On September 13, different Palestinian political factions in Gaza organized a demonstration, coinciding with the inauguration of a sea passage at the Gaza port. The demonstrators chanted for their rights to Gaza’s gas fields, seemingly inspired by Lebanon’s own bid to secure its rights to its natural resources.

This Tuesday, Palestinians participated in an event, marking the opening of a Gaza sea passage, which the government in Gaza hopes will be the future site that connects the besieged coastal enclave to the world. Prominent at the event was also the issue of Gaza’s resources off its coast, the ‘Gaza Marine’ and ‘Marine 2’ gas fields.

A mural was also inaugurated at the Gaza port, which reads “Our gas is our right“, to which the Palestinian political representatives for the Hamas party of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) both stated is on their political agenda. A ‘Shehab’ model attack drone, operated by the armed wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam brigades, monitored the area above the event. Dozens of small boats also took to the sea, in a clear symbolic challenge to Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza. Earlier that day, two fishing boats full of Palestinian workers were hijacked by both the Israeli and Egyptian Navies, that claimed the boats were fishing beyond the dictates of the siege imposed upon Gaza.

The two gas fields, located off of the shores of the Gaza Strip, were discovered back in 1999 and 2000, however, Israel has prevented any Palestinian from accessing them. Former Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, announced at the time that the discovery of the Gas fields was a “gift from God”. Since the Oslo Accords, signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) had allowed for Palestinian jurisdiction over 20 nautical miles out from the Gaza coastline, the agreements technically granted Palestinians their rights to their own gas resources.

However, with the eruption of the Second Intifada (Palestinian uprising), in 2000, Israel completely sealed off the area from the Palestinians, in essence, hijacking the gas fields that rightfully belong to the Palestinians, according to the Oslo Accords. In November, 1999, the PLO even signed a 25 year contract with ‘British gas’ in order to explore the area. To Israel, this had meant nothing, and by the time the Second Intifada had ended, Tel Aviv was not about to hand back the resource-rich fields to Palestinians.

When Hamas won the democratic legislative Palestinian elections in 2006, Israel immediately acted to enforce a blockade on the Gaza Strip. The United States government and the EU followed suit, isolating Gaza from the world and punishing Hamas for winning a free and fair democratic election, in a landslide victory over their rivals Fatah. In 2007, an Israeli-approved US attempt to oust Hamas from Gaza in a coup, led by Palestinian Authority (PA) strong man Mohammed Dahlan, was put down by Hamas and the siege was then intensified.

Today, Palestinian fisherman are supposed to be allowed to travel 12 nautical miles off of the Gaza coastline, according to the parameters of the Israeli-Egyptian enforced illegal siege, yet they are rarely allowed more than 6 miles out, sometimes even less and Israel regularly opens fire on them.

Lebanon has for months launched an intensive campaign to force Israel into recognizing Lebanese rights over their oil and gas fields, which is to be sealed through a maritime border agreement. Key to the Lebanese negotiating position has been the threat of armed retaliation to Israeli attempts to rob Beirut of its rights to its own resources. This threat has come directly from Lebanese Hezbollah, a group that maintains a close alliance with the Palestinian armed resistance and political leadership in the Gaza Strip.

The legal argument for Gaza’s rights to its offshore gas fields is solid, Israel signed the Oslo Accords, meaning that by its own admission these fields are Palestinian. In addition to this, there is the recent statement issued by the BDS movement’s National Committee, which asserts that the EU’s recent gas deal, inked earlier this year with Israel and Egypt, was in violation of the European Union’s own territorial clause. The Hamas leadership have additionally been on a trip to Russia over the past week, after the Russian foreign ministry changed its description of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, describing it as illegal. With Gaza’s government now strengthening its ties in the international arena, this could provide them with more sway over regional developments, especially due to their alliance with Hezbollah, Yemen’s Ansarallah, and the Iranian government.

Despite there certainly being an argument for Palestinians to be granted their full rights to the two offshore gas fields, near Gaza, in the real world Israel will not be convinced by international law and legally binding documents. In the grand scheme of things, the Palestinian political factions in Gaza are likely have started this initiative over gas in order to ally itself with the position of Lebanese Hezbollah. It is also likely that Hamas may attempt to strike Israel’s oil and gas fields in the event of a future escalation, sticking to the “if we can’t access our gas, nobody can” clause that was set by Hezbollah.

Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah, has made a point of linking the Palestinian struggle over their occupied gas fields. It now seems that the Palestinian factions are finally trying to implement their own strategy of applying pressure on Israel through using this cause. It is clear that Tel Aviv is not about to grant Gaza its rights to its own gas fields, it is also the case that the Palestinians do not have the weapons capabilities to precisely attack Israel in the way Hezbollah can. That being said, the gas fields are extremely close to Gaza, and if the Palestinian armed factions fire enough drones and rockets at Israel’s oil and gas facilities, they could likely do damage.

If the Palestinian groups in Gaza are able to successfully develop weapons capable of threatening the oil and gas interests of the Israelis, this could be a game changer for the Palestinians. This could also be a strategy that Hamas may attempt to follow through on, in any war between Israel and Lebanon — it would certainly be a great opportunity to test their capabilities.