Reserves of natural gas were found offshore the Gaza Strip in the year 2000, within the framework of licensing to British Gas by the Palestinian National Authority. [1] The discovered gas field Gaza Marine, though mediocre in size, had been considered at the time as one of the possible drives to boost Palestinian economy and promote regional cooperation.
With Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in the year 2007, the chances for developing the gas field turned low - both due to standoff with the Ramallah administration and the Israeli refusal to deal with Hamas [2] group. The chances further diminished with the discovery of major gas fields in the Israeli economic waters in 2009 and 2010, making Israel an unlikely customer for the Palestinian gas. As of early 2015, Gaza's natural gas was still underwater and the same for almost all of the Levantine gas.
The Palestinians signed a memorandum of intent on November 8, 1999 with British Gas and a company linked to the Palestinian Authority, the Consolidated Contractors Company, giving them rights to explore the area. [3] [4] The discovered natural gas reserve was calculated to have 35 BCM, larger than Israel's Yam Tethys maritime gas field. [4] It was found in two small gas fields dubbed Gaza Marine 1 and Gaza Marine 2.
In 1999, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak set aside exploration of Gaza's offshore resources for a future Palestinian state, with no prior consultation with Israel stipulated. [3] According to Michael Schwartz, Barak deployed the Israeli navy in Gaza's coastal waters to impede the implementation of the terms of the modest contract between the Palestinian Authority and British Gas (BG) to develop Gaza's Mediterranean gas resources. [5] Israel demanded that the Gaza gas be piped to facilities on its territory, and at a price below the prevailing market level [6] and that Israel also control all the (relatively modest) revenues destined for the Palestinians — to prevent the money from being used to "fund terror." In Schwartz's view, with this Israeli action the Oslo Accords were officially doomed, because by declaring Palestinian control over gas revenues unacceptable, the Israeli government committed itself to not accepting even the most limited kind of Palestinian budgetary autonomy, let alone full sovereignty. In Schwartz's view, since no Palestinian government or organization would agree to this, a future filled with armed conflict was assured. [5]
The Israeli veto led to the intervention of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who sought to broker an agreement that would satisfy both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. The result was a 2007 proposal that would have delivered the gas to Israel, not Egypt, at below-market prices, with the same 10% cut of the revenues eventually reaching the Palestinian Authority. However, those funds were first to be delivered to the Federal Reserve Bank in New York for future distribution, to guarantee that they would not be used for attacks on Israel. [5]
The Israelis pointed to the 2006 victory of the Islamist and terrorist Hamas party in Palestinian elections as a deal-breaker. Though Hamas had agreed to let the Federal Reserve supervise all spending, the Israeli government, then led by Ehud Olmert, insisted that no "royalties be paid to the Palestinians." Instead, the Israelis would deliver the equivalent of those funds "in goods and services." [5]
The Hamas-led Palestinian unity government refused the offer, and soon after, Olmert imposed a blockade on Gaza, which Israel's defense minister termed a form of "'economic warfare' that would generate a political crisis, leading to a popular uprising against Hamas." With Egyptian cooperation, Israel then seized control of commerce in and out of Gaza, limiting even food imports and eliminating its fishing industry. Olmert advisor Dov Weisglass summed up this policy by saying the Israeli government was putting the Palestinians "on a diet." According to the Red Cross, this blockade produced "chronic malnutrition," especially among Gazan children. [5]
As Moshe Ya'alon explained, "Hamas... has confirmed its capability to bomb Israel's strategic gas and electricity installations... It is clear that, without an overall military operation to uproot Hamas control of Gaza, no drilling work can take place without their consent." [5]
In 2010-11, the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced an energy crisis when the events of the Arab Spring in Egypt interrupted and then stopped 40% of Israel's gas supplies. Rising energy prices contributed to some of the largest protests involving Jewish Israelis in decades. [5]
The Iron Dome system, developed in part to stop Hezbollah rockets aimed at Israel's northern gas fields, was put in place near the border with Gaza and was tested during Operation Returning Echo, the fourth Israeli military attempt to weaken Hamas and eliminate any Palestinian "capability to bomb Israel's strategic gas and electricity installations." [5]
The next round of negotiations stalled over the Palestinian rejection of Israel's demand to control all fuel and revenues destined for Gaza and the West Bank. The new Palestinian Unity government then followed the lead of the Lebanese, Syrians, and Turkish Cypriots, and in late 2013 signed an "exploration concession" with Gazprom, the large Russian natural gas company. As with Lebanon and Syria, the Russian Navy was a potential deterrent to Israeli "interference." [5]
As of early 2015, Gaza's natural gas was still underwater and the same for almost all of the Levantine gas. [5]
In 2015, the Palestinian government resumed negotiations on the agreement with BG and abrogated the exclusive rights it had given to the company. It also raised the PIF share from 10% under the old agreement to 17.5%. Subsequently, Shell acquired BG on April 8, 2016. [7]
As of 2017, the Gaza Marine field licenses were owned by PIF with 17.5% of the field development rights, Consolidated Contractors Company owns 27.5% of these rights and Shell 55%. [7] The development and gas extraction rights belonged to the Palestinians alone. [7] In the year 2018, Shell company, which had taken over British Gas earlier, decided to relinquish its 60% stake in Gaza Marine, [1] transferring it to Palestinian state companies.
