Deadlines, Peace, and Natural Gas

The deadline imposed by the Oslo Accords in 1993 have come and gone but no agreement is in place between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government. While PA Chairman Arafat suggested the threat of violence and the unilateral declaration of an independent state of Palestine, he has not done so to this point.

Many Israelis may have braced for violence, but the region is strangely quiet. What has happened for this quiet to occur? Wariness of the peace process? Economics?

Well, to borrow a phrase from the US political landscape - "It's the economy, stupid!"

The economy is what binds everyone in the region together. Continued peace allows the Palestinian workers access to the Israeli markets and businesses where they can sell their goods and services and bring home wages to their families. Israelis need the Palestinian workers to build the Israeli infrastructure and work in their factories and many services.

What is lost within the struggle for peace in the region is that many Israelis and Palestinians are already relating to their neighbors because they must depend on their neighbors for their very existence.

Economics can bring the region and the Palestinans and Israelis together. The recent natural gas finds off the coast of Gaza and Israel may lead to development and independence from outside energy producers. The Israeli/Palestinian controlled regions are energy resource poor - surprising given their proximity to the Persian Gulf and its tremendous oil and natural gas reserves.

However, to exploit the new finds, the Israelis and Palestinians will have to work together. The natural gas will enable the Israelis to become independent producers and potential exporters of natural gas. It will also enable the Palestinians to do the same. More importantly, the natural gas will enable both to jointly develop desalinization plants to bring potable water to their populations.

As I've noted in prior articles, natural resources and especially water, are crucial elements of the peace process and the natural gas finds may bridge some of the gaps between the Israelis and Palestinians.

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