cable to any other country).
It is obvious that if Gaza/Palestine were allowed to claim what is rightfully theirs and if the United Nations stood firm in supporting them we would see a transformation in Gaza and West Bank that is beyond imagination.
Why does this simple problem become a major headache for them all to resolve? Why cant the UN Peacekeepers move into Gaza and take over the border control and once in place lift the entire blockade of Palestine by land, sea and air?
I think I already know the answer which caused the same problem in the Balkans and in Lebanon. All locations had been bombarded with new tech weapons which contained components of depleted or enriched uranium. All locations were used as a test bed for US manufactured weapons. What peacekeeper, in their right mind, would subject themselves to such contamination?
As we have already know the UN peacekeepers in the Balkans fell victim to DU contamination and many of those have since died. In Lebanon we saw a similar situation but this time the IDF did not reveal it had used such weapons even though samples recovered since the 2006 attack have tested positive to DU/EU weapons usage. The Lebanese and the UN suppressed this information in order to put in place the peacekeeping forces. It is obvious that had such troops found out the truth no troops would have gone into such a contaminated environment.
The writing is on the wall that we are unlikely to see UN Peacekeepers in Gaza or West Bank. To add insult to injury the UN through its agencies the UNEP and the UNDP have now commenced the clearing of all bombed structures and will over the next year remove and crush the rubble. This highly toxic residue will then be spread around the Gaza Strip for new roads.
As I have previously pointed out this is against the normal policy of the UNEP and UNDP in dealing with potentially contaminated sites so why has this been allowed to happen. Why are both these authorities allowed to create a vast secondary contamination of aerosols to drift over the entire strip once again and also spread into adjacent countries such as Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon etc? It is extremely hard to ascertain what the final death toll will be from the initial action by Israel (Cast Lead) and how this secondary contamination (by the UNEP/UNDP) will affect the entire region and beyond.
Gaza/Palestine does not need any handouts or run of the mill aid when it has such vast reserves. It can have whatever it wants if it were given the same chance like any other country to reap in its own resources....rather than let Israel rape it of its future. When we look at all the aid that is sent by boat or by convoy it's easy to understand that in most cases it doesn't get through....why? Because Israel doesn't allow it to get through? They control all borders (even the so called Egyptian controlled border) and have been handed control of the offshore waters by President Abbas.
We should stop wasting these vast sums of money in aid, which incidentally frequently gets dumped in vast stockpiles out in the desert, because it has either expired or that the authorities don't allow it to be kept in good storage and it perishes. Is this the right way to treat compassionate donations from around the world?
So what is the simple solution...."Allow Gaza/Palestine to bring their own natural gas onshore to the Gaza Strip. Allow the wealth of these resources to fund major projects such as a large Domestic Gas Plant, a large Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant, build new Industrial Gas Turbine power stations (that run on natural gas), promote new Joint Venture industrial entities that run on natural gas and then create a public transport system that also runs on gas.
As you can see Gaza/Palestine could have a very prosperous future but will we, the world, allow this to happen and what price will the people of Palestine have to pay? One thing for sure the United Nations must accept that it failed Palestine miserably. As for the Oslo accord we can also look at this extremely flawed agreement in the next part and show how Israeli manipulated this agreement and then totally disregarded it.
Israel's rape of Gaza's Natural Resources Part 2: What the conflict was really about
September 17, 2009
But can we say with great confidence that the Mari B natural gas field and the adjacent Noa fields are totally owned by Israel? Do they finish on the border as shown on this Noble Energy Map? Do the disputed borders comply with normal United Nations Convention On The Law Of The Sea (UNCLOS) protocol? Do the Israelis ever accept or comply with the International Maritime Law? Surprisingly the answer to all of the above is most definitely no!
We have repeatedly seen the failings of the UN to uphold international law. We saw the Oslo Accord in 1995, which gave the fishermen of Gaza a 20 nautical mile (nm) zone, fall into tatters after careful manipulation by the Israeli Government. This was then followed by the Bertini Agreement in 2002 which gave them a 12nm zone, although little is known about this agreement. Since this time we have seen the IDF reduce this zone down to 6nm in 2006. On top of all this we have other restrictions such as Zone K (a buffer zone) on the Northern border with Israel which is 1.5nm wide and to the South we have Zone M on the Egyptian border and that is 1nm wide. In between we have Zone L that basically is also totally controlled by the Israel Navy in a very aggressive manner.
The Israeli Navy was given the security of the offshore Gaza Marine Area by Mr Abbas and this has now become a full scale blockade area. Almost daily the naval gunboats intimidate the fishermen and keep them close to the shore with total disregard of any agreement reached. One can clearly see that this action has nothing to do with fishing but rather the total militarisation of the Gaza Strip and the security of the natural offshore resources.
My next question would be why would the Israeli Government and Noble Energy select to drill right on the Gaza (Palestinian) border? Why have buffer zones? Do they have some hidden agenda or plans to rape Gaza of its own resources?
We have seen this in other parts of the world whereby the drilling company uses slant or diagonal drilling techniques to enter a cross border oil or gas reserve.
I know for a fact that the recommended safety radius for the Mari B was to have been 6nm so is this part of the reason for creating a buffer zone and how can the Israelis implement such a zone that places it well inside Gazan Waters? The other issue is that in the case where one country restricts the activities of another (such as their legal fishing zone) then that country has to compensate the fishermen for the loss of that part of their fishing zone.
