PA daily op-ed: Israel was established “for colonialist reasons”
Op-ed by Hafez Al-Barghouti, regular columnist for Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, in response to an op-ed by Dr. Guy Bechor in the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot, in which Bechor wrote that the Arab world’s power will decline with the drop in oil prices, and that other countries, such as the US and Israel, will take their place as the world’s main energy exporters.
“The Israeli publicist’s [Guy Bechor’s] statements may be correct in certain respects, but he forgets that the [natural] gas Israel claims to have found in the sea is not its exclusive property, for the Syrian, Lebanese, Cypriot, Palestinian and Egyptian gas fields are bigger, and the part belonging to Israel is not so huge. In addition, in the event of a fall in oil prices and the finding of new gas and oil sources outside the Arab world, Israel will lose its strategic importance for the US and the West. This is because Israel is an entity established by colonialism in the vicinity of the Suez Canal for colonialist reasons – in order to maintain [their] presence near the Canal, which was at the time the [main] marine transportation artery, and the West continued to protect Israel after oil was discovered. Once oil loses its strategic importance, Israel will also lose its importance, for its main role is to spread instability in the Arab region and prevent geographic continuity between the eastern and western Arab countries, in order to preclude any form of Arab unity and development and modernization in the Arab countries. In addition, Israel’s role will come to an end once oil loses its importance and becomes plentifully available on the markets – for Israel’s role is only to destroy.”
“The Israeli publicist’s [Guy Bechor’s] statements may be correct in certain respects, but he forgets that the [natural] gas Israel claims to have found in the sea is not its exclusive property, for the Syrian, Lebanese, Cypriot, Palestinian and Egyptian gas fields are bigger, and the part belonging to Israel is not so huge. In addition, in the event of a fall in oil prices and the finding of new gas and oil sources outside the Arab world, Israel will lose its strategic importance for the US and the West. This is because Israel is an entity established by colonialism in the vicinity of the Suez Canal for colonialist reasons – in order to maintain [their] presence near the Canal, which was at the time the [main] marine transportation artery, and the West continued to protect Israel after oil was discovered. Once oil loses its strategic importance, Israel will also lose its importance, for its main role is to spread instability in the Arab region and prevent geographic continuity between the eastern and western Arab countries, in order to preclude any form of Arab unity and development and modernization in the Arab countries. In addition, Israel’s role will come to an end once oil loses its importance and becomes plentifully available on the markets – for Israel’s role is only to destroy.”