By working on the EastMed pipeline and investigating the gas industry that fuels war and militarisation in the Eastern Mediterranean region, we have felt a need to write our position on Palestine & Israel, which sets the frame of how we work in the region. You can read our position on Palestine – Israel and our solidarity with Palestine statement we wrote back in 2021.
After October 7th 2023, in the face of the unspeakable violence we were witnessing, we wrote a letter to our allies from the climate justice movement asking to reflect on their position, to include in their actions demands of justice for the region and not stay silent. We stated that such work it is not a deviation from our work for climate justice. We do not have to justify, triangulate, or wordsmith our demands to find the climate angle. Without social justice there is no climate justice.
A comic about fossil fuels, militarisation and social justice in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The comic tells the experiences of five activists in Palestine, Israel, Cyprus, Greece and Italy. Download it here.
Pipelines fuel conflict. Walk along the route of the proposed EastMed pipeline to see how gas is fueling climate change, militarisation and oppression in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
While we educate ourselves about Palestinian history, narratives, and the ongoing struggle for liberation, we must also educate ourselves on the resistance from within the Israeli society.
As Gastivists, we believe that understanding complexities is crucial to the fight for justice between the River and the Sea.
Israel is not a democracy that upholds free speech— on the contrary.
We hope that the story of journalist Israel Frey sheds light on the violence faced by those who speak out against the regime, leading to silencing dissident voices. READ HIS FULL STORY HERE
We recommend following these groups:
In Hebrew
(we recommend translating)
Learnings from the state of Israel
Sometimes it’s hard to understand why people fight against renewable energy projects. And sometimes, it’s not that hard, you just have to listen.
In the Golan Heights, the Druze community is fighting against a wind turbine project backed by the state of Israel. Clean Wind Energy would meet wind production goals for the state of Israel but would also serve as a tool for land theft and colonial expansion.
As we move past the one-year anniversary of the surge of violence that began on October 7 2023, a new analysis from the Gastivists Collective brings new data to the table regarding the connection between fossil gas, the Israeli state and Europe. More information on this report here.
In 2023, Israel reported a record profit of 603 million dollars from state royalties on fossil gas.
For centuries fossil fuel corporations & neoliberal regimes have been perpetuating and normalizing each other’s destructive practices; violence, pillage, & environmental devastation and crimes around the world. Now, they are adding gen0c!de to their list. They must go. By working together, they allow each other to exist.
The following major American and EU fossil gas corporations are complicit in the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. We make no mistake, we know that these corporations are complicit in violence all around the world – from Nigeria to Mozambique – they destroy communities while profiting from their resources.
Energean (Greek-UK) holds and extracts gas from the Israeli fields: “Karish” and “Tanin”
Chevron (USA) operates and holds a partial ownership in the two primary fields from which Israeli gas is extracted: “Leviathan” and “Tamar”
Shell (UK) operates the Idku LNG terminal in Egypt where Israeli gas is liquefied and exported to the EU
Eni (Italy) operates the Damietta LNG terminal in Egypt, where Israeli gas is liquefied and exported to the EU
Eni & BP (Italy, UK) – both received licenses from the Israeli government to explore gas in two fields that partially overlap Gaza’s maritime borders, which should fall under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction. This issuance by Israel is yet another violation of international law.
Israel became a gas exporter in 2020. Even though it attempts to present itself differently, is not particularly gas-rich; it’s gas reserves rank only as 45th globally, unlike top giants like Russia, Iran and Qatar. Israel has reserves estimated at 600bcm, compared to 2.1 trillion cubic meters in Egypt.
Recently, the Israeli Ministry of Energy revealed plans to double its gas exports by 2027. This would be achieved by expanding existing gas fields, such as ‘Tamar’ and ‘Leviathan’, and by permitting exploration of new gas fields.
The EU wants to prioritise the EastMed pipeline by including it in its latest Projects of Common Interest (‘PCI’) list.
EastMed is a fossil gas mega-pipeline planned for the eastern Mediterranean Sea, whose purpose will be to export fossil gas from Israel to Europe, passing through disputed waters between Turkey, Cyprus, and Greece.
On Thursday 22 February, the EU parliament’s Energy Committee will vote on the PCI list – which currently includes EastMed. Including EastMed on this list will give the EU the green light to fast-track construction of the fossil gas mega pipeline, giving it preferential treatment and removing regulatory safeguards.
Energy security in Europe will never be achieved by buying gas from authoritarian regimes like Israel.
Just as with Russia, Azerbaijan, and Egypt, when the EU makes gas deals with oppressive governments, it provides direct financial support to their regimes, and normalises trade with them. The EU has always been complicit with the Israeli regime’s ongoing violations against the Palestinian people. This was always wrong. It is especially outrageous now to support Israel as the whole world watches the horrors in Gaza, and following the World Court’s finding that Israel is plausibly committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The EU has a present and historical responsibility to stop the EastMed Pipeline.
Preserving climate-wrecking fossil gas in order to serve the European energy network at the cost of exploiting the people and the natural commons of the EastMed region (or any region), is by definition colonial extractivism.
The EastMed pipeline has not yet been built, but is fueling existing tensions in an already bleeding, unstable and militarised region. This mega pipeline will harm local people and will only benefit the interests of fossil giants such as Chevron, BP, Exxon, and ENI – the main corporate players of the Western gas race in the eastern Mediterranean.
As activists and people from the eastern Mediterranean, we believe that PEACE IS FOSSIL FREE.
In 2022, the EU signed an agreement with Israel to buy Israeli gas for EU consumption. Since then, Israel has been sending gas via Egypt, from where it is shipped to the EU as Liquid Natural Gas (LNG). After October 7th 2023, Israel stopped extracting gas from the Tamar gas field (close to Gaza). Israeli gas exports fell and LNG exports to the EU were stopped.
The EU uses gas for electricity generation, heating/cooling, and to create new products, such as fertilisers or plastic. By buying gas from governments like Russia, Azerbaijan, and Egypt, the EU directly supports these oppressive regimes, both financially (by paying for the gas) and politically (by normalising trade relationships with them). The EU’s decision to buy gas from Israel in 2022 reinforces the support of the EU towards the Israeli regime.
The current violence is heightening existing risks to the regional gas trade. The Israeli regime has already halted offshore gas extraction in the past over security concerns. The Egypt-Israeli gas pipeline has been sabotaged multiple times for political reasons. Egyptian LNG ships were already halted over the summer 2023 due to unexpected domestic needs.
The EU will not find energy security by buying gas from the Eastern Mediterranean. This is not new. On the contrary, the EU is fuelling tensions and militarisation in the region by encouraging the extraction of gas.
Two new gas licences were granted by Israel on 30 October 2023 to ENI (Italy) and BP (UK). It’s business as usual for big European fossil fuel companies.
Some speculate that the gas fields offshore Gaza could be a path to Palestinian economic growth. It is important to put the Gaza gas fields back into context: Gaza has been under Israeli blockade for decades and resources will only be extracted if the Israeli regime authorises it and finds an agreement with Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.
Others speculated that the Gaza gas fields are a reason for the current bombardments on Gaza. Reducing the current violence on Gaza to gas invisibilizes the history and oppression of Palestinian people.