and other foreign countries, and they have suffered! From the Baker family, around 20 to 25 people left Gaza on a ship but the ship sank. Twenty-five people from the same family were on board; with their wives and children too. It’s been almost a year and a half or two since they left and no one has ever heard anything from them. When you receive no communication from a person for two or three months, you can consider them dead.” H. Rashad, 73-year old fisherman, Gaza. Interview: Gaza, 9 February 2017 Access to Natural Gas In 1999, a consortium led by British Gas (BG) discovered two gas fields off the coast of Gaza in the Palestinian maritime zone. The first, called ‘Gaza Marine,’ is 24 km from the shoreline, while the other ‘Border Field’ lies on both sides of the boundary between oPt and Israeli maritime zones. It is estimated that these fields could produce 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year for 20 years, and could generate up to eight billion dollars in revenue.92 This means that if allowed to develop and commercialize this gas, Gaza could go from being one of the poorest areas on earth, to being potentially one of the richest.93 However, Israel has obstructed this project at every turn, including “the extraction, sale and use of the gas.”94 According to the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem (ARIJ): “Israel’s de facto control of Gaza’s territorial waters has held back attempts to export Palestinian natural gas to international markets. Israel has refused to implement measures required to extend a pipeline to al-Areesh in Egypt (PIF, 2011); a prerequisite to liquefying the gas and exporting it to international markets. Israel has also refused to provide the necessary clearances required by developers (PIF, 2011).”95 Finally, Israel stymied negotiations led by BG to export gas into Israel, 92 Dr. Mohammad Mustafa, “Palestine’s Oil and Gas Resources: Prospects and Challenges,” Palestine Investment Fund, 30 July 2016, available at: http://www.pif.ps/page.php?id=85bcy34236Y85bc [accessed 17 August 2017] [hereinafter Mustafa, “Palestine’s Oil and Gas Resources”]. 93 Victor Kattan, “The Gas Fields off Gaza: A Gift or a Curse?” al-Shabaka, 24 April 2012, available at: https://al-shabaka.org/briefs/gas-fields-gaza-gift-or-curse/ [accessed 17 August 2017] [hereinafter Kattan, “The Gas Fields off Gaza”]. 94 The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ), The Economic Cost of the Israeli Occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, 2015, 13, available at: https://www.arij.org/files/arijadmin/2016/ The_Economic_Cost_of_the_Israeli_occupation_Report_upd.pdf [hereinafter ARIJ, Economic Cost of the Israeli Occupation]. 95 Ibid. 33