Israel officially allows oil drilling in disputed Golan Heights

I apologize in advance if this is already posted the new search engine does not seem to like all the headings i type in.

Well isn?t this interesting and provocative.

Here is a little info on the Golan Heights for those of you who don?t know, from wiki:

As a geopolitical region, the Golan Heights is the area captured and occupied by Israel from Syria in the Six-Day War, which subsequently effectively annexed the territory in 1981. This region includes the western two thirds of the geological Golan Heights, as well as the Israeli occupied part of Mount Hermon.

The Golan Heights was under Israeli military administration from 1967 to 1981. In 1981, Israel passed the Golan Heights Law,[14] which applied Israeli "laws, jurisdiction and administration" to the Golan Heights. Although the law in effect annexed the territory to Israel, it was not formally annexed.[93] The area was administered as part of Israel?s North District.
Israel's action was not recognised internationally[94] and United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 which declared the Golan Heights an Israeli occupied territory continues to apply. Israel maintains that it may retain the area as the text of Resolution 242 calls for "safe and recognised boundaries free from threats or acts of force".[17]

Occupied territory that is now going to be mined and exploited, as well as defended by Israel and western interests.

Here is a bit of info on the oil/gas exploration

In the early 1990s, the Israel National Oil Company (INOC) was granted shaft-sinking permits in the Golan Heights. It estimated a recovery potential of two million barrels of oil, equivalent at the time to $24 million. During the Yitzhak Rabin administration (1992?1995), the permits were suspended as efforts were undertaken to restart peace negotiations between Israel and Syria. In 1996, Benjamin Netanyahu granted preliminary approval to INOC to proceed with oil exploration drilling in the Golan.[154][155][156] INOC began undergoing a process of privatization in 1997, overseen by then-Director of the Government Companies Authority (GCA), Tzipi Livni. During this time, it was decided that INOC's drilling permits would be returned to the state.[157][158] In 2012, National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau approved exploratory drilling for oil and natural gas in the Golan.[159]

To be honest, I just see this as another contentious issue between Israel/US and Syria/Iran. Borders seem to expand and resources exploited for the benefit of a few.

rt.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

edit on 21-2-2013 by MDDoxs because: (no reason given)

Source: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread928307/pg1

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