energy resources are the root cause of every conflict the Israelis have had with the Palestinians for at least the last 15 years.

Gaza's hope

Israel's challenges

However, decisions about how to move forward have not yet been made, and development of the Leviathan field remains stalled, both in terms of development and gas sales to neighbors.

"The government has only approved one export agreement so far—the Tamar partnership's letter of intent with Arab Potash Co. and Jordan Bromine Co. to export 1.87 billion cubic feet of gas over fifteen years. No other major export deals have been authorized. The Leviathan partnership has signed letters of intent to export gas to both the Jordanian Electric Power Company (JEPCO) and BG Group's liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Egypt, while the Tamar partnership has signed a letter of intent with Union Fenosa Gas to supply the Spanish company's LNG facility, also located in Egypt."

She added: "Of course, none of these letters of intent have resulted in signed, binding contracts."

Opposition to Israel's gas

Dozens of Jordanians gathered in front of Jordan's House of Representatives on May 26 to protest the country's agreement to buy gas from Israel.

$8.4 billion of which would go directly to the Israeli government, potentially funding future wars against Palestinians, who currently comprise approximately half of Jordan's 6.5 million people.

Lebanon

However, the Lebanese government

to the United Nations that the fields are not located in Lebanon's territorial waters.

"It's ultimately saving the environment," he said, laughing.

