Solar Energy as National Security in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

• In Event: The Political Economy of Energy

Abstract

Security concerns have long motivated innovation and policy in Israel, and solar energy technologies have become an integral part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well. This article examines how Israel’s defense establishment promoted research and investment in solar technology as a national security priority throughout Israel’s history, especially following its major wars, and how it has become a security priority for Palestinian statehood. The Israeli government first encouraged and subsidized the development of solar water heaters in the early 1950s to become more energy-independent after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and then made their installation mandatory by law to withstand the Arab Oil Embargo following the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Following the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Israel began promoting decentralized Solar PV technology as a security mechanism designed to withstand rocket attacks by Hezbollah. On the other end of the conflict, both Palestinians and international organizations promoted off-grid solar PV panels with energy storage capacity in Gaza, the West Bank, and in East Jerusalem as a way to become more independent from the Israeli electricity grid during times of war. This solution is now also being promoted by the Israeli Ministry of Energy as a lesson from the 2023 war in Gaza, following the realization that the solar panels in Gaza still provided electricity during Israeli air raids, demonstrating the resiliency of this technology. In all of these cases, economic and environmental considerations took a backseat to security and political considerations when discussing the merits of solar technology. They thus won support across the political spectrum among both Israelis and Palestinians. Despite this support, this article concludes that numerous geographic, political, and technological constraints will make it unlikely for Israel to reach its goal of generating 30% of its electricity from solar power by 2030, or for Palestinians to effectively use solar panels to increase their energy independence.

Author

• Elai Rettig, Bar-Ilan University