Two-thirds of Gaza without power

[MarketNeutral]

The sole power generator in the Gaza Strip has completely closed down, the head of the electric company announced Saturday, following a day of unheeded warnings that a humanitarian crisis was at hand.

Walid Sa'd Sayel, who also heads the Gaza power plant's board of directors, appealed to Arab, international, and Palestinian officials to urgently find a solution to the crisis, which has left two-thirds of the coastal enclave without electricity.

In a statement, Sayel termed the energy crisis "catastrophic," insisting that relevant authorities "rescue the Gazans, who are human beings first and foremost, and they rely on power as much as they need water and air. Without action, we face a humanitarian disaster of unprecedented scale."

Shortages have plagued the power plant since December 2009, when European Union officials handed over responsibility for fuel transfers to the Palestinian Authority, apparently at the PA's request so EU aid could be channeled into civil servant salaries. Ever since the handover, as well as the corresponding closure of the main fuel transfer terminal at Nahal Oz, fuel imports have fallen to 50 percent of recent capacity.

United Nations records show current imports represent just 46 percent of the estimated demand.

In its most recent report, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs listed imports for the last week of March as below half of the weekly fuel needed to fully operate the power plant. Imports have been below need since the Israeli-led siege of Gaza began in 2007, according to the UN report.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=275315

[Ponce]

Those who hold the nukes makes the rules........up till a point, the Palestinian people and the world can take only so much from those people.....vengeance shall me mine.....said the lord..........

[techguy]

Ponce....Looks to me like this is at least partly the Palestinians own mismanagement...

Speaking to PIC, Gaza government spokesman Taher Al-Nunu said Fatah was responsible for the power outage, adding that the movement in Ramallah was "stealing sums of money donated by the EU to fuel shipments, giving them as increments to its employees."

Ghassan Al-Khatib, spokesman for the Fayyad government, said the PA pays approximately 90% of Gaza's electricity bills, adding that Hamas pays nearly 1 million US dollars for collecting the invoices, in response to a Ma'an query.

According to Al-Khatib, the PA transferred 185,000 liters of fuel into the coastal enclave during March and this month's shipment will amount to 210,000 liters.

The spokesman said Hamas did not want to contribute to paying for fuel shipments. "I ask Hamas leaders the following: There are between 70,000 to 80,000 employees whose salaries are paid for by the PA; 20,000 take their salaries from UNRWA, while Hamas pays the salaries of 50,000 employees. Are these people unemployed? Why don't they pay their electricity bills," Al-Khatib asked.

One Ramallah-based official told Ma'an that certain Hamas leaders have left home electricity bills unpaid, worth more than 30,000 shekels.



Not saying israel is blameless in anything, but this is at least partly self inflicted.

[Ponce]

Sure, like the donated clothing donated by the world to Palestine that the Zionist held back for two years.........and when they finally let it go into Palestine they were rotten and falling apart, they were in storage in a warehouse with no roof.

But now the Zionist can tell to the world........"You see, you see, we are good people, we gave the Palestinian what was theirs"

[techguy]

Sure, like the donated clothing donated by the world to Palestine that the Zionist held back for two years.........and when they finally let it go into Palestine they were rotten and falling apart, they were in storage in a warehouse with no roof.

But now the Zionist can tell to the world........"You see, you see, we are good people, we gave the Palestinian what was theirs"


Agreed, there is that pattern of intentional 'neglect' to put it mildly regarding imports into gaza.

But reading the articles it looks like this issue may be tied more closely to palestinian corruption than an intentional act by israel.

[MarketNeutral]

Palestine power company warns of humanitarian disaster in Gaza

Executive director of Palestine electricity company Walid Sayel on Saturday warned of a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip after its only power station stopped operating as a result of the depletion of fuel supplies.

In a statement, Sayel appealed to all Arab, Palestinian and international parties to hasten to find a radical solution to the problem of power cuts in Gaza.

He said that the power crisis in Gaza is catastrophic and entails moves by all parties responsible to end it, where the outages black out two-thirds of the residents who need electricity as their need for water and air.

He stressed that the company are conducting intensive efforts and contacts with all parties concerned in order to overcome this obstacle and work on resuming the work in Gaza power station.

In the same context, the European campaign to end the siege called on the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah to assume its responsibility for the power crisis in Gaza, especially after the main power plant stopped working.

"We call on the PA to stop making unreal pretexts to evade its responsibilities and to channel the funds earmarked for the Gaza Strip, which the European Union provided for financing the power fuel in the Strip," spokesman for the campaign Anwar Gharbi stressed.

"We in the European campaign confirm that we received clear messages from many foreign ministers of the EU states affirming that the funds are transferred to the PA which pledged to be committed to paying for heavy fuel used to operate the power plant," Gharbi added.

He deplored the PA for using the humanitarian needs of one and a half million people in political wrangling, especially since this behavior could cost hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza their lives.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi 1s78u%2f3GAARv3M0gH5nKuy4G%2fm%2f3sogwlL48%2f4ODfJ 2Mvm%2f%2fd7DkL5cfL80jKtngf2iAOZ830kKq%2fiX5gC2TAo 1kY%2bH6hrqyZ6PQ9O%2fepBFYCQ%3d