هذا التقرير متاح أيضًا بـ العربية
Under a new military order, the Israeli occupation is placing the natural gas sector in the West Bank under a regulatory framework subject to its administration, in a step that goes beyond regulating the energy sector to establishing an infrastructure system tied to Israeli settlements and industrial zones.
The decision is not only about transporting and distributing gas; it grants the occupation powers to manage a strategic resource inside Palestinian territory and raises questions about the future of Palestinian natural resources and the prospects for building an independent energy sector.
In this special interview with NoonPost, engineer Abdel Hadi Barakat, director general of the Projects Department at the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority, places the Israeli military order in its broader context, explaining its political and economic implications, its potential impact on the future of the Palestinian energy sector, and the options available to strengthen energy security and protect the Palestinian right to manage its natural resources.
How do you read the new Israeli military order regulating the natural gas sector in the West Bank? What does it change in the way this sector is managed, and what are its political and strategic implications?
This military order comes in the context of a series of military, political, and financial decisions taken by the current Israeli government that reflect a clear tendency toward tightening control over Palestinian land, resources, and natural wealth, including the natural gas sector.
The decision may seem surprising from the standpoint of economic feasibility, but it is not surprising when read within the framework of the political and settlement project embraced by the Israeli government. Economically, the massive investments required to establish natural gas distribution networks in existing settlements in the West Bank do not appear highly viable at present, given the size of these settlements and their current needs.
But the real reading of this decision goes beyond economic considerations. It reflects a strategic vision tied to expanding the settlement project and preparing the infrastructure needed to entrench the Israeli presence throughout the West Bank. From this perspective, the decision constitutes another step toward imposing control over Palestinian natural resources and reducing the ability of the Palestinian government and the Palestinian people to invest these resources and develop the gas sector in a way that serves the needs of citizens in the West Bank and, in the future, extends to the Gaza Strip.
Although implementing gas networks will take years, the importance of the decision lies more in its political and strategic significance than in its immediate practical effects. It reveals the direction of Israel’s right-wing government toward consolidating its control over the West Bank, not only through settlement expansion, but also by tightening its grip on energy sources and natural resources as one of the tools for entrenching this project.
How do you interpret Israel’s use of the gas sector and the development of energy networks in the West Bank? Does this reflect a shift in energy from an economic resource to a tool serving economic, settlement, and security goals?
Natural gas is now the main source of energy in the global transition from fossil fuels to clean energy sources, and it has therefore become a strategic element in countries’ economic and industrial development plans.
Expanding natural gas networks and linking settlements to them is not limited to meeting settlers’ needs; it is tied to preparing the infrastructure necessary for settlement expansion in its various dimensions. Small residential settlements do not necessarily need extensive gas networks, while industrial and commercial zones and major facilities depend on stable natural gas supplies to ensure continuity of operations.
From this standpoint, this step reflects a strategic orientation by the Israeli government that goes beyond mere population growth in settlements to include expanding the industrial and commercial base, and perhaps the military one as well, in the West Bank. Providing natural gas creates an attractive environment for establishing more industrial and commercial zones and major facilities, and secures their energy needs year-round, allowing them to expand without constraints related to the availability of energy sources.
At the same time, this direction aligns with Israel’s efforts to maximize the benefits of natural gas resources in the eastern Mediterranean resources that we affirm are partly a natural right of the Palestinian people, alongside the rights of the other countries bordering the region. Therefore, the expansion of the gas sector cannot be viewed as merely an economic project; it is part of a broader strategy that uses energy to serve economic and settlement goals while also providing the foundations that support the security and military dimensions of this project.
How could the Israeli military order regulating the gas sector affect the future of energy infrastructure in the West Bank and the prospects for developing an independent Palestinian gas network?
About two years ago, the Palestinian government launched a national strategy to develop the natural gas sector in Palestine, covering the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. One of its most prominent outcomes was the establishment of a national natural gas infrastructure aimed at supplying planned power generation stations with energy, in addition to serving industrial zones and promoting economic development.
But the creation of an Israeli gas network in the West Bank would obstruct this direction and delay its implementation. A number of Palestinian industrial zones, such as the industrial zones in Bethlehem and Jenin, as well as the future project in Tarqumiyah in Hebron governorate, rely in their future plans on the provision of natural gas networks. With an Israeli network present in the same geographic space, the process of establishing a parallel Palestinian network would become more complicated from both technical and planning standpoints.
The matter becomes even more complicated because implementing any Palestinian infrastructure of this kind requires passing through areas classified as Area C, which necessitates obtaining Israeli approvals. Therefore, this decision is likely to pave the way for a phase in which Israel uses its existing network as a pretext to prevent or obstruct the establishment of the Palestinian gas network, on the grounds that alternative infrastructure already exists. This would entrench Israeli control over the energy sector and restrict Palestinians’ ability to develop independent infrastructure that serves their developmental and economic needs.
