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Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Jaffar Sadka, "Mostafa: Israel Is Seeking Reviving Negotiations To Buy Palestinian Gas," Al-ayyam (Palestine), July 8, 2008.

[The existence of a trillion cubic foot gas field in Gaza will not exactly come as old news to North Americans. Intrepid reporters and all that. On the other hand, it might suggest more plausible explanations of the current seige than a few inept rocket attacks. Gas, eh? Can't let them Hamas fellas win elections with impunity, can we? Next thing you know, they'll be asking for the market price on their gas, the same way the Russians do in Ukraine. -jlt]

Mohammaed Mostafa, also spelled Dr. Mohammad A. Mustafa, is managing director of the Palestine Investment Fund,

Mostafa estimates the size of the coast of Gaza's gas at around one trillion cubic feet, and needs an investment of around 800 million dollars in order for the gas to be extracted and marketed. The expected profit exceeds 4 billion dollars spread over 10 years, half of which will go to the Palestinian Authority, either as ownership rights, taxes, or as the Investment Fund's share as a partner in the project alongside "British Gas" and the Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC).


The managing director of the Investment Fund, Mohammaed Mostafa, has revealed yesterday that Israel is seeking to revive negotiations to buy Palestinian gas, while the Palestinian side and the British Gas company, the main developer of gas from Gaza's beaches, are being cautious in making a decision over this issue until they are certain of Israel's seriousness.

In last December, "British Gas" stopped negotiating with Israel and closed their office in Tel Aviv because of the differing positions of both sides regarding prices, the mechanism of supplying the West Bank and Gaza with gas in order to generate energy, and the mechanism of delivering to the Palestinian Authority's treasury its proceeds from the project.

Read the rest here =>

For more information on the Gaza Gas Project, see


Translation by Mike Husseini of the American Task Force on Palestine.Recommend this Post



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