Water Fact: October 17, 2022

Water Fact: October 17, 2022

Israel and Lebanon agree to ‘historic’ deal over maritime gas fields but politics might yet scuttle it

Significant reserves of natural gas were discovered in the Levant Basin off the coast of Israel and Lebanon early in the 21st century. Ever since then, a 330 square mile area of the Mediterranean Sea has been a potential flashpoint between the two countries which have technically been in a state of war with each other since 1948. The dispute over two particular gas fields (Karish and Qana) has been especially tense, with Hezbollah threatening to take action if Lebanese rights to resources in its maritime waters are not recognized by Israel.

On October 11, President Biden congratulated President Michel Aoun of Lebanon and caretaker Prime Minster Yair Lapid of Israel on what he called a “historic breakthrough.” Since the countries do not talk to each other, it took two years of painstaking negotiations with US mediators to reach an agreement that delineates the maritime border between them, recognizes Israel’s complete control over the Karish gas field and puts the development of Qana in Lebanon’s hands, with the stipulation that it would pay royalties to Israel amounting to about 17 percent of the revenue. How much that could be is unknown, as the exploration of Qana has not yet begun.

The calamitous collapse of Lebanon’s economy and energy sector made Aoun eager to reach a deal which Hezbollah head Nasrallah has endorsed, despite the US assertion that it guarantees that none of the revenues will go to the militia. Lebanon has denied that it represents an embrace of normalization with Israel. With the vote scheduled for November 1, Lapid is using it to bolster his election campaign. His chief rival, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has stated that “this is not a historic agreement. It’s a historic surrender.” It is not clear if the Knesset will give its approval to the agreement – or if it is even required to do so.

Polling shows voters’ shift toward support for Palestine

Polling shows voters’ shift toward support for Palestine

Multiple national polls* indicate a growing percentage of the Democratic electorate (including the Jewish electorate) is far more critical of Israel and supportive of justice for Palestinians than are their elected officials.  This trend is especially strong among young voters, but not limited to them.  What follows are some recent poll results.  

More Democrats Than Ever Support The Palestinian Cause, And That’s Dividing The Party(September 2022), Five Thirty Eight: 

Young people in particular view Palestinians favorably according to Pew Research Center data from March:  …”a solid majority of those ages 18 to 29 (61%) express favorable views toward the Palestinians, compared with 46% of those 50 and older.”

New polls: Democrats say Biden and members of Congress lean toward Israel more than they do (August 2022) Brookings Institute Polls: "Among Democrats who had an opinion, 33% said their representatives were leaning toward Israel more than they were, while 3% said their representatives were leaning more toward the Palestinians.”

Democrats View Palestine More Favorably Than Israel (May 2022), National Review

Fewer than one percent of US Democrats view Israel as top ally (April 2022) Middle East Eye:  

“… most Americans, 51 percent of respondents, opposed fully unrestricted aid to Israel if it continued to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank which many global bodies describe as being in contravention of international law.”

On specific issues, polls showed that a growing number of Democrats:

Oppose anti-BDS legislation:  “Majorities of Democrats (80%), Republicans (62%), and independents (76%) indicated opposition to laws penalizing people who boycott Israel, principally over the fact that these laws infringe on the constitutional right to free speech and peaceful protest.”  More than half of US students support boycott of Israel (September 2022)  

Support conditioning aid:  “For a few years now, the polls have consistently shown a majority of Democrats wanting to take action against Israeli settlements, including imposing sanctions, while Republicans and independents want to do nothing or limit opposition to words.”  In a poll of Jewish voters, the Jewish Electorate Institute (a groupled by prominent Jewish Democrats) found, “58% of respondents said it would be appropriate to restrict aid to Israel so it could not spend U.S. money on settlements.”

Support Betty McCollum’s bill:  Last year, Data for Progress reported that “72 percent of Democrats approved of Congresswoman Betty McCollum's legislation to restrict US funding to Israel used to detain Palestinian children or to demolish Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”

Think Israel has too much influence on US politics: “38% of all Americans (including 55% of Democrats, and 44% of those under 35 years old), say the Israeli government has “too much influence” on the U.S. government…”

Think Israel is an apartheid state:   According to a poll of Jewish voters commissioned by the Jewish Electorate Institute, 34% agreed that “Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is similar to racism in the United States,” 25% agreed that “Israel is an apartheid state” and 22% agreed that “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians.”

Sympathize with Palestinians as much as or more than with Israelis:  Democrats' views are now at a tipping point, with their sympathy for the Palestinians roughly matching their sympathy for Israel, while liberal Democrats have fully crossed the threshold and now sympathize more with the Palestinians.

Want more U.S. support for Palestine:  A June 2021 Poll found that many Democrats want more US support for Palestinians.

 Tell your Members of Congress that public opinion is shifting towards justice for Palestinians and you hope that they will take increasingly strong stands on this issue.

Thanks to Elsa Auerbach of Jewish Voice for Peace Boston for this excellent research.

*Brookings Institute Polls (article from August 2022);  another article from 2021

Univ of MD poll

National Review on Pew Poll, May 2022

Gallup  May 2022

AP June 2022

Times of Israel 

Jewish Electorate Institute

JTA on Jewish Electorate Institute survey



Water Fact: October 3, 2022

Water Fact: October 3, 2022

 

Israel’s repeated naval attacks on Gaza’s fishermen go unchecked and largely unnoticed

 

Imagine trying to feed your family by fishing from a small open boat, only to be attacked with live ammunition, high velocity gas bombs, water cannon spraying wastewater mixed with chemicals, and flares fired from swift Israeli naval vessels.   This shockingly common story rarely makes the Western media. 

 

Just in the single month of September 2022 Palestinian fishing boats along the Gazan coast were attacked on September 4, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 24, and 28.  The attacks resumed on October 1.  A September 14th press release issued by the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights described the assault on 2 fishing boats sailing within 7 nautical miles of Gaza’s coastline near Deir al-Balah.  Four fishermen were arrested and their boats confiscated.  According to the press release, since the beginning of 2022 Israeli forces have staged 340 attacks on Palestinian fishermen, injuring 16 people, including 3 children.  Forty-nine fishermen had been arrested, 7 children among them and 18 fishing boats had been confiscated. 

 

As poverty and hunger pervade the Gaza Strip 15 years after Israel imposed its closure, the number of registered fishermen has declined from 10,000 in the year 2000 to no more than 4,000 today.  It is not just the daunting physical dangers they face that has caused this decline.   Having been granted a 20-nautical-mile fishing zone under the 1995 Oslo Accords,  Palestinian fishermen are now barred from entering 85% of that area, and often forced to fish no more than 3 nautical miles from shore, where water can be polluted and fish are scarce.  

 

Israel began to restrict the area that it had agreed should be open to Palestinian fishermen after the 1999 discovery of gas reserves some 22 miles from Gaza’s coast, which it is determined to keep for itself.  See Fact #203.  

 

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