Israel’s Naval Campaign Against Gaza
Posted July 1, 2009
By Brian Doyle
CNI Staff Writer
brian@cnionline.org
Yesterday Israel continued its naval campaign against Gaza, seizing a ship from the US-based Free Gaza Movement that was attempting to enter the besieged Palestinian territory with a cargo of humanitarian supplies. The ship, Spirit of Humanity, had sailed from Cyprus but was stopped and boarded by the Israeli Navy, which forced the ship to dock at the Israeli port of Ashdod. The Greek government demanded that Israeli release the Greek flagged ship along with its crew and passengers.
Gaza’s historically vibrant fishing industry is in tatters, as the Israeli Navy does not allow the fishermen to venture more than three nautical miles off-shore. Most of the biggest fisheries are six or more miles from shore. Additionally, Gaza fishermen are subject to regular abuse and humiliation far within the three mile limit. Consequently, fishermen, (many of whom are homeless like other Gazans, as they have not been allowed to rebuild since Israel’s attack last winter), are in danger of losing their livelihoods too. This all serves to worsen Gaza’s already desperate food situation, where malnutrition is rising.
Israel claims the blockade, which operates in conjunction with an Israeli and Egyptian siege on land, is for security purposes. But lingering behind all the rhetoric on territory and terrorism lies the future of Gaza’s large off shore gas fields, which are estimated to hold billions of dollars in reserves. As the bulk of the fields are in Gazan waters, most of the gas belongs to the Palestinians. British Gas was granted a 20 year concession to exploit the area in 1999 and discovered the reserves in 2000. Israelis laid claim to the fields in 2000, only to be struck down by Israel’s High Court. Israel had then been in negotiations with British Gas for the sale of the gas to Israel at reduced rates, using their de facto authority stemming from their full “security control” of Gazan waters. With the collapse of a unified Palestinian Authority government after the election of Hamas in 2006 and its subsequent seizure of Gaza, the deal to sell gas from the fields to Israel then in the works was never finalized. Given Israel’s looming gas shortages and hesitancy over letting gas revenues flow to the Palestinian Authority, the future of fields is in doubt. At the very least, they seem inclined to prevent the potential revenues from going the Palestinian Authority and keep the gas under Israeli control.
Israel has repeatedly said that their policies on Gaza are designed to uproot “terrorist infrastructures.” But by starving the populace, grounding the fishing fleet, not allowing construction and repair, preventing development of natural resources, and barring trade, terrorist infrastructures will soon be the only ones left in Gaza.
Tags: blockade, Free Gaza, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Palestine
