Ramallah -

Palestine possesses billions of dollars in natural wealth and resources that suffice the needs of the Palestinian Authority, but the presence of the Israeli occupation and its hegemony over these resources and the prevention of their exploitation, deprives Palestinians of their revenues and benefit from them.

According to the Oslo Agreement (1995), Area C, which represents about 60% of the West Bank and is completely under Israeli control, is a real obstacle to the investment of these resources, which include oil, gas, stone and marble, in addition to other economic sectors such as communications.

oil and gas

According to official Palestinian sources, Palestine enjoys large oil reserves estimated at billions of barrels, as well as gas reserves estimated at billions of cubic metres, but all of them are under Israeli control.

According to estimates by the geographer and lecturer at Birzeit University Abdullah Herzallah, Israel extracts at least 6,000 barrels of oil per day, from oil wells on the lands of the town of Rantis, northwest of Ramallah.

In his speech to Al Jazeera Net, he asserts that by calculating $50 a barrel, Israel steals about $300,000 a day from the Palestinian oil wealth, i.e. more than $100 million annually.

According to the Palestinian National Information Center (governmental), Israel extracts about 800 barrels per day from the "Majd 5" field, which is among the 5 fields operating on the lands of the town of Rantis, plundering the rights of the Palestinian people.

According to the same source, the volume of oil reserves from the oil field discovered since the 1990s is about 1.5 billion barrels of oil, and 182 billion cubic feet of gas.

In 2015, the Journal of Palestinian Studies published a research paper prepared by the head of the Palestinian Investment Fund, Muhammad Mustafa, which showed that more than 60% of the Rantis oil field’s reserves are located in the West Bank, estimating the Palestinian Authority’s revenues at about $1.3 billion if it is able to exploit it.

Dr. Abdullah Herzallah: Israel extracts at least 6,000 barrels of oil per day from oil wells on the lands of the town of Rantis, northwest of Ramallah (Al-Jazeera)

Gaza gas

As for Gaza gas, geographer Harzallah says that the reserves of the fields discovered there since the end of the 1990s are estimated at about 35 billion cubic metres, but the occupation has prevented their exploitation until now.

He added that the coasts of Palestine are rich in gas, and there is a stockpile estimated at about one thousand billion cubic meters compared to Haifa only, in addition to other large quantities in the north and near Gaza.

According to Mohammed Mustafa's research paper, the market value of the Gaza Marine and Border Field fields is estimated between 6 and 8 billion dollars.

He added that the exploitation of the two fields would save the Palestinians about $8 billion within 20 years, due to the high costs of importing electricity from Israel compared to its production of natural gas.

It is noteworthy that the Palestinian Authority is heading to conclude an agreement with the Egyptian Gas Company to operate the Marine 5 field, according to Palestinian and Egyptian sources, and the expected revenues of the Palestinian Authority from it are estimated at about 150 million dollars annually.

stone and marble

Palestine has a huge stock of stone and marble, which are completely Palestinian-produced and manufactured.

Shadi Shaheen, director of the Stone and Marble Industry Federation, told Al Jazeera Net that this industry is currently concentrated in the "A and B" areas of the West Bank, while the Palestinians are deprived of exploiting this revolution in Area "C".

He asserts that the total exports of this sector abroad exceed $150 million and provide 20,000 jobs. Of course, the number will double if Area C is taken advantage of.

According to Shaheen, the stone and marble sector is the first in the Palestinian industrial sectors in terms of its operational capacity, the volume of its exports and its contribution to the GDP.

According to the Federation's data, the annual revenue of this industry is estimated at about 700 million dollars, locally and abroad.

Palestine enjoys a huge stock of stone and marble, which is completely Palestinian-produced and manufactured (Al-Jazeera)

telecom sector

Israel deploys hundreds of communication towers in Area C to reinforce the transmission of the Israeli cellular communication networks, which results in Palestinian losses as a result of illegal competition from companies with better potential, and to this day the Palestinians are prohibited from operating the fourth generation of communications.

There are no recent statistics on Palestinian losses in this field, and according to a report published by the World Bank in March 2016, it estimated the losses of Palestinians in the mobile phone sector during the three years preceding the issuance at about one billion and 100 thousand dollars.

The report stated that these losses were caused by the delay in the development of communications networks, the work of Israeli companies in the Palestinian market without a license, and the occupation's restrictions on importing and seizing equipment.

According to a World Bank report, Israeli operators and Israeli companies account for more than 20% of the Palestinian market in the West Bank.

Losses due to occupation

A study prepared by the Applied Research Institute (ARIJ) and presented by the "MAS" Center for Economic Studies in Ramallah in 2016 states that the annual direct and indirect losses from the Israeli presence on the Palestinian territories are estimated at $9.46 billion.

The study stated that these losses include Israel's exploitation of wealth in Palestine, the obstacles to the movement of people and goods, and the closure of borders.

According to the study, Palestinian losses due to Israel's control of only natural resources (water, natural gas, oil, and agricultural land) are estimated at $2.63 billion annually.

Last September, a World Bank report said that granting Palestinian businesses access to Area C would increase Palestinian Authority revenues by 6% of GDP.

According to a 2014 World Bank report, the Palestinian economy’s losses from Israel’s control of Area C amount to $3.4 billion annually.

In November 2021, a report prepared by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimated the losses of the Palestinian economy at about $58 billion as a result of the Israeli closures in the Palestinian territories during the period between 2000-2019, according to the Palestinian News Agency.

The total budget of the Palestinian Authority is about $10.5 billion for 2022, with total expected revenues of $4.7 billion, and expenditures of 5.8 billion.

According to international laws and conventions, Palestinians have the right to exploit their natural resources. The United Nations General Assembly voted several times in favor of a draft resolution entitled “Sovereignty over Natural Resources,” which provides for the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and their right to claim compensation as a result of any loss, exploitation or depletion of its natural resources.