To what extent could deepening the Palestinian energy sector’s connection to the Israeli system increase the fragility of the Palestinian economy, and which sectors would be most affected?
Our experience with the Israeli side over the years has proven that the energy sector has never been insulated from political considerations; rather, it has remained a tool used to pressure the Palestinian people. This is evident in repeated practices such as withholding clearance revenues and rationing electricity supplies to Palestinian areas according to political considerations.
In the Gaza Strip, even before October 2023, incoming electricity supplies met only about 45 percent of actual needs as a result of the Israeli side rationing the quantities supplied for political reasons. Some areas of the West Bank, including Hebron and Tulkarm, also continue to face similar problems related to energy supplies.
Therefore, deepening the Palestinian energy sector’s connection to the Israeli system means increasing the level of dependency and giving Israel additional tools to influence Palestinian decision-making through control over energy supplies, just as it has done in other vital files. This would limit the independence of the Palestinian sector and make it more vulnerable to political pressure at any time.
The sectors most affected would be the industrial sectors first and foremost, because of their heavy reliance on stable electricity supplies and because their future plans are tied to dependence on natural gas. Industrial zones, major commercial clusters, and load centers in the main cities would also be affected, as any disruption or control over energy sources would be directly reflected in production, investment, and economic activity.
Ultimately, experience confirms that Israel uses energy, just as it uses other basic elements of life and steadfastness, as a tool of political pressure on the Palestinian people and the Palestinian government.
What economic repercussions are expected from the Israeli decision for the Palestinian energy sector and for the ability of Palestinian companies to develop investment projects in this field?
At the current stage, natural gas is not expected to constitute a direct alternative to electricity, as it is used mainly as fuel to operate large power generation stations, not for direct consumption as a substitute for the electricity grid. From this standpoint, the main concern is that Israel may move to establish gas-fired power plants to feed large loads in the settlements, which is consistent with a broader project to expand settlement infrastructure.
This expansion is not limited to establishing settlement population clusters; it extends to creating industrial, commercial, and perhaps military zones, in a way that reinforces the entrenchment of the settlement presence in the West Bank and provides the conditions for its continuity and expansion.
In the short term, I do not see the decision as posing a direct threat to the Palestinian electricity sector, as we still have the existing electricity system, along with plans to establish Palestinian power generation stations and strengthen electrical interconnection with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. But in the long term, deeper repercussions may emerge, especially if natural gas supplies become fully subject to Israeli control.
This reality will negatively affect Palestinian companies operating in the energy sector and weaken investment opportunities in independent Palestinian gas and energy projects, because any project will remain tied to the possibility of obtaining gas and approvals from the Israeli side.
Israel is an occupying state, and its policy is a racist one. Our experience with it proves that vital files, including energy, have never been separate from political calculations. If any crisis or shortage in gas supplies occurs, priority will naturally go to meeting the needs of the Israeli market and the settlements, by virtue of Israel’s control over supply sources and infrastructure, which could expose supplies allocated to Palestinians to reduction or a complete cutoff.
What tracks is the Palestinian Energy Authority pursuing to deal with this decision, strengthen the independence of the energy sector, and reduce reliance on the Israeli side?
The Palestinian Energy Authority has launched a set of strategies aimed at reducing dependence on the Israeli side and enhancing the Palestinian energy sector’s ability to achieve a greater degree of independence. Dependence on Israeli electricity in the West Bank stood between 96 and 98 percent through 2023, while this percentage has now fallen to below 88 percent as a result of the expansion of renewable energy projects, which are seeing growing uptake from both the public and private sectors.
Among the most prominent options the Energy Authority is pursuing is the development of local electricity generation capacity, with plans underway to establish generation stations in Jenin and southern Hebron, helping to enhance energy security and reduce reliance on external sources. Palestine is also working to strengthen regional interconnection with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, as part of a regional electricity network that includes a number of Arab and regional countries, among them Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.
This interconnection would allow Palestine to benefit from this network and provide no less than 25 percent of the West Bank’s electricity needs through the Jordanian side.
As for natural gas, the Energy Authority has prepared plans and studies to develop the infrastructure needed for this sector, and this vision has been shared with the international community. The Palestinian position is clear: Palestinian natural resources, including natural gas, are the exclusive right of the Palestinian people, who have the full right to invest and manage them in a way that serves their national and developmental interests.
Any development of natural gas networks is also directly linked to control over land, as land is a fundamental element in establishing energy infrastructure. Accordingly, the Palestinian Authority rejects any Israeli measures aimed at establishing its own gas networks inside Palestinian territory in the various areas classified as A, B, and C, considering this an infringement on Palestinian rights to resources and land.
