Bookstore Glossary Library Links News Publications Timeline Virtual Israel Experience
Anti-Semitism Biography History Holocaust Israel Israel Education Myths & Facts Politics Religion Travel US & Israel Vital Stats Women
donate subscribe Contact About Home

PA Approves Plan to Use Israeli Natural Gas in Gaza Power Plant

(February 2021)

In November 2019, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has approved a proposal to operate the Gaza Strip’s power plant using Israeli natural gas and Qatari funding. The project was supposed to involve the construction of a 25-mile-long gas pipeline with three pumping stations along the Strip’s eastern border and cost $88 million. At the time, some critics objected to the plan on grounds the arrangement will reinforce Palestinian economic dependence on Israel.

The pipeline was never built and the Gaza economy deteriorated due to an ongoing energy crisis. In 2021, Qatar again pledged funds – this time $60 million – to build a pipeline to pump natrual gas now being extracted from the Leviathan field off the Israeli coast into Gaza through an extension from an existing pipeline in Israel. The EU also said it would help fund the project.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said the pipeline, which is expected to be completed in 2023, will “resolve the problem of electricity in Gaza completely.”a


Sources: Adnan Abu Amer, Al-Monitor, (November 15, 2019).
“Qatar Says It Will Fund $60-million Pipeline From Israel to Gaza,” Reuters, (February 25, 2021).