Mass Israelis rally against "robbery" of natural gas resources

Thousands of Israelis took to the streets in major cities on Saturday evening in protest of a government's plan to let a U.S.-Israeli partnership keep control over the country's natural gas fields.

The protesters charged against what they dub as robbery of the natural gas resources discovered in 2009 and 2010 off the shores of Israel, as the government races ahead in the hopes of finalizing the agreement in two weeks.

The main protest took place in Tel Aviv, where at least 2,000 people blocked roads and chanted: "This gas belongs to us all" and "Break down the gas monopoly!"

Demonstrations were held in four other cities, including in Jerusalem and Caesarea, where hundreds of people rallied in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official residence and his private home.

The protesters demanded to cancel the monopoly of Texas-based Noble Energy and the Israel conglomerate Delek Group over Israel's newfound gas fields and to lower the gas prices. The two companies currently control all four natural gas fields in Israel.

The protesters also demand that there will be governmental supervision on gas prices, as in European countries. According to Netanyahu's plan, the government will set a maximum price of 5.6-5.8 U.S dollars per energy unit, a price much higher than the average rate of 2.3 dollars per energy unit in the U.S., the critics said.

"We demand the gas will be sold for a fair price, like in the U.S., for 2.7 dollars," Shani Michael, an organizer of the protest, told Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper. "There's no reason that gas should be more expensive here.

The gas should go to factories in the south, in order to fight unemployment in the Negev. This could help welfare and housing, and there's no reason only a few should reap the benefits," she added.

Prof. Yaron Zelicha, former accountant general at the Ministry of Finance, slammed the proposed gas outline, calling it "an organized robbery of the assets of Israel."

"Housing prices in Israel are most expensive in the Western world, vehicle prices in Israel are most expensive in the West, and now gas monopoly profits are the most exorbitant in the West," he said while speaking to a crowd of protesters in central Tel Aviv.

On Tuesday, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz unveiled a plan led by Netnayahu to allow Noble Energy and Delek to keep their control of the country's largest natural gas field, Leviathan.

However, Delek will have to sell its entire stakes in a second large gas field, called Tamar, within six years, and Noble will have to decrease its holdings to 25 percent, compared to it current 36 percent stake.

Both companies will have to sell two smaller gas fields, called Karish and Tanin. These fields constitute less than 10 percent of the overall gas reservoirs. Endit