prompting BG to withdraw in 2007.96 The main reason for the breakdown in the negotiations was that Israel wanted to pay only $2 per cubic foot of imported gas instead of the market rate of $5 to $7,97 a condition that the PA and international developers could not agree to.98 Israel’s reasons for blocking Palestinians’ right to extract and benefit from their natural gas resources are not necessarily rooted in a desire to exploit those resources itself, as its own natural gas reserves are sufficient to meet its current and future energy needs.99 It can only be surmised, therefore, that this move is not only part of the wider policy of denial of access but is also a punitive measure alongside its closure of Gaza.100 This objective of hegemonic control over the oPt’s power supply could arguably be considered a means of establishing domination over Palestinians and their quality of life, one that can be used to lower this quality at will in an effort to punish or compel. Currently, Palestinians in the oPt are forced to rely almost entirely on Israel for energy, with small amounts also imported from Jordan into the West Bank and from Egypt into Gaza.101 As a result, petroleum and electricity costs are amongst the PA’s steepest expenses,102 with an annual price tag of over $1.5 billion.103 This makes energy prices for Palestinians in the oPt some of the highest in the world, putting a huge strain on the Palestinian economy.104 Furthermore, the amount of energy received is not enough to meet Palestinian needs. The population of the West Bank currently consumes 860 megawatts (MW) per year, and is expected to consume 1,310 by 2020; in Gaza, the current demand is 410 MW and is expected to rise to 855 MW in 2020. However, while energy supply to the West Bank is relatively stable, people in Gaza receive around half of what they need, consuming around 210 MW per year. Gaza’s energy plant, already functioning at half-capacity before the 2014 war on Gaza, was only able to produce 60 MW out of the 96 Tim Boersma and Natan Sachs, Gaza Marine: Natural Gas Extraction in Tumultuous Times?, Brookings Institution, 2015, 2, available at: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/GazaMarine-web.pdf [hereinafter Boersma and Natan, Gaza Marine]. 97 Kattan, “The Gas Fields off Gaza,” supra note 93. 98 ARIJ, Economic Cost of the Israeli Occupation, 13, supra note 94. 99 John Reed, “Israel signs pipeline deal in push to export gas to Europe,” Financial Times, 3 April 2017, available at: https://www.ft.com/content/78ff60ca-184c-11e7-a53d-df09f373be87 [accessed 18 August 2017]. 100 Kattan, “The Gas Fields off Gaza,” supra note 93. 101 Boersma and Natan, Gaza Marine, 4-5, supra note 96. 102 Kattan, “The Gas Fields off Gaza,” supra note 93. 103 Mustafa, “Palestine’s Oil and Gas Resources,” supra note 92. 104 Ibid. 34