ISRAEL: Natural gas deposits stir waters with Lebanon

Five years after what Israel calls the Second Lebanon War, the border seems quieter than ever -- although this could always change.

The war prompted the Israeli military to dust off routine drilling of forces and other things neglected due to budget cuts and the assumption that "those kinds of wars" were gone. It also showed that the civilian population was the new front line, after a third of the country was pinned down in bomb shelters for a month. 

Hezbollah has turned a corner too, Israelis observe, improving its capabilities and replenishing its arsenal above and beyond what it had in 2006, which calls into question the effectiveness of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the war and was supposed to curb such armament.

Fifty tons of explosives could be dropped on Israel in the next war, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told a parliamentary committee recently, quickly adding that Israel could retaliate with 1,500 tons of its own extremely precise ammunition.

But at present, Israel and Lebanon are fighting a different kind of war -- over maritime borders and economic issues. If past maritime disputes were mostly about fishing rights, today's squabble concerns a far bigger matter -- billions of dollars worth of natural gas.

EGYPT: Pipeline explosion underlines opposition to gas deal with Israel

The third attack by saboteurs in six months against the pipeline supplying natural gas to Israel and Jordan underscores security lapses and the opposition of many Egyptians to their nation's contract to ship low-cost energy to Israel.

Early-morning blasts Monday were carried out by masked men who tied up security guards and planted bombs at the Bir el Abd pipeline station near the town of Al Arish in the Sinai Peninsula. The official state news aganecy, MENA, reported that the assailants remotely activated the bombs by firing gunshots. No casualties were reported.

The pipeline was attacked two other times this year: a few days after the Feb. 11 overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak and a second assault on April 27 (pictured) that interrupted supplies to Israel for weeks.

Witnesses said Monday that flames streaked as high as 30 feet. MENA later quoted security sources as saying the incident was a terrorist attack. The fire was under control by Monday afternoon, but officials did not say when gas service would be restored. The Sinai is home to Bedouin tribes that have long complained of discrimination and have often clashed with police and security forces in a region known for weapons trafficking and other smuggling.  

IRAN: Constitutional watchdog rejects Ahmadinejad's bid as caretaker oil minister

Iran's conservative establishment struck hard again at President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday, squashing his bid to take over as the country's caretaker oil minister ahead of a controversial government restructuring plan he's pushing. 

The Guardian Council, a powerful body of clerics and jurists appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and parliament, ruled that Ahmadinejad's decision to dismiss the oil minister and name himself caretaker over the country's vast energy resources was "illegal," the semi-official Fars news agency reported (link in Persian).

The news report, by an agency close to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, said that the constitutional watchdog had not published a text of its decision and did not cite a source, but it said that Ahmadinejad's decision allegedly violated article 135 of the constitution, which governs the dismissal and appointment of Cabinet ministers.

The decision marks yet another blow to Ahmadinejad in a power struggle with Khamenei and his allies as the president tries to establish a legacy in the final stages of his term.

EGYPT: Pipeline blast halts gas exports to Israel, Jordan

An attack on a pipeline in the northern Sinai peninsula on Wednesday sent flames and a massive plume of smoke into the sky and cut off Egypt's natural gas supplies to Israel and Jordan for the second time in less than three months, according to the Egyptian Natural Gas Co. (GASCO).

The blast, which rocked the gas terminal of Al Sabil in the early hours of the morning, was described by Gov. Abdel Wahab Mabrouk as an “act of sabotage that didn’t claim lives.” Eyewitnesses said that flames from Al Sabil’s blast reached 65-feet high and startled residents, some of whom fled their homes.

"Valves controlling the flow of gas around the point of explosion were sealed to control the fire,” GASCO chief Magdi Tawfik was quoted as saying by state news agency, MENA. GASCO later announced that the fire was extinguished.

Mabrouk said an investigation found that five saboteurs drove a four-wheel-drive vehicle into the gas terminal, before planting and detonating explosives. They escaped.

ISRAEL: Israel admits to holding missing Gaza engineer

Derar Abu Sisi, an engineer and deputy manager of the Gaza power plant, was reported missing last month in Ukraine after he boarded a train to Kiev but never made it. 

First, bloggers reported it. Then came the mainstream foreign press, and finally, the story made it into the Israeli press via the revolving-door practice of censorship-approved quoting of foreign reports and maybe a few "I know but can't tell you" hints too. Israeli readers are accustomed to reading between the lines. A Palestinian human rights group has also now published Abu Sisi's account of his abduction.

A petition filed by an Israeli rights non-governmental organization wrested from the court permission for Israeli media to report with authority the basic information already out there, that the Palestinian engineer from Gaza is being held in Israel. Abu Sisi is in Shikma prison in southern Israel while being investigated. The gag order was only partially lifted and the full Israeli version of the circumstances of how he went missing in Ukraine and turned up in Israel won't be cleared for publication in Israel for another 30 days.

