By David Dolan
DDolan.com
Israel is located on the fringes of the single largest oil producing region on earth. Despite this fact, Israelis have been paying well over four dollars a gallon for gasoline for many decades now — at least triple what residents of neighboring Arab countries shell out. This is due to the fact that most regional Arab oil rich states refuse to sell petroleum products to the Jewish state, forcing Israeli companies to purchase oil from far away places like Mexico and Norway.
Despite recent discoveries of large natural gas deposits off of Israel’s northern Mediterranean coast, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to make his country a global leader in developing alternative energy sources. He has put forward a plan to spend some five hundred million dollars to help research alternative energy sources over the next ten years, hoping that amount might be matched by private investors.
Government officials say they do not expect to develop one single substitute for oil, but rather a range of new and upgraded technologies that could help lessen international dependence on dwindling oil supplies. They add this would bless Israel and the entire world.
Related Links
Israel searches for alternative energy sources - World Tribune Renewable energy research center to be established in southern Israel - First Science News Golan Heights wind farm construction to begin soon - Jerusalem Post Israel bids to end global oil dependency by 2020 - Ha'aretz Israel to Invest $537M In Developing Alternative Fuels - Israel Diamond Portal Holy War for the Promised Land: Israel at the Crossroads - David Dolan (Book) 