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The 2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire was an Egyptian-brokered six-month Tahdia "for the Gaza area", which went into effect between Hamas and Israel on 19 June 2008. According to the Egyptian-brokered agreement, Israel promised to stop air strikes and other attacks, while in return, there would not be rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza. Once the ceasefire held, Israel was to gradually begin to ease its blockade of Gaza.
Events in the year 2007 in Israel.
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The 2006 Gaza cross-border raid was an armed incursion carried out by seven or eight Gazan Palestinian militants on 25 June 2006 who attacked Israel Defense Forces (IDF) positions near the Kerem Shalom Crossing through an attack tunnel. In the attack, two IDF soldiers and two Palestinian militants were killed, four IDF soldiers were wounded, one of whom was Gilad Shalit, who was captured and taken to the Gaza Strip.
The governance of the Gaza Strip since the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 has been carried out by Hamas. The Hamas government in Gaza was led by Ismail Haniyeh from 2007 until February 2017, when Haniyeh was replaced as leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip by Yahya Sinwar. As of November 2023, Yahya Sinwar continues to be the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA) was an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) signed on 15 November 2005 aimed at improving Palestinian freedom of movement and economic activity within the Palestinian territories, and open the Rafah Crossing on the Gaza–Egypt border. AMA was described as: ″an agreement on facilitating the movement of people and goods within the Palestinian Territories and on opening an international crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border that will put the Palestinians in control of the entry and exit of people.″ Part of the agreement was the Agreed Principles for Rafah Crossing.
The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge , was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory that has been governed by Hamas since 2007. Following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank by Hamas-affiliated Palestinian militants, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) initiated Operation Brother's Keeper, in which some 350 Palestinians, including nearly all of the active Hamas militants in the West Bank, were arrested. Hamas subsequently fired a greater number of rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, triggering a seven-week-long conflict between the two sides. It was one of the deadliest outbreaks of open conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in decades. The combination of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes resulted in over two thousand deaths, the vast majority of which were Gazan Palestinians.
Gaza Marine is a natural gas field off the coast of the Gaza Strip. The Gaza Marine natural gas field is located in water about 36 kilometres (22 mi) offshore at a depth of 2,000 feet (610 m). The field was discovered in 2000 by BG Group and its estimated that to contain more than 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Palestine produces no oil or natural gas and is predominantly dependent on the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) for electricity. According to UNCTAD, the Palestinian Territory "lies above sizeable reservoirs of oil and natural gas wealth" but "occupation continues to prevent Palestinians from developing their energy fields so as to exploit and benefit from such assets." In 2012, electricity available in West Bank and Gaza was 5,370 GW-hour, while the annual per capita consumption of electricity was 950 kWh. National sources only produce 445 GWh of electricity, supplying less than 10% of demand. The only domestic source of energy is the disputed Gaza Marine gas field, which has not yet been developed. Palestinian energy demand increased rapidly, increasing by 6.4% annually between 1999 and 2005. Future consumption of electricity is expected to reach 8,400 GWh by 2020 on the expectation that consumption will increase by 6% annually.
The Gaza electricity crisis is an ongoing and growing electricity crisis faced by nearly two million residents of the Gaza Strip, with regular power supply being provided only for a few hours a day on a rolling blackout schedule. Some Gazans and government institutions use private electric generators, solar panels and uninterruptible power supply units to produce power when regular power is not available.
