The Earth Shift

Q:    Esteemed HS, did the leaders of Hamas, who decided to attack Israel on October 7th, anticipate the response to include what has developed since then?
C:    No. That a response would occur was anticipated yes, but Hamas leaders extrapolated the expected reply from many examples of Israeli counterstrikes, but did not expect an existential threat to their organization.

Q:    When will Israeli troops stand down and withdraw?
C:    When Israel believes their penicillin has driven away the infection permanently.

Q:   The dead Palestinians....
C:    Many are Hamas fighters, more than ⅔.

​Q:    But the innocent victims....
C:    Hamas leaders should be consulted about this, in addition to Israelis. Both should answer these questions.

Q:    The images of Israeli forces finding bombs and other weapons in hospitals, how much propaganda is included, or is it all propaganda?
C:     It is accurate. Israeli forces need not store weapons this way, but have weapons just the same. A weapon is a weapon, just a tool. Who are the people with them is what matters.

Q:    The allegation that Israeli leaders somehow influenced or controlled the 7th October 2023 attacks, to justify a counterattack to then conduct ethnic cleansing; any truth to this?
C:     No. 

Q:     The allegation that Israeli plans to develop crude oil & natural gas but must attack Gaza first, any truth to that?
C:      No.

Q:     Are there undeveloped crude oil and natural gas formations in the area?
C:     Yes.

Q:     Does the population density make exploration and production difficult?
C:      Yes and no; the money to be earned from such production could be used to relocate people displaced, but the principal reasons development has not occurred many years after the formations were discovered and identified, are twofold; no crude oil refining capacity exists within economically feasible pipeline distances, and the cost to construct oceanside export terminals to transport crude oil to refineries elsewhere, is not economically feasible. Natural gas can be moved a good distance by pipeline, but Russia has already exploited these markets. Local use of natural gas, given the region's climate, is not vigorous thus not economically attractive enough to incur the expense and investment required to produce it. Liquification and ocean transport of the natural gas would lose money immediately then permanently. 

Of the greatest obstacles to investment are instability and hostilities. Equipment, technology and knowledge to successfully produce & distribute natural gas, crude oil or derived products of either, will require foreign investment and, at a minimum, foreign workers to some degree, especially in leadership roles. As long as the threat of another Hamas attack against Israel looms, and an Israeli counterstrike is assured, neither investors nor engineers nor workers, will commit. The investors do not fear Hamas, they fear the Israeli response.