Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Approaching one month, the Israel-Hamas fighting continues to heat up and there are no signs of letting up. As a result, the situation deteriorated greatly. Victims continue to fall, not only from militants but also innocent ordinary people.

The fighting, which began in early October, adds to the long record of conflict in the region since 1948. Of course, those who had the biggest impact were the Palestinian civilians. Their right to life continues to be eroded due to repression by the Israeli government.

In fact, since they lived there and before David ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel in 1948, many analyzes predicted that the Palestinian people would prosper and prosper. The reason is, they live and remain silent on a pile of fantastic ‘treasure’.

Palestine, ‘Treasure’ in the Middle East

Regarding ‘treasures’, a geologist named A. Bonne published his research “Natural Resources of Palestine” in 1938. He said there were 2 potential natural resources in the Palestinian region.

First, Water resources. In the Middle East, which is notoriously dry, water is an invaluable source of life. Only thanks to water can society prosper and the country can grow.

In the case of Saudi Arabia, for example, water has greatly influenced the course of the country’s history. It should be noted that when it was first founded, Saudi Arabia was listed as a fairly poor country. Difficulty finding water means the economy cannot grow, so development cannot occur. As a result, political life is very unstable.

Luckily, Palestine does not feel that way. While other Middle Eastern countries are busy looking for water, Palestine is blessed with abundant water. According to Bonne, water can be easily found in Palestine.

When drilling into the ground, water immediately comes rushing out. Rivers rarely dry out because the cycle of summer and rain always alternates precisely. As a result, the Palestinian agricultural and plantation sectors could grow. Moreover, over time the British introduced technology which made the agricultural sector grow rapidly.

The presence of water also gave rise to the electricity industry there. Because there is no coal, the Palestinian people use the fast water of the Jordan River as a source of electrical energy. This use was proven by the existence of the Palestine Electric Corporation in 1926. Later, in large cities, such as Tel Aviv and Haifa, hydroelectric power plants began to appear.

Second, mineral resources. The geologist said that Palestine has a lot of mineral wealth, such as lime, basalt, copper, manganese and asphalt. Not only that, this country also has very potential resources, namely petroleum.

“The geological structure of Palestine indicates that petroleum and similar products can be found in some places in economically profitable quantities,” Bonne wrote.

The key words are “economically profitable.” This means that if managed well, petroleum can enable Palestine to achieve prosperity.

Moreover, when this research was published in 1938, there were already countries that were rich thanks to the exploitation of petroleum, such as the United States, Iran and other Middle Eastern countries. Saudi Arabia, which discovered oil in 1938, also later became a very rich country.

If we refer to this case, then Palestine should have the same fate.

Unfortunately, over time, the course of Palestinian history has diverged. Ten years later after the research was published, in 1948, Davin ben-Gurion surprisingly proclaimed the first Jewish state in the world called Israel on the land of Palestine. From here, the situation began to differ.

Captured by Israel

Since Israel’s first occupation, wrote a 2019 UN report, the Palestinian population began to lose control over ownership of natural resources, especially the supply of the ‘treasure’ of water.

The Israeli authorities actually confiscated the Palestinian people’s water ownership. In the Human Rights Watch report, the seizure legally violates international law which prohibits taking over the resources of other territories for one’s own gain.

Even so, Israel still did not back down. In fact, according to Amnesty International’s records, in 1967 Israel consciously revoked the rights of Palestinians to water in the West Bank.

At that time, Israel prohibited Palestinians from drilling new water wells, deepening wells, and was not allowed to take water from the Jordan River. In fact, Israel also controls and limits rainwater storage locations spread across the West Bank. They think the water will ‘kill’ Palestinian life.

Sure enough, not long after that, around hundreds of Palestinian communities did not have access to clean water. Even if it is accessible, the water is very small and of very poor quality. According to the UN, the impact of this policy is preventing the Palestinian economy from growing. The agricultural sector, which was previously highly relied upon, and industry were devastated.

It was at this point that Israel imposed its water business on Palestinians, who previously had control of the water. According to the UN, Israel charges prices to Palestinians and from this the country also benefits economically.

This problem is not only a water problem, but also oil, which over time has proven that in the land of Palestine there is abundant oil. According to the USGS report, underground in Palestine at a depth of 1,000-6,000 meters can be found in large quantities of oil and natural gas.

In fact, there is a specific location called the Levant Basin which is one of the most important gas sources in the world. It is recorded that from that location there are 1.7 billion barrels of oil and 122 trillion cubic meters of gas that can be transported.

Unfortunately, just like the case of water, the ownership of this treasure is controversial.

In the notes of columnist Mahmoued Elkhafif in Al Jazeera, all these ‘treasures’ are not held by Palestinians at all. The reason is, they have lost control over ownership of fossil resources since 1967.

In 1995, there was an offshore oil and gas exploitation agreement between the British Gas Group and Israel-Palestine. However, over time Mahmoud noted, “British Gas Group and Israel ignored Palestine when it came to development and exploration rights.”

After that, every time there was an oil and gas discovery, Israel always took over. At this point, Mahmoud said that Israel legally violated various international laws, starting from the Geneva Conventions and various human rights regulations.

Mahmoud said, the distribution of oil and gas revenues should be given fairly. This is because the proceeds of the money can be used to invest in reconstruction, rehabilitation and long-term economic recovery.

In the end, this struggle case continues to this day. In fact, it has become Israel’s mainstay ‘weapon’. In the latest case, for example, Israel announced that it had implemented total isolation of the Gaza area. They cut off supplies, logistics and water as a result of the conflict escalating.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

(mfa/sef)