Dr. Lect. Pınar AKARÇAY

Trakya University

 

Dr. Lect. Gökhan AK

Nişantaşı University

 

Abstract

The Gaza Strip, or simply Gaza, is a penne-exclave region of the State of Palestine on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Israel owned the Gaza Strip from 1967 until 2005. In 2005, according to Oslo Agreement signed with the Palestine Administration, Israel continues to control air space, water sources and coastal shipment. The main natural sources of the Gaza Strip are arable fields and newly discovered natural gas. The basin of the Eastern Mediterranean has particularly gained attention of the international community due to being of wealthy sea-bottom hydrocarbon resources, which were discovered at the outset of 2000s.
 

Eastern Mediterranean basin is a very sensitive region by making an important cross-section of Eurasia regarding geopolitical and geostrategic aspects. Besides, this region is also a neighbor to the Middle East, which had the wealthiest hydrocarbon resources of the world as well as staged bloody wars and conflicts in the last 50 years of the world history. Vast hydrocarbon fields, mostly including natural gas, under the sea bottom off Gaza Strip have been discovered in 2002. However, Israel does not permit the state of Palestine to develop gas from those two gas-wells off Gaza Strip although there is no dispute about sovereignty or who owns the gas; because gas belongs to the Palestinian people is clear under international law, and even Israel does not dispute this. In this context, the main aim of this work is to analyze, comment and assess how the related parties having dealing with the gas fields offshore Gaza Strip and inside Gaza territorial waters make use of those hydro-carbon resources in line with both their national interests and possible contributions in the establishment of regional cooperation and peace.
 

Introduction

Resources at the bottom of the seas and oceans had been a great venture, challenge and conflicting area for nations since 20th century. Hydro-carbon resources under sea beds were the key element of desires to bring up to the day-light in order to make use of those strategic sources. When possibility of rich hydro-carbon resources below seabed of Eastern Mediterranean (East-Med, hereafter) had arisen during the last decades of 20th century, a new conflict had been rising up in this context, in addition to the continuing disputes of the region. Because the region had very close border with the Middle East and its lasting-forever disputes, conflicts and clashes. That is to say, the East-Med is another 208 Yeni Deniz Güvenliği Ekosistemi ve Doğu Akdeniz key element in the Middle East puzzle. Moreover, when new energy sources had been discovered in the East-Med, its importance, stabilization and security for the Middle East had been more vital.(1)

Then, the East-Med has seated in the midst of the Middle Eastern politics, international relations as well as international maritime law in this vein.(2) Developing technologies and increasing global energy needs boosted for exploring and discovering new hydrocarbon resources in the Eastern Mediterranean. Latest discoveries in this field of energy sector mainly point out that the region will possibly become a significant natural gas hub in the 21st century ahead. In the United States (US) Geological Survey Reports, a probable amount of 122 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) natural gas exists in the Levant Basin, south of the island and off-shore Israel coast.3 This sort of huge amount of hydrocarbon reserves will naturally mean as energy resources for the whole world, but mainly for the Europe.

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