Behind the gas mafia - part 1

In a peace context, despite that Israel signed Oslo Accords in 1993 with Palestinians, including a part about energy cooperation, Gaza’s gas field development and the energy relation with Palestinians are still frozen.

However, Israel still uses energy supply as a weapon against the Palestinians in order to control their energy needs.

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So, in other words, the Palestine question is still without an agreed settlement. This relation will not change under current Palestinian capacities that limit their efforts to meet energy independence, which requires a sovereign state and complete control in the ground and borders.

Still, Israel is not interested in a positive peace with Syria, Lebanon, or even Palestinians; Israel realizes its energy interests without cost.

On the threats side, it is clear that Israeli energy security's main threats, based on Eisenkot and Siboni's definition, are not coming from sub-conventional threats of militants like Hamas or Hezbollah.

They can’t control the Israeli energy routes or supply chains in the Mediterranean offshore. They can do limited interruptions in energy supply, like cyber threats or damaging pipelines or networks, but clearly, they will not be vulnerable to energy supply. The maximum action from Hamas or Hezbollah may be to cut off some gas or oil pipelines like what happened in Sinai after Egyptian Revolution in 2011, and Israel will be able to deal with it.

The main threats of energy in Israel are still the conventional threats of states such as Iran. The conventional threats may also happen even by peaceful states like Egypt or Turkey, conditioned by considerable regime changes. This political position may also stop the energy supply chains from or to Israel. Egypt can interrupt energy shipping in the Tiran strait, Suez Canal, or exporting gas in the East Mediterranean, while Turkey can cut-off the BTC supply or Bosporus energy ships.

Behind the gas mafia - part 2

Upon this fear of future energy wars, Israel will use the gas revenues and economic benefits for enhancing its capacities and capabilities to secure its energy resources and supply chains. Israel increases and priorities its Weaponization policy, particularly in naval forces depending on the sea importance for future war.

On the other hand, Israeli export weapons have increased since the gas discoveries, associated with enhancing industrial competitiveness and affordable energy prices. This additional wealth and revenues might fund the military capacities.

Israel, after gas discoveries, is more stable on the economic side than before. It traditionally suffered from resource scarcity and depended on importing.

Moreover, Israel benefited in the past from US cover in the last conventional threats in the 1973 war, also the US facilitated the Egyptian Israeli negotiation by getting Israel the energy guarantee after 1975, which was used to meet Israel’s energy security.

The US will maintain Israel's energy security and energy reliability, considered the continuity of their special relations.

After all, under full-scale war or war from multiple directions like what happened in 1973, Israel will not make victory without international interventions that protect this small country with its small capabilities. The US role would approve the external player's importance in securing Israeli energy needs; Israel did not accept to continue in the peace process without this external player role again.

These energy reliability efforts face Militants attacks’ threats like Hamas or Hezbollah and political instabilities in regional countries such as Egypt after the revolution in 2011. In this regard, Israel is motivated to increase its weaponization activities, especially in naval forces that protect its energy assets in water.

On the other hand, it secures energy supply routes, from geopolitical perspectives, may be a threat by Iran.

Discover why gas is 💩
https://news.1rj.ru/str/IsraelPollution/13

Behind the gas mafia - part 3

In contrast to this energy resources poverty, the oil and fuel infrastructure has been in Palestine since the British mandate era; for instance, the Kirkuk-Haifa pipeline and Haifa refinery plant (Shaoulian-Sopher, 2017, p. 143). After the State of Israel was established, Israel took these facilities and wanted to be energy producers by starting gas and oil explorations in the 1950s.

Israel is located in the Middle East, as an energy-rich region, but it did not participate early in the energy-producing association such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran.

Moreover, the Middle East’s conflicts are protracted, energy resources are one of the main issues in these conflicts, and security questions regarding it are not new. For example, although Saudi Arabia has a solid defense doctrine, including the Patriot Air Defense Missile System, Abqaiq- attack in eastern Saudi Arabia was executed by Houthis last September 2019 against the energy-oil fields.

On the Palestinian side, Despite the Oslo agreement that did assure Israeli- Palestinian energy cooperation, but Israel still uses energy supply to the Palestinian as a controlling method. On the contrary, Israel needs them as part of its energy customers. Moreover, Israel benefits from the late development of Palestinian gas fields, and the “no peace” situation still serves Israel's energy position against Palestinians.

Energy transition in Israel happened in the 1980s when it decreased oil dependency and used coal instead. At the dawn of the new century, Israel started to use natural gas in its energy basket, which began gradually by discovering modest natural gas reserves in Palestine-Gaza offshore.

Greenpeace UK statement on the conflict in Gaza https://perma.cc/3CLN-VFB9

Fossil criminals should stop drilling and start paying https://perma.cc/X69N-26K2

Early Monday morning, six Greenpeace Israel activists broke into a Noble Energy natural gas facility https://perma.cc/3GGD-7VJ9

Part 1 https://news.1rj.ru/str/IsraelPollution/177

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שתפו, זה ממש חשוב: אסונות נפט אי אפשר לתקן לגמרי וקשה מאד לטפל בהם. צריך למנוע אותם. זה מה שצריך לעשות עכשיו בעניין:
1. לעצור את התכנית להפוך את אילת ואשקלון לנמלי נפט גדולים עם צינור ענק ביניהן שיעזור לייצא לאירופה את הנפט מהמפרץ. מימוש התכנית הזו עלול להביא חורבן על מפרץ אילת והתיירות בו ולאיים על יכולות התפלת המים של ישראל, כאשר הים התיכון הוא המקור העיקרי למי השתיה שלנו.
2. לתקן את חוק הנפט באופן שיבטיח פיקוח סביבתי אמיתי על קידוחי נפט וגז. כחבר כנסת לא הצלחתי בכל הניסיונות לקדם תיקון כזה מול ההתנגדות של טייקוני הגז ושותפיהם הפוליטיים.
3. לעצור את התכניות להקים שני מסופי נפט חדשים במפרץ חיפה ולהרחיב את אלה הקיימים. למנוע את הקמת מסוף הדלקים החדש באשדוד.
4. להפסיק לאשר בסיטונות תוכניות לחיפוש נפט בקרבת החופים, ובכלל זה חיפוש והפקת נפט באזור הקרוב לחוף פלמחים, שגם הוא נפגע בזיהום העכשווי.
5. לשנות את היחס המתירני לקידוחי הגז והנפט ולטייקונים המקדמים אותם.
6. להבין סוף סוף שנפט וגז אינם חלק מהפתרון אלא חלק מהבעיה - לא רק בגלל משבר האקלים אלא גם בגלל הנזקים המיידים הנוספים שהם מייצרים. לקדם מעבר מהיר לאנרגיית שמש, שגם בתוספת אגירת אנרגיה, היא כבר היום גם זולה יותר ובוודאי גם בטוחה יותר.
7. לדרוש מכל הפוליטיקאים מכל המפלגות להתחייב לדברים הבסיסיים האלה. להצטרף להתארגנות הלוחצת על הפוליטיקאים להתחייב לכך

= This is what needs to be done now:
1. Stop the plan to turn Eilat and Ashkelon into large oil ports with a huge pipeline between them that will help export oil from the Gulf to Europe. The implementation of this plan could bring destruction to the Gulf of Eilat and tourism there and threaten Israel's water desalination capabilities, when the Mediterranean Sea is the main source of our drinking water.
2. Amend the oil law in a way that will ensure real environmental supervision of oil and gas drilling. As a Knesset member, I failed in all my attempts to advance such an amendment in the face of the opposition of the gas tycoons and their political partners.

https://perma.cc/3GC2-59XH
https://perma.cc/K4RM-HPYE
https://perma.cc/2SW8-HRRD