Gilad Atzmon writes:
The Cypriot press reported last week on a large joint Israeli-Cypriot military drill.
The following Israeli video publicises an elite Israeli commando brigade engaged in aggressive military manoeuvres around Cyprus’s Troodos mountain range.
How did this come about? How did the Cypriots, who have traditionally supported the Palestinian cause, become a province of the Israeli empire?
The answer is an Israel-Europe gas pipeline deal.
In the beginning of April we learned about a proposed 2,000 kilometre subsea pipeline connecting gas fields located offshore in Gaza and Cyprus with Greece and possibly Italy.
The pipeline agreement between Israel, Italy, Cyprus and Greece leaves both the Turks and the Palestinians out. While Gaza faces a critical energy crisis with electricity reduced to less than three hours a day, Israel aims to collect billions of dollars from significant natural gas reserves located off the Gaza shore and well within Palestinian territorial water (assuming such a term exist).
Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s energy minister, hailed the pipeline project expected to be in operation in he year 2025 as the “beginning of a wonderful friendship between four Mediterranean countries”.
Of course, not all concerned Mediterranean nations are included in the deal. We can foresee that this is a recipe for disaster: the pipeline and the gas installation are soft targets. The region is volatile. Cyprus is putting its sovereignty at risk. Within a short time, it may, God forbid, become a battleground for cynical global operators.
The Cypriot leadership knows that if it wants a pipeline that dispatches plundered Palestinian natural, the it must become an Israeli province. And, as the video reveals, Cyprus is now protected by its Israeli big brother.
The Israeli-Cypriot joint military drill was undertaken to deliver a message to Turkey and other regional players: any attempt to interfere with their gas theft project will be met by Israeli military brutality.
Source Article from http://www.redressonline.com/2017/06/why-has-cyprus-become-an-israeli-province/
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