Turning Palestine's Most Valuable Natural Resource into a Political Tool. Gaza was a Gas for Blair

Arthur Nelsen. Counterunch. 27/07/07. On April 29, two weeks before fighting flared in Gaza, Yossi Maiman, co-owner of the Israeli gas company EMG, claimed that in 2004, while he was in talks to join the project, it was revealed to him that shares in it were being held in trust for two confidential partners: Mohammed Rashid and Martin Schlaff. BG denied the claims but they were damaging. Schlaff is a millionaire who was investigated on charges of attempting to bribe Ariel Sharon in 2006. Mohammed Rashid is a former director general of the Palestine Investment Fund and erstwhile "mentor" and ally to the now-exiled Gazan warlord Mohammed Dahlan. Conflicts Forum website described Rashid as a sometime advisor to the US and "an essential part of America's programme to undermine Hamas". Yossi Maiman is reportedly a former employee of the Mossad. So is Shabtai Shavit, the CEO of his company who was condemned by Israel's attorney general in 2004 for using his intelligence connections to advance EMG's interests in the Gaza gas fields [...]

The Gaza maritime field is estimated to contain between 35-40bn cubic metres--or one trillion cubic feet--of gas. In the words of the British Foreign Office, it is "by far the most valuable Palestinian natural resource" and revenues from its output are usually estimated at $4bn. For this reason, Ariel Sharon always opposed its development, claiming that monies raised might be used to arm Israel's enemies.

In the summer of 2005, when Sharon was focused on "disengagement" from Gaza, BG signed a memorandum with the Egyptian company EGAS to sell the gas there. But the deal was scuppered a year later, when Tony Blair intervened at the last minute to plead the Israeli government's case to BG, allegedly following a request from Ehud Olmert [...]

Ever sensitive to popular anger at the exploitation of Palestine's national treasure, one of Hamas's first demands after seizing power in Gaza was for a renegotiation of the BG contract. Ziad Thatha, the Hamas economic minister, had previously denounced the deal as "an act of theft" and modern-day Balfour Declaration, that "sells Palestinian gas to the Zionist occupation".

His words might have been a response to the circumvention of the Gaza Strip in the deal, which will pipe gas directly onshore to Ashkelon in Israel.

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Arthur Neslen is a journalist working in Tel Aviv. The first Jewish employee of Aljazeera.net and a four-year veteran of the BBC, Neslen has contributed to numerous periodicals over the years, including The Guardian, The Observer, The Independent and Red Pepper. His first book, Occupied Minds: A journey through the Israeli psyche, was recently published by Pluto Press.