SINCE the announcement of a major natural gas find in the Eastern Mediterranean, extending into Egypt's territorial waters, no Egyptian official has commented on the find, even though Israel has rushed to demarcate the limits of its maritime waters with Cyprus, as it obviously wants a share of the gas too. But Turkey is not happy about this, as the Turkish part of the island of Cyprus is being left out of this process. Meanwhile, other regional countries, including Palestine, have followed Egypt's example by not claiming any right to the big gas field that the American Geological Authority (AGA) estimates could contain reserves of up to 122 trillion cubic feet. Will the Arab countries let this precious wealth be swallowed up by the Zionist State, which continues to swallow up the Palestinians' natural resources in the occupied territories? Or will they claim their rights to this find, according to UN maritime accords that specify each country's territorial waters? The Israeli opposition has urged the government in Tel Aviv to swiftly exploit the new gas field that they believe could meet Israel's natural gas requirements for many decades and even leave it with a surplus for export. This new find could trigger more regional conflicts that could end in war, if Israel continues to ignore the Arabs' rights. However, if handled wisely, this gas find could also have the opposite effect, promoting peace in the region and even co-operation between Israel and its Arab neighbours, as well as Cyprus and Turkey, which could together construct a joint pipeline for exporting this gas to Europe. Apparently, this won't happen in the climate of enmity prevailing the region, because of the Israeli insistence on occupying Arab land. At the local level, the Egyptian Government should start considering how best to exploit another giant natural gas field the AGA says exists in the Nile Delta and could contain some 323 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This major field, nearly triple the size of the offshore field in Eastern Mediterranean, should be invested in, as it could cover our needs of this important source of energy, cutting our dependence on import of different oil products. It would allow Egypt to rely more on natural gas for generating energy, with a surplus for export. Profits from this major find could help finance giant projects for generating electricity from solar energy and wind, to ensure the country's has a continual supply of energy if and when it runs out of fossil fuels.
