From Resistance to Reliance: How Arab Energy Ended Up Powering Israeli Genocide

As Syria is bombed yet again in real time, we are reminded — with painful clarity — that normalization with a colonial power built on domination and resource extraction brings nothing but devastation. What began as resistance to US-Israeli imperialism has, over the decades, morphed into complicity.

This blog post explores how Arab regimes went from wielding energy as a tool of opposition to fueling the very machinery of occupation, apartheid, and genocide. 

From Embargoes to Energy Dependency: What Happened?

In 1973, Arab oil producers imposed an oil embargo in response to U.S. support for Israel during the October War. They demanded Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian lands occupied in 1967. 

The effects were serious:

• Oil prices quadrupled
• A global recession followed
• The U.S. economy alone lost $15 billion
• Over half a million jobs were lost within six months

It was one of the rare moments where Arab regimes used their leverage to challenge the imperialist order. But that moment didn’t last.

The U.S. Counterattack: Breaking Arab Leverage

Washington quickly moved to ensure this kind of defiance would never be repeated. The U.S. launched Project Independence to pursue domestic energy self-sufficiency, and began a multifaceted campaign to weaken Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)’s influence.

This campaign went far beyond economics:

• It involved wars and sanctions targeting key oil-producing countries
• It pressured Arab regimes toward normalization with Israel
• It encouraged deals that tethered their economies to Western and Israeli interests

By the 1990s and 2000s, normalization became a diplomatic domino effect:

• 1979: Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel
• 1994: Jordan followed
• 2020 onward: UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan signed on through the Abraham Accords

Normalization Through Dependency

What’s often branded as “cooperation” is in reality manufactured dependency. Through soft power and coercion, the U.S. and its allies ensured Arab regimes remained politically subdued and economically reliant on Western and Israeli infrastructure.

This was achieved through a familiar imperialist toolkit:

• Borders: Fragmenting pan-Arab unity into fragile, client nation-states
• Economic Control: Enforcing debt, privatization, and neoliberal “development”
• Military Presence: Over 19 U.S. bases now dot the region
• Destabilization: Fueling wars under the guise of democracy
• Divide & Conquer: Fostering ethnic and sectarian divides
• Cultural Imperialism: Replacing indigenous knowledge systems with Western narratives through soft power

Jordan: A Case Study in Engineered Energy Dependence

Jordan offers a stark example of how normalization was tied to economic entrapment.

• In 2014, Jordan became the first Arab country to sign a gas deal with Israel — worth $10 billion over 15 years.
• In 2022, it entered a UAE-financed “Energy-for-Water” deal, exporting solar energy to Israel in exchange for desalinated water.

A Jordanian minister candidly admitted: “We gave Israel the ability to commercialize its own gas.”

The result?
Jordan now relies on Israeli gas for up to 80% of its energy needs. This dependence props up Israel’s energy sector while draining regional autonomy and stolen Palestinian resources.

Egypt: From Exporter to Conduit for Israeli Gas

Egypt, once a gas exporter, has been dragged into a similar trajectory:

• Between 2001–2011, Egypt sold gas to Israel at below-market rates, supplying 40% of Israel’s demand.
• In 2012, Egypt canceled the deal — only to be punished with a $1.76 billion penalty.
• By 2019, Egypt had become both a gas importer and a key re-export hub for Israeli gas to Europe.

The 2022 Egypt–Israel–EU deal makes Egypt a central player in laundering Israeli energy to European markets. Today, Egypt depends on Israeli gas for around 17% of its needs.

When recent Israeli aggression against Iran temporarily halted gas exports, both Egypt and Jordan were forced to activate emergency energy plans.

Eco-Normalization: Greenwashing the Colonial Project

In recent years, energy normalization has expanded beyond fossil fuels into the realm of renewables, under the banner of “eco-cooperation.” But this too is deeply political.

Key developments include:

• 2019: Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum launched, managing “cooperation” between Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Cyprus, Greece, Italy and France over gas — including offshore Gaza
• 2020–2022: Israel signed deals with the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Jordan on renewable energy, water infrastructure, and pipeline access
• 2022: Arab states partnered with Israeli companies to advance solar and green energy projects — often on stolen Palestinian land

Let’s be clear: This is not “energy” cooperation, but rather manufactured dependence. It is a strategic move to integrate Israel into Arab economies in a dominant position, while limiting Arab sovereignty and nurturing its genocidal machine.

As Palestinian climate organizer Manal Shqair writes:

Eco-normalization projects “integrate Israel into the Arab region’s economic and energy spheres in a dominant position, thereby creating new dependencies (via energy access and control) that further advance the normalization agenda…while reinforcing its political and diplomatic power in the region and worldwide”

No, Israel is not making the desert bloom. [hyperlink]

Why Ending Energy Cooperation with Israel Is a Regional Imperative

This struggle is not just about Palestinian rights and stolen natural resources. It’s about reclaiming Arab sovereignty, political will, resources and the right to chart a future free from colonial control.

Ending energy cooperation with Israel is how we:

• Stop funding genocide with our tax money
• Reclaim national dignity from puppet regimes
• Build energy systems that serve people, not empires
• Resist normalization not just in words, but in infrastructure

Join the Global Energy Embargo for Palestine

The global campaign to halt energy flows sustaining Israeli apartheid is gaining momentum.

Get involved: Visit https://palenergyembargo.com/get-involved/
Explore resources, toolkits, and mobilization guides to help cut the fuel lines to colonial violence.

This is our collective fight: for Palestine, for regional dignity, and for a just, sovereign energy future.

Do you want to dig more?

• Global Energy Embargo For Palestine Campaign 
• Hafawa Rebhi, “Why Arab States Aren’t Using Oil as a Weapon Against Israel”
• Crisis Group, “Rethinking Gas Diplomacy in the Eastern Mediterranean”
• Manal Shqair’ “No, Israel Is Not Making the Desert Bloom”
• Al-Haq, “COP27: Cooperation with Israel on Climate without Palestinian Self-determination Entrenches Colonial Climate Vulnerability of Palestinians”
• Esraa Al Araj, “Gas Flow Halted from Leviathan Field”
• Abraham Accords Peace Institute, “2023 /  2022  / 2021 Annual Reports”