Gaza - You probably wouldn't know it but Gaza is rich, the gas rich..

Did you know this…

You probably wouldn't know it but Gaza is rich, the gas rich, at least 1.4 trillion a cubic feet rich to be precise but there's a catch.
Geologists and natural resources economists have confirmed that the occupied Palestinian territory lies above sizable reservoirs of oil and natural gas wealth in area C of the occupied West Bank and the Mediterranean coast off the Gaza Strip.

To date the real and opportunity costs of the occupation exclusively in the area of oil and natural gas have accumulated to tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars.

Back in 1999 the Palestinian authorities signed a deal with British gas just off the Gaza coast they struck it lucky and two wells were drilled that's Gaza Marine 1 and 2. It was a multi-billion dollar gift from God an economic boon both home and abroad. This is one of the key messages here today there will be gas available for export and from my conversations with Palestinian officials including President Arafat it is clear that they have no interest in just sitting on a gas surplus.

Fast forward to 2007 Hamas comes to power and Israel launches an offensive on the Gaza Strip leaving behind 1,400 dead Palestinians but taking with it the gas fields.

Now within the year Israel announced the discovery of the Leviathan natural gas field which did include Gaza's riches all in all valued at 453 billion dollars.

Now since then Gazans haven't seen a shekel or to be more accurate they have been denied around 47 billion dollars in revenue. As for Tel Aviv well it's gunning to become a new hub. This is a historical moment in which the small country of Israel becomes a significant player in the global energy market.

The memorandum of understanding will enable Israel for the first time to export Israeli natural gas to Europe and it is even more impressive looking at the significant set of agreements we signed over the last year which position Israel and the Israeli energy and water sectors as a key global player.

Let's just run through this then at that moment in time so we're talking 2022. Russian oil and gas were sanctioned. Iranian oil was sanctioned Syrian oil fields were and still are illegally occupied by US forces.

Now the key port of Latakia was being bombed by Israel and the port of Beirut the gateway to the Middle East lay in ruins. Enter this small country of Israel right here with its seas of gas its worth and ports and answer to Europe's problems and perhaps most critically the US blessing because in case you didn't know US Congress has decided that Israeli energy is in the highest national security interests of Washington. So DC was only too happy for Tel Aviv to become a key global player. After all it had itself previously mulled over ways in which to make its 51st state a window onto Europe.

Another interesting application of nuclear excavation would be a sea level canal 160 miles long across Israel connecting the Mediterranean with the Gulf of Acaba and thus the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Such a canal would be strategically valuable alternate to the present Suez Canal. The Suez Canal is a gold mine it connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea it is the link between Asia and Europe. Every day almost 3 million barrels of oil (8% of global energy) 50 ships 9 billion dollars worth of cargo (12% of global trade) all passed along this right here single canal.

Remember in 2021 how a container ship ran aground in the Suez global trade was brought to its knees the alternative route to via the Cape of Good Hope adds around nine days and seven thousand kilometers to the journey - there is no replacement for the Suez Canal except perhaps for the Ben Gurion Canal.

Now what the US had been thinking about back in the 60s was dropping 520 nukes on parts of Israel all to build a 260 kilometer long canal that would start at the Red Sea down there in the port city of Ayla run through the negative desert and pour out into the Mediterranean where exactly right next to northern Gaza the same northern Gaza that is currently being bombarded and depopulated. Egypt and its money-making Suez Canal would just be sidelined the same Egypt that rumor has it is now considering taking in refugees in exchange for debt relief by the US and if you think it's crude of me to talk business during times of an existential war think again. The winning companies have committed to unprecedented investment in natural gas exploration over the next three years which would hopefully result in the discovery of new natural gas reservoirs.

In recent weeks Tel Aviv has handed out 12 new licenses to six companies on top of the pan to tap more of the Gaza marine resources.

This area is a strategic gold mine the Israelis have their largest foreign base down the Red Sea just off Eritrea and here a bit further down Beijing has a naval base in Djibouti a key piece in its enormous global infrastructure project the Belt and Road hated by London Brussels and Washington alike. Always ask yourself, quie bono who benefits because war is horror and war is hell but never forget that war above all else is big business.