 2008 Israel invaded Gaza and brought these Palestinian gas areas under Israeli control, regardless of international law.

Since then, the multinational BGG has been negotiating and collaborating with the Israeli Government. The UN estimates that Palestinians have suffered billions of dollars in losses.

Energy is another reason for Israel to remove the Palestinian people from the map or to escape to Egypt and Jordan, leaving not only houses but also gas behind.