"Re: Illegality of the Fourth Offshore Tender and Gas Drilling in the Palestinian Territorial Waters and Exclusive Economic Zone", 5th February 2024

We hereby appeal to you to act to: a. revoke the licenses for exploratory gas drilling granted under the Fourth Offshore Tender, Zone G, which would extend in blocks that intrude into the Palestinian territorial waters and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) adjacent to Gaza Strip...

On 29 October 2023, amid the Gaza war, the Ministry of Energy announced the successful bids for two of the aforementioned zones, granting six licenses for Zone G, and six additional licenses for Zone I...

A precise map drawn up for the purpose of examining the zones that was included in the tender... indicates that large areas of Zones G, H and E lie beyond Israel’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and substantially encroach upon Palestine’s territorial sea and EEZ...

The State of Israel does not have the authority to operate in the encroached-upon areas, since this maritime area does not belong to the State of Israel and is not a maritime area in which Israel has exclusive economic rights...

The tenders, issued under Israeli domestic law, constitute annexation of the Palestinian maritime area under effective Israeli control, since they attempt to circumvent the norms of IHL and apply Israeli domestic law to the Palestinian maritime area in relation to the management and exploitation of natural resources...

Such activity most blatantly violates the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, encompassing the management of its natural resources in the encroached-upon areas. The right to self-determination includes free determination of the political status of the Palestinian people and its economic, social and cultural development (Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), while the right to sovereign power over natural resources is an integral part of the right to self-determination, including in its economic sense...

The tenders in question are illegal and contrary to customary maritime law, since the definition of the zones within the tender contravenes the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982... While most countries are signatories to the Convention, Israel is not; however, it has long been established that most of its provisions are considered binding since they form part of customary international law, including provisions regarding the definition of the concept of an ‘exclusive economic zone’ (EEZ), which is considered one of the innovations of the UNCLOS.