According to reports from a number of Israeli news outlets, The Knesset, with the approval of the Prime Minister and Defense Minister, is holding discussions regarding the development of a gas reservoir for the Palestinian Authority called "Marine" located about 30 kilometers off the shore of the Hamas-ruled Gaza.
According to the reports, this is part of the political and security processes taking place between Israel and the Palestinian Authority following the discussions in Aqaba and Sharm El-Sheikh that took place a few months back. However, the desire to build a natural gas rig near Gaza has existed since the late 1990s when Israel controlled the Strip; after the Jewish State's 2005 disengagement, there have been numerous failed Palestinian attempts to develop it. This current Israeli effort to aid the PA would likely be paid for by the Israeli and Egyptian governments.
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The approval to start the series of discussions came from Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Galant, and the person leading the discussions is the head of the National Assembly Tzachi Hanegbi, and the coordinator of the government's operations in Judea and Samaria, Major General Rasan Elian.
It was also reported that some complexities arose from the Israeli side in the discussions since legally, only states have the ability to develop gas reservoirs. The Palestinian Authority cannot do this on its own, so the solution is for Egypt to sponsor this project. Israel has already started talks with the Egyptians, and there have even been meetings on the subject between senior Israeli and Egyptian officials in recent times.The Judean
Another point is the security aspect. it is estimated that Hamas will try to sabotage the friendly move on behalf of Israel, so the question is how the development can be made possible. Another challenge is that any such move may provoke sharp public criticism on the topic of the Israeli captives within Gaza; many Israeli feels strongly that the PA and Hamas should not be negotiated with as long as bodies of soldiers and other missing captives remain in their hands.
#DESIS visited the Mediterranean Sea to capture this shot of the Gaza Strip. The besieged area was found to have reserves of natural gas, discovered in 2000. #ISS #MUSES #TBE #EverywhereYouLook pic.twitter.com/Ho345gzfEu
ā Teledyne Brown Engineering (@TeledyneBrown) May 4, 2023
Back in March of 2011, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested to renew negotiations with the Palestinian Authority for the purchase of natural gas, and an official request on the subject was forwarded to the office of the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen. The request was made a few days after a gas explosion in Sinai attributed to the Islamic State terrorists. That blast resulted in the cessation of the flow of Egyptian gas to Israel. Between 2012-2013, Israel and the Palestinian Authority began negotiations in another attempt to reach an agreement on the issue. Due to Hamas's opposition to any agreement on the issue that they were not included in, the negotiations were halted for a second time.
