Israeli Natural Gas First Customer: Palestinian Power Company

Back in the everyday world, the "intractable" sides of an elusive peace settlement are engaged in mutually beneficial business agreements; Israel's first natural gas contract goes to the Palestinian Authority. 

Leviathan, Israel's largest natural gas offshore reserve, will supply the Palestinian Power Generation Company with fuel for a new power plant near Jenin. And not just in the short term; the agreement assures natural gas from Leviathan to the Jenin site for the next 20 years.

Also in the works is a plan to fill Jordan's energy needs. Of course, Jordan does have a peace agreement with Israel, but the advantages of Israeli supplied natural gas are notable: According to Bloomberg news, "For Jordan, which has seen fuel imports from Egypt disrupted by pipeline bombings in Sinai, deliveries from Israel would help to boost security of supply." 

It is also notable that business reporting, because it cheers for business and not for conflict news, often does not frame Israel negatively. Here, the International Business Times even includes, as an aside, the fact that the PA rather than Israel has governmental authority in the West Bank: 

Currently, the Palestinian Authority, which governs most of the Palestinian population of the West Bank, accounts for around 8 percent of Israel’s total electricity demand – and the Palestinian portion of that demand is increasing by approximately 6 percent annually, reported the Jerusalem Post.
Not only will the construction of the $300 million power plant help spur the local economy in Jenin, the new energy resource will help continue the recent economic growth in the West Bank.

The headline does have spin:  "Forget John Kerry's Shuttle Diplomacy: Israel and Palestinians Sign Historic Energy Deal."  

Against Israel Boycott: Ninety-Nine University Presidents So Far

Ninety-nine university presidents have come out against academic boycott of Israel and the number is growing every day. This is remarkable.

Perhaps, the small number (three) and small size of the professional organizations endorsing boycott, along with the enormous media coverage given to the recent boycott vote by the Association of American Studies, has prompted university administrators to get out in front of the issue before more divisive academic calls for boycott occur. Perhaps a real concern for academic freedom and fairness prompting major university presidents to speak out encourages the rest to join in.  Included so far are the University of California, Davis, San Diego, Irvine, and Berkeley, the City University of New York, Stanford, Harvard, Cornell, Yale, Johns Hopkins, University of Chicago, Princeton, MIT and a long list of other schools; the list is impressive.

Will this impact the amount of attention given to singling out Israel, among all the countries of the world, for condemnation by professors?  Or will some feel emboldened to "speak truth to power" across the faculty/administration divide?

Encouraging, however, is that the largest professional organization of faculty: the American Association of University Professors, which took a position condemning academic boycotts in 2005, issued a new statement specifically addressed to the ASA opposing boycotts of Israel. (Is any other country boycotted by academics?)

Whatever happens next, the groundswell of response against boycott from university leaders across the US speaks loudly and reasonably for the university as a center for the "free exchange of ideas."  Boycotts accomplish only the shutting down of any possible discussion.

Now, if the media will give as much space to the many against, as they do to the few for boycott, we'll really be getting somewhere.


UPDATE -- More than 200 University presidents now have opposed the boycott.