Lunchtime Seminar Series:

Israel’s Exploitation of Contiguous Gas Resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Monday, 7^th of March 2016, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., Seminar Room, Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway

 

by Dr. Susan Power, lecturer in Public International Law and International Criminal Law in Griffith College Dublin.

 

The Irish Centre for Human Rights is pleased to welcome Dr. Susan Power, lecturer in Public International Law and International Criminal Law in Griffith College Dublin.

 

The talk will focus on the naval closure of the Gaza Strip imposed by Israel as part of its energy security policy. The El-Arish pipeline and Mari-B gas platform are key Israeli strategic assets for its entire gas distribution network requiring stringent security measures. The Mari-B platform is located only 13 nautical miles from Gaza’s coast and the El-Arish pipeline runs across the entire Palestinian coast at 13 nautical miles connecting Ashkelon in Israel to El-Arish in Egypt. Since 2000, the year that Mari-B was first discovered, Israel has forced the closure of the Gaza Maritime Zone preventing Palestinian fishing and recreational use beyond distances of 6 nautical miles.

 

During this time American and Israeli gas companies have illegally exploited Palestine’s contiguous gas resources. Under customary international law joint cooperation is required for the development of joint geological resources. However, in 2012 the United States corporation Noble Energy and the Israeli corporation Delek Drilling, with approval from the State of Israel, rapidly exploited the Noa field. This presentation examines the legal nature of contiguous marine resources straddling the sea off the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel. It questions whether the law of belligerent occupation applies to such marine resources. It further examines the position of Palestinian contiguous resources under the law of the sea.

 

All are welcome!

Organised by the Irish Centre for Human Rights in NUI Galway.