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Keeping the Gaza Strip in Israels Economic Underbelly

-Composed during Israels 2014 Military Campaign against the Gaza Strip-

Omar Alansari-Kreger

Whenever there is some kind of upheaval there is always some sort of economic
benefit to be had from a fabricated angle. The only problem is that one group, in this
case the population of an entire region, is put in a disadvantaged position because they,
as a depraved people, are indeed the receivers of the shorter end. Israel has proven its
outright determination to wage a wanton war of attrition against the Gaza Strip all in the
name of its self defense. It wouldnt be fair if we were to deny Israel the right to defend
itself from malicious attack, but how is it possible to draw a demarcation line ensuring
that Israeli hardliners dont go too far against civilian infrastructure in both the West
Bank and Gaza Strip? If pursued further, shouldnt that fall under the preferential
jurisdiction of international law? Perhaps it wouldnt be too farfetched to suggest there is
a greater scheme assiduously at work.
Israels policy toward the Gaza Strip has had more of an economic motivation
than a political one; the essence of that policy has been designed to starve Palestinians
out of a livelihood. With the combined diplomacy of the United States and Israel, both
have sealed the Gaza Strip off from Egypt as well. The end result has virtually
transformed the entire Gaza Strip into an Israeli concentration camp; to a large degree,
the same exact things can be said about the West Bank. The Gaza Strip sits on natural
gas reserves (War and Natural Gas: The Israeli Invasion and Gazas Offshore Gas
Fields, Chossudovsky, Michel, 2009). Those of which remain largely undeveloped yet
against the backdrop of Israels 2014 military campaign in and around the Gaza Strip,
that detail has been conveniently ignored and left out completely.
Israeli hardliners are bent on keeping a media blackout on the Gaza Strips
untapped natural gas reserves. Israel doesnt want to be perceived as having economic
motivations toward the Gaza Strip. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, as long
as Israel is fighting a war on terror in the Gaza Strip, it isnt interested in its natural
gas. Hypothesizing over an economically robust Palestine is a rather nail biting
prospect for most Israeli hardliners to entertain; most would prefer to avoid such a
prospect outright. On that note, it is simply amazing to see what billions of American
financial aid dollars can do to help the traditionally struggling Israeli economy combined
with massive third party donations made by independent supporters.
It isn't coincidental why industries pushing for overt technologies have found
accommodating homes in Israel because there is a coerced bottom line agenda it

fervently supports which is also championed by corporate multinationals that fold into an
economic vacuum revealing the actual stakeholders of the worlds current balance of
power. Therefore, Israel takes on the form of a regional Goliath and becomes a direct
accessory of the military industrial complex which characteristically describes that
balance of power. A policy of besieged starvation will eventually render the Gaza Strip
as an uninhabitable wasteland effectively transforming it into an economic goldmine to
the Israelis.
There is one question that remains; will Israeli hardliners be patient enough to
economically starve out the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip? The Israelis can plausibly
deny pursuing ulterior objectives because of Hamass, among factions, desperate wall
of retaliation which lauds such acts as blatant forms of terrorism. No one seems to be
significantly catching on to Israels economic interests in the Gaza Strip which
contributes to one of the reasons why it treats the Palestinians within it as members of a
massive concentration camp. The big picture reflection to take note of is that Israel, as
long as it is led by hardliners, will never recognize an independent Palestine in a way
where it is economically equalized to it.
The Israeli hard-line is determined to view Palestinians, independent or otherwise, as
members of a substandard underbelly effectively robbing Palestine of its reconstructive
economic/infrastructural potential. After all, reversing that trend dishes out an equal
opportunity playing field and the last thing Israeli hardliners want is to diplomatically
mitigate as equal players with the Palestinians under the guidance of a peace process
that is truly global, not marginally hegemonic, in scale.