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In October of 2015 we reported on Israel, who with US corporate backing, manipulated claim to the region of Syria known as Golan Heights. New Jersey-based energy company, Genie Energy Ltd. had confirmed the presence of oil and natural gas last year, and have now begun to analyze samples drawn from the Ness-2 drilling site, according to recent reports.
Israel seized the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War in 1967, and later extended Israeli law and administration to the territory in 1981, though that move was considered “null and void” by the United Nations. Syria has since demanded its return.
Israel’s continued occupation of the Golan Heights is in direct violation of international law, however in permitting Genie Energy’s parent company, Afek, the right to perform exploratory tests of possible gas and oil reservoirs, Israel is now basically under the protection of US corporate moguls and various corrupt politicians who are able to drive foreign policy within the US government.
According to a 2015 report by Profit Confidential, the exploitation of minerals in the occupied Golan Heights could potentially result in legal issues for Israel later on down the road, as happened to Japan who was sued by Singapore for exploiting their oil reserve during WWII. Israel is known for being brazen though, and the US has been known to coddle them, so it is, unfortunately, unlikely that any legal action will ever take place. Profit Confidential continues:
“International law establishes that an occupying power can operate already existing and operating oil fields first used by the sovereign country under its control. However, the authorities and the law are in absolute agreement that the drilling of new wells, let alone fracking, by an occupying power is illegal.”
Included among Genie Energy’s investors are; FOX Opinion Network’s Rupert Murdock, Dick Cheney, Lord Jacob Rothschild, former CIA Director James Woolsey, and various other current and former US politicians. Heading Genie Oil is Israeli military commander and former Knesset member, Efraim “Effie” Eitam, who had once called for the expulsion of Arabs, which he deemed a “cancer,” from Israel.
In an announcement by Genie Energy, new members of their Strategic Advisory Board include:
Dr. Lawrence Summers, 71st Secretary of the Treasury under President Clinton, Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama.
Bill Richards, Governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011, US Ambassador to the United Nations from 1997 to 1998, Chairman of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.
Mary Landrieu, US Senator from 1996 to 2014, served as chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, sponsored and passed the US-Israel Energy Cooperation Bill.
James Woolsey, Director of the CIA from 1993 to 1995, Under Secretary of the Navy from 1977 to 1979, co-founder of the US Energy Security Council, Chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
A potential risk of drilling in the region is the possible contamination of a nearby water aquifer that supplies drinking water to numerous civilians in the Golan Heights, however this does not seem to be a concern to investors when weighing the profits that can be earned. As pointed out in The Free Thought Project’s report, Syria “has been systematically torn apart primarily because foreign powers and radical groups seek to protect their varied oil interests.”
The situation taking place in the Golan Heights yet again shows that the US’s interest in the Middle East has little to do with terrorism, and more to do with power over fossil fuels. And yet despite increased international outcries against Afek’s exploratory drilling, ongoing tests have not been halted.
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numerous civilians?
how many ?