Texan students visiting the Jacob Project Oil Field in Wadi Ara and sign at site entrance
Texan's attending a seminar at Givat Haviva couldn't believe their eyes when their International Dept. guide pointed out a Texan flag flapping in the wind at the end of an onion field near the campus!
The students, studying for MAs in International Relations, were all – except for one – from Texas and accompanied by Professor Larry Hufford and Dr. Aaron Tyler from the International Relations department of St. Mary's University, San Antonio.
The flag, one of five on poles at the entrance to an oil rig set up in the onion field of Kibbutz Ma'anit is about to be moved - together with the rig that is in the process of being dismantled and moved to another site just down the road, on the other side of Givat Haviva.
An American flag is also blowin' in the wind as well as that of Texas, together with those of Israel and Turkey and what looks like an Italian flag. The laborers on site are apparently from Turkey and the massive oil rig belongs to a Turkish drilling company.
Approached by Lydia (International Department lecturer/guide) who explained that the students were from Texas, one of the Israeli project managers agreed to open the gate, allow the students and staff in to the compound and explained about the Joseph Project and the Dallas based Zion Oil and Gas Company founded by an Evangelical Christian from Texas who firmly believes that if oil is not to be found at this particular site then it is obviously somewhere in one of those nearby.
The project manager told the fascinated Texans that it was not just a bible prophecy that had brought about drilling at the site on and off for the last ten years but also geological evidence of the presence of oil in the area. But where? A tiny amount was discovered boosting the belief that the black gold was definitely in the area but so deep down a special rig needed to be erected to go down over 20,000 feet.
In Biblical times the tribe of Menashe resided in the area now known as Wadi Ara in Arabic and Nachal Ir'ron in Hebrew. A large range of hills bears the name of that tribe to this day, as does the regional council. The Zion Oil and Gas Company have been drilling for oil in the same fields where the tribes of Menashe and Ephriam also produced oil, but the latter's came from harvesting olive trees!
Permission to drill for oil in the soil of Menashe was awarded to a devout Texan Evangelical Christian, John Brown – the founder and director of The Zion Oil and Gas Company who named it The Joseph Project as the site, belonging to Kibbutz Ma'anit, borders on the lip of the Dotan Valley, the site where Joseph was purportedly thrown down the well by his brothers.
As site manager Dan explained, drilling was begun not only on the belief from what John Brown read in the scriptures but also geological findings and the fact that before Mr. Brown made his first attempt over a decade back there had been an Israeli attempt in the area.
The Texan students visited the drill site at a time when the collecting of a huge harvest of onions was going on in the non-cordoned off area of the field.
The overpowering smell of the multi-layered onions led one of the students to comment that there seemed to be more reasons than the one to cry in the field in present times but who knows, maybe there will be oil filled tears of joy at some time in the near future.
Photos & Text: Lydia Aisenberg