According to foreign reports, Abu Sisi arrived in Ukraine — where he had studied for a decade and earned his doctorate in electrical engineering — in late January. A few weeks later he boarded a late-night train to Kiev, where he was to meet a friend before going to the airport to meet his brother Yousef,  who was coming in from Holland and whom he hadn't seen in years.

A few hours after the train arrived with no Abu Sisi, his brother reported the engineer missing. Veronika, the engineer's Ukrainian wife, accused Israel's  Mossad intelligence agency of abducting her husband with the purpose of gaining information to sabotage the Gaza power plant. She told the press she didn't know what to tell their six children about their father, who had "disappeared off a train in a democratic country."

ISRAEL: As turmoil in Libya is expected to raise gasoline prices, officials urge breaking the oil addiction

As troubled regimes continue to go down, oil prices are moving up everywhere. The violent turbulence in Libya is expected to raise gasoline prices in Israel within the coming days.

The regional upheavals and energy issues barged into an open door in Israel, as gasoline prices have been a matter of public concern in recent weeks. A taxation tweak resulted in a series of price hikes that brought the price of gasoline to new highs in recent weeks and sent Israelis into a rage, with Facebook campaigns as well as less advanced modes of protest, such as a horse-and-carriage in the streets of one city.

It also put politicians on guard. After warnings that this could ultimately bring down the government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a perk-package to the public to offset rising prices and stave off the threat of a general strike. Now it looks like gasoline prices will go back up and Israelis will have to blame another leader for it.

The recent unrest throughout the region has made energy the topic du jour. The pipeline supplying Israel with natural gas from Egypt was shut down after it was sabotaged. To compensate for Egyptian gas -- 40% of Israel's consumption -- the country has doubled pumping from its one operational natural gas field, approaching depletion. If Egypt doesn't renew the gas supply, Israel will have to switch to other sources for energy, which will raise the price of electricity.

Between Egypt's gas-out and the Libya effect on oil, Israelis may soon be feeling the pinch as the price of instability makes its way up the food chain to transportation prices, commodities, airfares and the tourism industry.

The government has already been giving energy diversity much thought, with a national plan to develop alternative sources to wean transportation from its dependence on oil. Unlike electricity, largely produced oil-free, transportation in Israel relies nearly exclusively on oil.

In addition, Israel has its sights on producing 10% of the country's energy from renewable sources by the end of the decade. Next stop is solar energy, a logical move for a country with more than 300 sunny days a year.

The Renewable Energy Conference held this week couldn't have been a more timely opportunity to tie it all together.

Every time we stop for gas and pull out our wallets, part of our money goes to terror organizations, said Minister of National Infrastructure Uzi Landau at the conference Wednesday. "The money goes to Al Qaeda, Hamas and Iran," said Landau, equating buying fuel with fueling the enemy. But if part of the Arab world is hooked on the money, others must kick the habit. Oil is a powerful weapon in the struggle for the democratic world's future, and the way to win this battle is to become energy-independent.

Other officials have made a similar connection between turmoil and oil in recent days. This week, Minister for Regional Development Silvan Shalom said the real battle being waged is over hegemony in the Middle East and who gets to be the "landlord." The world needs to unite to prevent Iran from turning the Middle East into a hostile region and "taking over the world's oil reserves for the next 150 years," he said on radio.

***

"We all want to see freedom and democracy flourish in the Arab world," said Netanyahu this week. "We do not want to see tyranny that will trample human rights, block democratic reforms and threaten peace. Nothing would make us happier than advancing democracy in our area; this is good for peace, prosperity and security," he said. Supporters of democracy everywhere needed to be strengthened, including in Iran, which -- the prime minister warned -- might exploit the earthquake shaking the entire region to destroy any chance of democratic reforms "and turn out the lights."

 

-- Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem.

 

 

 

EGYPT: Protesters highlight Hosni Mubarak's wealth

Many protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square carried  signs Thursday that referred to President Hosni Mubarak and the number 70 billion.

Egypt's embattled president and his family's net worth is estimated at between $40 and $70 billion, according to experts' estimates.

Amaney Jamal, a political science professor at Princeton University, told ABC News that Mubarak's estimated net worth is comparable with that of other leaders in Persian Gulf countries.

Jamal said that Mubarak's assets were most likely in banks outside Egypt, possibly in Britain and Switzerland.

"This is the pattern of other Middle Eastern dictators so their wealth will not be taken during a transition. These leaders plan on this," she said.

ISRAEL: A controversial shale project and energy security

The suspension of Egyptian gas supply to Israel has lighted a fire under the feet of Israeli officials, businessmen and shareholders trying to assess how events in Egypt will affect Israel's energy economy.

Initial assessments that it is in Egypt's interests to keep the lucrative gas deals with Israel may prove right when the dust settles. But the shake-up in Egypt is a wake-up call for Israel, too.

