Chicago – March 20, 2024
The frightening scale of destruction caused by Israel’s war machine in Gaza suggests that the purpose of this offensive is more than just destroying Hamas.
Israel waited for an appropriate moment to unleash its entire armed force on the besieged Palestinian territories. Zionism as an ideology is predicated on displacing landowners through coercion and shutting off key infrastructure, allowing Israeli settlers to come in.
But there is another, more important motive for Israel’s current conflict: the potential natural gas wealth discovered in the Eastern Mediterranean, specifically off the coast of Gaza.
The Levant gas field encompasses the coastlines of historic Palestine (Israel and Gaza), Syria, Lebanon, and, on the other side, the island of Cyprus. This field is believed to hold approximately 122 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
In 1999, British Gas reported that the reserves in Gaza Marine were estimated to be 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The Palestinian Authority awarded British Gas a 25-year contract to explore the Gaza Marine natural gas field that same year. Until now, 25 years later, the Palestinians have never profited from it.
In addition to Gaza’s natural gas, Israel is taking Palestinian natural gas from the Meged oil and gas field in the occupied West Bank, claiming that the field is located west of the 1948 armistice line.
