Chapter Fourteen Mining Companies

  The plane landed at the international airport in Gaza City, Gaza Strip at 9:00 local time. After getting off the plane, we were led directly to a car by local reception personnel. This airport is called an international airport, but in my opinion, it is far less than one-tenth the size of Taoyuan Airport in my hometown, and there is no formal terminal building, just a broken jeep parked on the runway where the plane stopped, with us three people and two people who came to pick us up, a total of five people, heading out of the airport.

  According to my conversation with Jiao Ge at that time, Jiao Ge had a mining company under his name. This mining company, which integrated geological surveying, new energy development, exploration and drilling, bid for a tender from the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructures at that time and went to the disputed area to explore oil and natural gas.

  And this seemingly ridiculous Israeli delegation's behavior of exploring energy within Palestine has actually gained recognition from the Palestinian authorities, and so a team of over 400 Chinese people led by Jiao Ge was divided into batches and entered the Gaza Strip in batches, divided into dozens of groups to conduct energy exploration on the vast and narrow disputed territory.

  It wasn't until the end of last year, or December 24th, 2007 at around 4am local time, that after thirteen drillings, it was confirmed that the area had a rich oil reserve, and an even richer natural gas reserve in deeper rock layers. This caused big trouble, although the project continued, the two countries couldn't agree on who owned the vast energy resources of this disputed region.

  However, in view of the good relations between Palestine and our country, the Palestinian authorities have never imposed any restrictions on personal freedom or discourteous behavior on the more than 400 Chinese members of Jiao Ge's exploration team, and even set up a special protection mechanism for them, but this has also made the problem more serious.

  As large equipment was shipped out of the country to local ports, the project was re-established. After the exploration team really struck oil, the two countries also formally clashed again over the ownership of this oil field. Due to the fact that Jiao Ge's exploration team was actually under the control of the Pakistani side, the mineral representative unilaterally terminated the contract for further cooperation and cleared the exploration tail payment. A mining company's exploration team was also bid in the United States and entered the disputed area for exploitation.

  The conflict, which was originally within the controllable range, escalated. Hamas, the de facto controller of the Gaza Strip, ordered its military forces to attack the American exploration team's extraction site, which was protected by Israeli forces. This attack caused the situation to develop in an irreversible direction. The Israeli mineral representative sent a telegram to the Zhongji Company, giving them three days to withdraw the 400-strong Chinese exploration team. If they did not withdraw within three days, Israel would bomb the exploration team's extraction site.

  That's why I accompanied Jiao Ge to the Gaza Strip in Palestine. As soon as I got on the plane, I was a little scared because I vaguely remembered that I had seen a set of photos of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the past, which recorded an airport in Gaza City being bombed by Israel. Fortunately, this jeep has left the airport and is walking in the general urban area of the broken city.

  That night, several people checked into the most luxurious hotel in Gaza City. After a simple dinner, I, who was worried and anxious, went to Jiao Ge's room wanting to discuss with him the danger of Gaza City. However, when I knocked on Jiao Ge's door with thick carpet, it was Ping Shu who opened the door. It seemed that Ping Shu's task this time was also to protect Jiao Ge's safety.

  As soon as I entered the house, I saw Jiao Ge still looking at that not very thick thread-bound book. Of course, it might not be the same one as before. When he saw me coming in, he didn't seem surprised and gestured for me to sit across from him. Before I could say anything, Jiao Ge spoke up first: "Little Hua brother, are you thinking of asking about that big or small matter? Why did your brother bring you along with Ping Shu to make a special trip?"

  Older brother Jiao saw me nodding, and continued with a slight smile: "This matter is not big, after all, the Palestinian mineral representative mentioned our old relationship and did not directly bomb us for three days. This matter is not small, although Hamas has received recognition from our country, but in the matter of bombing the mining point, I have already reflected on it to the contact person of Hamas. The other side made an official statement saying that Palestine has the ability to guarantee the safety within its territory and can ensure the integrity of Gaza's sovereignty without being invaded."

  When I heard this, I thought it was nonsense. The Gaza Strip was bombed, and Hamas' three leaders didn't take any serious action. In 2014, hundreds of civilians died in the Gaza Strip, and only a few dozen people died in direct confrontations. The area that suffered the most damage was the Shuja'iyya neighborhood where several people lived. It's really ridiculous.

  But then I suddenly thought, doesn't that mean the mining operation can't be stopped? I immediately looked at Jiao Ge opposite me, but he didn't raise his head and was still reading. So I turned my head to look at Ping Shu beside me, who seemed to understand, nodded in agreement with what I was thinking.

  My heart is like it's been trampled by 10,000 horses, over 400 of our compatriots! I quickly asked Jiao Ge: "What day is today? Have we reflected this to the embassy? Doesn't our country have a consulate here?"

  Although I clearly remember that the later generations did not hear about Israel bombing Gaza, causing large-scale casualties among our compatriots, I still can't help but feel tense. After all, it's more than 400 lives, and they are still the lives of compatriots. Although my identity on the surface is no longer a Chinese person, I still feel extremely anxious.

  Old Jiao put down the thread-bound book in his hand, used a leaf as a bookmark to insert it into the page he was reading, closed the book and then said to me: "I've tried all the methods I can think of. The Consulate General is located in Ramallah, which is a central city on the west bank of the Jordan River. It may not be effective in this Gaza Strip, after all, both sides just finished fighting last year. Although our country recognizes Hamas, it's not necessarily helpful."

  Jiao Ge took a sip of his own tea, and then spoke faintly: "As for what day it is, actually there's a time difference between the two places, and it's not clear how to count the days, whether it's counted from nightfall or after 24 hours. The mineral representative didn't explain it clearly either. If we count from nightfall, considering the time difference, it should be today from dusk till tomorrow dawn."

  Isn't this the present now? Jiao Ge is sitting so steadily, I think the workers must have withdrawn, otherwise how could they be drinking tea and reading books so peacefully? My worries gradually subsided as I followed Jiao Ge and Ping Shu to slowly drink tea.

  Unexpectedly, the door was knocked again before ten minutes had passed. The man who came in was the middle-aged man with a scholarly appearance who had picked me up at the airport earlier. Ping Shu called him Xu Gong, and I thought he might be a geological engineer or something like that. Since my father is also a geotechnical engineer, I am very familiar with the smell of soil on intellectuals, which is rare except for those who steal tombs and excavate artifacts. At this moment, Xu Gong's face was anxious, obviously something unexpected had happened again.