Minister of National Infrastructures Uzi Landau urged hastened development of the Tamar gas field Sunday. Meanwhile, Israel can increase quantities from its southern reserve and may have to compensate for the loss of Egyptian gas by using more coal and oil-based fuels to produce electricity.

Israel was hoping to move away from such dirtier energy sources for various reasons, including a pledge to reduce greenhouse emissions. Recently the government approved a national plan to develop technologies to reduce global use of oil in transportation. Global dependence on oil and the countries that produce it is bad for both the environment and economic stability, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

But industries and economies still rely on fossil fuels. Increasing costs and depleting reserves are driving new technologies that, well, scrape the bottom of the barrel to produce energy.

And surprise (OK, maybe not to geologists) -- Israel is sitting on a potential fortune.

ISRAEL: Egypt gas pipeline explosion raises energy concerns

Israel's quest for cleaner energy sources just got muddied, with the explosion in a pipeline supplying natural gas from Egypt. The explosion occured at a measuring station in Arish and damaged the line supplying Jordan. The line supplying Israel was shut down at first as a precaution. This proved wise as it turned out that the fire overheated the pipe and compromised the entire supply line. It will take several days to cool and for the supply to resume.

The Merhav group, the Israeli partner in the EMG consortium that exports Egyptian gas to Israel, said Saturday it could take up to a week. According to news reports, Israel buys about $10 million worth of gas a week from Egypt in many long-term deals. Meanwhile, it's been reported that Egyptian businessman Hussein Salem, who owns 28% of EMG, has fled to Dubai- with $500 million.

Israel produces about 45% of its electricity from natural gas that comes from two main sources: 60% domestically from a reserve off Israel's southern shore, and from 40% from Egypt. Israel was hoping to get about 70% of its electricity from gas by the end of the decade, for environmental reasons as well as economic. Its southern field has reserves thought to be enough to last until the end of 2013 but could be depleted a year sooner if Egyptian supply isn't resumed.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held consultations Saturday morning with the ministries of national infrastructures and defense.  Israel is prepared for such a situation, Netanyahu said, and has the immediate possibility to switch to alternative energy and gas sources. National infrastructures minister Uzi Landau said that in coming days, the electric company could use gas, coal and even diesel if necessary to run its power plants. In the long run, extra costs could make their way down to the citizens, warn observers.

The Knesset's economics committee, the parliamentary body that oversees the issue, is scheduled to address related concerns Sunday. Committee chair Carmel Shama Hacohen told media Israel must take these scenarios into consideration, as well as possible terrorist threats to gas fields, exploration and energy facilities too. Security measures have been stepped up around all relevant facilities, now more clearly than ever a matter of strategic importance.

 Israel has large gas sources of its own — potentially, at least.

EGYPT: Pipeline fire erupts, disrupting gas flow to Jordan and sending warning to Israel

An Egyptian pipeline providing natural gas to Jordan was attacked Saturday near the North Sinai town of El Arish, disrupting gas flow and perhaps sending a stern warning to Israel and the region about the volatility of the political upheavals in Egypt.

Contradictory reports said the pipeline also provided gas to Syria and Israel.

An unnamed official told Agence France-Presse that the explosion had forced authorities to turn off the gas supply from a twin pipeline to Israel, located near the Gaza strip. Other news reports said the explosion had  targeted a pipeline that transports gas from the Egyptian city of Port Said to Israel, Syria, and Jordan.  

EGYPT: Chinese, Russian officials question U.N. secretary-general's remarks

Russia and China, nations that could veto U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s bid for a second term in office, have joined Egypt in criticizing his statements calling for President Hosni Mubarak to step down now.

China’s Ambassador Li Baodong said the political crisis in Egypt was an “internal affair that should be resolved by the people in Egypt,” when asked about Ban’s statements by Bloomberg News.

"These are extremely delicate internal matters that should be left to the sovereign states,” Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters Friday at United Nations headquarters in New York. “The UN should be dealing with its many tasks, which should not include poking fingers in the eyes of political leaders.”

EGYPT: Opposition plans to negotiate with military, not president

Arab satellite network Al Jazeera has reported that Egyptian opposition leaders plan to negotiate a transition government with the Egyptian army, which maintained a heavy presence throughout the country on Sunday, and not longtime President Hosni Mubarak.

Al Jazeera reporters blogged that protesters still crowded Cairo's Tahrir Square after 11 p.m. Sunday, calling for Mubarak to resign. At one point, protesters spelled out "Down with Mubarak" with their bodies, the network reported.

Heavy machine-gun fire could be overheard Sunday night as thousands of protesters marched through downtown Alexandria, CNN's Nic Robertson reported. Army troops were positioned in various parts of the port city, having moved some of their checkpoints over the weekend.

Maajid Nawaz, executive director of the Quilliam Foundation, a London-based think tank, told Al Jazeera that Mubarak was a liability to political allies within Egypt and overseas.

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-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske