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Big Picture Energy Revival Marine Gas Peace not War Peak Oil Political Nightmare Protest & Survive Resource Curse Unnatural Gas

Natural Gaza (3)

Video Credit : PressTV : January 2009

Timeline in the last week :-

1. Something happens to provoke some persons as yet unidentified in Gaza.
2. Some persons as yet unidentified may or may not have fired a Grad missile from the Gaza Strip towards the Israeli town of Sderot.
3. The Israeli Defense Force act “in retaliation” and bomb three locations in Gaza, killing at least one person and wounding eight.
4. Some persons as yet unidentified may or may not have fired a Qassam rocket from the Gaza Strip towards Ashkelon.

You may be forgiven for thinking this is all about simple tactical weaponry exchange, embedded cultural or religious hatred, or revenge attacks.

But you’d be wrong.

This escalation in violence is merely part of what looks very strongly like an ongoing strategy to keep Gaza from economic development, by preventing them from exploiting their largest natural resource – offshore sub-marine Natural Gas.

I am going to give you my first attempt at some history on this matter. I make any and every apology if I have got something wrong. Please correct me by comments below the post.

I have not even started to attempt to address the hypocrisy of the United Kingdom and the United States of America effectively giving weapons to Israel via a system of direct and indirect aid. All that is brilliantly covered by Robert Fisk, so I don’t need to :-

https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-israel-has-crept-into-the-eu-without-anyone-noticing-2040066.html

Gaza is being locked down under a “resource curse” – the Gazans are being forcefully detained in an open air concentration camp with scant resources, when all the time, just off-shore are enough hydrocarbons to make them all very wealthy. Many Gazans are succumbing to starvation of the body and mind, and many are unwell and have to endure appalling deprivation.

I should expect that the “final solution”, whatever that will be, will be announced by Israel in the next few years, unless the international community wakes up to the obvious risks that Gaza faces, and does something decisive about it.

Categories
Energy Revival Low Carbon Life Marine Gas Peace not War Peak Oil

Iranian Seismic Subsea Surprise

Image Credit : Google Maps. Point A shows the location of the Natural Gas discovery announced 5th July 2010. Point B shows the point at which the yacht “The Kingdom of Bahrain” was seized by Iranian Authorities in late November 2009

Iran has been playing a game of gentle brinkmanship with the major military powers over its nuclear ambitions for the last few years. Its civilian nuclear ambitions, that is.

The United Nations Security Council imposed a new bag of sanctions against Iran in June, and since then various Iranian aircraft have been refused refuelling by that paragon of commercial virtue BP, amongst other things :-

https://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/09/iran-sanctions-united-nations-nuclear

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/epic/bpdot/7873654/BP-stops-refuelling-Iranian-passenger-planes.html

Categories
Divide & Rule Peace not War Political Nightmare Protest & Survive Resource Curse

Natural Gaza (2)

What’s wrong with this picture ?

Yes, that’s right. There’s no mention of the Gaza Strip or the West Bank.

Besides blurring the land boundaries, it seems that Israel is also blurring the maritime and sub-sea borders into the bargain.

Categories
Big Picture Energy Revival The Data

Natural Gaza (1)

What’s wrong with this picture ? Although it has been amended in the online version (click the picture for the link), the latest United States Geological Survey of the Levant Basin in the East Mediterranean completely omitted to label Gaza :-

https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2010/3014/pdf/FS10-3014.pdf

The file is downloadable from here :-

https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2010/3014/

Why is this important ? The most significant Natural Gas finds in the Eastern Mediterranean are technically in Gazan maritime territory.

Categories
Divide & Rule Peace not War Political Nightmare Protest & Survive Social Change

Israel Steals Gaza’s Gas

As suspected, the State of Israel has declared the Natural Gas off the coast of Gaza as theirs, and are seeking to develop it, for their own profit, naturally :-

https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gyOgkiUE3uul0OXEW-VL-E9k6aKgD9E6JMI80

“Energy exec: Israel could end natural gas imports : By KAROUN DEMIRJIAN (AP) : TEL AVIV, Israel — A U.S. energy company announced Tuesday that a project it is developing off the Israeli coast could soon end the country’s longtime dependence on natural gas imports. Noble Energy Chief Executive Charles D. Davidson said the Tamar gas field — set to become operational in 2012 — will allow Israel to meet its own energy needs, and potentially even become an exporter of fuel. “Our thoughts are that will exceed what the market will need,” Davidson said. “It’s significant to Israel and what it can do for this country in terms of lowering energy costs.”…A national supply of natural gas could mean major energy savings for Israeli citizens, as well as revenue for the government from corporate taxes and profit royalties, Davidson said…”

So, we could ask the Israeli Ambassador in London, was it worth expending all that expensive military hardware from your considerable foreign-funded assets, just to make sure nobody would have the strength to complain that you are taking control of Gaza’s gas ?

Gaza is not in a fit state to exploit the fuel itself ? Why would that be, Mr Israeli Ambassador ? Could it have anything to do with the illegal carpet bombing of the open prison on the Western shore in Christmas 2008 ? The gas finds are a little too conveniently described as taking place in “early 2009″. I find myself feeling queasy.

Even Israel does not have the engineering capacity to exploit the Natural Gas – they need the assistance of an American company…”Noble Energy”. I think they should be re-christened “Ignoble Energy”.

Not content with appropriating the water, land, wells, olive trees, liberty, children, health and livelihoods of the Palestinian people of Gaza, the State of Israel now has to steal a resource that could have provided them some form of Economic Development.