The most important issue from my perspective is the fact that the borders have not been clarified by the UNCLOS and continue to remain as disputed borders. Again I think there is another hidden agenda! I believe that Israel's Mari B field does in actual fact enter into Gazan Waters and should this be the case the field could be classified as jointly owned. Israel has been receiving natural gas from this field since 2003 and no one flickered an eyelid or challenged them.
In the case of the two adjacent fields of Noa and Noa South (which Israel claims to be their own) both are certainly well inside the Palestinian Border. We could be seeing here a classic case of the exploitation of Palestinians Natural Resources. The UN has already identified this rape but again does nothing.
The geology of the entire area makes exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean an extremely attractive business. The sea bed contains an extremely thick salt encrusted layer (from the days when the Mediterranean was dry) with natural gas sitting below. I would also be bold enough to say that much deeper below this gas sits crude oil. The sub terrain in the region is highly active with tectonic plate movement as well as major rifts. These extend from down in the Democratic Republic of Congo running up through Southern Sudan to the Red Sea and Dead Sea area. It has been know for such areas to keep recharging themselves due to the enormous pressure below the surface of the earth.
We also have to understand that both crude oil and natural gas also sits in pockets in the onshore region of Palestine and Israel. It is interesting to note that one of the well heads that has been producing crude oil for Israel for some years sits off the Northeast tip of the Gaza Strip and was once Palestinian Territory.
Maybe again we can see some hidden agenda raising its ugly head. In history the region around the Dead Sea revealed some interesting aspects when large chunks of tar like substance appeared at many locations. There has always been a strong interest in what lies below this strange moonscape environment and historically it is evident that again we see a clear sign of much oil and gas in the region.
Could we again see a similar situation developing in West Bank region that occurred in the Gaza offshore area? Is the reason behind the militarisation of the entire Eastern Sector of the West Bank all related to the Israelis greed for oil and gas at whatever the cost? Are we again seeing the exploitation of Palestinian natural resources?
It is with great shame that we see the failings of the United Nations in upholding international law. They have repeatedly observed this arrogant nation take whatever it wants, whenever it wants. The UN continues to sit on their hands and do nothing. The world knows that what is going on here can only be described as "Slow Genocide" with the overall intention of removing all those of Arabic origin and to reclaim the land that they say was given to them in the Bible. Imagine how different the situation would be today if when Abraham stood on Mt Sinai to receive this gift that he had chosen to settle his people in the area surrounding the mountain and the Sinai Peninsular. Had he done so Palestine would have been left alone under its rightful ownership?
In Part 3 we will look at the potential rape of Palestine's natural resources in much greater detail and look at the so called disputed borders and military controlled regions that may reveal other hidden agenda.
Israel's Rape of Gaza's Natural Resources: Part 3
September 23, 2009
This chart is an official UN Chart but what does it mean? Why is it that year after year they keep showing a zone that continues to shrink? The same applies onshore whereby Palestine (that was once a large vibrant community) has now been reduced to small enclaves.
This so called two state policy is an absolute joke with West Bank in itself almost becoming two states (Israeli - Palestinian)
Lets briefly look at the disaster that has fallen upon the fishermen of Gaza and how the Israelis (with the help of the Palestinian Authority) have now asserted total control of the entire offshore waters. Some time ago I had the opportunity to visit Cyprus and met with many fishermen there who boasted about the days when they could fish in the offshore Gaza area. Fishing was excellent and prawning was even better with some very lucrative catches. The Cypriot fisherman remember the days when the Israel Navy slowly but forcible moved them out of the region.
Since the Oslo Accord and the Bertini Agreement we have seen the Israel Government exert its force onto the poor fishermen of Gaza. The original 20 nautical mile limit (which should have been 24 nautical miles) has never been upheld and likewise the Bertini 12 nautical mile limit failed to achieve it goal. What we have now is basically the fishermen go out and operate on a day to day basis in an area close to shore, the extent of which is controlled by the Israeli Navy.
Some time ago during talks on the offshore gas reserves President Abbas handed over the offshore security zone to Israel which it now controls.
Writing this article doesn't mean that I fully approve of the blockade. I believe that all negotiations made on behalf of Palestine are totally unacceptable to a point that the people of Palestine have been held to ransom. Many times we see a big brother type approach where they are forced to accept or suffer the consequences. However I also feel that President Abbas has in some cases accepted deals that would normally be totally unacceptable to others.
Let's now take a closer look at the fishing industry and see just how difficult it is for the fishermen of Gaza to maintain a viable industry. As we have previously discussed fishing offshore Gaza used to be extremely lucrative so what has changed to bring this industry into total collapse and why?
Most fishing takes place in deeper water and therefore this becomes the first obstacle for the fishermen of Gaza. The Israeli Navy continuously intimidates the fishermen and most of the time restricts them to closer inshore (inside around 3 km offshore).
When one goes out everyday (the same distance) you put enormous pressure on the systems ability to restock in a natural way. The zone becomes overfished and immature fish also get taken and therefore the chain is then broken. Eventually within a small timeframe the entire stock depletes and collapses.
To prove a point take a look at one such catch in Gaza and you can see from the photograph below that despite the manpower the yield is extremely small.
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website.
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