PA, Egypt Deal on Gaza Gas Sparks Dispute in Palestine

PA, Egypt Deal on Gaza Gas Sparks Dispute in Palestine
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PA, Egypt Deal on Gaza Gas Sparks Dispute in Palestine

PA, Egypt Deal on Gaza Gas Sparks Dispute in Palestine

The Gaza Marine gas agreement between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Egypt was strongly criticized by Hamas movement for striking the deal without any Gazan representation.

The dispute erupted after the Palestinian Investment Fund signed a deal to develop the Gaza Marine gas field and necessary infrastructure, with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS).

However, Hamas's politburo member Mousa Abu Marzouk demanded the authority discloses details of the agreement, saying Gaza representatives should attend any negotiations about gas fields near the enclave’s shores.

Marzouk tweeted that: “if Gaza is forced to import natural gas from the occupation for the only power plant in the Strip, then we should not stand idly by as our natural resources are exported,” adding: “we need to know the details of the agreement that was signed with the Investment Authority.”

The tweet was met with anger and ridicule in Ramallah, prompting the Minister of Civil Affairs, Hussein al-Sheikh, to say that agreements are made between countries, and Palestine is a member of the EastMed Gas Forum.

“Agreements are signed with states Mr. Abu Marzouk, not with factions and organizations.”

Munir al-Jaghoub, the head of Fatah’s Information Department in the Office of Mobilization and Organization, also tweeted in response to Abu Marzook, saying that Gazan youth are the real wealth that was lost, underestimated, abandoned, and pushed to death and suicide.

“It is not permissible today to even talk about a gas canister on its way to Palestine.”

Jaghoub went on to say that it is within the powers of President Mahmoud Abbas to strike such deals, not the powers of political parties, stressing that Gaza is part of the Palestinian state and not an independent region, and Hamas is one of the 17 national factions.

The Fatah official considered Abu Marzouk’s statement as “blackmail and electoral propaganda,” or an attempt to escape the elections.

Abu Marzouk then responded by saying that the comments of some officials of the Authority are unjustified because asking for details of the agreements means transparency.

Hamas accused Fatah leaders and the PA of deluding the public, asserting that the Authority failed to fulfill any of the national aspirations of the Palestinian people, and reinforced political and geographical division.

It accused the PA of acting in an authoritarian manner.

“Our people have the right to know how the authority behaves on major issues because precedent confirms that it acts without the slightest degree of transparency, and determines its actions and relations based on narrow partisan and factional interests,” Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said on Wednesday.

For years the project was a distant prospect because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the peace talks that broke down in 2014 and never resumed, amid mutual suspicion and outbreaks of violence.

But officials said that the Israeli, Palestinian, Qatari, and European interests have converged in recent weeks with the aim of getting gas flowing to Gaza in 2023.

According to Reuters, the plan would see natural gas from the Leviathan field operated by Chevron in the EastMed flow through an existing pipeline into Israel, and from there into Gaza through a proposed new extension.

Under the arrangement, the Israeli side of the pipeline would be funded by Qatar and the section in Gaza by the EU, the officials told Reuters.

If successful, the pipeline project would for the first time in years provide a steady energy source to Gaza, ending rolling blackouts that have helped cripple the economy of the blockaded enclave.

Palestinians hope Egypt will be able to pressure Israel to allow the extraction of gas, after 20 years of prevention.



Beirut Blast Investigator Resumes Work After Two Years

An aerial view shows the massive damage at Beirut port's grain silos and the area around it on August 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion hit the heart of the Lebanese capital. (AFP)
An aerial view shows the massive damage at Beirut port's grain silos and the area around it on August 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion hit the heart of the Lebanese capital. (AFP)
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Beirut Blast Investigator Resumes Work After Two Years

An aerial view shows the massive damage at Beirut port's grain silos and the area around it on August 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion hit the heart of the Lebanese capital. (AFP)
An aerial view shows the massive damage at Beirut port's grain silos and the area around it on August 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion hit the heart of the Lebanese capital. (AFP)

Lebanese judge Tarek Bitar resumed his investigation into the deadly 2020 Beirut port blast on Thursday, charging 10 people including security, customs and military personnel, a judicial official said.

The fresh charges come after a two-year hiatus in the investigation into the August 4, 2020 explosion that killed more than 220 people, injured thousands and devastated swathes of Lebanon's capital.

Authorities said the explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where a huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate fertilizer had been haphazardly stored for years.

But nobody has been held responsible for the blast, one of history's largest non-nuclear explosions.

The probe stalled two years ago after Lebanese group Hezbollah had accused Bitar of bias and demanded his dismissal, and after officials named in the investigation had filed a flurry of lawsuits to prevent it from going forward.

The resumption comes with Hezbollah's influence weakened after its recent war with Israel.

It also follows the election of a Lebanese president after the top position had been vacant for more than two years, with the new head of state Joseph Aoun last week pledging to work towards the "independence of the judiciary".

The judicial official told AFP that "procedures in the case have resumed", speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The official said that "a new charge sheet has been issued, charging three employees and seven high-ranking officers in the Lebanese army, in the General Security, (and) in customs" with negligence and "possible intent to commit murder". Their interrogations would begin next month.

In March and April, "investigating sessions" would resume for those previously charged in the case, including former ministers, lawmakers, security and military officers, judges and port management employees, after which Bitar would ask public prosecutors to issue indictments, according to the judicial official.

Analysts say Hezbollah's weakening in its war with Israel last year allowed Lebanon's deeply divided political class to elect Aoun last week and back his naming of Nawaf Salam as premier on Monday.

Salam, until recently the presiding judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, on Tuesday promised "justice for the victims of the Beirut port blast".

Hundreds of individuals and organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, had previously called for the United Nations to establish a fact-finding mission on the disaster -- a demand Lebanese officials have repeatedly rejected.

Cecile Roukoz, a lawyer whose brother died in the explosion, said she was optimistic after "the promises made by the president and the prime minister, then the probe resuming".

"There is hope that the rights of the victims, for whom we never stopped fighting, won't be forgotten," said the attorney, one of several representing the relatives of those killed.

Visiting Lebanon on Thursday, UN rights chief Volker Turk called for the "resumption of an independent investigation into the explosion".

"I repeat that those responsible for that tragedy must be held to account and offer the support of my office in this regard," he said.

The probe has been repeatedly stalled since 2020.

In December of that year, lead investigator Fadi Sawan charged former prime minister Hassan Diab -- who had resigned in the explosion's aftermath -- and three ex-ministers with negligence.

But Sawan was later removed from the case after mounting political pressure, and the probe was suspended.

His successor, Bitar, also summoned Diab for questioning and asked parliament, without success, to lift the immunity of lawmakers who had served as ministers.

The interior ministry also refused to execute arrest warrants issued by Bitar, further undermining his efforts.

The public prosecutor at the time, Ghassan Oueidat, thwarted his attempt to resume investigations in early 2023 after Bitar charged him in the case.