Energy consumption in the Mediterranean is estimated to increase by up to 50 percent over the next 25 years. The heightened demand comes at a time when gas in theWith these claims, of course, comes potential for conflict. Michael Schwartz, Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Sociology at Stony Brook University in New York and author of War Without End: The Iraq War in Context, told MintPress News that conflict for these resources has already begun. In fact, he explained,Schwartz argues that natural gas located off the coast of the Gaza Strip in Palestinian waters is at the heart of the last five major Israeli military actions against Palestine: Former Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak's orders for the Israeli navy to control Gaza's coastal waters in the early 2000s; Then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's blockade of the Gaza Strip on June 15, 2007; Operation Cast Lead in 2008; Operation Returning Echo in 2012; and Operation Protective Edge, which took place last summer.Schwartz says, the world's largest extractor of natural gas,, which led to the deaths of over 2,300 people and the displacement of another 500,000 . Schwartz explained: "At the beginning of 2014,The exploration agreement between the two entities was signed in 2013, at about the same time Russia had made another agreement with Syria and Lebanon, he said.In a forthcoming article authored by Schwartz and forwarded to MintPress, he writes: "With the Gazprom Gaza development set to begin in 2014 and thus consolidate the Russian presence in the Levantine Basin, theSchwartz told MintPress that Israel's operation was partially successful because it has postponed the Gazprom deal. But Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system remainswith 100 percent accuracy, which it would have liked to doTo Israel's bane, he said,He was talking about platforms that Israel could build if it were to unilaterally take over the Gaza Marine field and extract its resources without the consent of the Palestinian government.he said, adding: "They've achieved a 90 percent kill rate with those rockets, but a 90 percent kill rate is worthless. If they shoot a hundred rockets at those platforms, 10 of them are gonna get through, four of them are gonna land, and the platform's gone. Nobody's gonna develop it in that situation."Mohammad Mustafa, the deputy prime minister and the national economy minister of the Palestinian government, disagrees with Schwartz's assessment of the situation.Speaking to MintPress from Palestine, Mustafa said: "I don't think the war that took place [last summer] has any direct relations with gas, to be honest with you." He says the" Mustafa did say, however, that Israel was at one point interested in buying the gas for themselves, and that could have been a "complicating factor."The Financial Times reported in October 2013 that the Netanyahu government was "very supportive" of the Gaza Marine project. However, that position shifted radically between the end of 2013 and June 2014, when Israel launchedMustafa says the possibility to develop these offshore reserves is not too far off in the future. He told MintPress: "In 1999 and 2000, BG [British Gas] and the consortium worked on checking the reserves and technical tests to ensure that the gas was available in commercially viable volumes, and that's now proven."The consortium he spoke of comprisesand the, which has been. Mustafa is also chairman of the Board of Directors of the PIF, a publically-owned investment company used to strengthen the local economy. He explained: "Since then [1999 and 2000], the consortium has been trying very hard to develop the reserves, unfortunately without success."The Palestinian Authority faces two challenges: the political consent of Israel to develop the gas, and BG's attempt to find credit-worthy buyers for the gas.Yasser Arafat, who was president of the PA and leader of the Palestine Liberation Army when the gas was discovered in 1999, proclaimed : "It's a gift from God to us, to our people, to our children," adding, "This will provide a solid foundation for our economy, for establishing an independent state with holy Jerusalem as its capital."Indeed, the West Bank and Gaza, which depend on Israel for their energy needs, have long been reeling from energy-related issues that stymy the country's growth.Development of the Gaza Marine offshore natural gas has the power to transform Palestine . A February policy paper from the Brookings Institution asserts thatBut it won't be able to do reap those benefits without first placating its own market regulators and currying favor with its gas-needy neighbors, which eschew Israel's violence toward the Palestinians and Lebanese.Israel's gas fields are only partially developed because offrom the country's antitrust commissioner, David Gilo, who recently resigned from his position due to a disagreement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office over regulation of the gas market.In a statement to the press released on May 25, Gilo said : "My decision stems from a number of considerations, primarily from the news that the government, in particular the Prime Minister's Office, the Finance Ministry and the Energy Ministry, will do all that they can to promote the outline formulated recently in the natural gas sector - an outline that I am convinced will not bring competition to this important sector."The outline he was referring to was a compromise agreement made between two shareholder companies in development of the country's gas fields —. The agreement stipulates that, among other provisions, Delek would end all of its operations in the Tamar field within six years, and Noble would reduce its shares from 36 percent to 25 percent.Allison Good, an analyst who focuses on energy security and geopolitics in the Eastern Mediterranean and Eurasia, wrote in The National Interest last month:Good advocated that Israel should expedite exporting licenses to the companies to show good faith, and to secure deals that may not be long in coming as Jordan and Egypt are not as dependent on Israeli gas as they were in the past. Both countries are currently being supplied by Qatar and Algeria.Further complicating Israel's perceived good fortune in its gas finds is thatSamar Saeed, a Jordan-based journalist, says She wrote in Muftah , a publication that focuses analysis on the Middle East and North Africa: Saeed added : "[S]hould the agreement be signed,Excitement over the prospect of potential gas discoveries has gripped the Land of the Cedars as well.Three gas companies — Total, Shell and Engie (previously GDF Suez) — along with two local Lebanese banks — Crédit Libanais and BBAC — sponsored an oil and gas forum on Monday in Beirut to discuss the development of the country's oil and gas sector. Yet no oil or gas has been discovered in Lebanon to date The country's civil society is ramping up efforts as well. The Lebanese Oil and Gas Initiative, a non-governmental organization based in Beirut that promotes the transparent and sound management of Lebanon's oil and gas resources, claims it is developing "a network of Lebanese experts in the global energy industry" to "provide them with a platform to educate Lebanese policy makers as well as Lebanese citizens on the key decisions facing the oil and gas industry."Hype surrounding the sector hit a fever pitch in 2010, when it was thought that the Leviathan and Tamar gas fields extended into Lebanese territory . Some of the first militarized rhetoric concerning the offshore finds came from Israel at the time."We will not hesitate to use our force and strength to protect not only the rule of law but the international maritime law," said Uzi Landau, Israel's national infrastructure minister, in 2010 upon hearing that the speaker of Lebanon's parliament claimed the gas fields extended into Lebanese territory.With U.S. Geological Survey estimates thatgovernment, civil society and investors still have no doubt that these reserves extend into their own territory.Indeed, Madeleine Moreau, a Beirut-based security and conflict resolution analyst, recently wrote in Global Risks Insight, a website which provides expert political risk analysis for businesses and investors:The biggest challenge for Lebanon remains a political one, as the country has not been able to elect a president for almost two years. The upcoming oil and gas forum will focus specifically on the issue of governance.The country has been encouraged to quickly resolve its differences, build a government, and develop the gas sector to benefit from the potential economic windfall, which could help with crushing debt and other developmental problems. But Lebanon is also being encouraged to develop the sector so the country can become an important player in the energy market, which would spur world powers to invest in its stability Michael Schwartz, the sociology professor and author, remarked that it is ironic the region is facing so many geopolitical threats at the same time demand for gas has gone up, because the constant government stalling is preventing the resources from being extracted.