Mohammed Matar

Once the Palestinian Authority had a deal with British Gaza Company and its partners to discover the natural gas in the Gaza sea in 1999, negotiations over the Gaza gas started and the Gaza Marine field -located at 30 km offshore- was found. Potential reserves of the field are estimated at 1.1 trillion cubic meters; 32 milliard cubic meters with a production capacity of 1.6 milliard cubic meters per year, for 20 years. This gas has been known as pure, easy to sell, close to the beach and easy to be extracted with the lowest costs. Therefore, it is a treasure trove for the besieged city and introduction to the economic disengagement from the occupation economy.

The negotiations included the insurance of the buyers of gas, which will be extracted from the field. Since the Israeli occupation at that time was still importing energy sources as it could not discover any in the occupied lands, it was the first candidate to get the gas. All negotiations and followed attempts however failed for some circumstances devoted by the occupation for the sake of its interests. Soon, the occupation was obstructing any relative agreements as it insists on controlling the gas flow path. It first passes through Ashkelon to cover its gas needs then heads to Gaza, as well as requires to buy gas with prices below global rates. 

This Palestinian maritime field continued untapped and the occupation government impeded any development or any attempt to extract gas from it. Under the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip, the area and extent of Palestinian sailings are limited to only 6 nautical miles, although the internationally adopted law of the sea gives States the right to invest in their territorial waters, which are defined as 200 nautical miles and the Oslo Convention defines the Palestinian Authority's maritime boundaries as those extending to the coast of the Gaza Strip and facing the Mediterranean Sea.

In addition to that, the Palestinian Authority's standing hinders any path that would liberate the Palestinians' assets. Its only ambition is to increase its financial benefits, while it deprives the citizens from enjoying any of those assets or even the benefits derived therefrom. Thereafter, the Israeli occupation tended to exploit the other maritime gas fields, benefiting from the current Palestinian conflict, the strict restrictions imposed on the city, and the Palestinian Authority's inability to confront the occupation to demand their rights from the wealth of the Middle East.

From an international point of view and after the Russia-Ukraine war, gas's gravity in the Mediterranean Sea increased. Despite the appearance of a Palestinian energy market, even if very small, the alternative of export seems attractive in light of the escalation of energy sources globally. There were new negotiations between Egypt, PA and the Israeli occupation during the last months to revive the agreement aiming to develop and benefit from the Gaza gas, yet it seems that this tripartite group will not participate in an agreement about Gaza gas without Hamas' approval. Thus, it will be impossible to achieve any improvements in this cause without a real, practical intervention from Hamas. Its role in the Gaza gas deal is almost like Hezbollah's role in the border demarcation agreement between Lebanon and the Israeli occupation.

Indeed, there is a major flaw in the balance of the military forces in favor of the Israeli occupation, but it seems that it has no attitudes on the short term or medium term towards the military power to resolve the conflict. It is in a very sensitive position in terms of the spread of natural gas reservoirs in wide areas along the shore of Occupied Palestine, exposing them to targeting in case the conflict developed to an armed work. The occupation therefore sought to immunize the supply lines, and extraction and storage terminals by partnering with the Egyptian system in an attempt to frustrate the attitudes of the Palestinian Resistance, and was forced to enter a negotiation path about the question of gas.

The Palestinian Resistance is now before a new challenge of running a strategic file in the conflict with the Israeli occupation and can invest new tools to achieve the balance of deterrence with the occupation. It can impose a petroleum equation entitled "gas for gas" and that the elimination of gas platforms from the list of military goals requires the elimination of the occupation's threat regarding the extraction of Gaza gas. This equation is of high importance and needs a serious activation by the resistance, which is quite significant in the meantime in light of the global gas crisis. The path of the Palestinian Resistance is heading towards the restore of rights and investment of resources. Thus, if the occupation realized its failure in preventing the resistance from hitting the gas platforms, it will be forced to accept the indirect negotiation with the Resistance regarding the cause of Gaza gas.

In conclusion, the discoveries off the coast of the Gaza Strip will remain inactive, as long as the Palestinian division persists despite the urgent Palestinian need for wealth to reduce dependence on the occupation's energy sources and to contribute to the building of an independent and unified Palestinian national economy. It is therefore imperative that the situation of division be brought to an end, that the occupation be deprived of any legitimacy of the theft of Palestinian gas, and that it be held accountable for the theft of many other natural resources, through the documentation and orientation of international courts. We also call for our right to demarcate the maritime boundary, guaranteeing freedom to search for energy resources and exploration, and giving the Palestinian people full freedom to manage their seaports.