Let me tell you something that we Israelis have against Moses. He took us 40 years through the desert in order to bring us to the one spot in the Middle East that has no oil.
If there is one thing this part of the world is notorious for - other than its eternal conflict and importance to three world religions - it’s how remarkably poor in terms of natural resources it is.
It does, it’s a rare exception, but they were neither known back then nor have been exploited yet.
Interestingly, Israel was brokering a deal between Egypt, the PA and Hamas for exploitation of this field. It would have resulted in energy independence for Gaza and a significant income stream for both Hamas and PA (or more realistically, the offshore accounts of the leaders of both governments). As far as I know, it was close to being finalized, with ongoing negotiations until October 7.
What oil? Golda Meir famously said this:
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/11/archives/mrs-meir-says-moses-made-israel-oilpoor.html
If there is one thing this part of the world is notorious for - other than its eternal conflict and importance to three world religions - it’s how remarkably poor in terms of natural resources it is.
I mean Gaza has offshore natural gas.
It does, it’s a rare exception, but they were neither known back then nor have been exploited yet.
Interestingly, Israel was brokering a deal between Egypt, the PA and Hamas for exploitation of this field. It would have resulted in energy independence for Gaza and a significant income stream for both Hamas and PA (or more realistically, the offshore accounts of the leaders of both governments). As far as I know, it was close to being finalized, with ongoing negotiations until October 7.
It’ll never happen now, of course.
Why negotiate for rights when you can just conquer and take?
That’s a weak point to make. Israel could have exploited these fields without a ground war in Gaza.