Accordingly, the Energy Authority is working on two parallel tracks: the first is developing national and regional alternatives that reduce dependency on the Israeli side, and the second is political and legal action internationally to protect Palestinian rights to natural resources and halt the implementation of Israeli measures that infringe on Palestinians’ right to manage the energy sector and build an independent system that serves their future needs.
How can renewable energy projects help strengthen the Palestinian energy sector’s ability to endure under restrictions and crises?
The Palestinian citizen and the Palestinian energy sector possess a strong capacity for adaptation and resilience. Experience in the Gaza Strip, despite the difficult conditions, has demonstrated the importance of raising awareness and strengthening reliance on alternative energy sources. This experience has helped drive efforts to expand renewable energy projects in the West Bank, whether at the household, commercial, or industrial level.
Expanding solar energy systems represents one of the main paths to reducing dependence on the Israeli side and enhancing the continuity of electricity supply, especially for vital institutions and facilities, in the event of crises or the use of electricity as a tool of political pressure. Over the past years, hundreds and thousands of projects have been implemented in this field, and we call on citizens, institutions, and companies to continue investing in this direction.
The development of solar energy technologies, especially storage systems, has also helped reduce costs and make these solutions more economically viable, in addition to the availability of financing bodies ready to support these projects.
The Palestinian Energy Authority has launched a number of initiatives to promote renewable energy, including installing solar energy systems on hospitals and clinics across the West Bank governorates to ensure the continuity of their operations during crises, alongside projects to install solar power in hundreds of schools and government buildings, with gradual expansion to include various public facilities.
The authority has also launched concessional financing programs for individuals and small and medium-sized institutions, in addition to initiatives targeting village councils and municipalities through the provision of technical and financial support. The first phase of these projects began with funding of about $20 million, while efforts continue to expand the scope of international and local support.
In parallel with renewable energy, Palestine is working to strengthen local generation sources, as the national strategy includes establishing large Palestinian power generation stations. The plans include building at least three stations in the northern, central, and southern West Bank by 2035, which could provide about 25 percent of Palestine’s electricity needs, especially since the only generation station in Gaza has been out of service since the war.
In addition, Palestine is working to complete the electricity interconnection project with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan as one of the important paths for diversifying energy sources and reducing dependence on the Israeli side.
But implementing these projects still faces major challenges, foremost among them Israeli restrictions, especially since a large part of the energy networks and infrastructure passes through areas classified as Area C, making them dependent on Israeli approvals. The most prominent obstacles are delays and procrastination in granting the necessary licenses, which hinders the development of strategic projects for the Palestinian energy sector.
For this reason, the Energy Authority is working to benefit from international support and contacts with various parties to accelerate the implementation of these projects, on the grounds that strengthening Palestinian energy security is not only an economic issue, but also a fundamental element in protecting the resilience of Palestinian society and building a greater capacity for independence in managing its resources.
To what extent could the development of Israeli energy networks, especially gas networks, contribute to reshaping the economic and geographic reality in the West Bank? What are its potential implications for the future of Palestinian development and sovereignty?
In the long term, this decision represents an ambitious project with major implications, as it could contribute to reshaping the economic and geographic reality in the West Bank by giving Israeli investors in the settlements the basic elements for expansion, foremost among them natural gas and energy infrastructure.
Providing these facilities to the settlements will give the Israeli investor a clear economic advantage, at a time when the Palestinian private sector faces major constraints and a lack of the basic elements it needs to grow and compete. This will particularly affect the Palestinian industrial sector, which depends on the availability of stable energy sources and competitive operating costs.
But we will not stand idly by. We will continue to work and press various international parties to prevent Israel from moving forward with implementing this project, as it is part of a broader system aimed at strengthening settlement activity and entrenching Israeli control over Palestinian land and resources.
Confronting these plans is also not limited to political and diplomatic action; it requires strengthening Palestinian steadfastness on the ground and developing national alternatives that enable Palestinian economic sectors to preserve their competitiveness. Therefore, we call on the various Palestinian sectors to invest in developing their capacities and strengthening their independence to confront the advantages the Israeli government grants to investors in the settlements.
The decision to regulate the natural gas sector comes within a broader Israeli system that includes control over Palestinian land, providing facilities to settlers and Israeli investors, seizing Palestinian natural resources, including water, solar energy, and other energy sources, and supplying them to settlements on preferential terms.
The current Israeli approach is clearly moving toward expanding and strengthening the settlement project and tightening control over the West Bank, and the natural gas sector is not a separate economic project but part of this path. Nevertheless, the Palestinian experience has shown that the Palestinian people have, in previous stages, been able to confront many plans targeting their land and rights, and they will continue to work to protect their rights, resources, and future.
In the end, this decision carries political implications that go beyond the economic aspect, as it aims to provide a more favorable environment for settlement investment and expansion in the West Bank, in a way that affects the prospects for Palestinian development and the ability of the Palestinian people to build an independent economy based on their resources and rights.